Dick Morris Quotes

Because of the term ‘whip’, it is assumed that members can be beaten into submission, but I’ve seldom seen that be successful. It’s getting to know the individual, what they think, how they feel, what’s going on in their personal life, are they agonizers or quick deciders, what kind of leverage can be used with them or on them.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Jimmy Carter wants to speak loudly and carry a fly swatter.

You call that statesmanship. I call it an emotional spasm.

I will deal with the politicians in a political way and with the nonpoliticians in a nonpolitical way.

You've seen President Trump act decisively when it comes to Syria. It didn't take him long to pull the trigger in regard to a response to the chemical attack. That's a decisive leader and that's who the G20 leaders saw in Hamburg, as someone who is decisive, someone who is not afraid, someone who doesn't kowtow, and stands up for himself when it comes to issues of disagreement like trade and the Paris agreement.

A pragmatic sense of what will and will not play politically is a critical skill of a negotiator.

You don’t go for a vote in the Security Council unless you know that you have the votes to win.

Donald Trump's leadership, decision-making and problem solving will restore America's role as the undeniable and unquestioned world leader.

Politics is all a matter of timing.

Foreign policy exactly suits Obama's strong points as a leader, which turn out not to be giving the masses a clear sense of direction and hope, but instead exercising good judgment on a case-by-case basis while thinking many steps ahead of the present moment.

I think there's a lot of folks who believe that this is a time that Democrats have to fight fire with fire. As a guy who ran a fire department, that's not a really good strategy.

Margaret Thatcher and John Major knew that bluff and bravado doesn't work in Brussels.

If you're a politician, you can see there might be times when, to secure the greater good, you have to take a backwards step. That is a matter of tactics.

The skills necessary to change nappies or negotiate Brexit are obviously very different, but both involve a great deal of trust in the competence of the people doing the job.

Leadership is important in politics.

President Obama has proven himself to be a terrible negotiator. I don't support any trade deal negotiated by his administration.

I've sat down with Donald Trump in an hour-and-a-half-long meeting with several of the representatives; he was very engaging. He listened to our concerns and our thoughts. I find him very parental.

I think a great negotiator is an aggressive negotiator, and we're aggressive negotiators, We're not worried about someone coming at us.

My goal is to be the tough negotiator but... not to air differences through press releases.

I don't think you negotiate with people by going around telling them that they're like Nazi guards or it's all about prosecco.

There isn't but this is, in some ways, perhaps, a useful distraction from other things, giving [Donald Trump] more space to make his decisions as unusual the process is because he's making them in public.

This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.

The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions. Not me. I don't want to be a manager or a dictator. I want to be a leader-and leadership is ongoing, adjustable, flexible, and dynamic. As such, leaders have to maintain a certain amount of discretion

I've learned one thing in politics. You don't take a decision until you have to.

President Karzai is an incredibly kind and decent man. I had the pleasure of meeting him, and he genuinely cares for his people. But I think he had too much of a tendency to want to rule by listening to all voices at all times.