Free Republic

The Democrats were tremendously disappointed with the election results. President Donald Trump is losing by almost exactly the 51 percent to 47 percent margin that Mitt Romney lost to then-President Barack Obama in 2012. The Senate is poised to stay in GOP hands, and the Republicans look to slice the Democratic House majority to about 10 seats. Instead of licking wounds, some are asserting that somehow, Democrats are still the stronger party with all the historical momentum. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. wrote, "Democrats are a big-tent party, while Republicans are a closed circle." Dionne claimed, "For more than...

As my RedState colleague Mike Miller reported this morning, the last ten days have not gone so well for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The self-admitted socialist and her fellow extremist “Squad” members are being blamed for the shellacking House Democrats took on Election Day. The blame games have gotten so bad that AOC even hinted that she might walk away from politics sooner rather than later out of frustration . “It’s the lack of support from your own party. It’s your own party thinking you’re the enemy,” were among the many reasons she gave as to why. But though deflated,...

Even as people spilled into the streets of Washington D.C. over the weekend to celebrate the proclaimed defeat of President Trump, political insiders on the Left were feeling a bit unsatisfied. This was supposed to be their year.  All the stars had aligned for that big blue wave to usher in their wildest progressive dreams.  No one doubts that Trump was polarizing.  He energized opposition unlike anyone before him and, thanks to the coronavirus, it wasn’t just his hyperactive Twitter feed that was the problem. The nation was struggling. The pandemic wreaked psychological havoc on the country and had destroyed...

In case you didn't notice, our country is completely falling apart. There are so many problems that they are hard to list out at this point, but the biggest, by far, is the increasing animosity between Americans of different political persuasions. People think those on the other side are evil and need to be destroyed. There have always been views like that on the fringes, but the fringes have made huge advances and are now dominating our discourse. And it's not just discourse. We are seeing actual political violence on a scale not seen since the late 1960s. Most Americans...

For those keeping track, here's a list of Democratic Party "norms" for placing new justices on the Supreme Court of the United States, as they stand today: Norm No. 1: When Democrats are in charge of both the Senate and the White House, they are free to nominate and confirm any justice they please, as quickly as they please, as they did in the cases of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Norm No. 2: When Democrats only run the White House, they are free to nominate any SCOTUS justice they please, and they also get...

Norms, we are told, matter. Violating norms, recklessly disregarding norms -- these are charges on which President Donald Trump is often arraigned in the court of public opinion. The indictment starts with his annoying habit of inventing insulting nicknames for his opponents and critics. You can add to the list as you will and perhaps come up with enough names for a 700-plus-word newspaper column. But Trump hasn't been the only one disregarding norms of late. Consider the question of whether and when the president and Senate should fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The...

"As everyone knows, I made it clear that my first choice for the Supreme Court will make history as the first African American woman justice." So Joe Biden promised. Since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, however, Biden has refused to produce a list of Black female judges and scholars whom he would consider for the now-vacant seat. What is his problem? Donald Trump had no such reluctance. In 2016, he listed a slew of candidates from among whom he promised to pick his justices. True to his word, Trump elevated federal appellate court judges Neil Gorsuch and Brett...

Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, says, "Our No. 1 goal must be to communicate the stakes of this Supreme Court fight to the American people." He continued, "nothing is off the table." Nothing? Not even violence? After the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, members of the Trump administration were being assaulted in publics spaces, in restaurants. Sen. Schumer is right that the American people must know what's at stake. Will we have a culture of life and civility, or a culture of death, violence and chaos? The abortion rate in Schumer's own New York state stands the...

Is her racial diversity America's greatest strength? So we are told. Yet, even before America becomes a majority-minority nation, 25 years from now, recent changes in the composition of the country are going to impact both parties in 2020. According to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, between 2010 and 2020, while America's population grew by 20 million, our white population fell for the first time since the 1790 census. White Americans fell as a share of the population in all 50 states, in 358 of 364 metropolitan areas, in 3,012 of 3,141 counties. During that same decade, our Black population...

America is going through a bit of a rough patch right now. Over 100,000 dead courtesy of an invisible enemy from China. Massive layoffs and the closing, perhaps permanently, of countless small businesses across the country. Government compelled isolation imposed on the citizenry of the several states. A murdered American citizen on the streets of the once “Minnesota Nice” city of Minneapolis. To round all of this out, riots from coast to coast are inflicting untold economic, physical, and psychological damage on all Americans. It’s safe to say that, so far, the year 2020 has been the longest decade in...

