Free Republic

I wonder when the Trump backers will realize they’ve been had. The 2016 GOP campaign has been overwhelmed by Donald Trump’s celebrity persona, by the can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it appearances where he might say or do anything — and “anything” includes expletives, incitements, and assorted idiocies that would have been disqualifying in the bygone times of, oh, five or ten minutes ago. But Trump is not the real story of the campaign. The real story is the Republican base’s rejection of the Republican establishment — i.e., the party leaders, prominent pols, lobbyists, and donors who make up the GOP component of the Washington...

Politico reported today on a Florida poll conducted for a business group in the state that shows Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump by 13 points and Ted Cruz by nine. Why is that important? Because if Clinton wins Florida and carries the 19 states (plus D.C.) that have voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in each of the last six elections, she will be the 45th president. It's that simple. Politico reported today on a Florida poll conducted for a business group in the state that shows Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump by 13 points and Ted Cruz by nine....

Since Trump’s entirely predictable sweep of the liberal Republicans in the Eastern primaries, the conservative as well as liberal media under the banner of “Trump the Inevitable” have been endlessly repeating their wishful thinking that Cruz is officially DOA. Which brings to mind the truly hilarious spoof Cruz himself does on YouTube of the epic scene in “The Princess Bride” in which Billy Crystal as Miracle Max declares the Dread Pirate Roberts only “mostly dead.” But the Dread Pirate didn’t have the unpledged Republican Convention delegates, and Cruz just might. If the media clairvoyants who tally up delegate “projections” would...

Israel: Trump Is A Global Security ThreatBy Herb Brandon Israel News AgencyJerusalem, Israel — April 29, 2016 … Security analysts in Israel have long believed that Donald Trump’s candidacy was not real. It was started and restarted in recent years. Perhaps an excellent marketing campaign to brand his real estate properties. But as Trump now allocates more of his own money (actually not his, but being loaned to Trump with online donations) his demeanor as an aggressive, serious candidate is now transparent. His lack of seriousness in addressing both domestic and foreign issues is anything but serious. “Most alarming is...

The sudden appearance of Donald Trump on the political horizon last year may have been surprising, but not nearly as surprising as seeing some conservatives supporting him. Does Trump have conservative principles? Does he have any principles at all, other than promoting Donald Trump? A smorgasbord of political positions — none of them indicating any serious thought about complicated issues — is not a principle. Nor is cheering for himself and boasting about all the great things he is going to do as President. Haven't we seen this movie before? Wasn't Barack Obama going to heal the racial divide, end...

The Republican Party is now more hated than it's been in 24 years, new research shows - and it might be the fault of Donald Trump. In October, 37 percent of people polled had a favorable view of the Republican Party and 58 percent viewed it negatively. Now those numbers are 33 percent in favor and 62 percent against, according to data released by the Pew Research Center Thursday. That puts the party at its lowest point since 1992 - the latest point in a drop that has coincided with the rise of Trump.

In the swing states that matter most in the presidential race, Donald Trump doesn’t have a prayer against Hillary Clinton in the general election. That's according to top operatives, strategists and activists in 10 battleground states who participated in this week's POLITICO Caucus. Nearly 90 percent of them said Clinton would defeat Trump in their home states in a November match-up. Republicans are only slightly more bullish on Trump’s prospects than Democrats: More than three-quarters of GOP insiders expect Clinton to best the Republican front-runner in a general-election contest in their respective states. Among Democrats, the belief is nearly universal:...

We get it. John Boehner doesn’t like Ted Cruz. In a witless cheap shot, Boehner called him “Lucifer in the flesh” at an event at Stanford University. Boehner’s attitude is widespread among Republican insiders who are foolishly allowing personal ill will to cloud their reasoned judgment about who, among the candidates left in the GOP race, is the best representative of conservative principles and policies, and about who would be the best candidate in the upcoming general election. On both counts, Cruz is the obvious choice. Ted Cruz is a constitutional conservative dedicated to reducing the outsized federal government to...

So when the genius rips up trade agreements and a trade war erupts where will America be able to sell its exports when every country puts massive tariffs on all US goods as a result? Just wondering because he acts like they will all just grab their ankles and bend over...which they won't.

Donald Trump was asked this week, "Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy?" He replied, "I do. I do - including myself. I do." Yet Trump's own tax plan would cut the highest marginal federal income-tax rate from 39.6 percent to 25 percent. How does this tax plan square with Trump's newly professed support for "raising taxes on the wealthy"? This is similar to Trump's rampant inconsistency on Obamacare. Trump says he's for repealing Obamacare, but he's not for cutting Medicaid which, thanks to the efforts of those like John Kasich, accounts for most of Obamacare's coverage increases....

