Free Republic

Eleven percent of New Hampshire's conservatives favor crony capitalist, eminent domain abuser, supporter of single-payer health care, and all-around-buffoon, Donald Trump for president. But they don't really. A fraction of the Republican electorate is having some weird fun with the conventions and hypocrisies of our politics. Other conservatives and candidates should resist the temptation to look down on people who say they support Trump. And part of not looking down on these Trump supporters (who are not really Trump supporters), requires understanding Trump correctly . While there have been many articles critical of Trump, National Review's Jack Fowler probably got...

As the nation debates the placement of Confederate battle flags, Atlanta Democratic U.S. Rep. and civil rights legend John Lewis said it’s high time to take a look at the statues under the U.S. Capitol dome, starting with one of Georgia’s. “I think it should move, be removed,” Lewis said in an interview Wednesday. “I think there will be other symbols, not just from Georgia but other parts of our country [that are removed]. … It’s the beginning of a movement that will help us move toward the realization that we’re one people, we’re one nation and we have to...

The GOP presidential candidate spoke freely about race as a new poll puts him second in the field of Republican presidential contenders. The entertainment division of Univision Communications Inc. has announced that it is severing ties with the Miss Universe Organization, which is part-owned by Donald J. Trump, after recent reports of Trump's disparaging remarks toward Mexicans. "At Univision, we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country," a statement released by UCI reads. "We...

In a Wednesday talk at the Heritage Foundation, the Texas senator sharpened anti-corporatist critique. Ted Cruz just raised the bar for Republican presidential hopefuls angling for the fiery populist mantle. In a 40-minute stemwinder delivered to a friendly crowd at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday, the junior senator from Texas inveighed against a corrupt alignment of corporate and political power that he shorthanded as the “Washington Cartel.” That’s apparently new coinage, and you can expect to hear a lot more of it as Cruz tries to elbow his way out of the GOP presidential primary’s second tier and into serious...

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Citizens United chief David Bossie says the Fox News poll released on Wednesday reinforces results his organization obtained in a survey of its own. The Fox poll shows Donald Trump in second place among 2016 Republican presidential contenders, and Bossie calls that a clear sign that “the conservative movement that makes up the Republican party voter base is desperately looking for leadership.” The stunning new Fox News poll shows Jeb Bush in the lead with the support of 15 percent of likely Republican primary voters, but Trump is right behind him in second...

Recently, in Mexico, the candidates for mayor of the Mexican city of Guadalajara included a famous Mexican clown named Lagrimita. And in the United States, now that Donald Trump has filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, the ranks of Republican presidential hopefuls expanded to include an anti-Mexican clown. “The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” Trump said to supporters at Trump Tower where the real estate mogul declared his bid for the GOP nomination. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re...

Ted Cruz would have to authorize the PAC for it to use its name, the FEC ruled. “Jews for Cruz” can be for just about anything but Cruz, the Federal Election Commission said, according to Time Magazine. The Jews for Cruz PAC backs Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and his presidential bid, but Cruz has not authorized them to do so. Thus they must change their name, the FEC informed the PAC in a letter Monday. FEC rules (see page four, here) say a political action committee must have a formal affiliation with a candidate in order to include the candidate’s...

Results of a new poll show that Americans are fed up with career politicians and the establishment Republican base. In a Citizens United poll, Dr. Ben Carson came out as the top pick out of 2016 GOP presidential candidates. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came in second by just .1 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) came in third at 15.9 percent, and real estate mogul Donald Trump came in at fourth place with 13.1 percent. Citizens United, an organization for limited government, surveyed its members across America to find out whom they are currently supporting in the full field of GOP...

The media is really covering itself in glory these days. Just yesterday the Washington Post well full on racist against Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and today The Hill ran with this nonsense from an obvious black racist who clearly hasn’t been able to comprehend what’s gone on the past few days. It’s the capture-the-flag you never saw coming.In a shrewdly mapped play, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R) call to remove the flapping Confederate rebel jack from state capitol grounds suddenly prompted an entire party to reverse course on the issue. And after years of happily whistling political Dixie as...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The money race for second place is on. With a June 30 fundraising deadline drawing near, speculation over how much money Republican presidential candidates will collect is reaching a fever pitch. It's already clear that Jeb Bush will come out on top regardless of whether he hits or even surpasses the $100 million target many in the donor world set for the former Florida governor. The more interesting question, many donors and campaign operatives say, is who will come in second. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has an unusually broad donor list thanks to his highly publicized recall election and...

