Free Republic

Mitt Romney, George Bush 41 and George Bush 43, as well as other mainstream Republican party figures, are set to endorse Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson next week, say sources within the "Never Trump" movement and other disaffected Republicans. Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, is known for having balanced the budget during his 8 year tenure. The Libertarian's Vice presidential running mate is also a former Republican governor, William Weld of Massachusetts.

Donald Trump can be an effective president, and he’s going to win with you or without you, Republican Chairman Reince Priebus told several hundred of the party’s top donors and strategists Saturday. Trump is setting a dangerous example for Americans by promoting “trickle-down racism,” and the party must look beyond this presidential election to find its future, the 2012 nominee Mitt Romney told the same group later that morning. Delivered within moments of each other at Romney’s annual business and politics summit at a five-star ski resort, those opposite messages were enough to cause whiplash. That’s a hazard of being...

Cry me a river. Failed 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney was reportedly in tears when he told attendees of his Summit, which has been described as a “safe space” for the “Never Trump” smart set, that seeing Trump as the Republican nomination was breaking his heart. One wonders if Romney is really sad that Trump’s candidacy has resonated with working Americans more than his inflexible and robotic campaign ever did. Romney also reportedly ripped Ted Cruz and John Kasich for not taking on Trump harsh enough from the outset. But where was “tough guy” Romney when Trump was rising...

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate...

I’m so tired of the refrain that a critique of Mitt Romney’s work at Bain is “an attack on capitalism.” Capitalism means that you RISK capital, so that you will profit if things go well and you will incur a loss if things go poorly. Private equity firms, like Bain, are in the business of maximizing profit for investors (not to “create jobs” as characterized by Romney supporters), which is perfectly reasonable and legal. To do that, private equity firms often make investments then extract “consulting fees” and “special dividends” in excess of the original investment to ensure that no...