Free Republic

Anyone who a year ago picked Donald Trump and Ted Cruz to be the two leading Republican candidates heading into the Iowa Caucuses either (i) is a liar, or (ii) should invest heavily in the lottery because they are beyond lucky. Certainly, the powers that be in the Republican Party were not expecting it. Here's what a Fox News poll looked like in January 2015: ***snip*** The pollster didn't even bother to ask about Trump. And Cruz was in low single digits. Now Trump is on top in the national polls and Cruz is in second place. In Iowa, three...

Consider these quotes from the New York Times: "[Trump's] got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker," said Bob Dole, the former Republican senator and 1996 presidential candidate. Bob Dole opposed Ronald Reagan in 1980, calling him a fringe candidate who'd destroy the GOP. That's what he is saying about Ted Cruz now. "We can live with Trump," said Richard F. Hohlt, a veteran lobbyist, reflecting his colleagues' sentiment at a Republican National Committee meeting last week in Charleston, S.C. "Do they all love Trump? No. But there's a feeling that he is not going to layer over...

The National Review, the very legacy of William F. Buckley, has put out two hard-hitting pieces regarding the candidacy and possible nomination of Donald J. Trump as the Republican choice for president. While neither piece is going to be very persuasive to the crowd of Trump bandwagoners both among the populace and the media, they are nonetheless a line in the sand regarding unprincipled Republicanism and Conservatism. It is a line where many of us on the Right will make our stand, not because we are part of some great Establishment or RINOs, but because we believe in what we...

http://therightscoop.com/ted-cruz-hammers-trump-on-eminent-domain-in-new-tv-ad-video/This is actually a pretty good ad exposing how Trump has used eminent domain to bulldoze an elderly woman's home to create a limo parking lot for his casino:

Rep. Pete King: 'I Don't See Malice in Trump like I see with Cruz.' For everybody shouting this is now an Establishment newsletter... I'd argue that in Washington's coming blizzard of the century, when we're all reduced to cannibalism, we eat the Establishment first: This week, the New York Times quoted another major Republican figure -- former Senate majority leader and presidential nominee Robert J. Dole -- as saying he would prefer Trump to Cruz. "Nobody likes him," Dole said of Cruz, adding that the senator would bring on a "cataclysmic" loss as the GOP's nominee. Many have decided that...

What if the real problem is defeatism? The Republican establishment has been spooked for some time by a media that puts every objection to Obama's agenda in the worst possible light, as well as by the narrative of irreversible demographic and cultural change. Despite favorable off-year contests, Obama's re-election in the face of expectations to the contrary has taken its toll. Undoubtedly, serious differences of interest and conviction play a role in Republican divisions, and politicians will always tend to run from risky battles. But the abject surrender of congressional Republican leaders goes well beyond ordinary political caution to defeatism...

On Fox News on Thursday, host Megyn Kelly had several guests on to discuss Donald Trump in light of the new "Against Trump" issue of National Review. Radio and Television host and long-time tea party star Dana Loesch was among the many panelists. In the coming days, National Review will have their own conservative credibility questioned. Along the same lines, Loesch was asked about the conservative and, more specifically, tea party cred, and whether The Donald has any. In her answers, Loesch candidly and passionately made her case that he has none at all. "I didn't stand out, I didn't...

On Fox News on Thursday, host Megyn Kelly had several guests on to discuss Donald Trump in light of the new "Against Trump" issue of National Review. Radio and Television host and long-time tea party star Dana Loesch was among the many panelists. In the coming days, National Review will have their own conservative credibility questioned. Along the same lines, Loesch was asked about the conservative and, more specifically, tea party cred, and whether The Donald has any. In her answers, Loesch candidly and passionately made her case that he has none at all. "I didn't stand out, I didn't...

Donald Trump leads the polls nationally and in most states in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. There are understandable reasons for his eminence, and he has shown impressive gut-level skill as a campaigner. But he is not deserving of conservative support in the caucuses and primaries. Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones. Trump's political opinions have wobbled all over the lot. The real-estate mogul and reality-TV star has supported abortion, gun control, single-payer health care à la...

Mark Levin deserves a ton of credit for the work he has done in the last couple of weeks. Although he was initially pretty friendly to Trump, the disgusting liberal Democrat attacks that Trump has started against Ted Cruz have made Levin realize what a snake Trump is, and he has called out Trump accordingly. Unlike certain other talk radio figures, Levin has always been willing to frankly admit error, and when he does so, his anger can be a sight to behold. Well, Levin revealed today on air that one of the campaigns has been digging around for dirt...

