Politicians talk a lot. They say moving things, insightful things, and incredibly dumb things. Whether it was a meticulously prepared speech, an off-the-cuff retort, or a late night social media post, 2024 was a year of dissecting, analyzing, mocking, and feeling the impact of political speech.
Amid a heated contest for the presidency, wars abroad, monumental Supreme Court decisions, and the trials of a former and now future president, a list of the year’s most memorable political quotes could feature hundreds of entries. We narrowed it down to 15.
“We finally beat Medicare.” — Joe Biden
Joe Biden’s lone debate against Donald Trump was an act of political self-immolation. The president began the debate hoarse and halting, with an unsteadiness that belied his age and now-blindingly-obvious decline. But Biden sealed his fate with an incomprehensible answer to a question about the national debt. First he mixed up billionaires and trillionaires, before pivoting to the need to “continue to strengthen our health care system.” Then, oddly touting “what I’ve been able to do with the Covid, excuse me, with—” In this moment, the president fully glitched, stalling out for full painful seconds of silence, before regaining his voice only to blurt out: “We finally beat Medicare.”
If the first part of his answer was like dousing his political career with petrol, the claim of having vanquished the nation’s most beloved social safety net program was the match. It took some weeks for the party machinery to formally oust him, but with that utterance, Biden’s storied political career as a senator, vice president, and president was over. (Not that it merits anymore than a footnote, but a spokesperson later said of Biden: “He meant to say he beat Big Pharma.”) — TD
“They are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They are eating the pets of the people that live there.” — Donald Trump
No soundbite better encapsulated the vitriolic, dishonest approach the Trump campaign took to immigration than the smear the president-elect leveled against Haitian migrants during his sole debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
For weeks before the debate, right-wingers — J.D. Vance, most notably — had been spreading false allegations that Haitians in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were terrorizing the local population by killing and eating pet cats and local geese. It seemed inevitable that Trump would repeat the lie in public, and he did so on the biggest stage possible.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs — the people that came in — they’re eating the cats,” he railed as the debate moderators attempted to fact check him.
Springfield’s immigrant population, most of which is documented and legal, has continued to exist under a cloud of harassment and fear — especially following Trump’s electoral victory. — NMR
“Not a thing that comes to mind.” — Kamala Harris
Sometimes softball questions do more damage than the high heat. On a friendly appearance on The View in early October, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked if there’s anything she would have done differently than Joe Biden. Harris had taken over the top of the ticket for a man with an approval rate in the low 40s, and here was a chance to cut some of the dead weight, either by distancing herself from an unpopular Biden decision, or at least indicating how she might take the country in new directions. Instead, Harris — out of caution or a misbegotten sense of loyalty to Biden— deflected, insisting: “Not a thing that comes to mind.”
The answer was not only a missed opportunity, it became an albatross, enabling the Trump campaign to tie Harris to every last unpopular policy of the sitting president. (Harris appeared to realize the error quickly. On another interview later in the day, she did highlight a difference that was hamfisted in its own way: “I’m going to have a Republican in my Cabinet”) — TD
“V-E-R-G-O-G-N-A” — Martha Ann Alito
Martha-Ann Alito, wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel, has some thoughts about flags. We all learned back in the spring after reports that the Alitos were displaying flags associated with right-wing movements that question the legitimacy of the results of the 2020 election at their residences.
When asked about the upside-down American flag and the Appeal to Heaven flags at her homes, Martha-Ann told liberal documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor about how much she dislikes seeing rainbow Pride flags during Pride Month and that she would like to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag in response. Or she might design her own flag, she said, one sporting the Italian word for “shame.”
