Free Republic

presidential candidate Joe Biden suggested that he would consider former failed Republican presidential candidate Jeb! [sic] Bush as his vice presidential running mate. “That son-of-a-gun Bloomberg ain’t gonna out-loser ol’ Joe Biden,” Mr. Biden told reporters. “He thinks he can show me up by winning this thing even with Hillary on the ticket. Well, Jiminy Cricket, I can win this nomination riding side-saddle with Jeb Bush, fella!” When asked about the many gaffes that Mr. Bush committed on the campaign trail in 2016 when he opposed Donald Trump, Mr. Biden scoffed: “Oh jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, he didn’t mess up as much...

The entire notion of a political leader saying “God is on our side,” tends to rub me the wrong way. I grew up at a Southern Baptist high school where the notion of God and politics crossed paths regularly. It sort of made sense, as much as it could to a rather protected teenager who was taught the idea of “separation of church and state” was some godless plot to turn the country into Sodom and Gomorrah. Republicans were the ones saving the country from a dire fate, while Democrats were heathens who wouldn’t know Jesus Christ if He...

Well, it’s been (almost) three solid years into the Donald Trump Presidency and not one treasonous criminal action has been punished. Not one. ZERO. Zilch. Na-da. Take for example when Hillary Clinton literally laughed out loud at a question about her email investigation — had to wipe her eyes, she laughed so hard. She laughed at us, at America, for being so clueless as to think she’d ever answer to our laws. And she’s still laughing, because she’s right: she’s untouchable. The consensus is that even though we know that the first email investigation was rigged by the FBI to...

How do we know that the decision to put Robert Mueller in front of TV cameras all day Wednesday went badly for Democrats rather than Republicans? Look where the rifts have opened or are widening. The Daily Beast spots a major fault line between two top leaders in the House Democratic caucus — Jerrold Nadler, one of the architects of the Mueller stunt, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Publicly, his colleagues and his party’s leadership praise [Nadler’s] handling of oversight into the Trump administration. But behind the scenes discontent is mounting over what some view as a less-than-smooth process in...

When Nikki Haley’s name was floated as one of the people most likely to have written the NY Times op-ed my immediate reaction was ‘I don’t think so.’ To me, doing something like this would go against Haley’s entire brand which is to be bold and call people out when they are wrong, whether that’s Russia or Iran or some sleazy author hawking a book. It was just hard for me to imagine her resorting to an anonymous attack. Today, Haley has written a piece for the Washington Post calling out the author of the anonymous op-ed. Haley has a...

It is a slam-dunk certainty that American mainstream media will seize upon a recent story in the Los Angeles Times, “Southern California sets all-time heat records amid broiling conditions,” as justification for its continuing support of the contested theory of man-caused global warming. It has already happened with a Yahoo News story claiming that the new temperature records world-wide prove man causes climate change.But there are problems in pursuing that path.First, days that reach and exceed 117-degree temperatures have been known to happen for a very long time in the interior basin of southern California, sometimes referred to as “Death...

>How real is the deal? We may not know for a couple of weeks yet (if not longer) but recent talks between China and the United States have resulted in an initial announcement that Beijing will prioritize closing the trade gap with the U.S. by purchasing significantly greater amounts of goods. Included in the few details offered thus far is a plan to increase both agricultural and energy exports from America. While China’s Foreign Ministry disputed some of the target amounts, the rest of the announcement looks as if it may soon become a reality. (CNN) Both parties said in...

Apparently the firings were done according to two criteria: Cost of contract and support for Trump. People whose contracts were expensive were almost all fired. People whose contracts were less expensive were either kept or fired depending on how pro- or anti-Trump they were.

It feels like the early days of the #MeToo movement, which caused a cultural shift regarding sexual misconduct — but this time, the problem at hand is gun violence, and the movement is called #NeverAgain. And this time, the courageous individuals leading the effort for change are teenagers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Just a few weeks ago, these young Americans were simply living the typical teenage life. But that changed on February 14, 2018, when a 19-year-old former student carrying a weapon of war entered their school with the intent of slaughtering people — and...

British TV journalist Matt Frei asked Hillary Clinton if she’s still blaming other more than herself in an interview Friday.Frei asked about her appeal to the voter during the 2016 presidential election, saying that her status as a Clinton prevented her gender from helping her."Your dynastic appeal or perhaps it was the opposite: The fact that you were called Clinton the fact that you were first lady basically trumped any novelty—if you forgive the term—of being the first female president of the United States," he said. "People looked at your name and your legacy more than they looked at your gender."Clinton answered by laying out...

