Meryl Streep, Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Mitch McConnell, and more
Highlights from speeches at the Golden Globe Awards on January 8, 2017 (including Jimmy Fallon, Meryl Streep, and more), plus quotes about the executive branch nomination confirmation hearings.
“This is one of the places where we still honor the popular vote... A lot of people wonder what would have happened if [Game of Thrones’] King Joffrey lived. Well, in twelve days, we’re going to find out.”
– Jimmy Fallon, opening monologue at the 74th Golden Globe Awards, January 8, 2017
“I won this at the last-ever Golden Globes. I don’t mean to be gloomy. It’s just that it has the words ‘Hollywood,’ ‘Foreign,’ and ‘Press’ in the title. I also think that to some Republicans, the word ‘Association" is even a bit sketchy...”
– Hugh Laurie, accepting the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for The Night Manager, January 8, 2017
“I will, believe it or not, remove Trump from the equation, because it’s bigger than him. I believe that it is our responsibility to uphold what it is to be an American, and what America is about. And the true meaning of what it means to pursue the American Dream. I think that America in and of itself has been an affirmation, but I think we’ve fallen short a lot because there is no way that we can have anyone in office that is not an extension of our own belief system. So then, what does that say about us? And I think that, if you answer that question, I think that that says it all.”
– Viola Davis, accepting the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for Fences, January 8, 2017
“You make me proud to be an artist. You make me feel that what I have in me, my body, my face, my age, is enough. You encapsulate that great Émile Zola quote that if you ask me as an artist what I came into this world to do, I, an artist, would say, I came to live out loud.”
– Viola Davis, introducing Meryl Streep to present her with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Outstanding Contributions to the World of Entertainment at the Golden Globes, January 8, 2017
“We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call [Donald Trump] on the carpet for every outrage. That’s why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in the Constitution. So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood Foreign Press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the Committee to Protect Journalists, because we’re gonna need them going forward, and they’ll need us to safeguard the truth.”
– Meryl Streep, accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award, January 8, 2017
“Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time, I never ‘mocked’ a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him ‘groveling’ when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!”
– President-elect Donald Trump’s latest unhinged Twitter tirade, January 9, 2017. Three Twitter posts have been concatenated for this quote with ellipses omitted. Here’s the video of Trump mocking the reporter with context. None of Trump’s rants and attacks on others have included these same gestures that he continues to claim weren’t intended to mock the disabled journalist.
“Why don’t you believe him? Why is everything taken at face value? You can’t give him the benefit of the doubt on this, and he’s telling you what was in his heart? You always want to go by what’s come out of his mouth rather than look at what’s in his heart.”
– Kellyanne Conway, Campaign Manager for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and newly-appointed Counselor to the President, defending her boss following Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes January 9, 2017
“The short answer to Conway’s question is no, we can’t give him the benefit of the doubt because of what’s in his heart. We can’t do this because the evidence so clearly shows a presidential candidate mocking a reporter’s physical disability. But mostly we can’t do this because we don’t know what’s in his heart, and any attempt to figure that out would amount to a value judgment. Think about it: If reporters are suddenly deputized to give the benefit of the doubt to politicians whose hearts they’ve evaluated as being good, there is basically no end to what that politician will be allowed to do. It’s a totally unworkable standard for anyone involved (and probably one that Republicans wouldn’t like). Conway is essentially asking for a permanent ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card because Trump has, in her estimation, a good heart.”
– Aaron Blake, Senior Political Report for The Fix in an editorial in The Washington Post, January 9, 2017
“In consultation with our Ranking Members, we reaffirm our commitment to conduct the appropriate review of these nominations…. Therefore, prior to considering any time agreements on the floor on any nominee, we expect the following standards will be met: … 2. The Office of Government Ethics letter is complete and submitted to the committee in time for review and prior to a committee hearing.”
– Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), then Senate Minority Leader, in a 2009 letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), February 12, 2009
“I am not aware of any occasion in the four decades since OGE was established when the Senate held a confirmation hearing before the nominee had completed the ethics review. In fact, OGE has not received even the initial draft financial disclosure reports for some of the [Donald Trump] nominees scheduled for hearings.”
– Walter M. Shaub, Jr., Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics in a January 6, 2017 letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in response to an inquiry to his office
“What did we do? We confirmed seven Cabinet appointments the day President Obama was sworn in. We didn’t like most of them, either. But he won the election. So all of these little procedural complaints are related to their frustration at having not only lost the White House, but having lost the Senate. I understand that. But we need to, sort of, grow up here and get past that.”
– Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), January 8, 2017, defending rushing confirmation of Trump appointees before their ethics reviews have been completed. President Obama’s nominees passed their ethics review before confirmation hearings and his administration has been notably scandal-free
“President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him. He’s chosen people who have been pretty scandal-free.”
– Conservative New York Times opinion writer David Brooks on PBS’ NewsHour, May 31, 2015
“Until these nominees have fully cooperated with the ethics review process, the hearings and confirmation schedule should not be rushed.”
– Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), January 8, 2017