“I made a flag. It’s white and has yellow and orange flames around it. And in the middle is the word ‘vergogna.’ ‘Vergogna’ in Italian means shame — vergogna. V-E-R-G-O-G-N-A. Vergogna.” — LT
“These are weird people on the other side.” — Tim Walz
In a saturated media environment, Harris’ plainspoken vice presidential candidate broke through with a simple message about Trump and his MAGA minions. “These are weird people on the other side,” he said during a July appearance on MSNBC. Walz highlighted the GOP’s big government intrusions — to ban books and “be in your exam room” — and their lack of constructive ideas on health care and the economy. For a spell, the “weird” attack took hold, creating an avenue to highlight the unpalatable extremism of the MAGA platform. And it got under the skin of the GOP ticket. Both Trump and J.D. Vance tried to defend themselves from the charge — “we’re not weird people, we’re actually just the opposite,” Trump said — in ways that just underscored the point. For whatever reason (see: cautious, overpaid, polling-pilled Democratic consultants) the campaign dropped this organic, resonant attack (as well as Harris’ battlecry of, “We’re not going back”) for milquetoast slogans like: “A New Way Forward.” — TD
“Arnold Palmer was all man.” — Donald Trump
While speaking at the Latrobe, Pennsylvania, airport named after Arnold Palmer in October, Trump rambled as he’s wont to do at rallies, but this time he decided to overshare about his supposed friend’s manhood.
“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that with all due respect to women, and I love women,” Trump said as part of his closing campaign message. “But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable.’ I had to say it.”
Why did he feel the need to mention that the late legendary golfer was “all man”? We’re still not sure, but he’s had an obsession with size for most of his political career (from exaggerating the crowds attending his rallies, to the size of his hands and all it implies).
Trump called Kamala Harris a “shit VP” at that same rally for good measure, because when decorum has gone out the window, why the hell not? — AL
“I’m not a church boy.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
One of the most disturbing allegations made against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s over the course of his 2024 campaign did not involve vaccine conspiracies or a zoo of dead animals, but a sexual assault allegation that Kennedy responded to with a boys-will-be-boys attitude.
In July, Eliza Cooney, a former babysitter for the Kennedy family, told Vanity Fair that RFK Jr. had assaulted her when she was 23 years old and working in his household. In response Kennedy told the publication that he was “not a church boy.”
“I said in my announcement speech that I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world,” he added.
Kennedy won’t be king of the world, but he’s slated to become one of the top public health officials in the country as Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. — NMR
“I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.” — Elon Musk
Republicans have long been obsessed with Taylor Swift as a representative totem for all that they despise about successful, economically independent women more interested in their self fulfillment than domestic life and motherhood. It’s a weird fixation, and it became outright gag-inducing throughout the 2024 campaign cycle.
Trump posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” on Truth Social after the singer endorsed Kamala Harris in September. Elon Musk reacted by seemingly offering to impregnate Swift. “Fine Taylor,” he posted on X, “you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
Musk, who has a known obsession with producing as many children as possible, was — according to friends of his who spoke to The New York Times — only half joking. — NMR
“The word grocery. You know, it’s a sorta simple word, but it sorta means like everything you eat. The stomach is speaking. It always does.” — Donald Trump
Trump credits the border and the economy for his win. He repeatedly tried to pin inflation on Biden, often highlighting the high cost of “groceries” — a word he seemed to believe he coined himself. “I won on groceries,” he said on Meet the Press in December. “It’s a very simple word. Who uses the word? I started using the word.”
He was even more awkward when invoking the term during an event at the Detroit Economic Club in October. “The word grocery,” he said. “You know, it’s a sorta simple word, but it sorta means like everything you eat. The stomach is speaking. It always does.”
Trump was apparently able to convince Americans he could bring down the price of everyday goods — but now that he’s won he doesn’t seem so sure. In the same early-December interview with Meet the Press, Trump said he couldn’t “guarantee” he’d bring costs down, and then insisted to Time that his presidency wouldn’t be a failure if grocery prices remained high. “Look, they got them up. I’d like to bring them down. It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard. But I think that they will.” — RB
“If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot.” — Kamala Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris made several attempts throughout her campaign to appeal to moderates by teasing a more conservative-coded attitude to flashpoint issues than your standard Democratic politician. It clearly didn’t work, and none were more bizarre than her insistence that she owned a gun and was not afraid to shoot someone.
In several interviews — when questioned about her views on gun control — Harris told reporters that she was a gun owner (a glock to be precise), and was not interested in taking away
Americans’ firearms. Understandable, but the follow up seemed slightly unnecessary. “If someone breaks in my house, they’re getting shot,” Harris told Oprah during a campaign event in September.
