--- title: "20 Trump Quotes By Matt Taibbi" description: "20 Trump quotes by Matt Taibbi. Plus more from Matt Taibbi and more Trump sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg" --- > [I actually never thought that Barack Obama was anything but a typical Democratic party politician, which to me meant that he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-obama-was-anything-but-a-typical/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg) > [I think America has the best assholes in the world. I defy the Belgians or the Japanese to produce something like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/i-think-america-has-the-best-assholes-in-the-world-i-defy-the/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4b/matt-taibbi-2257_america_i-think-america-has-the-best-assholes-in_1664262.jpg) > [“After eighteen long months covering this dreary business, the whole campaign appears in my mind’s eye as one long, protracted scratch-fight over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/after-eighteen-long-months-covering-this-dreary-business-the-whole/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/886/matt-taibbi-2257_2008_after-eighteen-long-months-covering-this_2619868.jpg) > [Politics is about a lot more than winning and losing. I think politics at its best is about compromise, shades of grey…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winning-and-losing-i-think-politics/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc7/matt-taibbi-2257_best_politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winnin_269714.jpg) > [In modern American politics, being the right kind of ignorant and entertainingly crazy is like having a big right hand in boxing;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/in-modern-american-politics-being-the-right-kind-of-ignorant-and/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78a/matt-taibbi-2257_american_in-modern-american-politics-being-the-ri_1177700.jpg) > [The race for the White House is normally an event suffused with drama, sucking eyeballs to the page all over the globe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/the-race-for-the-white-house-is-normally-an-event-suffused-with-drama/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a4a/matt-taibbi-2257_drama_the-race-for-the-white-house-is-normally_3177222.jpg) > [There are times when American politics seems like little more than two groups in a fever to prevent each other from trespassing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/there-are-times-when-american-politics-seems-like-little-more-than/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f16/matt-taibbi-2257_american-politics_there-are-times-when-american-politics-s_1966905.jpg) > [In reality, everybody in Congress is a stand-in for some kind of lobbyist. In many cases it's difficult to tell whether it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-stand-in-for-some-kind-of/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/302/matt-taibbi-2257_around_in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-st_2445755.jpg) > [Washington politicians basically view the People as a capricious and dangerous enemy, a dumb mob whose only interesting quality happens to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/washington-politicians-basically-view-the-people-as-a-capricious-and/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/matt-taibbi-2257_capricious_washington-politicians-basically-view-th_1670377.jpg) > [“Bill Clinton’s political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. He made money tight in the ghettos and let it flow free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-seizing-the-presidency-was-2/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_2115762.jpg) > [What we have now is a situation where politicians get a whole bunch of money from mainly business interests. Then once they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-politicians-get-a-whole-bunch/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a1/matt-taibbi-2257_bunch_what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-po_2266262.jpg) > [This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-man-and-a-washington-politician/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6de/matt-taibbi-2257_dignity_this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-ma_1383153.jpg) > [“But the ineffectiveness of “facts” didn’t stop there. The election of Trump was not just a political choice, a vote against minorities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t-stop-there-the-election-of/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc6/matt-taibbi-2257_better-job_but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t_2042612.jpg) > [“All of this goes back to Bill Clinton. It’s not a coincidence that radical welfare reform took place on the same watch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it-s-not-a-coincidence-that/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/158/matt-taibbi-2257_civil-rights_all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it_2735498.jpg) > [“He steps to the lectern and does his Mussolini routine, which he’s perfected over the past months. It’s a nodding wave, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mussolini-routine-which-he-s/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/matt-taibbi-2257_benito-mussolini_he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mus_1547101.jpg) > [“Bill Clinton's political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. He made money tight in the ghettos and let it flow free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-seizing-the-presidency-was/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c2/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_681776.jpg) > [“In the elaborate con that is American electoral politics, the Republican voter has long been the easiest mark in the game, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-electoral-politics-the/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/258/matt-taibbi-2257_elections_in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-el_2349458.jpg) > [Candidates don't want to be associated with poor people, people who have jobs or are ugly; they want to be associated with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-with-poor-people-people-who/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/matt-taibbi-2257_candidates_candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-w_1917915.jpg) > [John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hack-a-man-whose-unmatched-and/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80e/matt-taibbi-2257_american_john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hac_2715098.jpg) > [Amendments occupy a great deal of most legislators' time, particularly those lawmakers in the minority. Members of Congress do author major bills,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-legislators-time-particularly/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdb/matt-taibbi-2257_adjustment_amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-l_622537.jpg) ## Other authors on Trump ## More by Matt Taibbi > [ The Congressional Record will forever show that \[Obamacare\] was passed in a romper room of overgrown children seemingly barely old enough to keep