The Week in Quotes (Oct. 28 – Nov. 3)

Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, head of Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which was attacked by a gunman on Saturday, writing on the synagogue’s blog, lamenting the lack of national action to address gun violence in the wake of the Parkland school shooting.

“Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the midterm elections, I fear that the status quo will remain unchanged, and school shootings will resume. I shouldn’t have to include in my daily morning prayers that God should watch over my wife and daughter, both teachers, and keep them safe. Where are our leaders?”

——————————————

Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, a social media site that has, in the name of free speech, welcomed neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists and others kicked off of larger social media platforms for promoting hatred.

“Trump said he’s a nationalist so the Overton Window is officially smashed, feel free to tell everyone you are an American nationalist now.”

——————————————

Pat Hardy, a Republican State Board of Education member, explaining her reelection campaign strategy.

“In my case, [Gov.] Greg Abbott is very popular. A lot of people will vote straight ticket because of Greg Abbott and I will benefit from that.”

——————————————

Rev. Darrell Hamilton II, a pastor at First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain in Boston, defending Rev. Will Green, pastor of a joint United Methodist/Church of Christ congregation, after he addressed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“That is a person that represents the Christian tradition, the faith that everyone here professes to believe in, actually sharing the words of Jesus himself, the words of Jesus that are represented in the book of Isaiah. I thought we were here to protect religious liberty, sir. I thought we were here to protect religious liberty. I am a pastor of a Baptist church, and you are escorting me out for exercising my religious freedom. That is very hypocritical for this group of people to be wanting to be protecting religious freedom while you are escorting me out for doing that work.”

——————————————

Dennis Jett, a professor and former National Security Council member, on President Trump’s influence on last weekend’s synagogue shooter.

“Whether it is the caravan from Central America, the Muslim ban, building a wall on the border, Trump has made anti-immigrant paranoia and hysteria a fundamental part of his speeches at his endless series of campaign rallies. There is simply no plausible way to ignore the fact that his language validated the perverted and paranoid worldview of (Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman accused of killing 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday) and thereby encouraged his actions. When Trump recently described himself as a ‘nationalist,’ he didn’t even bother with his usual dog whistle. He bellowed his xenophobia and intolerance, and the message to people like Bowers could not have been clearer.”