Free Republic

Lawmakers in both parties are expressing growing openness, both in public and in private, to a bipartisan deal to elect a House speaker as Republicans are continually thwarted in their efforts to do it alone.----- What we're hearing: A bipartisan group of roughly ten House lawmakers is quietly holding "very" serious discussions, a moderate Republican involved in the discussions told Axios on the condition of anonymity."The question is who gets you to the largest minority of the majority," the GOP lawmaker said. "Is it Don Bacon, who gets 20 [GOP] votes and 200 Democrats? Is it French Hill who gets...

.......“I said, ‘Wait a minute, Hezbollah is very smart. They’re all very smart. — The press doesn’t like it when I say that. Trump reiterated his claim that Netanyahu backed out at the last minute from actively taking part in the killing...... “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing. We were very disappointed, but we did the job ourselves, and it was absolute precision, magnificent, beautiful job,” he said. “Then Bibi tried to take credit for it. That didn’t make me feel too good. But that’s all right.”Israeli officials denied that Israel...

British officials have engaged in diplomatic discussions with key Kremlin representatives concerning global security amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict, the i newspaper reports.The discreet meetings have transpired over the last 18 months, occurring in various locales such as Vienna and New York, as part of behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts. The discussions have primarily revolved around security concerns impacting both the UK and the international community, encompassing topics such as grain shortages and nuclear safety. But the UK has not actively pursued peace negotiations aimed at a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, as confirmed by a senior British diplomat who participated in...

Walt Disney chief Bob Iger has hinted at a possible ceasefire in the culture war between the global media and entertainment conglomerate and its socially conservative critics — telling investors the company will “quiet the noise,” according to an analyst report obtained by Reuters. The CEO’s new strategy comes as Disney (NYSE: DIS) remains at legal loggerheads with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a dispute that kicked off when the entertainment giant protested the state’s so-called “Don't Say Gay” bill, which banned classroom discussion of sexual orientation or general identity for Florida public school students between kindergarten and Grade 3.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is signaling she is likely to endorse Ron DeSantis for president, a move that would give him the support of a popular conservative leader as he looks to close the gap against frontrunner Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.Article at Bloomberg not allowed on FR

WASHINGTON — The White House’s go-to Republican critic of the impeachment inquiry into President Biden is considering leaving Congress for a new job — and expressed interest in being an on-air commentator for CNN, The Post has learned.Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), a five-term fiscal hawk, has surprised fellow conservatives by repeatedly criticizing the probe launched last week into Biden’s alleged corruption, including with a Sept. 15 Washington Post op-ed that other Republicans said included glaring inaccuracies.

......" In the lead-up to the 2020 election, an Emerson poll suggested that Trump was poised to win one out of every five Black voters, only to secure a mere 8 percent of the Black vote that year." ...So, why do some on the Right insist on peddling this pipe dream? Beyond the allure of clicks, this narrative distracts Republicans from far more compelling evidence showing Trump losing support among White voters.... Our team analyzed every poll with publicly available crosstabs featured in RealClearPolitics in the month of August. Seven out of the nine studies showed Trump performing well below...

"I think the RNC has been good to me," Trump told "Greg Kelly Reports." "I really do. I think Ronna is a very good person. We've gotten along for a long time. She ran my whole Michigan area when I won Michigan in 2016. I then did much better in 2020 than I did in 2016, but that's another story."But she ran Michigan, and she won. And because of that, I was instrumental in getting her to head the RNC. She's a very good person."

Fox News’s first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential election exceeded expectations and brought in 12.8 million total viewers, according to data released by Nielsen ratings....Former President Donald Trump, who skipped Wednesday night’s debate to join Tucker Carlson for some counter-programming, claimed early Thursday morning he eclipsed all of television: “President Donald J. Trump’s blockbuster interview with Tucker Carlson reached over 100 million views on X less than 4 hours after premiering on the platform,” read a release from his campaign PAC, ....Of course, that’s not the whole story as “views” on Twitter are not remotely comparable to cable news...

Here it is:

Former President Donald Trump is getting blasted from both sides of the aisle for palling around with conservative provocateur Laura Loomer at his golf club over the weekend.Loomer posted a video and a handful of photos of herself and Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, during the LIV golf tournament."Today was the best day of my life," Loomer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sunday. "I got to spend the entire day with the greatest President our country has ever had: DONALD J TRUMP!"

Former President Donald Trump’s political action committee, which began last year with $105 million, now has less than $4 million left in its account after paying tens of millions of dollars in legal fees for Trump and his associates. The dwindling cash reserves in Trump’s PAC, called Save America, have fallen to such levels that the group has made the highly unusual request of a $60 million refund of a donation it had previously sent to a pro-Trump super PAC. This money had been intended for television commercials to help Trump’s candidacy, but as he is the dominant front-runner for...

The Hunter Biden plea deal is DEAD after the judge expressed MAJOR concerns about the pretrial diversion program for Hunter's felony gun charge that would wipe out additional tax charges.https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1684227957550612480?s=20

2024 GENERAL ELECTION President Biden leads former President Trump 49 - 44 percent in a hypothetical general election matchup among registered voters. This is essentially unchanged from June, when Biden had a slight lead over Trump, 48 - 44 percent.BIDEN Americans give President Biden a negative 38 - 54 percent job approval rating, compared to a negative 41 - 54 percent job approval rating in June.Registered voters give him a negative 40 - 53 percent job approval rating compared to a negative 42 - 54 percent job approval rating in June.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he's no longer using the term "ESG" (environment, social and governance) because it is being politically "weaponized" and he's "ashamed" to be part of the debate on the issue. What's new: In a conversation at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Sunday, Fink acknowledged that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision to pull $2 billion in assets hurt his firm in 2022, but made clear last year was his company's best with net flows of $200 billion from U.S. clients.What he's saying: "I'm ashamed of being part of this conversation," Fink said."When I write these [investment] letters,...

"...this sounds pretty whiny for a first-look official campaign ad. The script for it amplifies that quality, as it sounds as though Trump wrote it himself. “Struggling big-time,” “failing so bad,” “Trump’s support was so powerful,” and so on. It’s comic-book language for a comic-book grudge. Everything about this ad is about Trump’s personal affront, and nothing — not a single word — is about the issues of the day, policies Trump wants to implement, or even voters themselves. It’s sixty seconds of personal butt-hurt, broadcast nationally."

Just 24% of Americans surveyed have positive views of the Make America Great Again movement in a new national NBC News poll.President Donald Trump is still unpopular and so is the political movement created in his image, according to a new national NBC News poll. The Make America Great Again, or ‘MAGA,’ movement, which takes its name from Trump’s first campaign slogan, was the least popular individual or group tested in the new survey. Just 24% of Americans have positive views of the movement, while 45% voice negative views. These numbers come as President Joe Biden made Trump — and...

I see that everybody is talking about the Republican Debates, but nobody got my approval, or the approval of the Trump Campaign, before announcing them. When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the “questions,” why subject yourself to being libeled and abused? Also, the Second Debate is being held at the Reagan Library, the Chairman of which is, amazingly, Fred Ryan, Publisher of The Washington Post. NO!

A super PAC supporting Ron DeSantis has a suggestion for Donald Trump.NEVER BACK DOWN is telling the former President that if he doesn’t love Florida, he ought to get as far away as possible.“Donald Trump has so deeply disparaged the state of Florida by calling it the ‘worst state,’ we at Never Back Down will help him leave by offering financial assistance to help him move to his beloved California, so he can be close to his good buddy Gavin Newsom, whom he loves so intensely and gets along with so well.”“The good news is that since so many people...