Free Republic

So how does Donald Trump do it? Do what, you ask?Entirely detached from identifiable conservative principles, and almost equally detached from a recognizable conservative record, he nonetheless is filling up venues with enthusiastic people who are responding to what they think is some kind of conservative vibe. What is it that enabled someone like Sarah Palin to go dithyrambic? It isn't anything conservative, of course, but it is not just smoke. There is a reason people are thinking what they do, and as a showman and entertainer, Trump knows how to exploit it. And as it happens, the two things...

Donald Trump is now the odds-on favorite to be the GOP’s 2016 standard-bearer, according to two top betting markets.The London-based Betfair gave Trump a 34 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination as of Wednesday morning, three percentage points ahead of Establishment-favorite Marco Rubio, with Ted Cruz laying claim to a distant third place at 22 percent. This is the first time Trump has ever enjoyed front-runner status on Betfair. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s PredictIt has Trump trading at 40 cents a share, Rubio at 29 cents, and Cruz at 23. Trump first gained the top spot on PredictIt last week,...

When people find out I am a political reporter, they usually have only one question for me: "Donald Trump can't really win this thing, can he?" My answer is always the same these days: Absolutely he can. The reason is simple: Trump is the national front-runner, yes, but he is also ahead in a two key early states -- New Hampshire and South Carolina -- and a strong second in Iowa, the state that kicks the whole presidential process off on Feb. 1. Could he totally collapse from that position? Sure. As we know from recent history, voters in Iowa...

Filmmaker Michael Moore has no doubt that Donald Trump will become the GOP’s 2016 presidential nominee. “Donald Trump is absolutely going to be the Republican candidate for president of the United States,” he said, according to Business Insider. “It’s gone from being a joke to becoming a serious reality,” Moore added. "Also, I think people are feeling more and more that we’ve moved back into a darker time.” Moore then admitted that he is concerned about rallying the Democratic voter turnout necessary to defeat Trump next year. “His numbers are high because they are polling Republican voters, or likely Republican...

It will be the end of the Republican Party, as true conservatives are sick and tired of being used, abused and ignored With the Iowa caucuses getting closer and Donald Trump continuing to lead in the polls, the Republican Party power brokers are getting desperate. It certainly looks like the GOP establishment will stop at nothing to wrest the party’s nomination away from Trump. On Monday night, a group of moderate insiders met with Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. They discussed the possibility of a brokered convention in Cleveland next July if Trump swept...

Ohio Gov.John Kasich today would not commit to supporting frontrunner Donald Trump as the party's nominee, saying that he did not expect the real estate mogul to win. "I think he's very divisive and I do not believe he will last," Kasich said when asked if he would support Trump if he wins the Republican primary. Kasich pointed to Trump's recent back and forth with TheNew York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski as a reason he won't win the nomination. Trump has drawn criticism this week for appearing to mimic Kovaelski's mannerisms, caused by a muscular disorder, which Kasich said Trump...

Cruz tends to be an afterthought in the Sunday show chatter, and on TV generally. The Atlantic tracks candidate mentions on cable TV. Over the past 100 days, Cruz ranks ninth among all presidential candidates from both parties, well behind Chris Christie and just above Kasich. Over about the past 30 days, he's still ninth, just ahead of that juggernaut Martin O'Malley. A Washington Post analysis specifically looked at the amount of cable TV coverage devoted to each candidate compared with his or her position in the polls. It found that Cruz got 60 percent less coverage than you'd otherwise...

"As revenge for their 'boy' becoming his own man, Mike Murphy intends to destroy Sen. Marco Rubio." Here is something you need to know to this morning - Jeb Bush's Super PAC ads have been terrible. They have not helped Jeb Bush at all. In fact, more Republican primary voters say they would never vote for Jeb Bush than say the same about Donald Trump. Here is something else you should know - Team Bush premised his strategy on keeping Sen. Marco Rubio out of the race. Bush announced early that he intended to run, then stockpiled his Super PAC...

Ben Carson calls abortion murder but thinks states should decide whether it's legal. The retired neurosurgeon says it's wrong to accuse fellow Americans of treason, yet suggested President Barack Obama could be guilty of the crime. He advocates severe punishment as a deterrent for health care fraud, yet helped secure a lighter sentence for a convicted schemer. On issue after issue, Carson’s positions conflict, a collection of statements, assertions and pronouncements that are often out of step with a conservative electorate whose support has driven him to the top of the polls. Carson so far has escaped scrutiny, but that...