You've seen the polls that measure Republican voters first choice for the party's 2016 presidential nomination. But there's another measure of public perception -- this one on the negative side -- with pollsters asking voters to list candidates they could not see supporting. Pollsters for NBC News/Wall Street Journal asked that very question of GOP primary voters, and in that one, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal did fairly well. Jindal is expected to announce his presidential candidacy on Wednesday. While Jindal remains toward the bottom of the list in terms of voters' first choice for the GOP presidential nomination, with just...

Lee Bright, a local lawmaker who is serving as the South Carolina co-chair for the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), compared the calls to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol building in his home state to a "Stalinist purge." According to a spokesperson for Cruz, those comments don't conflict with the candidate's position on the issue. "What Senator Cruz has said is that this is an issue for the state of South Carolina and South Carolinians to sort out and I think that's what you're watching happen," Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said in a conversation with...

“… I think to every African-American in the country it’s a symbolism of slavery to them and now it’s a symbol of murder for this young man and so I think it’s times to put it in a museum.” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he believes the Confederate battle flag is “inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery” and needs to go. “No, I agree, I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it obviously for murder and to justify hated so vicious that you would kill somebody I...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)With more and more Republican candidates jumping into the 2016 race, radio host Hugh Hewitt has a surprising take on the state of the GOP landscape, telling HuffPost Live on Friday that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is leading the pack due to a favorable election calendar and his social media prowess. "Right now he’s actually ... the frontrunner," Hewitt told host Josh Zepps. "Right now, I think he’s actually prepared better to run the board than anybody else. I know conventional wisdom says Jeb’s got the money and Marco Rubio is lighting up the crowds, and he does. But if...

Former Clinton advisor Paul Begala told CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday morning that Hillary Clinton "absolutely" has to answer for standing by her husband when he served as governor of Arkansas and defended that state's flag's relationship to the Confederate battle flag. "Does she have to answer for her time as first lady in Arkansas with Bill standing by the Arkansas flag proudly when it, too, is said to borrow from the Confederate symbology?" Cuomo said. "Well, sure, absolutely," said Begala. "Times change. Circumstances change." Watch the video below: (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Begala added he is "really thrilled" that South Carolina appears likely to...

The perils of the progressive plan to build an electoral majority by fighting inequality. A century of new rules—from the advent of direct presidential primaries, to the end of the seniority system in Congress, to conservative Supreme Court decisions on campaign finance—has dramatically eroded the power that official party structures once exercised over politicians and their platforms. Today, an informal network of donors, policy and political groups, media outlets, consultants, labor unions, and star politicians determine in what broad directions both sides of the spectrum will evolve over the long term. Many of these players don't actually identify themselves by...

Two Republican presidential candidates will campaign in Northwest Iowa through Friday. Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, has set Thursday events at a Rock Rapids bank at 8 a.m. and a Sioux Center business at 9:30 a.m. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will be in Sheldon and Pierson on Friday. Cruz will hold a traditional town hall meeting at 1 p.m. at the Sheldon Community Services Center. The 7 p.m. event will be more folksy, with a preceding suppertime pork picnic and live band at the Pierson city park and ball field. State Sen. Bill Anderson will participate in that...

Mayor de Blasio declared Sunday that Donald Trump is no real New Yorker, even if the mogul has his name plastered on so many buildings in town. The mayor told reporters that The Donald’s politics were out of line with “the values” of everyone else in the city. De Blasio — who is still refusing to endorse his former boss Hillary Rodham Clinton for president — took the shot at Trump during a Washington Heights press conference in which a reporter asked about the billionaire being the only New York City resident running for the White House. “I don’t think...

Don’t count Lindsey Graham among the Republican Presidential hopefuls who think that mass shooting in Charleston was about something other than race. He spoke out this weekend to address the murders, and his statement differs sharply from what some of his colleagues are saying. Unlike Rick Santorum and Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham isn’t pretending the murders were about religion or insisting that we can’t tell yet what motivated the attack. Instead, Graham openly recognizes that this attack was racially motivated — and says that America has a long way to go in the racial relations department. “There can be no...

Full title at site: "Huckabee Squirms Defending Confederate Flag: "I Don't Personally Display It So It Is Not An Issue For Me"" NBCs Chuck Todd unearths 2008 video of Mike Huckabee voicing an opinion about South Carolina's confederate flag. "You don't like people from outside the state telling you what to do with your flag, in fact, if someone came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them where to put the pole." Huckabee swings between saying that it is not the president's job to tell states what flag to use and the ultimate...