There are reasons major companies got massive loans from the Senate's 'small business' bailout while thousands of small businesses that applied immediately were told there was no money left. There are reasons major companies got massive loans from the Senate’s “small business” bailout while thousands of small businesses that applied the first day funds were available were told there was no money left. Who is to blame, however, is more complicated.Imagine bankers who won’t deliver you taxpayer assistance unless you already owe them money. Imagine bankers who will put you at the back of the line so that franchises worth...

Why are some leaders so reluctant to admit that in the early days of the coronavirus crisis, they were slow to realize the seriousness of the threat? That's the charge leveled against President Trump daily. Just look at the number of times various critics have said he has "blood on his hands." Trump has denied responsibility, and has argued that rather than being slow off the mark, he was actually quick to respond. There is much angry debate on that point. What is clear now is that more than a few officials around the country were slow to act. And...

“The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant criticisms, can feel both intellectually and morally superior.” Such masterful writing shines like a beacon, cutting through the swirling unintelligent abyss that is Twitter. Thomas Sowell’s words are, as always, both succinct and accurate, and are no more relevant to our lives than today. Not only are many of those who contribute nothing to society often the ones to be allocated the most...

RUSH: Mr. Snerdley is trying to goad me into talking about the bailout package. He asked me during the break, “So what are you gonna do with your big stimulus check?” Folks, I don’t have any idea how big my stimulus check is gonna be. I don’t know how big yours is gonna be. I know what Snerdley’s trying to do. Snerdley’s trying to stir up a bunch of garbage here about, “What happened to the limits on spending that we conservatives believe in? What do you mean a $2.2 trillion…? It’s like I said Friday. Remember everybody freaked out...

People tend to come together in moments of crisis, most people anyway. There’s always that selfish jerk in a zombie movie interested in grabbing the wads of cash or something else they’d always wanted but couldn’t get before everything went to hell, and it usually costs them. Democrats are that selfish guy. And while it varies what the cost is in the movies – either his life or the life of someone else – in the case of coronavirus, let it be the political lives of every Democrat, because they truly are bad people. [snip] The words necessary to accurately...

Maybe it’s spring fever. Maybe some people’s medications have run out. Maybe the moon has slipped closer to Earth and is fostering lunacy. For whatever reason, the Left has abandoned restraint and gone slightly bat crazy. Well, okay. More bat crazy. Democrats, who demand open borders, are blaming President Trump for any threat to America posed by the coronavirus. Mike Bloomberg and Joe Biden claim that Trump budget cuts have crippled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – cuts never made, according to an Associated Press Fact Check. On Wednesday, Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of ABC’s “The View,” reacted to...

Just when you may have thought that the low quality of political rhetoric in Washington could not get any worse, along comes Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to prove otherwise. At a pro-choice demonstration outside the Supreme Court, which is considering a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, Schumer delivered what sounded to many ears like a physical threat to two of the court's conservative justices: "I want to tell you, (Neil) Gorsuch, I want to tell you, (Brett) Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price."...

Arrogant Sen. Chuck Schumer crossed the line in threatening United States Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. His words were shocking, even for him. I don't usually get too exercised about political rhetoric, realizing that impassioned politicians regularly engage in hyperbole. But Schumer's remarks were inexcusable by any standard. At an abortion rights rally hosted by the deceptively named Center for Reproductive Rights, Schumer said: "I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price! You won't know what hit you if you go forward...

This was not a banner week for the idea that justice is alive and blind in America. Three separate stories converged to drive home the obvious truth that America has a two-tiered justice system: the Justice Department's decision to not indict the guilty-as-sin plotter Andrew McCabe, the attempt to give Roger Stone an outrageous jail sentence, and the Army's decision to shrug that one of its officers attempted to orchestrate the removal of his commander-in-chief. Even in the unlikely scenario that the Barr-Durham investigations send the full stable of coup-plotters to jail for decades, it will not erase the obvious...

Roberts’ unwillingness to interfere in the proceedings of the trial will undoubtedly infuriate the left, but despite the hysteria, he's absolutely correct. On Friday evening, Chief Justice John Roberts announced that should a tie arise during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, he would not step in to break it. Given the near-even split of the Senate along party lines, Roberts’ comments put an end to the extensive speculation that had been bubbling around Washington.Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer prompted Chief Justice Roberts by asking the Justice if he was aware of two instances in which Chief Justice Salmon...