from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/the-congressional-record-will-forever-show-that-obamacare-was-passed/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [Sniper is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it would be beneath criticism. The only thing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/sniper-is-a-movie-whose-politics-are-so-ludicrous-and-idiotic-that/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [I get the cynicism thing all the time, although I don't really know where that comes from, because I think I'm actually the opposite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/i-get-the-cynicism-thing-all-the-time-although-i-don-t-really-know/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [It's really interesting that we've had this great Tea Party movement that is all about restoring free market capitalist values, but what they completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/it-s-really-interesting-that-we-ve-had-this-great-tea-party-movement/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [To be robbed and betrayed by a fiendish underground conspiracy, or by the earthly agents of Satan, is at least a romantic sort of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/to-be-robbed-and-betrayed-by-a-fiendish-underground-conspiracy-or-by/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > ['Nobody goes to jail.' This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/nobody-goes-to-jail-this-is-the-mantra-of-the-financial-crisis-era/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [The basic scam in the Internet age is pretty easy even for the financially illiterate to grasp. It was as if banks like Goldman…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/the-basic-scam-in-the-internet-age-is-pretty-easy-even-for-the/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [For the broadcast business to be successful, viewers need to be not merely interested in our political melodramas, they have to be in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/for-the-broadcast-business-to-be-successful-viewers-need-to-be-not/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [It's not a stretch to say the whole financial industry revolves around the compass point of the absolutely safe AAA rating. But the financial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/it-s-not-a-stretch-to-say-the-whole-financial-industry-revolves/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [You know what an effective deterrent to crime is? Jail! And do you know what kind of criminal penalty actually makes people think twice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/you-know-what-an-effective-deterrent-to-crime-is-jail-and-do-you-know/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/conspiracy-theorists-of-the-world-believers-in-the-hidden-hands-of/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [Like wars, forest fires and bad marriages, really stupid laws are much easier to begin than they are to end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/like-wars-forest-fires-and-bad-marriages-really-stupid-laws-are-much/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [You can have somebody living next door to you and you can live in a completely different world from that person, which is definitely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/you-can-have-somebody-living-next-door-to-you-and-you-can-live-in-a/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [George Bush and John Ashcroft were religious in a scary way, but the rational among us could always take heart that, deep down, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/george-bush-and-john-ashcroft-were-religious-in-a-scary-way-but-the/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) > [“People aren't pissed just to be pissed. They're mad because a tiny group of crooks on Wall Street built themselves beach houses in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/people-aren-t-pissed-just-to-be-pissed-they-re-mad-because-a-tiny/) [Matt Taibbi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-taibbi/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trump/matt-taibbi/#itemlist", "name": "20 Trump Quotes By Matt Taibbi", "numberOfItems": 20, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I actually never thought that Barack Obama was anything but a typical Democratic party politician, which to me meant that he was probably in bed with Wall Street.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-obama-was-anything-but-a-typical/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I actually never thought that Barack Obama was anything but a typical Democratic party politician, which to…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think America has the best assholes in the world. 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I think politics at its best is about compromise, shades of grey and about issues.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winning-and-losing-i-think-politics/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc7/matt-taibbi-2257_best_politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winnin_269714.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc7/matt-taibbi-2257_best_politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winnin_269714.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc7/matt-taibbi-2257_best_politics-is-about-a-lot-more-than-winnin_269714.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Politics is about a lot more than winning and losing. 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In many cases it's difficult to tell whether it's the companies that are lobbying the legislators or whether it's the other way around.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-stand-in-for-some-kind-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/302/matt-taibbi-2257_around_in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-st_2445755.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/302/matt-taibbi-2257_around_in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-st_2445755.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/302/matt-taibbi-2257_around_in-reality-everybody-in-congress-is-a-st_2445755.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In reality, everybody in Congress is a stand-in for some kind of lobbyist. In many cases it's difficult to…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Washington politicians basically view the People as a capricious and dangerous enemy, a dumb mob whose only interesting quality happens to be their power to take away politicians' jobs... When the government sees its people as the enemy, sooner or later that feeling gets to be mutual. And that's when the real weirdness begins.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/washington-politicians-basically-view-the-people-as-a-capricious-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/matt-taibbi-2257_capricious_washington-politicians-basically-view-th_1670377.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/matt-taibbi-2257_capricious_washington-politicians-basically-view-th_1670377.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/matt-taibbi-2257_capricious_washington-politicians-basically-view-th_1670377.