Sixteen people died this morning when a large hot air balloon struck a high-voltage power line, caught fire and crashed in a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, according to Texas authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Man, between this and the fact that an anti-Trumper was just put in charge of the Rules Committee, if you thought the relationship between Team Trump and the RNC was strained before, you ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s no claim here, please note, that Priebus is encouraging the dump-Trumpers. If he thinks a coup against Trump would shatter the party and sink any replacement nominee, he might actually be trying to head off the effort.

Via the Examiner, you can thank Ben Howe for producing this. Is it a presidential campaign teaser? The last line, borrowing Obama’s campaign slogan from 2008, seems freighted with extra significance. I’d never seen something like this from Cruz before either. At first blush, I thought maybe it was his way of stealing a little thunder from Rand Paul’s overt presidential maneuvering lately. Here’s Cruz reminding conservatives that Rand won’t be the only game in town next year.But after looking through his campaign YouTube account, I realize I’m wrong. Cruz has released at least two ads similar to this one...

Via the Daily Rushbo, right on both counts. It wasn’t so much an anti-Trump riot, Limbaugh notes, as an anti-Trump-supporter riot “since they are really violently protesting … American citizens exercising their constitutional right to express their political opinion.” Indeed. Anti-American, straight up. And the more violence there is aimed at Trump and his fans, especially by people waving Mexican flags, the more swing voters will conclude that an authoritarian whose centerpiece proposal involves a border wall might be just what the doctor ordered after all. He’s also right that some well-known lefties were quick to denounce the riot last...

Yikes. I’m probably as surprised as anyone else to hear myself saying it, but the producers might want to start cranking up the music and offer a subtle hint to Mitt Romney that it’s time to get off the stage. We’re busy getting ready for the convention in Cleveland and the pieces are pretty much set up on the board, yet it seems that the winner of the 2012 GOP primary can’t bring himself to step back and let somebody else get on message. This pattern of behavior was on display yet again this week when Mitt let everyone know...

<p>Reminds me of something Mike Murphy said about Trump in the aftermath of Jeb’s collapse. The logic in favor of nominating another Bush was always, er, complicated, but the logic against nominating a loose cannon is straightforward.</p> <p>I’ll bet even Murphy didn’t think Trump would advertise the possibility that America’s creditors might not receive payment in full in a Trump administration. Choose your own preferred term for what he’s recommending here — renegotiation, bankruptcy, default.</p>

The idea was floated over the weekend by Jon Karl on ABC, as you’ll see below, and started some conservative tweeters chattering. I think there’s more upside to it than downside, but there are downsides. Cruz needs media oxygen in the next week, a way to have the story not just be Trump's NE sweep. Not a lot of ways to get that.— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) April 25, 2016 Picking a running mate now could limit his dealmaking options at the convention. But first you gotta get to the convention.— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) April 25, 2016 Cruz is going to...

Since the debate over what he said yesterday is still raging, it’s only fair that you get to hear his latest comment about it. Skip to 8:35 of the clip below from last night’s interview on Trump TV.His response to Hannity’s question about North Carolina is a dodge but it’s a dodge with a conservative pedigree. If you’re a Republican who’s been put on the spot about a hot-button social issue, you can’t go wrong saying, “Leave it to the states.” Even righties who disagree with you on the merits will tip their caps at your nod to federalism....

Via Red State, not a huge deal but worth flagging in case there’s another poll this weekend showing his numbers dipping a bit in New York on the eve of the primary. That would suggest a trend, and that would be a big deal given what’s at stake. To be clear: Trump’s going to romp in NY on Tuesday night, winning by 25 points or better, and will pick up something like 75 delegates even in a worst-case scenario. But since his path to 1,237 is so difficult, it matters a lot whether he ends up with 75 in New...

Via Breitbart, the key bit below starts at 6:30. When he says “set the country on fire,” does he mean people literally setting things on fire in rage over how much they hate a Trump/Cruz ticket? Because I can sort of see that. Trump’s numbers are flaming garbage, as you know, but check out Cruz’s numbers from the same poll:What should we call that? Smoldering garbage? I’m a Cruz backer but I’m also under no illusion about how popular he is and isn’t among the general electorate. (Although the AP data here is from a poll of adults, not...