Free Republic

Yes, it’s true: The man who wants to build a wall to keep out immigrants is winning over just enough Latinos to get re-elected. Unless Democrats figure out how to stop him. When President Donald Trump tweeted, on January 20, that he had reached 50 percent approval among Hispanic-Americans, most fair-minded observers reacted with skepticism, if not outright disbelief. Trump was, after all, still the same man who announced his candidacy by accusing Mexico of sending “rapists” across the border, the same man who ordered refugee children separated from their parents, the same man who has made building a wall...

Poll of the week: A Des Moines Register poll puts President Donald Trump's approval rating in Iowa at 46%, while his disapproval rating in the same poll is at 50%. This mirrors a year-long Gallup poll in Iowa which has Trump's approval rating at 45% and his disapproval rating at 51%. What's the point: There's little doubt that Trump would lose if the 2020 election were held today and it was was a referendum on his job as president. His approval rating has been well below his disapproval rating throughout his presidency. A far more interesting question is how high...

President Donald Trump's critics are increasingly focused on the question of which Democrat will challenge him for the presidency in 2020. It's an important question, but another one might be even more important: Regardless of who runs in 2020, if Trump loses, will he leave the Oval Office peacefully? Let's start with why we need to ask this question: Trump is increasingly proving himself to be a President eager to overstep his authority. Just last week, Trump displayed his willingness to invoke unprecedented presidential power to declare a national emergency utterly without justification. This week has brought a startling report...

•Bernie Sanders is entering the 2020 presidential race. •Sanders has supported policies such as Medicare for all, breaking up big banks, a $15 per hour minimum wage and free public college, all of which have gained more traction in the Democratic Party in recent years. •Out of all the 2020 candidates, Sanders would have perhaps the biggest effect on businesses and wealthy Americans.

Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan predicted Tuesday President Trump may struggle to win re-election in 2020. "The issue I'm concerned about is he has a very low re-elect number, I think in the 30s, high 30s, low 40s. So the chance of him losing a general election are pretty goodRepublican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan predicted Tuesday President Trump may struggle to win re-election in 2020.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her battle with President Trump on the road to the Hawkeye State, as the newly minted Democratic hopeful mused before a crowd of Iowans that the president “may not even be a free person” by the time the presidential election rolls around. The Bay State’s senior senator visited Iowa, an important early primary state, on Sunday, a day after making her 2020 bid official. “By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person,” Warren told a crowd in Cedar Rapids....

Some are grudgingly conceding that Trump’s bulldozer mentality has pushed leaders to have difficult conversations — even if the byproduct is chaos. The authoritarian rule of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela is in peril. Afghanistan could finally see a peace deal with the Taliban and a drawdown of American troops. North Korea has stopped its nuclear tests — for now. President Donald Trump is expected to tout these developments as major foreign policy wins during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, rebutting critics who say Trump’s main role on the international stage has been to bully American allies and...

Spooked by the 2016 election, Democratic voters say they want above all else someone who can beat President Donald Trump, according to a new poll Monday. The only problem is they disagree on how you beat Donald Trump. The poll from Monmouth University found that an unusually large number of Democratic voters are prioritizing "electability" over values as they begin to think about whom to support in their 2020 presidential primary. "In prior elections, voters from both parties consistently prioritized shared values over electability when selecting a nominee," said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "It...

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is the latest influential force in Democratic politics who is revolting against former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s prospective presidential bid, insisting that an independent run unintentionally would help President Trump win another four years in office. “No one in America should give Donald Trump a helping hand to become re-elected as president of the United States,” Inslee told CBS News. “The devastation that that man could cause is profound and well-known.” “Do not help Donald Trump. That’s inexcusable,” he added. No third party or independent candidate has won more than 5 percent of the popular vote...

Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he can’t run for president as a Democrat because he doesn’t like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to slap a 70-percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million. Schultz revealed Sunday that he’s “seriously considering” running for president as an independent. In an interview with CNBC Monday night, he shed some light on why he feels he would not run as a Democrat: Because he could end up having to argue for massive taxes on the super-rich like himself. “I respect the Democratic Party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don't know...