Los Angeles, CA — Axl Rose, lead singer of the legendary band Guns N Roses, has recently revealed to the world a secret he has kept to himself for over 45 years. He is a transgender man. He was born Willmena Rose, as a female. Axl Rose was born in 1962 to a 16-year-old Mother in Lafayette, Indiana. His birth name was Willmena Bruce Rose. Rose’s dad left the family soon after to pursue a career in drinking. At age 6, after Rose’s Mom remarried, Willmena began acting as boys do, eating dirt and throwing rocks properly. She began dressing...

Donald Trump has presented himself as a protector of conservative Christians and as the best friend Christians will ever have. He has held up his mother’s Bible and pledged to bring Christ back into Christmas. But when the rubber meets the road, he is anything but the defender of conservative Christians and their values. This became crystal clear yesterday morning (April 21), when Trump, appearing on the Today show, answered questions on abortion, North Carolina’s Bathroom Privacy Act, and transgender rights. When he was asked if he would like to change the Republican Party Platform on abortion, which allows no...

David Lane, the founder of the American Renewal Project, argues, "Jesus Christ is not on the ballot in 2016."Debunking a recent article published by the Christian Post (Leading Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore says Christians should vote for third-party or write-in candidates rather than settle for the 'lesser of two evils'), Lane argues that "none of the [presidential] candidates can claim "no evil" as [their] campaign motto." And if Moore and others self- ascribed evangelical leaders believe they know who the "perfect candidate" is for 2016-- they should run for office, he claims.In other words, there's no perfect presidential candidate.But...

Despite his big win in New York on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has had a pretty bad week. But will it matter? It should -- and just might. During an NBC "Today" show town hall Thursday, the host read a question from Twitter concerning Trump's views on LGBT issues and how he plans to be inclusive as president. "Speak about North Carolina bathroom law in particular." Trump responded: "I had a feeling that question was going to come up, I will tell you. Well, look, North Carolina did something that was very strong, and they're paying a big...

TED CRUZ BRIBING DELEGATE, CAUGHT ON CAMERA! https://youtu.be/K-pwGx4vv2g

Matt Drudge, founder of the Drudge Report, and Charles Hurt, editor of the Drudge Report, have come under fire from many in the grassroots for turning the site, which was put on the map by the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair, into a shill site for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. The Drudge Report has made a name for itself during this election cycle of being part of the thug-style hitman team of Donald Trump in attacking his closest rival, constitutional conservative Ted Cruz . At the same time, the Drudge Report has used its influence to pump up Donald...

When Donald Trump’s political credentials as a Republican and/or conservative are challenged, he likes to remind people that Ronald Reagan was a Democrat once and managed to evolve over time. Except that Reagan’s conversion was real and he had two terms as governor of California to prove his bona fides before he ran for president as a conservative Republican. As Reagan campaign manager Stu Spencer and speechwriter Ken Khachiagin note in a Real Clear Politics piece: Yes, Ronald Reagan migrated from being a liberal Democrat to the gold standard for conservative Republicans. But Reagan’s views evolved over four decades’ worth...

In the last few days we’ve entered into a new phase in the campaign: Paul Manafort, the designated grownup in the Trump palace, has embarked on persuading Donald Trump to stop his degrading Twitter rants, and on persuading the RNC to learn to love its new, likely, master. “That’s what’s important for you to understand,” Manafort told the RNC. “That he gets it, and that the part he’s playing is evolving.” Seen in this light, it is not clear that Trump’s decision to disappoint the pro-life movement by abandoning the strong party-platform language that pro-life advocates have worked for years...

Trump people kill me. They've been whining for weeks about how the Republican Party primary system works. They say it's rigged because their hero is pulling in the most votes and the most delegates but still might not win the nomination. They say it's all very simple: Trump's getting the most votes and therefore it's only fair that the person with the most votes from the people should win the nomination. As I tweeted earlier this week, if that's the way Trump's followers think, then they should all be supporters of Al Gore. In the 2000 election Gore got 540,000...

Before we begin debunking, let’s start with the obvious: It was undoubtedly a good night for Trump and unsurprisingly so, as NR’s Henry Olsen predicted on election eve. Trump looks to have taken 90 delegates and 60 percent of the vote, somewhat better than projections, although most election-eve forecasts had him taking at least 85 or so of New York’s 95 delegates (Olsen had him pegged for 87). But despite his victory, Trump got only a very modest bump from New York last night. And despite the breathless TV and print commentary from our New York–centered media, he still faces...