Some found the bit outright absurd, while others were convinced it would pull moderates and some Republicans to Harris’s side. Unfortunately, while Harris still has her gun, she will not be standing her ground in the White House. — NMR
“It would depend on the hypothetical but we can see that could well be an official act.” — Trump lawyer D. John Sauer, arguing before the Supreme Court that the president could order the assassination of his political opponents and be immune from prosecution
This year, the Supreme Court handed down what could become one of the most consequential decisions in its history: granting presidents immunity from prosecution over “official” acts taken while in office.
The ruling in itself is a time bomb, one that effectively allows presidents to be criminals while in office — as long as they can come up with a plausible “official” rationale for their actions and act through the levers of power at their disposal. During oral arguments in April, when Justice Sonya Sotomayor asked Trump attorney D. John Sauer whether “a president who ordered SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival” would “be subject to criminal prosecution.”
“It would depend on the hypothetical but we can see that could well be an official act,” Sauer responded.
The absurdity of the claim did not dissuade the conservatives of the court from ruling 6-3 in his favor in July. The ruling through the criminal cases against Trump into flux, and the Justice Department has since dropped both of theirs. — NMR
“Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states.” — Donald Trump
There are myriad reasons, too many to list, why the incoming Trump administration poses a threat to our democracy, but the president-elect’s role in decimating Roe v. Wade already gave us insight of how our once-assumed inalienable rights and freedoms can be crushed under his vision. Trump is delusional, though, believing he’s done women a favor by helping axe the federal right to abortion.
During a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, in September, Trump claimed women will be better off should he be reelected, claiming, “Women will be happy, healthy, confident, and free. You will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it always had to be, with the states.”
Women have been thinking plenty about abortion since Trump’s Supreme Court killed Roe in 2023, allowing states to ban the procedure. Many conservatives ones have, some even in cases of rape, incest, or when abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother. Meanwhile, 63 percent of U.S. adults in a Pew Research Center survey say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. — AL
“Gerry’s a young 74.” — Don Beyer
Joe Biden tanked Democrats’ chances to hold onto the White House by waiting until the end of July to drop out of the race despite clearly being too old to compete. Biden’s demise, as well as the nation’s dissatisfaction with establishment politicians, should have led the party to do some soul searching about its leadership. It isn’t really happening, though. House Democrats overwhelmingly voted for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to become the new ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. Connolly is 74 years old and was recently diagnosed with cancer, while AOC is a popular, progressive 35-year-old who has brought plenty of energy to her committee assignments. Rep. Don Beyer, Connolly’s fellow 74-year-old representative from Virginia, tried to spin the decision by claiming: “Gerry’s a young 74.” — RB
“It is a red line, but I’m never going to leave Israel.” — Joe Biden
Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led groups killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took 254 people hostage, Israel has led a brutal assault and near-total blockade on Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, millions have been forcibly displaced under orders of evacuation, and populations in northern Gaza are at imminent risk of famine.
President Joe Biden has periodically called on Israel to permit in more aid and enact temporary cease-fires, but he and his administration have continued to both financially and rhetorically support the Israeli war. In March, five months into the war, for the briefest moment, it seemed that posture could change, as Biden warned Israel not to invade Rafah in southern Gaza — a maneuver that would force displaced Gazans to flee once again. He called it a “red line,” before immediately backtracking. “It is a red line, but I’m never going to leave Israel,” Biden said. “The defense of Israel is still critical. So there’s no red line [at which] I’m going to cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not ultimately heed Biden’s warning, at first launching a limited invasion. Biden issued a new warning in May: “If they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities — that deal with that problem.” Those threats were ignored, too, and Israel has laid siege to Rafah. The war has continued, with U.S. support, and may well outlast Biden’s presidency. — AP
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” — Donald Trump
Donald Trump ascended to deified status among his supporters when during a July 13 rally he survived an assassination attempt.
After a sniper’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump dropped to the ground before rising amid a gaggle of Secret Service agents attempting to rush him off of the rally stage. Raising a defiant fist, a bloody Trump shouted the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” to the panicked crowd.
The image of the moment, and Trump’s rallying cry, became iconic overnight, with his supporters declaring that God himself had spared Trump from death. Trump has made hay off of the incident in more ways than one. He’s currently selling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” assassination attempt sneakers, cologne, and more. — NMR
