Free Republic

The weekend's last RedState Gathering panel tried to keep a stiff upper lip in the face of the Trump Revolution. Only reality kept getting in the way. Katie Pavlich, a Townhall editor and Fox News contributor, spoke what was probably on many attendees' minds Sunday. She clearly didn't take any joy in putting it out there. "There aren't as many conservatives in the country as we thought there were," Pavlich said during the last of three intellectually packed days in Denver. The rise of Donald Trump, compounded with avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, made that all too clear over the past...

Radio host Glenn Beck had a dire message for those hoping to hear a pep talk at the Red State Gathering of Republicans in Denver on Friday. “The GOP is over,” said Beck, hours before his keynote speech that was supposed to unify conservatives at the conference. Beck spoke at the gathering, meant to organize grassroots Republicans operations just 90 days from the November election. He scolded conservatives as more and more Republicans try to distance themselves from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Denver — Some 500 conservative activists convened here over the weekend for the annual RedState Gathering, an event that traditionally functions as a pep rally for the Republican grassroots. This year, though, it felt like a funeral. The mood was decidedly dour as attendees spoke — from the main stage, at their tables, and over adult beverages — in disbelieving tones about the state of the presidential race and the inadequacies of their party’s nominee, Donald Trump. The event offered a unique window into how conservative activists are coping with 2016, and how they might hope to pick up the...

Paul Ryan hopes to survive his primary contest against conservative businessman Paul Nehlen on Tuesday. Then on Friday he will headline the #NeverTrump Redstate Gathering in Denver, Colorado. Speaker Paul Ryan, TV host Glenn Beck, and Lyin Ted Cruz will headline the August Redstate #NeverTrump conference in Denver.

Even if you only occasionally frequent law commentary online, you have probably heard of Ilya Shapiro of the CATO Institute, as he is one of the most prominent voices on libertarian perspectives on the law today. Shapiro took it upon himself to respond ... to recent comments made by Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld.

Noted #NeverTrumpers Glenn (Cheeto-face) Beck, Lyin Ted Cruz, Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley, Carly Fiorina, Ken Cuccinelli, Katie Pavlich, Guy Benson, Hugh Hewitt and Erick Erickson are the featured speakers at the annual RedState gathering in Denver in August.

I have said repeatedly, over and over, ad nauseum that I do not believe Donald Trump will win the Presidency. Yes, it has always been possible, but it has been very, very improbable that this would happen. I have also said repeatedly that events can change things. And events are now changing things rapidly. Those rapidly changing events are a staggering intervention into the political process by aggressive Trump supporters I never anticipated and only in the last few months realize they were there. They have mobilized, are unwavering in their support, and will say and do anything to get...

As a Constitutional lawyer, Texas Senator Ted Cruz knows a thing or two about the law. As a conservative senator, he knows what a tank of sharks Washington, D.C. can be. After today’s announcement by FBI Director James Comey that Hillary Clinton would skate on charges of wrongdoing, in regards to her hiding, destroying, and total mishandling of sensitive emails, Senator Cruz made a strong statement. From his Facebook page, and in its entirety: While I have tremendous respect for the dedicated men and women of the FBI, I have serious concerns about the integrity of Director Comey’s decision, and...

The Western Conservative Summit, organized by the Centennial Institute of Colorado Christian University, convened this weekend, with luminaries speaking including prospective GOP nominee Donald Trump, Senators Ben Sasse and Tom Cotton, former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, TV star Phil Robertson, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, radio hosts Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, and Erick Erickson, and Daily Wire Editor-in Chief Ben Shapiro. The video of Shapiro's previous appearance at the summit two years ago is the most widely-viewed video of any speech ever given at the summit, and this time was no different; of all the speeches given, Shapiro's speech was...

Realville, as Rush often says, is where he lives. That’s a place without blinkers or rose-colored glasses. That’s actually where we all live, though some of us prefer to deny it. That is, until reality bites. Then our wishful thinking or willful ignorance dashes upon the hard rock of unforgiving reality. The crackup always smarts. Thus is the case with the 2016 presidential election. There’s Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In other words, there’s Column A and Column B. That’s the choice. Column C is fairyland. Come November, tens of millions of voters will flock to the polls to choose...

