Free Republic

Now that a consensus is beginning to emerge that special counsel Robert Mueller has the evidence to make a compelling case of obstruction of justice against President Trump, the president's defenders have trotted out a new defense: that obstruction on its own is a mere "procedural crime" that doesn't really count unless coupled with proof of guilt on an underlying crime. In other words, defenders view the Mueller probe as akin to the Watergate investigation without the break-in. But this view is wholly untenable. The legal version of the argument is, as explained by Rich Lowry in National Review, "if...

The past two months of electoral losses for the Trump GOP feel very familiar. Newly elected president Barack Obama’s party lost off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and suffered a stunning upset in a Senate race it had no business losing, in Massachusetts. Trump’s party lost off-year gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey and suffered a stunning upset in a Senate race it had no business losing, in Alabama. We don’t know if Trump will experience a midterm shellacking on par with Obama’s in 2010, or, getting more speculative, go on to win reelection anyway. But every...

Roy Moore is the Steve Bannon project in a nutshell. For the former Trump operative, the Alabama Senate candidate’s tattered credibility is a feature, not a bug. If Moore had well-considered political and legal views, good judgment and a sterling reputation, he’d almost by definition be part of the establishment that Bannon so loathes. Since Moore has none of those things, he’s nearly an ideal representative of the Bannon insurgency. Events in Alabama make it clear that Bannon’s dime-store Leninism — burn everything down, including perhaps the Republican Senate majority — comes at a considerable cost. In this project, the...

Ed Gillespie, campaigning in a treacherous political environment defined by an unpopular president of his own party, ran the only race he reasonably could. He distanced himself from Donald Trump personally, hoping to lessen his losses in heavily Democratic Northern Virginia, while hitting some Trumpian notes on crime and immigration to appeal to the president’s base. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, the self-declared keeper of the Trumpist flame, believed Gillespie had cracked the code by fashioning a “Trumpism without Trump.” He managed, per Bannon, to close the enthusiasm gap “by rallying around the Trump agenda,” and Democrats needed to be...

Among a very long list of harms inflicted upon the United States by Barack Obama and his party, perhaps the worst was Caesarism. Obama relished the worship of millions in 2008. From his star turn at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was treated not as a political candidate, but as a savior. Progressives fell into a swoon, typified by Newsweek editor Evan Thomas' 2008 comment, "I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above -- above the world; he's sort of God." Now, a similar kind of unreasoning adulation is greeting (improbably enough) Donald Trump. Fred Barnes...

Have Republicans Grown Tired of Supporting the Rule of Law? by MONA CHAREN August 28, 2015 Among a very long list of harms inflicted upon the United States by Barack Obama and his party, perhaps the worst was Caesarism. Obama relished the worship of millions in 2008. From his star turn at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was treated not as a political candidate but as a savior. Progressives fell into a swoon, typified by Newsweek editor Evan Thomas’s 2008 comment that “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above — above the world, he’s sort...

NRO's Andy McCarthy on Rush's show still won't give Trump credit for being able to carry the "The system is rigged" message saying only his supporters agree. Well in that case we have to ask Mister McCarthy is still anti-Trump as we weigh his words. I don't trust anyone from NRO.

...Forget Trump and consider instead Trump’s constituencies. They are weary of being lectured that they deserve presidential rebuke for their supposed Islamophobia because they are angry about the terrorist killings of Americans. The middle classes are exhausted from being sermonized that they do not “pay their fair share,” when their state and federal tax bite is nearly 50 percent — especially when half the population pays no income tax, and massive federal entitlements have done little to address the pathologies of the underclasses. The contractor and the insurance salesman are furious at being scolded that “they didn’t build” their businesses,...

The instant analysis on cable TV of President Donald Trump's decision to dump the Iran deal had a weary resignation to it: He said he would do this. Indeed, he had. Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail to pull out of the deal and had made it a target from the time that President Barack Obama first entered into it in 2015. His exit from the agreement is another instance of the Trump paradox: The president who says more outlandish and untrue things than anyone who has ever occupied the office of the presidency is also extraordinarily determined to...