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Washington politicians basically view the People as a capricious and dangerous enemy, a dumb mob whose only…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Bill Clinton’s political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. He made money tight in the ghettos and let it flow free on Wall Street. He showered the projects with cops and bean counters and pulled the cops off the beat in the financial services sector. And in one place he created vast new mountain ranges of paperwork, while in another, paperwork simply vanished.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-seizing-the-presidency-was-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_2115762.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_2115762.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/766/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_2115762.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Bill Clinton’s political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. 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Then once they hold that office, they spend all their time in office paying back over and over again those campaign contributions through various favors and contracts and that sort of thing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-politicians-get-a-whole-bunch/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a1/matt-taibbi-2257_bunch_what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-po_2266262.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a1/matt-taibbi-2257_bunch_what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-po_2266262.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a1/matt-taibbi-2257_bunch_what-we-have-now-is-a-situation-where-po_2266262.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What we have now is a situation where politicians get a whole bunch of money from mainly business interests…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts and careerist hacks who don't stand for anything and are impatient with people who do. It's possible to do this job with honor and dignity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-man-and-a-washington-politician/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6de/matt-taibbi-2257_dignity_this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-ma_1383153.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6de/matt-taibbi-2257_dignity_this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-ma_1383153.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6de/matt-taibbi-2257_dignity_this-idea-that-you-can-t-be-an-honest-ma_1383153.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But the ineffectiveness of “facts” didn’t stop there. The election of Trump was not just a political choice, a vote against minorities and foreigners, against intellectuals, a cry for better jobs, etc. This was also a metaphysical choice. Sixty million people were announcing that they preferred one reality to another. Inherent in this decision was the revolutionary idea that you can choose your own set of facts. Blue-state America could not wrap its head around this during election season. Facts, they protested, are facts! But Trump voters did not agree. They believed facts were a choice. We had made ours, choosing to ignore certain things, and they would make theirs, doing the same. No amount of “calling Trump out” would change that.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t-stop-there-the-election-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc6/matt-taibbi-2257_better-job_but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t_2042612.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc6/matt-taibbi-2257_better-job_but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t_2042612.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dc6/matt-taibbi-2257_better-job_but-the-ineffectiveness-of-facts-didn-t_2042612.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“But the ineffectiveness of “facts” didn’t stop there. The election of Trump was not just a political choice…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“All of this goes back to Bill Clinton. It’s not a coincidence that radical welfare reform took place on the same watch that also saw a radical deregulation of the financial services industry. Clinton was a man born with a keen nose for two things: women with low self-esteem and political opportunity. When he was in the middle of a tough primary fight in 1992 and came out with a speech promising to “end welfare as we know it,” he could immediately smell the political possibilities, and it wasn’t long before this was a major plank in his convention speech (and soon in his first State of the Union address). Clinton understood that putting the Democrats back in the business of banging on black dependency would allow his party to reseize the political middle that Democrats had lost when Lyndon Johnson threw the weight of the White House behind the civil rights effort and the War on Poverty.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it-s-not-a-coincidence-that/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/158/matt-taibbi-2257_civil-rights_all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it_2735498.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/158/matt-taibbi-2257_civil-rights_all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it_2735498.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/158/matt-taibbi-2257_civil-rights_all-of-this-goes-back-to-bill-clinton-it_2735498.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All of this goes back to Bill Clinton. It’s not a coincidence that radical welfare reform took place on the…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He steps to the lectern and does his Mussolini routine, which he’s perfected over the past months. It’s a nodding wave, a grin, a half-sneer, and a little U.S. Open–style applause back in the direction of the audience, his face the whole time a mask of pure self-satisfaction. “This is unbelievable, unbelievable!” he says, staring out at a crowd of about 4,000 whooping New Englanders with snow hats, fleece and beer guts. There’s a snowstorm outside and cars are flying off the road, but it’s a packed house.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mussolini-routine-which-he-s/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/matt-taibbi-2257_benito-mussolini_he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mus_1547101.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/matt-taibbi-2257_benito-mussolini_he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mus_1547101.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bd/matt-taibbi-2257_benito-mussolini_he-steps-to-the-lectern-and-does-his-mus_1547101.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He steps to the lectern and does his Mussolini routine, which he’s perfected over the past months. It’s a…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Bill Clinton's political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. He made money tight in the ghettos and let it flow free on Wall Street. He showered the projects with cops and bean counters and pulled the ops off the beat in the financial services sector. And in one place he created vast new mountain ranges of paperwork, while in another paperwork simply vanished. After Clinton, just to get food stamps to buy potatoes and flour, you suddenly had to hand in a detailed financial history dating back years, submit to wholesale invasions of privacy, and give in to a range of humiliating conditions. Meanwhile banks in the 1990s were increasingly encouraged to lend and speculate without filing out any paperwork at all, and eventually borrowers were freed of the burden of even having to show proof of income when they took out mortgages or car loans.