It's gratifying to work for somebody who doesn't measure accomplishment by the temporary state of public-opinion polls.

Conservatism accomplished a lot of its goals in the latter part of the 20th century. What does 21st-century conservatism look like?

I would find it difficult to be involved in an effort that I think disenfranchises people from a fundamental right. How do you work with people who are opposed to marriage equality? I don't want to do it.

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.

You can't have a democracy when people don't learn to put themselves in the shoes of another person, who can't think what their policies mean for others.

Swimming and all other sports have got to get to that place where you have the trust of the people watching it.

Words like feminism or democracy scare me. They are words with barnacles on them, and you can't see what's underneath.

I understand how bureaucracies work. And that's important because our government has become a vast, huge, bloated, corrupt bureaucracy.