Free Republic

Two days after the news broke that over 100 conservative leaders had signed an open letter to principled limited government constitutional conservative Rep. Jim Jordan urging him – some might say demanding – that he run for Speaker of the House, Matt Drudge blared the headline “PAUL RYAN LOSING SPEAKERSHIP GRIP.” The headline linked to a POLITICO article detailing how top House Republicans are privately questioning Ryan losing gripwhether retiring Speaker Paul Ryan can make it through Election Day. Click this link to add your name to the distinguished list of conservative leaders urging Jim Jordan to run for Speaker...

Republican strategist and campaign veteran Steve Schmidt, who two days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election told then-candidate Donald Trump to prepare a concession speech, said Monday night that the move of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem is an attempt to "stave off a disastrous midterm election" through incitement of his base. Schmidt called Trump ignorant and said, "there will be blood on his hands" for destabilizing the Middle East.

Oklahoma's Republican Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday vetoed a bill supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that would have allowed state residents to carry a firearm without a permit or training. "I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal," Fallin said in announcing her veto of Senate Bill 1212, which would have removed the requirement for Oklahoma residents to complete a training course and demonstrate competency with a firearm before carrying in public. The governor argued that the bill would have taken away the ability of the state's law enforcement personnel to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A White House official dismissed a view expressed by Sen. John McCain about President Donald Trump's CIA nominee, saying Thursday at a staff meeting that "it doesn't matter" because "he's dying anyway," two people in the room told The Associated Press. Kelly Sadler was discussing McCain's opposition to Trump's pick for CIA director, Gina Haspel, when she made the comment, according to the two people, who described feeling shocked and stunned by the remark. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door communications staff meeting. The White House did not dispute the...

Republican Sen. John McCain says former President Obama called to thank him after his dramatic vote against his party’s Obamacare repeal bill last year. In a copy of his forthcoming book, “The Restless Wave,” obtained by the Daily Beast, McCain said he appreciated the call from Obama. The two ran against each other in the 2008 presidential election. “Among the people who called to thank me was President Obama,” McCain writes. “I appreciated the call, but, as I said, my purpose hadn’t been to preserve his signature accomplishment but to insist on a better alternative, and to give the Senate...

Donald Trump, with his feral cunning, knew. The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become AmericaÂ’s most repulsive public figure. And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning his benefactor, is augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge. Because his is the authentic voice of todayÂ’s lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this yearÂ’s elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing. Last June, a Trump Cabinet meeting featured testimonials offered to Dear Leader by his forelock-tugging colleagues. His chief of staff, Reince Priebus, caught the spirit of the worship service...

In his new book, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) confirms that he gave a controversial dossier about President Trump to former FBI chief James Comey. “I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as ‘the dossier,’” McCain writes in the upcoming book, titled The Restless Wave, referencing information compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. “I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation’s security should have...

A lot of liberals are taking the Iran Deal’s death pretty hard. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that “conservative” stalwart John Kasich is upset, too:

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R., Texas) on Sunday said that he would advise President Donald Trump against pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal. Thornberry, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, appeared on "Fox News Sunday" to discuss his position on the Iran nuclear deal and what he would advise Trump to do in the next week. "Should President Trump pull out of the Iran nuclear deal next Saturday– by next Saturday, even if the Europeans decide to stay in it and continue to do business with Tehran?" Host Chris Wallace asked. "I would counsel against it. I was...

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.”

“Heart of Nuba” is a critically acclaimed film documenting in microcosm the horrific – but largely unremarked – outrage of our time: the brutal persecution of an estimated 215 million Christians around the world. The film reveals the plight of the people of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan and American Dr. Tom Catena who has, for over a decade, been heroically caring for these latest victims of genocidal attacks by the Sharia-supremacist Sudanese government of Omar al-Bashir. There’s a screening of Heart of Nuba in Washington, D.C. tonight. It would be good if former House Speaker John Boehner would attend....