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-seizing-the-presidency-was/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c2/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_681776.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c2/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_681776.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c2/matt-taibbi-2257_financial-services_bill-clinton-s-political-formula-for-sei_681776.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Bill Clinton's political formula for seizing the presidency was simple. He made money tight in the ghettos…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In the elaborate con that is American electoral politics, the Republican voter has long been the easiest mark in the game, the biggest dope in the room. Everyone inside the Beltway knows this. The Republican voters themselves are the only ones who never saw it. Elections are about a lot of things, but at the highest level, they’re about money. The people who sponsor election campaigns, who pay the hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the candidates’ charter jets and TV ads and 25-piece marching bands, those people have concrete needs. They want tax breaks, federal contracts, regulatory relief, cheap financing, free security for shipping lanes, antitrust waivers and dozens of other things. They mostly don’t care about abortion or gay marriage or school vouchers or any of the social issues the rest of us spend our time arguing about. It’s about money for them, and as far as that goes, the CEO class has had a brilliantly winning electoral strategy for a generation. They donate heavily to both parties, essentially hiring two different sets of politicians to market their needs to the population. The Republicans give them everything that they want, while the Democrats only give them mostly everything. They get everything from the Republicans because you don’t have to make a single concession to a Republican voter. All you have to do to secure a Republican vote is show lots of pictures of gay people kissing or black kids with their pants pulled down or Mexican babies at an emergency room. Then you push forward some dingbat like Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin to reassure everyone that the Republican Party knows who the real Americans are. Call it the “Rove 1-2.” That’s literally all it’s taken to secure decades of Republican votes, a few patriotic words and a little over-the-pants rubbing. Policywise, a typical Republican voter never even asks a politician to go to second base. While we always got free trade agreements and wars and bailouts and mass deregulation of industry and lots of other stuff the donors definitely wanted, we didn’t get Roe v. Wade overturned or prayer in schools or balanced budgets or censorship of movies and video games or any of a dozen other things Republican voters said they wanted.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-electoral-politics-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/258/matt-taibbi-2257_elections_in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-el_2349458.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/258/matt-taibbi-2257_elections_in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-el_2349458.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/258/matt-taibbi-2257_elections_in-the-elaborate-con-that-is-american-el_2349458.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In the elaborate con that is American electoral politics, the Republican voter has long been the easiest…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 18, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Candidates don't want to be associated with poor people, people who have jobs or are ugly; they want to be associated with a certain middle class demographic, so as a result they leave those others out completely.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-with-poor-people-people-who/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/matt-taibbi-2257_candidates_candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-w_1917915.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/matt-taibbi-2257_candidates_candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-w_1917915.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b80/matt-taibbi-2257_candidates_candidates-don-t-want-to-be-associated-w_1917915.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Candidates don't want to be associated with poor people, people who have jobs or are ugly; they want to be…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 19, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in Washington, the hairy blue mold on the American congressional sandwich.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hack-a-man-whose-unmatched-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80e/matt-taibbi-2257_american_john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hac_2715098.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80e/matt-taibbi-2257_american_john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hac_2715098.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/80e/matt-taibbi-2257_american_john-boehner-is-the-ultimate-beltway-hac_2715098.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“John Boehner is the ultimate Beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 20, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Amendments occupy a great deal of most legislators' time, particularly those lawmakers in the minority. Members of Congress do author major bills, but more commonly they make minor adjustments to the bigger bill.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Taibbi" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-taibbi/amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-legislators-time-particularly/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdb/matt-taibbi-2257_adjustment_amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-l_622537.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdb/matt-taibbi-2257_adjustment_amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-l_622537.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdb/matt-taibbi-2257_adjustment_amendments-occupy-a-great-deal-of-most-l_622537.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Amendments occupy a great deal of most legislators' time, particularly those lawmakers in the minority…” — Matt Taibbi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trump/matt-taibbi/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trump/matt-taibbi/", "name": "Trump Quotes by Matt Taibbi", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trump/matt-taibbi/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e8/matt-taibbi-2257_actually_i-actually-never-thought-that-barack-oba_2845825.jpg" }, "description": "20 Trump quotes by Matt Taibbi. 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