David Cay Johnston

“Instead of a president of specific duties and constitutionally limited authority, Trump and his aides talk as if he is an absolute ruler, or should be, to whom all must bend the knee.”

“Trump has... lived a life of thumbing his nose at conventions and law enforcement, learning... from his father, Fred, whose business partner was an associate of the Gambino and Genovese crime families. He has long been in deep with mobsters, domestic and foreign, along with corrupt union bosses and assorted swindlers. Trump even spent years deeply entangled with a major international drug trafficker who, like many of the others, enjoyed their mutually lucrative arrangements.”

“Trump is desperate for others to fill the void inside himself. He has a sad need for attention and, preferably, public adoration.”

“The Trump presidency is about Trump. Period. Full stop.”

“Viewed properly in the context of their times, the last forty-four presidents all pursued policies that they believed would make for a better America tomorrow.”

“Next time you go to a talk by me, because I'm sure I'll be back with one of my future books. Maybe the one I hope to have out next year, which is a whole new tax system that's simple and... you can't cheat under my system without committing a crime. Bring a young person.”

“If we do our jobs as citizens, we become informed, we insist on rational debate about real issues and we then get people to the polls, we can get a different Congress, we can get rid of this presidency and we can have a bright future. There's damage that will last forever, but the longer he's in office, the longer he is a clear and present danger to all the world. So please... read my book, get to the actual damage being done, and tell other people.”

“People have to get registered to vote. People have to be driven to the polls on election day... Go to a district where there might be change. Arrange in advance... Don't call people and ask them to go. Go get them! Take them to the polls. That's the only thing that matters at the end of the day, our votes.”

“Journalism never did a great job of covering government, but 40% of journalism jobs in this country have disappeared since 2000. ...[A]s a result of that the agencies aren't being covered at all. The electricity markets, job safety, diplomacy, all through the government, the military. All of these things are being ravaged by this {{w|kakistocracy}}. ...Spend a couple of evenings reading the book, and then you've got to... tell other people. Have the facts to persuade them to understand what's wrong.”

“[O]ne of the problems that all the labor leaders I speak to face, is that a lot of their members believe Donald Trump is helping them. They have no idea the damage he is doing to them, because it's not in the news!”

“Citizenship is not something that you can outsource! ...We've got to do the work ourselves, and you've got to know, and you've got to talk to people.”

“People don't know... They... are so fascinated by what's going on in the White House, they're not paying attention to what matters. ...[T]he reason I hope every single one of you reads my book (and if you can't afford to buy the book, it's in the library...) is that people need to know this or we will not get change.”

“This is the anti-education presidency.”

“He says in 2015, "I have a tax plan here. The best tax experts in America have all been over it." ...I called and said "Where are the experts?" There are no experts. They didn't have anybody. Come April, he's been in office three months. He promised, day one, we're going to have a tax bill. They put out a 100 word tax plan... It was a shopping list for {{w|Goldman Sachs}}' clients.”

“Donald Trump said "I'm going to drain the swamp." He comes here and immediately turns it into a federally protected wetland, a paradise for Wall Street.”

“I said back in 2012, a year when the average income of the bottom 90% of Americans was lower, adjusted for inflation... than in 1967... that if you ran for president on the economics in my books you would win, because it champions the 90%, in fact it champions... the 99.5%; and that's what Donald did, and I know he watched me on television because he talked to other people about it, who told me...”

“What matters is that we get a new Congress. Donald Trump ran for president based on the economic policies (just the economics, not the racism) that was in my trilogy on the American economy: Perfectly Legal, Free Lunch and The Fine Print. If you know that {{w|Walmart}} uses your tax dollars to build its stores and GE taxes its workers in Ohio to build factories, you know that because of my work; and it's now widespread... even if most people have forgotten I'm the guy brought all that to the fore years ago.”

“Where are the ministers? ...{{w|Franklin Graham}} ...said ..."Donald denies it." Well, Eliot Spitzer denied it. ...Bill Clinton denied it. ...[Graham] goes... "Donald is a changed man from 10 years ago." ...That's a reasonable question to think... you know, was I different 10 years ago? ...I was. I had less grey hair.”

“Where are the moralists who scream about drugs and say nothing about what I describe... Donald's deep entanglement with a major international cocaine trafficker [Joseph Weichselbaum], and things he did that make no sense whatsoever, unless they were in business together, in which case everything he did makes perfect sense. Where are these people?”

“I have this vague recollection of Republican leaders talking about their concerns about immorality, especially women and wanting to make sure we can't have access to things like birth control... and talking about family values. So out comes the Wall Street Journal on the playmate of the year who got paid $150 grand to not talk, and now the porn star and, trust me, to quote Donald, "Believe me..." there's more like this out there. Where are the moralists about Donald Trump's behavior? ...His conduct is outrageous.”