Quotes from Bill Clinton

Oh, and stay out of our elections. After I speak tomorrow, you'll have all you can handle to keep rigging your own.

It might have been a problem if they'd all attacked at once, coming from different directions. She would have taken them all out, but it would have required more ammunition and probably made more noise. It's always easier just to take out the leader. If there is nothing else to learn from history, it's that from humans to animals, from the most primitive to the most civilized, most individuals want to be led. Take out the leader, and the rest of the pack panics.

Oh, and stay out of our elections.

Headed for the exit," she hears through the earbud. "Teams 1 and 2, go," she says. "Team 3, hold ready." "Team 1, that's a go," comes the response. "Team 2, that's a go." "Team 3 holding ready.

The Glock is lighter by a good measure than the Beretta I was trained on, with a better grip, and I've heard it's accurate, but weapons are like cars—you know they have standard stuff like lights and an ignition and windshield wipers, but it still takes a few seconds to figure them out when they're unfamiliar. So I burn precious moments getting a feel for it before I'm ready to point and shoot—

ruthless, yes, but not reckless.

When Sun Tzu said, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," he had a point.

You are carrying the future of America in your heart and your mind. So live your dreams and remember, whatever you choose to do with your life, you must also be a citizen of your country, your n ation, and our interdependent world. Because while our differences make life more fascinating, our common humanity matters more.

Do not ever test me again, Andrei," I say. "Oh, and stay out of our elections. After I speak tomorrow, you'll have all you can handle to keep rigging your own. Now get the hell out of my country.

What does it mean to be an American today? It's a question that will answer itself if we get back to what's brought us this far: widening the circle of opportunity, deepening the meaning of freedom, and strengthening bonds of community. Shrinking the definition of them and expanding the definition of us. Leaving no one behind, left out, looked down on.

I close the door and plug the secure line into my laptop and pull up the triumvirate of Carolyn Brock, Liz Greenfield, and Sam Haber of Homeland Security on a three-way split screen.

And it's been a long time since she's "felt like herself," as Americans would say. At most, she has an occasional window of relaxation. But the longer she stays in this line of work and the more times she reinvents herself—replacing one facade with another, sometimes lingering in shadow, sometimes hiding in plain sight—the less she remembers her true self or even the concept of having her own identity. That will change soon, a vow she has made to herself.

Our democracy cannot survive its current downward drift into tribalism, extremism, and seething resentment. Today it's "us versus them" in America. Politics is little more than blood sport. As a result, our willingness to believe the worst about everyone outside our own bubble is growing, and our ability to solve problems and seize opportunities is shrinking.

Foot forward, weight forward, stop and listen. Foot forward, weight forward, stop and listen.

Even on the bad days, there's always something good you can do.

She is buttoned-up as always, a smart suit, dark hair pulled back, never letting her guard down while on camera. Her job, she has told me more than once, is not to make friends with the staff but to keep them organized, praise good work, and sweat the details so I can focus on the hard, big stuff.

I let out air, nod my head. "Hey." Danny gets up from his chair and sits down next to me on the couch. He lightly punches my knee. "Being in charge isn't being alone. I'm right here. Same place I've always been, no matter what your title is. Same place I'll always be." "Yeah, I—I know." I look at him. "I know that.

The eight members of Congress on his side are all in safe congressional districts, gerrymandered so cartoonishly that they could probably drop their pants in the middle of the hearing, start sucking their thumbs, and not only would they be reelected in two years, they would also run unopposed.

Yes, NATO's expansion to the borders of Russia is of great concern to them. But in Russia's eyes, and of course I mean no disrespect, Juergen—but in Russia's eyes, when it sees NATO, it sees America. America, first and foremost, and then its allies.

Take out the leader, and the rest of the pack panics.

There was a time when that statement, from a president to a House Speaker, would be enough. Those days are long in the rearview mirror.

You boys aren't rich enough to afford not to pay attention.

Chancellor Juergen Richter sits with his one aide, a fair-haired young man named Dieter Kohl, the head of Germany's BND, its international intelligence service. Prime Minister Noya Baram brought her chief of staff, a stout, formal, older man who once served as a general in the Israeli army.

Mr. Prime Minister," I say, standing alone on the driveway, my hand extended. "Mr. President." His expression implacable, his dark eyes peering into mine, he shakes my hand with an iron grip. He is dressed in a black suit and a tie that is a solid blue on the top half, red on the bottom, two-thirds of the Russian flag.