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Yes, they really said that. From ‘love is love is love’ to ‘deplorables,’ notable quotes from 2016

Donald Trump speaks at his campaign rally at the Henderson Pavilion in Henderson, Nev., on Oct. 5.
Donald Trump speaks at his campaign rally at the Henderson Pavilion in Henderson, Nev., on Oct. 5.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Donald Trump wasn’t the only one to make quotable quotes this year. Even so, we couldn’t resist reprising remarks from the president-elect as we look back on what was said in 2016.

I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.

— Donald Trump

...there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.

— James B. Comey, FBI director, on Hillary Clinton and her State Department colleagues

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When they go low, we go high.

— Michelle Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

I accept responsibility for my role in this happening and have learned some valuable lessons.

— Ryan Lochte, on falsely saying he and fellow swimmers were robbed at gunpoint at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics

This is biblical.

— Josh Boogaerts, of French Settlement, La., on the floodwaters that inundated the town

You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables.’

— Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton addresses her supporters at a rally in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hillary Clinton addresses her supporters at a rally in Brooklyn, N.Y.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )
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I could see bodies everywhere. I could see children with crayons in their hands, dead.

— Afraa Hashem, a principal in Aleppo, Syria, on the aftermath of a school hit by a missile

I alone can fix it.

— Donald Trump

Have you even read the United States Constitution? ... You have sacrificed nothing and no one.

— Khizr Khan, addressing Donald Trump

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Looks like Ted Cruz was right about one thing. Trump does not understand what the Constitution is about.

— Bernie Sanders

Climate change is real, it is happening right now.

— Leonardo Di Caprio, at the Oscars

Yeah, I have a lot of bullets.

— Omar Mateen, in a phone call with police on the night he gunned down 49 people at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub

Thousands gather for a memorial service in downtown Orlando to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack.
Thousands gather for a memorial service in downtown Orlando to honor those killed and wounded in the Pulse nightclub attack.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

The GOP platform opposes allowing women in combat. I have a question for the committee: Where do you think I lost my legs — in a bar fight?

— Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm in the Iraq War.

We’re voting with our middle finger.

— John Baldwin, a used-car dealer from Greenville, S.C., on voting for Donald Trump

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I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds.

— Jeb Bush, on dropping out of the race for president

I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles.

— Simone Biles, Olympic gymnast

I don’t really know how many bullets from my gun went inside their bodies.

— Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, confirming that he killed three people as a mayor

Lucifer in the flesh.

— John A. Boehner, former House speaker, on Texas Sen. Ted Cruz

It feels like 17 million people voted that they don’t want me here. Like we are unwanted and some kind of European scum.

— Andrea Vidmar, a hairstylist from Croatia living in Britain, after the “Brexit” vote

I’ve tried everywhere, the police, hospitals and Facebook. Where’s my son?

— Tahar Mejri, who later learned his 4-year-old son, Kylian, died in the terror attack in Nice, France

And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.

— Lin-Manuel Miranda, reading a poem about the Orlando massacre at the Tony Awards

Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lin-Manuel Miranda
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

That’s ridiculous that you would connect walking around with arms to violence. That’s what keeps it peaceful.

— Ammon Bundy, one of the armed protesters occupying a federal wildlife refugee in Oregon

Who would ever imagine something like this here in Brussels?

— Jhon Jairo Valderrama, Colombian immigrant to Belgium, on the terror attack at the Brussels airport

Nidhi Chaphekar, a 40-year-old Jet Airways flight attendant from Mumbai, right, and an unidentified woman sit on chairs after being wounded in explosions at the airport in Brussels, Belgium.
Nidhi Chaphekar, a 40-year-old Jet Airways flight attendant from Mumbai, right, and an unidentified woman sit on chairs after being wounded in explosions at the airport in Brussels, Belgium.
(Ketevan Kardava / Associated Press )

There has been a vicious, calculated and despicable attack on law enforcement.

— President Obama, after five police officers were killed in Dallas

Enough! Donald Trump should not be president. He should withdraw.

— Condoleezza Rice

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I am your voice.

— Donald Trump

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