Political Responsibilities

What I hope at the end of the day is that this really is about my eight years, and the bridge stuff is part of that, and the Trump stuff is part of that, but it’s only a part.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

Mr. Trump’s tie symbolizes one of the central questions of his candidacy, and now his presidency. Is his seeming ineptness genuine? Or is it part of a contrived performance, designed to deploy the symbols of power while rejecting the conventions of civility that have traditionally defined and constrained them?

As you know, I’ve been saying for years that the best thing is to let Obamacare explode and then go make a deal with the Democrats and have one unified deal. And they will come to us; we won’t have to come to them after Obamacare explodes. The beauty is that they own Obamacare. So when it explodes, they come to us, and we make one beautiful deal for the people.

Conservatives have a crucial role to play in shaping the future American health-care system to enhance and support enterprise, innovation, individual responsibility—to resist open-ended spending, state planning, and the risk that social insurance will penalize effort and success. It’s past time to accept reality, quit promising the impossible, and do the work that a democracy that seeks both equity and efficiency should expect from its more conservative-minded thinkers and politicians.

This was a mission that was started before I got here. This was something that was, you know, just they wanted to do. They came to see me. They explained what they wanted to do, the generals, who are very respected. My generals are the most respected that we've had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan.

I didn’t want this job. I didn’t seek this job. My wife told me I’m supposed to do this.

We’re not going to do a replacement. If they repeal without a replacement, they will own it. Democrats will not then step up to the plate and come up with a half-baked solution that we will partially own. It’s all theirs.

As you already know, I have lots of thoughts about what we've done to ourselves as a country and what we've allowed to happen. But we'll see where this goes. Whether you want to say it's good or bad is irrelevant. But it was Keystone Kops, and that's scary.

I have a few concerns/edits: Instead of ‘U.S. government’s illegal spying operations,’ I’d propose ‘U.S. government’s controversial intelligence gathering’… I would replace ‘misuse of power’ with ‘actions.’

We’re putting enough heat in the ocean to send water over us, no question. Ultimately, we give up and we leave. That’s how the story ends.