Free Republic

Donald Trump continues to bring comic relief and mean-spirited bombast to the Republican campaign trail. But while Trump is a continuing spectacle, he also makes (a tiny bit) more sense than his rivals when he indicts U.S. trade policies or scorns the influence of big money that turns politicians into puppets. Nevertheless Trump, despite his current lead in the polls, isn’t likely to be the Republican presidential nominee. William Galston, the Wall Street Journal’s designated Democratic pundit, last week suggested that there were five “plausible” Republican candidates — Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Tex.), Govs. Scott Walker (Wis.)...

Donald Trump announced his presidential campaign with an ugly tirade against Mexican immigrants—“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”—that shot him to the top of the GOP polls. He’s been there ever since, despite racism, sexism, and open disrespect for combat veterans. Now, Trump is the center of gravity in the Republican race for president, and his antics affect every candidate, from mainstream picks like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, to more direct rivals like Scott Walker and Ted Cruz. On Monday, his pull got a little stronger. Trump published his first set of proposals, a plan for immigration...

Donald Trump is not only expanding his lead in the Republican presidential race. According to a new CNN/ORC poll out Tuesday, the real-estate tycoon has built out a dominating lead on two of the issues most important to Republican voters. A walloping 45% of respondents said Trump was the best candidate to improve the US economy. The next closest contender was Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, who had a mere 8% say the same about his potential stewardship. The core of Trump's campaign platform is based off of his opposition to illegal immigration and his heated — and sometimes...

"And I was also in support – if the Republicans stuck together, you could have done it with Obamacare also...But the Republicans decided not to stick together...And they left a few people out there, like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)...You know, they left a lot of the people that really went in, and wanted to do the job. And you know what, if they stuck together, they would have won that battle." – Donald Trump http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/04/trump-and-cruz-partner-to-strip-planned-parenthoods-funding/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social Could this be the beginning of a 3rd Party Alliance??? http://www.redstate.com/2015/08/13/dear-media-stop-trying-tie-trump-around-ted-cruzs-neck/ This is just me thinking out loud. But if you are like me you...

--TRUMP UNVEILS HIS IMMIGRATION PLAN, CALLS FOR END TO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: Donald Trump released his specific plan for immigration reform yesterday, ABC's JOHN SANTUCCI reports. In the 6-page report titled "Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again," Trump is calling for an end to birthright citizenship, saying it "remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration." Trump again repeated his commitment to build a wall on the United States' southern border. Outlining his plan, Trump's policy seeks to "impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if...

Scott Walker is the Tim Tebow of politics…the pro-life, conservative sensation on top of the world (or the polls) one moment, the invisible man the next. For those who don’t know Tebow’s NFL story, here’s the short version: Drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos despite most pundits saying at the time he didn’t have the arm to succeed in the NFL. Tebow takes over a struggling Bronco team, leads a bunch of unlikely comeback victories late in the season and somehow gets them to the playoffs. God’s quarterback proceeds to carry Denver to a win over the...

Five Republican presidential candidates are appearing in Columbus this week, but not one of them is named John Kasich. Americans for Prosperity, bankrolled by GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch, is snubbing the Ohio governor at its Defending the American Dream summit at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Even a state representative from Florida and Jon Taffer — host of Spike TV’s Bar Rescue — are making the stage instead of Kasich. Slated to speak on Friday are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Saturday’s gathering will hear from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Texas Gov....

Donald Trump holding his own in a new Fox News poll, establishment candidates Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio all are losing traction. Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) campaign has collapsed, allies indicted for fraud. Mr. Trump is continuing to dominate with 25% support nationally while Dr. Ben Carson, is running 2nd at 12%. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is 3rd at 10%. Those findings mirror recent polls in Iowa and elsewhere. Jeb Bush has place 9% for a 4th place finish, dropping from 15% and 2nd place in a Fox News poll conducted earlier this month, before the first GOP...

In 2013, right after she stepped down as U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a high approval rating from the American people. Her trust level was on solid ground. Given her loyal service to the country and to President Barack Obama after the bruising 2008 Democratic presidential primaries in which she and Obama vigorously contended, Clinton’s standing among Democrats was sky high. This situation has allowed Clinton to be perceived as the prohibitive Democratic presidential nominee for the 2016 general elections. A few months ago, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was undetectable on the presidential political radar as few...

Special to The Washington Post. How is Donald Trump's candidacy affecting the public conversation — which, in turn, influences how campaigners compete? The PEORIA Project relies on a Zignal Labs data platform to track presidential campaign conversations across news and social media, including all tweets; publicly available Facebook user posts; comments on YouTube videos, Vimeo and MediaBistro; about 35 million blogs; news stories from more than 100,000 online outlets; all Lexis/Nexis print media content; and television closed-caption content from 900 channels in every U.S. media market....