Charlie Kirk, responding to a report that Senator John McCain, battling brain cancer, does not want President Trump to attend his funeral: “He wants Obama there. That tells you everything you need to know about McCain.” Really? You think everything you need to know about a man’s 81 years on this earth can be nullified or reaffirmed by your approval of his guest list at his funeral? Twenty-three years of military service, 23 bombing missions, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Distinguished Flying Cross, five and a half years as a prisoner of war, solitary confinement...

As another lawsuit hits the actor, accusing him of creating a ‘toxic’ work environment, his status as the industry’s most wanted leading man shows no sign of returning. The descriptions sound like a typical day at sea for Captain Jack Sparrow: “volatile”, “reckless”, “vices”, “chaos”, “hurricane”. The Pirates of the Caribbean character is, after all, a drunken pirate who sails through fiascos and misadventures. It is Johnny Depp, however, not Sparrow, who is accused of presiding over such mayhem in a drama playing out not on screen but in court. Oh, how I loved you, Johnny Depp. Now I see...

Shortened title. Full title: Absolutely Stunning – Leaked Audio of Secretary Kerry Reveals President Obama Intentionally Allowed Rise of ISIS There are moments within investigative research when your jaw can stand agape as you recognize the scope of what you are reading or hearing.  A brutally down-played audio of Secretary John Kerry is just such an occasion.

Interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on This Week today, Rudy Giuliani, lawyer to President Trump, laughed in response to several questions. Clearly, Rudy wanted to show that neither he nor the President were concerned by the various allegations raised. But have a look and see if you think this was an effective strategy on Rudy's part.

Senator John McCain’s new book, The Restless Wave, has released excerpts published by Apple News. The former presidential candidate, who is battling brain cancer, said that his current term is his last, allowing him to open up about the current political climate. A Republican who has nonetheless battled President Trump in many cases, McCain was unsparing of the Commander in Chief in the book. “He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones. The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values.”

STAFFORD, Texas – As Ted Cruz took the stage at a dance hall called the Redneck Country Club and talked about his boyhood worship of such Texas legends as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, Stephen Willeford watched with a smile from beneath the brim of his black cowboy hat.At the beer joint just outside of Houston, Texas’ junior U.S. senator now in a high-stakes battle for a second term, was charming a nighttime audience of about 800 with ready-made applause lines defending gun rights and castigating Obamacare when he pointed out that Texas still has its share of heroes in...

OK sorry this is from the New York Times, but they are occasionally completely right no some issues. I believe this is one of those rare moments: -- BEIJING — China will refuse to discuss President Trump's two toughest trade demands when American negotiators arrive in Beijing this week, people involved in Chinese policymaking say, potentially forcing Washington to escalate the dispute or back down. The Chinese government is publicly calling for flexibility on both sides. But senior Beijing officials do not plan to discuss the Trump administration's two biggest demands: a mandatory $100 billion cut in America’s $375 billion...

He has gone just as low, but she’s a comedian, not president, so she does deserve a bit more leeway when it comes to making jokes. At Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, comedian Michelle Wolf made some jokes about White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that have a lot of people, particularly on the right, very upset. ... Sanders was visibly upset the entire time, and many people on the right rushed to her defense — saying that Wolf’s jokes were inappropriate and an outrage. Here’s the thing, though: Many of those same people have absolutely no problem with...

Brad Thor, a bestselling author, said last week that he plans to challenge President Trump in 2020, "if no conservative steps up." Thor, a conservative who has voiced criticism of Trump, made the announcement in a series of Tweets. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, however, Thor has not filed to run for president.

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.

RUSH: Let’s get to Korea. This is too juicy. This is just too juicy as to what’s going on. Now, folks, I don’t want to diminish it. I’m not trying to suggest that it’s not important because it clearly is. But you should know that members of the Trump administration are not buying into this yet, and Trump is still saying that he’s gonna be prepared to walk out if he thinks anything about this is not on the up and up. It is historic. This is the first North Korean, communist, potbellied dictator to actually walk across the border...