In the Perils of Pauline–like cliffhanger serial that is Hillary Clinton’s career, she has once again escaped and is declaring herself safe. A strong debate performance — aided by chief rival Bernie Sanders’s dismissal of her e-mail scandal — has Clinton backers claiming the scandal is a dead issue in the Democratic primaries. Clinton’s pollster, Joel Berenson, notes that some 75 percent of Democrats approve of her, even though 31 percent of them also think she is lying about the e-mail scandal. Her questioners on the House Benghazi Committee, this line of thinking goes, have revealed their partisanship, and she...

I repeat: Unless she’s indicted, Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination. I wrote that six weeks ago, amid fevered dreams of a Clinton collapse and a Joe Biden rescue. That those were a mirage is all the more obvious after Tuesday’s debate. The reason, then as now, is simple: Clinton has no competition. She’s up against three ciphers and one endearing, gesticulating, slightly unmoored old man. If Joe Biden was ever thinking of getting into the race, he’d be crazy to do so now. It’s over. Indeed, even before the debate, Clinton’s numbers had stabilized. It began with Kevin...

Any candidate for president or even the nomination, that is... (1) I intend to go to Washington D.C. not to build up its powers but to tear it down and release the shackles that have for over 50 years slowly but surely bound the American people. The only power to be projected from Washington will be on the international stage. (2) How unfortunate, how revolutionary an act it is that the preservation of the political system established by the constitution of the United States should be entrusted to the maggots that currently infest the political class. If lesser men have...

Will Donald Trump win the GOP nomination? Question of the Day YES NO NOT SURE

To many in Washington, there's little question that the 2016 presidential election should feature a dynasty rematch between the Clinton and Bush families. To most outside of Washington, that's the last match-up they want to see. The difference could perhaps be described as a tale of two Americas. The past 15 years have been a great time for political insiders, as the city of Washington, D.C., has become a boomtown. In fact, our nation's capital is now the nation's wealthiest metro market. Fueling the economic growth in our nation's capital has been an explosion of federal spending during the Barack...

Ben Domenech sent a flutter through conservative Twitter this weekend with this tweet. Ted Cruz, the great tea-party hope, a favorite for the nomination?I think he’s right. Likeliest Republican nominee as of today: @tedcruz.— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) August 22, 2015 Why does Cruz look like a frontrunner now when he didn’t two months ago? Mainly, I think, because the “electable” candidates have all looked weaker than expected, and not just vis-a-vis Trump. It’s been fully eight months since Jeb Bush announced his exploratory committee and still no one’s excited. He comes off like a less charismatic, more centrist Mitt...

FOX News Poll 6/21 - 6/23 Bush------15 Trump-----11 Carson----10 Walker-----9 Paul-------9 Rubio------8 Huckabee---6 Cruz-------4 Christie---4 Fiorina----3 Santorum---3-------debate cut-off point Perry------2 Kasich-----2 Jindal-----2 Graham-----1

PHILADELPHIA — Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul says he will bash Hillary Clinton over her husband’s record of putting “a generation of black men in prison” if he is the nominee. Paul, a freshman senator from Kentucky, says he will compete with Clinton in Philadelphia, where Democrats have a 7-to-1 registration advantage, and other impoverished cities by highlighting his support for criminal justice reform. “If I were the nominee, we will compete in Philadelphia,” he told CBS radio talk show host Dom Giordano at the National Constitution Center. “I’ll ask Hillary Clinton, what have you done for criminal justice? Your...

Ted Cruz was on Hannity tonight for the full hour and while we don’t have all of it, I think we have most of it for you to enjoy. If there is any overlap my apologies, but I think each clip is unique. -- Watch the full interview unfiltered by the media

Jeb Bush is exploring a 2016 presidential bid. The former Florida governor said in a post on Facebook Tuesday that over the Thanksgiving holiday there was a lot of discussion about the future of the nation. “As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,” Mr. Bush said. Mr. Bush said he plans to establish a Leader PAC next month to “help me facilitate conversations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical...