Jamelle Bouie

“With or without Trump, a Republican Party that cannot share this country with its political opponents is a Republican Party that will always look for one way or another to stop the steal.”

“I got into journalism through writing, primarily. So even when I took photos when I was reporting, I never thought of photography as the reason I'm doing this.”

“Trump ran as the embodiment of the legitimate people of the United States. He governed on behalf of those people - a narrow, exclusive people defined in racial, religious and ideological terms - deemed them 'the People,' to whom the country rightfully belongs.”

“The story of emancipation, going really back to the founding of the country all the way to the civil war is very much the story of enslaved Africans and freed blacks taking the initiative to put their freedom on the agenda of national politics. That's especially true during the Civil War.”

“Among the worst episodes in American history are those moments when the federal government deploys the full weight of its power against the most vulnerable people in the country: the Trail of Tears and the Fugitive Slave Act in the 19th century and Japanese internment in the middle of the 20th, to name three.”

“In the years since he came on the scene as the author of a best-selling memoir, Vance has transformed himself from a stalwart opponent of Trump to a MAGA acolyte.”

“Trump was not helped by either of his impeachments, and there's no reason other than his own mythology to think that a trial and conviction will play out any differently.”

“If the 14th Amendment represents the struggle to build inclusive models of national identity untethered from racial caste or classification, then Trump stands for those who see America in opposite terms: as a white democracy, a master's democracy, whose promise will always belong to those who dominate.”

“A large part of running for president is intense scrutiny on personal history and political records. But once you're in office, that scrutiny subsides.”

“The thing about digital is that you can pretty much shoot any kind of condition - you can shoot as many things as you want or need. There's nothing to make you slow down if you don't want to, but with film, if you're shooting 35mm, then you have a hard number of exposures - it's 36.”

“Enslaved people worked hard to preserve family ties and maintain kinship networks. They married, even as the law would not recognize their unions, and tried to keep their households intact as best they could. But they lived ultimately at the mercy of the master, who could and would destroy those families for profit and personal gain.”

“Trump v. United States would become, in short order, one of the worst opinions ever issued by the Supreme Court.”

“Our system has adopted universal suffrage, which points toward open and easy access to the ballot, but our heritage in political exclusivity - where voting was once a privilege reserved for property-owning white men - continues to influence our handling of elections.”

“I like turkey, but brisket is an excellent alternative for a Thanksgiving centerpiece.”

“The myth of Donald Trump is that he is immune to scandal - that there's nothing he could say or do that would undermine his political prospects.”

“Rhetoric matters, and what candidates say is not simply for show.”

“Political parties do not want to win solely for the sake of winning; they want to win so that their coalition can achieve as many of its objectives as possible. And public cynicism notwithstanding, they want to do this even if it costs them votes in the short term.”

“Across the country, Republican politicians have used the threat of voter fraud and the promise of 'election integrity' to justify new barriers to registration and voting.”

“In a political culture as obsessed with drama and celebrity as our own, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the presidency is an actual job - one of the most difficult in the world.”

“American presidents are moral leaders and role models as much as they're political leaders and heads of state - they are meant to model good citizenship and republican virtue.”