Former GOP presidential nominee and current Senate candidate Mitt Romney praised President Trump's first year in office on Tuesday, saying it was similar to what the first year of a Romney administration would look like. In response to a question from a voter in Utah, Romney seemed to indicate that he largely approved of the policies pursued by the Trump administration during Trump's first year in the White House, calling it "better than expected," the Washington Examiner reports. “His first year is very similar to things I’d have done my first year,” Romney said. "The things he’s actually done have...

Richard Painter, a longtime Republican who was chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush’s White House, intends to run for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota this year as a Democrat, according to a filing he made recently with federal elections officials. Painter, a persistent and frequent critic of President Donald Trump on national cable TV news appearances and on Twitter, is expected to announce his candidacy at a Monday news conference. He’s running for Democrat Al Franken’s former seat. Franken resigned Jan. 2 in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich hinted again Sunday at a possible 2020 presidential run by ripping the Republican Party and declaring “I can bring that party back.” The Republican governor accused the GOP of being “anti-immigrant, anti-trade, in favor of debt,” and implored party members to “come home.” “We should care about people from top to bottom, not just at those at the top but everybody,” Mr. Kasich told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can bring that party back, that’s what I’m going to do, in one way or another.”

Dan Meuser, a Republican candidate in Pennsylvania’s District 9 was confronted by Conservative Journalist Laura Loomer Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at the 9th Congressional District Candidates Forum. Loomer confronted Meuser about FEC reports that show he and his company PAC have contributed thousands of dollars to anti-Trump Democratic candidates, even though he’s claiming to run as an “America First” pro-Trump candidate. Loomer also questioned Meuser about why he is running in District 9 while living in District 8.

Mitt Romney did not win the Utah Republican Party's nomination on Saturday, meaning he must compete in a June primary election as he seeks to replace retiring US Sen. Orrin Hatch. After a wild and raucous day of voting at the Utah GOP convention, the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee was unable to win the 60% that he needed to head to the November ballot unopposed. When none of the 12 candidates were able to cross that threshold, the party continued with successive rounds of caucus voting until one candidate reached 40%. On the second round of...

Here we go again. Another day, another ridiculous free-speech controversy. This time it involves a far-left professor at Fresno State University, Randa Jarrar. In the hours after Barbara Bush’s death, Jarrar tweeted that Bush was a “generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” adding “F*** outta here with your nice words.” Then, when the inevitable backlash built, she doubled down, taunting her critics with her tenured status, calling Bush a “witch,” and pranking readers by sharing Arizona State University’s crisis hotline. All-in-all, it was a reprehensible display, a grotesque example of the...

Former presidential candidate Evan McMullin owes his former campaign staff members tens of thousands of dollars and most believe he has no intention of ever paying them, a former campaign worker tells The Daily Caller News Foundation. Right before McMullin’s failed bid for president in 2016 as the conservative alternative to President Donald Trump, the campaign was inundated with debt. The disastrous fiscal situation was a combination of frivolous spending by McMullin and his campaign manager Joel Searby, according to the former staffer.

U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned on Tuesday against trying to rescind some spending from a $1.3 trillion appropriations bill passed into law in March, an idea that has been promoted by House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. “We had an agreement with the Democrats” on the spending bill, McConnell, a Republican, said in an interview with Fox News when asked about reports that President Donald Trump wanted to cut a major portion of the spending.

When Paul Ryan became speaker of the House 30 short months ago, he was a free trader and ardent internationalist. He supported comprehensive immigration reform and believed that the Republican Party should make sincere and ongoing overtures to minority voters. He was fiercely committed to fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction as keys to private sector-driven economic growth. To many, he represented the future of the Republican Party. Under Trump, Ryan's GOP no long exists, leaving Republicans singing the old Willie Nelson song, "I've Got a Wonderful Future Behind Me." President Trump's version of Republicanism is about wall-building — literally, economically...