A biography for Steve Schmidthasn’t been written yet.
“What destroyed the Republican Party isn't Trump. It's the obedience to Trump from servile leaders like McConnell and Ryan who could have put a check on him. They have gotten their place in political history. They'll be remembered as vile.”
“A lot of people like me who worked in Republican politics had a personal set of beliefs on issues that were at variance with the candidates that we worked for.”
“But I'm not particularly aligned with the Democratic Party's policy agenda.”
“Liberal democracy is in regression all over the world, and it's a dangerous thing.”
“Birtherism is a fringe issue that's way out of the mainstream, and it's disturbing when you see people you... have some level of respect for, whether it's members of Congress or even Donald Trump, falling into that category.”
“Trump is what the Russians call a useful idiot, someone in service to the Russian Federation, either unwitting or wittingly.”
“Trump makes no pretense about being the commander in chief of all of the country, being president of all of the people, including the people who voted against him. He is, in effect, a tribal chieftain who has declared war on half of the country.”
“I love little kids, I hate little kids being used by cynical politicians, though.”
“I think it's important to understand the history of the Republican Party. It was founded in 1854 because of the moral collapse of the Whig Party, specifically around the question of race and the expansion of slavery into the western territories.”
“Mitch McConnell has, as much as anyone, done great damage to the United States Senate as an institution that was once known as the world's greatest deliberative body.”
“I've spent my life in the Republican party, it gives me no pleasure to say this. This party has demonstrated a complete incapacity to govern. Period.”
“My fidelity is to my country, not my political party. Country first.”
“Conservatism accomplished a lot of its goals in the latter part of the 20th century. What does 21st-century conservatism look like?”
“I just want to say about Beto O'Rourke and Andrew Gillum, I mean, every superhero has to have the right nemesis. And for Beto O'Rourke, he's been very lucky in his choice of oppositional villains to run against.”
“So the Republican party of Teddy Roosevelt and John McCain and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush is dead. It's over. It doesn't exist anymore.”
“I've been involved in a lot of victories and I've been involved in defeats.”
“My role in Palin is something that there's not a day that has gone by that I don't have regret about.”
“Howard Schultz is a hell of a man, a hell of a leader.”
“I do think there is every potential in 2010 and 2012 to begin to see independent candidates who are capturing a significant percentage of the vote and even win.”
“Elections are about the voters who vote in them.”