A lot of differences in these polls are based on how tightly polls are screening voters. Looser screens help Bernie & Trump. For instance, the CNN poll implies a turnout of about 320K in the Iowa GOP caucus, versus ~120K in 2012. There are sometimes reasons to prefer looser screens. It can be hard to predict who will vote. Also, self-selection in who responds to poll.

Mark Levin is growing steadily angrier at Trump, saying tonight he's acting very "Nixonian," running an "Alinskyite" campaign, and straight-up lying about Ted Cruz. Levin has been criticizing Trump a lot recently, but tonight he took it to a whole new level, declaring, "If he becomes the nominee, a lot of people who otherwise would unite under that tent may not, because when you run a campaign of personal attacks, an Alinskyite campaign, wittingly or unwittingly, you turn people off." He's really tired of Trump's attacks on Cruz over his bank loans, Canadian birth, supposed unlikeability, etc. Levin is no...

Just like all the other conservative positions that Donald Trump allegedly holds, the evidence is mounting that he has been an immigration hardliner for about five minutes. Courtesy of Ann Coulter, who somehow thought this would help Trump, here is a tweet from Donald Trump in 2013, explaining that his position is exactly the same as Marco Rubio's:

Via the Blaze, I was going to write a post about her blaming PTSD -- and Obama -- for her son's domestic violence arrest but I can't get past the first line of the clip below. The candidate who'll respect what our veterans go through is the guy who ... mocked her former running mate's heroism in enduring the Hanoi Hilton because he had the misfortune of being captured in the first place? Palin circa 2009 would have destroyed Trump for that. Palin 2016 doesn't blink. Increasingly I feel like the Trump campaign is a test to see how far...

Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin explained why Donald Trump, the supposed anti-establishment candidate, is siding with the establishment on the ethanol mandate. It has everything to do with trying to pander for votes. Levin explained what crony capitalism is. That it is the state picking winners at the expense of others. In the case of ethanol they have made it mandatory in cars, even though it is proven that it does not reduce oil usage, because oil is needed for the production of ethanol. That it hurts engines. The most damaging thing that ethanol does, according to Levin is add...

Today we saw someone who was once a rising star in the conservative world explode in an inglorious display of crass opportunism. Sarah Palin, that darling of a failed John McCain presidential bid, has resurfaced to throw her voice and her support behind the gilded toad of the GOP, Donald Trump. Where she was once a strong Tea Party leader, promoting free market ideas, limited government, and power back in the hands of the people, today she forsook it all, in favor of a big government, foul mouthed, Wall Street liberal with atrocious hair. Far too often, we see that...

link to articleTrump was shocked that Cruz came out against ethanol subsidies because that's the only way you can win Iowa: But he's very happy to announce an endorsement from Sarah Palin, who called to end ALL energy subsidies in 2011: Asked Tuesday whether she supports the federal subsidy of ethanol, an always critical issue in the presidential nominating cycle, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went one step further and called for the elimination of all energy subsidies. "I think that all of our energy subsidies need to be relooked at today and eliminated," Palin told RCP during a quick...

Within the last nine months, Donald Trump has mocked a disabled reporter for his disability, suggested that Megyn Kelly was on her period during the course of a debate, made fun of Carly Fiorina's looks, and called the entirety of the Republican leadership "stupid" more times than I can count. Now he is bashing Ted Cruz for - I kid you not - having bad manners with an esteemed member of the Republican Establishment: "Ted has got a rough temperament, you can't call people liars on the Senate floor when they are your leaders. Not a good thing to do...

RUSH: About Trump supporters - "I don't think they care whether the person's a conservative, liberal, or a Martian" So... There you have it... Trying to convince the Trumpites that the Donald isn't a conservative is a futile effort. They already know it and they don't care. And now we know - without a doubt - that Palin doesn't either. Personally, I never thought much of Palin one way or the other. That she's also an opportunist, really doesn't surprise.

This makes me think it is Palin who's going to endorse Trump today and that Team Cruz knows it. Otherwise Rick Tyler would have answered this question differently, in spokesman-ese. You know how it goes: "Oh, listen, I'm not going to speculate about who's endorsing who. Ted Cruz admires Governor Palin, she and Ted Cruz have been allies since he joined the Senate, but endorsements aren't going to win this race. Iowans are going to decide based on who has the better record standing up to the Washington cartel and that's obviously Senator Cruz." He doesn't say that. What he's...