Stuart Rothenberg: “One final point should not be missed: Even with his impending defeat, Trump’s performance is mind-boggling. Given his campaign style, obvious personality issues, middle-of-the-night tweets, lack of knowledge, amateurish campaign, thin-skinned reaction to criticism and generally inappropriate comments about many people and groups, it is surprising that he will receive as many votes as he will.”

“Trump’s showing in the polls, though he will probably fall short on Election Day, confirms the deep fissure in the country and suggests that the next few years will not be any easier than the past few.”

Bret Stephens: “It’s normal that elections make fierce partisans of many of us. It’s normal that Mr. Trump would attract the usual right-wing buffoons to his banners. Normal, also, is that many voters may not be troubled by Mr. Trump’s cruder statements when they hear him addressing their deepest economic and social anxieties.”

“What isn’t normal is the ease with which so many conservative leaders, political and intellectual, have prostrated themselves before Mr. Trump simply because he won.”

“What all this shows is that most conservative intellectuals have proved incapable of self-examination or even simple observation. Donald Trump is a demagogue. Period. The fervor of his crowds recalls Nasser’s Egypt. His convictions are illiberal. His manners are disgusting. His temper is frightening. It ought to have been the job of thoughtful conservatives in this season to point this out, time and again. If they can’t do that, what good are they?”

Donald Trump, in the last hours of his presidential campaign, told the Wall Street Journal that he and his family took some “unfair hits” during the effort, but that he would do it all over again.

Said Trump: “Nobody understood the message but me. Nobody got it. I’m not sure they still understand it. Watch what happens on Tuesday. We’ll going to win bigger than people think, because the American public is tired of incompetence.”

After what he predicted would be a win, Trump said he would celebrate for “about an hour. Then I’ll get up Wednesday morning, and start working so hard immediately.”

“Hillary Clinton is guilty. She knows it, the FBI knows it, the people know. … And now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box on Nov. 8.”

— Donald Trump, quoted by the Associated Press.

NBC News: “Among the names being considered, according to conversations with three campaign advisers who requested anonymity to speak freely: Rudy Giuliani for attorney general, Newt Gingrich for secretary of state, retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn for defense secretary or national security adviser, Trump finance chairman Steve Mnuchin for Treasury secretary, and Republican National Committee finance chair Lew Eisenberg for commerce secretary.”

“Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a loyal supporter, has taken a major role managing the transition effort, especially as the official transition chief, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has drifted from the campaign. It’s not clear Christie is being considered for a significant role in a potential administration either.”

“Reince Priebus, the current RNC chairman, is under consideration as Trump’s chief of staff.”

Donald Trump ends his campaign with ad bashing the political establishment and “corrupt machine.”

“They’re so much more brave than me. I wouldn’t have done what they did. I’m brave in other ways — I’m financially brave.”

— Donald Trump, quoted by the Washington Examiner, while paying tribute to seven Medal of Honor recepients who have endorsed him.

“If you try to apply conventional political wisdom to Donald Trump you lose every time.”

— Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, interviewed on Morning Joe.

“Donald Trump’s presidential transition team has kicked into higher gear as the race for the White House tightens, with a team of conservative Washington policy wonks fleshing out plans to dismantle President Barack Obama’s legacy,” Politico reports.

“What once seemed like a futile exercise in preparing for a government that might never be is suddenly becoming very real for the 100-plus Republicans on Trump’s transition team. The group — made up of an unlikely hodgepodge of conservative think tank fellows, former Mitt Romney advisers and die-hard Trump supporters — has been working at a frenzied pace to put the finishing touches on a road map for the nominee’s first 100 days.”