Free Republic

If Republicans step back and look beyond the legal and social-media spectacle of Donald J. Trump, they'll see screaming political sirens everywhere they gaze. Why it matters: The GOP's political trouble has been unfolding slowly but unmistakably, starting even before Trump's loss to Joe Biden in 2020. First, the 2018 House elections were a disaster for Republicans: Democrats had a net gain of 40 seats to take over the House — their largest gain since the post-Watergate election of 1974. Then Trump lost the presidency. Next, Republicans blew two runoff elections in Georgia and lost control of the U.S. Senate....

VIDEOPolitico White House Correspondent Mike Allen made a bold midterm elections prediction. Watch how it worked out for the Nostradamus of our times.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum will endorse Dave McCormick for the Republican nomination in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania. Details: "I know Pennsylvania and I know conservatives. Dave McCormick will be the next senator from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He has my full endorsement," Santorum said in a statement provided by the McCormick campaign.

Former President Trump — in a taped interview with Jonathan Karl of ABC News that was shared with Axios — defended, quite extensively, supporters who threatened to "hang" former Vice President Mike Pence. Why it matters: Well, it is unprecedented for a former president to openly say it was OK to threaten the life of his vice president.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, lacing up for a possible presidential run in 2024, told "Axios on HBO" he won't back down from a fight with former President Donald Trump, taunting his longtime friend for losing the last election. "I've never walked away from an argument, no matter who stood on the other side," Christie told me during a wide-ranging interview in New Jersey. Why it matters: This is the first hand-to-hand combat of the 2024 Republican presidential race. Many Republican candidates fear crossing Trump. But Christie — who said he still considers Trump a friend, despite their falling-out...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tells me in an interview for Sunday's "Axios on HBO" that cryptocurrency could eventually replace the dollar as "the reserve currency of the world." Why it matters: The senator says he's begun to ask that question as more and more people lose confidence in governments, which used to have a monopoly on money. Context: When Paul ran for president in 2016, he accepted donations in Bitcoin — part of what gave his campaign its youthful appeal.

RUSH: Do you remember the book by Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth? Remember that “bombshell book,” how that was gonna bring down the Trump administration? Remember that book? And then whatever happened…? Remember the New York Times or Washington Post (I forget which) published an op-ed from “Anonymous” that basically said, “Look, there are some adults in here, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure this guy Trump doesn’t go off and ruin things. Count on us! We can’t tell you who we are.” Well, then this person writes a book, and it was gonna be a “bombshell.” It was gonna...

Like week-old meat left in a hot car, the stench of defeat is starting to overpower the swag pens and stifled giggles in the Democrats' impeachment project. Axios has fresh news about how bad it is: Officials in both parties tell me that — barring surprise new information — President Trump is on a glide path to swift acquittal at his Senate impeachment trial, despite a blizzard of evidence bolstering Democrats' accusations. Why it matters: Trump has a decent chance of avoiding witnesses and of losing zero Republican votes on conviction. Think about that: When the news broke, did anyone...

Well, well, well, what a pretty picture we have with Democrats these days, with radical Democrats now looking at primary fights with utterly crazy socialist ones. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may be planning to primary her fellow New York Democrats for a Senate seat, getting ready to target Sen. Chuck Schumer or Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.  That's what Mike Allen at Axios is reporting, citing what's apparently an upcoming Axios on HBO segment, citing "top Democrats," who "buzz." He writes: Top Democrats tell "Axios on HBO" they expect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may eventually primary one of the two New York senators —...

Joe Biden advisers believe coverage of allegations of inappropriate behavior is being stoked by rival Democrats — a dynamic that could actually fire up the vice president at a time when others see success as increasingly improbable. Why it matters: Several around Biden think advisers to Bernie Sanders are at least partly behind the anti-Biden campaign. One prominent backer thinks Biden will run, and "is ready to kill Bernie."

Mike Allen, co-founder of Axios, tried to claim that the economy is headed into a recession on the same day the October jobs report delivered spectacular news. Allen dropped the following headline: “1 big thing: New signs the booming economy could slide into recession.” Details: Allen cherry-picked data to backfill his hysteria. The big picture: Something else the “experts” were telling us as recently as last week: the economy only added 190,000 jobs in October. But Reality actually added 250,000 jobs. My favorite is this: And U.S. economic growth is already slowing: In the third quarter, GDP growth retreated to...