Eric Trump said his father should declare a national emergency to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. “I want him to declare an emergency,” Trump told Fox News Tuesday night. The president has said he will consider using a national emergency declaration to override congressional discussions and obtain the money for a border wall by executive action. Democrats proposed a bill, which was passed and signed, that temporarily reopened the government for three weeks while discussions continued over President Trump’s demand of funding for a physical barrier at the southern border. The president had scuttled a bipartisan spending deal...

President Trump's 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale on Wednesday lashed out at George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, over a tweet in which Conway mocked Trump as a "laughingstock." "Think how bad of a husband you have to be to act this way," Parscale tweeted in response to Conway...

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager is pushing him to hold firm in his ongoing battle with Democrats over funding for a border wall with Mexico. Brad Parscale is making his pitch as Trump continues to negotiate with Democrats over border wall funding with the possibility of another government shutdown looming in less than three weeks. As part of his pitch, Parscale is presenting the President with internal data that shows voters in key swing areas believe a border wall or fence is needed. After the shutdown ended, Parscale commissioned a GOP firm to test the President’s job performance and his...

President Donald Trump’s political team has concluded that shutting down the government hasn’t damaged his 2020 prospects — if anything, they’re convinced it’s bolstered his standing in key electoral battlegrounds. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale commissioned a survey taken during the final days of the shutdown that was conducted by respected GOP pollsters Neil Newhouse and Robert Blizzard. The poll, surveying 10 GOP-leaning House districts that Democrats won in the 2018 midterms, found that a plurality of voters blamed Trump for the shutdown. But a plurality of voters also supported his push for a border wall. Trump is expected to...

The government shutdown has not been good to President Trump. Polls consistently show that clear majorities of the public put the blame on him. His approval rating has fallen since it began, with a new Post/ABC News poll finding it at 37 percent, with 53 percent blaming Trump and Republicans for the shutdown. Meanwhile, Trump and his administration seem determined to show that they don’t care about the fortunes of regular people, which isn’t helping. Nothing is permanent, of course. Trump’s fortunes could revive as all Americans come to realize just how fabulous a president he really is. But if...

Massachusetts could become the first state to call on the U.S. Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, if a resolution in the State Senate moves forward. State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, on Thursday introduced the action that cites 10 legal reasons for drawing up articles of impeachment against Trump, including “cruelly and unusually imprisoning children and their families,” obstructing justice by firing and threatening to fire senior Justice Department officials, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and acting to interfere with the investigation into possible ties between his campaign and Russia. Comerford said in a statement...

Nobody rang a bell. No one called out “And they’re off” in a mellifluous baritone over a loudspeaker as the bystanders cheered. Nonetheless, somehow, some way, somewhere between Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s announcement she had formed an exploratory committee and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg tossing his hat in the ring, the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination began. The field is heavy on fairy tales, from Medicare for all being a workable policy that won’t bankrupt the nation to it being possible to rid the U.S. economy of carbon emissions without any notable decline in living standards....

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. — The Republican Party's governing body is set to offer its "undivided support" for Donald Trump and his "effective presidency," lending its backing to the president and his re-election campaign. The Republican National Committee's resolutions committee unanimously approved the measure Wednesday at a winter meeting in New Mexico, clearing the way for its passage before the full membership Friday. The expression of support comes as Trump's re-election campaign is taking steps to scare off any potential primary challenger in 2020.

Now that the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination has officially started, one of the big issues that will likely come up is which candidate is the most electable. One way to find that out is to see how the different possible candidates have done in the past. Of course, it's difficult to compare candidates when they run for different offices in different years. There are, however, six potential 2020 Democratic contenders ran who ran for the US Senate in 2018. The big takeaway from those results: Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sherrod Brown of Ohio are above-average candidates...

One month since the start of the shutdown, the Trump 2020 campaign is chugging ahead with staffing and organization -- and even fundraised off the paralyzed federal government. But the shutdown may yet prove to be a drag on the campaign and help set the tone for the race, depending on how long it endures and how it gets resolved. The campaign's internal efforts have carried on as normal, in contrast to the chaos of a "rudderless" White House, as it was described by one administration official. "The campaign has more autonomy and direction than the White House," said one...