Jon Lovett

“Whenever you're talking about using humor in politics or in a policy speech or in a serious moment, you're talking about using it as a tool to engage people. That's why putting a joke in a political speech is a luxury, and it is always a risk.”

“'1600 Penn' was a hit. It's 2018. Anything you want can be true.”

“America needs a strong, rational, positive, practical conservative movement. It needs that bulwark against liberal delusion and hubris. It needs a voice that says we are imperfect, that life is complex, that government can create need even as it meets need, that you can't fix everything, and freedom is worth some danger and sorrow.”

“There are a lot of heartbroken, anxious people that thought better of their country. We're heartbroken by how far Trump has gotten to the most powerful position in the world.”

“'Pod Save America' will be a kingmaker.”

“Every technology company should have a red button somewhere in the headquarters where, if they realize they've caused more societal harm than they expected and done more harm than good, they press the button, and the company dissolves instantly.”

“I would like to be able to write in my own voice.”

“I had a really fun career in TV right after I left politics.”

“We've been dealing with censorship around multimedia, about multinational companies and the content they create, for a very long time.”

“We are drowning in partisan rhetoric that is just true enough not to be a lie; in industry-sponsored research; in social media's imitation of human connection; in legalese and corporate double-speak.”

“So often on CNN, there's a world-class journalist interviewing campaign rejects and ideologues and silly, craven people who do not care about informing people, that aren't there to help people understand what's going on in the news.”

“We don't want people to be afraid of saying something interesting on the off chance it's taken the wrong way.”

“If you can make someone laugh about something that your opponent or your opposition thinks, that means you've done a really good job of highlighting what's wrong with their argument or their position.”

“I went into politics for the reasons most people do: ambition, self-righteousness, and a desire to help others.”

“It's so unfair that Barack Obama, this cool, charming guy, also has good comedic timing.”

“I worked on one speech about the financial system that caused the Dow to drop, like, 200 points.”

“One thing that is for certain is that there are tens of millions of people who are deeply unsatisfied with the way they get their political news.”

“We have a lot of really boring, silly, stupid politics. We need people to point that out.”

“We need people to point out groupthink - We need people to point out stale, old, dumb thinking - and we sometimes need to do that when it's considered dangerous, strange, or, by some, offensive. And we should be, all of us, trying to protect that. It's really important.”

“We are drowning in information.”