It drives the media, Democrats and more than half of America mad, but President Trump's unorthodox, jam-your-opponent style can be effective. What he's done: He erased NAFTA, as a word, and replaced the trade pact with a different name (the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA) and better terms for America. Sure, he infuriated Canada and Justin Trudeau, but he delivered the goods. (And helped some farm-state candidates just before midterms.) Show less His tax cut, jammed through last year, continues to juice a red hot economy that has consumers confident, stocks soaring, joblessness sinking. His wild, improvisational press conferences and...

With speculation hot among the president's legal team that today could be a day for action by Bob Mueller (last working day before Labor Day), remember all the evidence the special counsel has — or could have — that we haven't seen. Why it matters, from Bob Bauer, former White House counsel to President Obama, and now an NYU Law professor: "Investigators have the skills and resources to turn up evidence, including witness testimony, that goes beyond what anyone on the outside can imagine in the daily speculation about the Mueller probe." "How many had heard of George Papadopoulos —...

Marjory Stoneman Douglas student and #NeverAgain activist David Hogg told Axios founder Mike Allen at an event in Washington on Friday that his high school feels "like a prison" since the shooting last month, with "hundreds of police officers" patrolling the campus. He said this is a problem because the police are racist against black students: "What I'm very concerned about is the racial disparity between white and black students. For example, black students get suspended at a rate three times higher than white students."

NBC boosts Axios out of the gate By Erik Wemple January 24, 2017 Start-up news site Axios, like all start-ups, begins life with a name-recognition deficit. The term itself is Greek for “worthy” and thus could describe a number of industries, including, say, an organic juice bar and dry-salt-therapy provider” in Tallahassee, Fla. Around these parts, however, Axios gains recognition from its co-founders, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen — the Politico mainstays who upended the way that Beltway journalism is practiced. One of Politico’s most resounding lessons — and one that VandeHei, Allen and former Politico executive Kim Kingsley willed...

Trump's day of reckoning ... The one thing that could dramatically diminish President Trump’s chances of avoiding impeachment and chalking up legislative wins is Democrats winning the House. And, thanks to series of recent developments, Trump knows this no longer just seems plausible, but probable. Show less Hill sources tell us that a House Democratic takeover is now likely. One strategist close to Republican leaders believes that a loss of the House is "baked in," and said top Republicans don't see a way to avoid it.

Axios.com’s Mike Allen reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is now considered a lock for Speaker of the House in 2019, as her party is expected to sweep the 2018 midterm elections. If so, it would be one of the most remarkable comebacks in political history, after Pelosi led her party to an historic defeat in 2010 after serving as the first female Speaker for four years, then clung to power over a shrinking minority party for eight. Allen notes: “It would take a flip of 24 seats for Dems to take over. The average loss for the...

Trump's day of reckoning ... The one thing that could dramatically diminish President Trump’s chances of avoiding impeachment and chalking up legislative wins is Democrats winning the House. And, thanks to series of recent developments, Trump knows this no longer just seems plausible, but probable. Hill sources tell us that a House Democratic takeover is now likely. One strategist close to Republican leaders believes that a loss of the House is "baked in," and said top Republicans don't see a way to avoid it. It would take a flip of 24 seats for Dems to take over. The average loss...

President Donald Trump reportedly isn't adjusting well to life in the White House after his first month in office. That's according to Axios' Mike Allen's latest newsletter, in which he writes that a Trump adviser told him the president is experiencing "cabin fever" in the White House. Trump is reportedly experiencing headaches and frustration that he can't spend his evenings dining at restaurants like he could around Trump Tower in his old neighborhood in New York City. Trump's campaign-style rally in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday — during which he castigated the news media and mentioned a nonexistent incident in Sweden...

According to Politico’s Mike Allen, Obama will lease the mansion from former Bill Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart and Giovanna Gray. The home was sold in 2014 for $5,295,000 and has 9 beds and 8.5 bathrooms, according to the McFadden group. It has 8,200 square feet and was built in 1928.