On Mark Levin's show on Friday he asked the question, "What is the process of the Republican primary process?" My answer is to vet the candidates. That's why for the past six months I've been writing whatever I can get my hands on regarding what the candidates have said or done. Not gossip, not rumors, but their own actual words, their own actual votes. Some readers haven't been happy with that, but I see my mission as to get the information out there and let you decide. Some voters may not care that Carly Fiorina effusively praised Islam right after...

<p>FLINT, Mich. — A few hours before Donald Trump’s plane landed, 20 minutes south of where he would speak, people gathered outside the Flint Assembly Plant to take a peek into the past. Some of them were retired, reuniting with friends. All of them remembered how there used to be more to the place.</p>

"We will make great trade deals, we will save Social Security without cuts, we will come up with health care plans that will be phenomenal — phenomenal," Trump told a packed high school auditorium. Trump's trip to the first primary state comes as he continues to hold a commanding lead in the Republican presidential primary, despite a spat with Fox News personality Megyn Kelly, staff shakeups and continued criticism over his comments about Mexican immigrants. Although he speaks without a script, Trump's talking points here echoed those he's made on the campaign trail for months, namely touting his skills as...

You’re right to mistrust conventional politicians. But why do you think he’ll treat you any better?Dear Donald Trump Supporters: You’re fed up. This much I understand. You’re fed up with politicians who say one thing on the campaign trail, like that they’re going to stop illegal immigration, and then do another in Washington; you’re fed up with insiders who rig the system for their benefit at your expense; and you’re fed up with coastal media elites and their insular subculture. On some level I sympathize. In the last presidential election, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for any of the...

After Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) released a video criticizing real-estate magnate Donald Trump for his past allegiances with Democratic candidates, Trump had a familiar response at the ready. "Recently, Rand Paul called me and asked me to play golf," Trump said in a statement. "I easily beat him on the golf course and will even more easily beat him now, in the world in the politics." Then he added: "Senator Paul does not mention that after trouncing him in golf I made a significant donation to the eye center with which he is affiliated." Republican candidates are learning the hard...

NEW YORK CITY, New York — Should billionaire and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump win the Republican primary in 2016—as he certainly wants to do—he expects he will face Vice President Joe Biden in the general election since he thinks the current email scandal plaguing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will eventually knock her out of the race. When asked in a wide-ranging interview with Breitbart News in his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower if he could envision a general election with him at the top of the Republican ticket and Vice President Biden leading the Democratic...

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spreads his message Sunday at the University of Houston Hofheinz Pavilion.  About the only thing Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have in common is that they're both senators and they can both draw sustained, massive crowds when it really counts. But their turns in the spotlight this summer, amid news cycles dominated by the Donald Trump parade, have shown that these political outsiders, be they real or perceived, have broken through -- together. As an unlikely duo, Sanders and Cruz have constituted the most-watched threats to the prospect of their parties' mainline candidates winning...

Both presidential nomination contests having been scrambled by recent events — the FBI taking control of Hillary Clinton's private email server and a raucous, roiling GOP debate — the third edition of the Racing Form is herewith rushed into print. Legal disclaimer: This column is for betting purposes only. What follows is analysis — scrubbed, as thoroughly as a Clinton server, of advocacy. (Unless I simply can't resist.) Hillary Clinton: Ever since her disastrous book-launch performance, I've thought her both (1) a weak candidate and (2) the inevitable Democratic nominee. No longer. She has fallen from her 95-percent barring-an-act-of-God perch....

I was there for the “peasants with pitchforks” speech. Pat Buchanan was holding forth in a crowded room at the Sheraton Hotel in Nashua, N.H., a couple of days before the 1996 GOP primary. The Republican Establishment’s favorite for the nomination was Bob Dole, but Dole, for all his solid credentials and admirable history as a war hero and congressional leader, was never someone to incite a political fever, never one to tap the more visceral emotions of the rowdy electorate. So here came Buchanan, the TV pundit and unapologetic nativist, and in the icy environs of the New Hampshire...

Did we just see Erick Erickson’s Red State draw a red line in the sand in front of Rush Limbaugh? And if so, is it another aspect of the booming dynamic known as “the Trump effect?” That very case can be made – as Erickson used Red State’s daily email blast lead story from Dan McLaughlin on Wednesday to fire shots across the bow of all talk radio hosts and other pundits who are in any way supporting Donald Trump. And while Erickson does not have the by-line on this indictment, it is right in line with his recent dis-invitation...