Here is a sentence I never thought I’d type: After days of prayer, reflection, and serious study of the possibilities, I am not going to run as an independent candidate for president of the United States. I gave it serious thought — as a pretty darn obscure lawyer, writer, and veteran — only because we live in historic times. Never before have both parties failed so spectacularly, producing two dishonest, deceitful candidates who should be disqualified from running for town council, much less leader of the free world.

Embittered "#NeverTrump" consultants and bloggers are ragging on Republican voters who support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump telling them they "deserve to be beaten" as Americans are chased down and assaulted for merely attending a political rally.

Ben Howe, a leader of the dwindling so-called #NeverTrump group of moderate bloggers, pundits, and political consultants on the right, mocked the defenseless woman in San Jose whom protesters pelted with bottles, eggs, and food on Thursday night. Howe, who is a RedState contributing editor, has been leading the growingly embarrassing so-called #NeverTrump movement of moderate “movement conservative” political consultants, pundits, and bloggers upset over Trump’s victory in the Republican primary. When he received backlash over his mocking of the woman covered in egg yolks thanks to anti-Trump protesters, he aimed to draw a moral equivalence between a woman being...

Ben Howe, a leader of the dwindling so-called #NeverTrump group of moderate bloggers, pundits, and political consultants on the right, mocked the defenseless woman in San Jose whom protesters pelted with bottles, eggs, and food on Thursday night.

Yikes. I’m probably as surprised as anyone else to hear myself saying it, but the producers might want to start cranking up the music and offer a subtle hint to Mitt Romney that it’s time to get off the stage. We’re busy getting ready for the convention in Cleveland and the pieces are pretty much set up on the board, yet it seems that the winner of the 2012 GOP primary can’t bring himself to step back and let somebody else get on message. This pattern of behavior was on display yet again this week when Mitt let everyone know...

Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist, calls Glenn Beck and Erick Erickson “useful idiots” regarding their defense of Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. From The Federalist: Glenn Beck and Erick Erickson have both written pieces in response to this week’s meeting with Facebook – Beck as someone who attended, Erick as someone who didn’t. Both suggest the same thing about the conservative relationship with Facebook: that criticizing the corporate entity for its obvious bias in its news curation is an act of hypocrisy and nothing more than a Jesse Jackson-style shakedown. These are the complaints of useful idiots. They...

Unlike some of the other former candidates, Rick Perry is keeping his word and has pledged his support for the apparent nominee, Donald Trump. Texas’ longest serving governor is now being attacked for honoring his promise to the voters that he would support the eventual nominee of the party. In September 2015, Gov. Perry was asked in a post-campaign interview if he would support Donald Trump by the Austin American-Statesman’s Jonathan Tilove... Perry’s answer, “Sure. Whoever comes out of that Republican field I’m going to be supporting...” Now, outlets like Red State and National Review are attacking the governor for...

Candidates’ aides and allies want anti-Trump vendors barred from lucrative general-election contracts. Donald Trump’s campaign is considering hitting his Republican enemies where it hurts: Their wallets. As Trump moves to work in closer concert with the Republican National Committee apparatus, some campaign aides and allies are pushing him to block lucrative party contracts from consultants who worked to keep him from winning the nomination, according to four sources familiar with the discussions. “The Never Trump vendors and supporters shouldn’t be in striking distance of the RNC, any of its committees or anyone working on behalf of Donald Trump,” said a...

As Donald Trump emerged victorious in the race for the Republican presidential nomination this week, the loudest cries of anguish heard in Washington may well have come from one section of his own party—from those in its conservative movement. “Conservatives had their party hijacked from them in the 2016 primaries,” wrote Jonathan S. Tobin in Commentary, a leading platform for conservatives. He added: “The consequences for individual liberty and restraint of government power, not to mention America’s foreign-policy interests, will be incalculable.” Meanwhile, Leon H. Wolf, writing on the conservative site Redstate.com, proposed what many conservatives would consider a radical...

Donald Trump's victory in Indiana came down quick as a guillotine—but even before the election results rolled in, the GOP faithful were jumping ship. Former John McCain aide Mark Salter declared his allegiance to Hillary Clinton earlier today. the GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level. I'm with her. — Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) May 3, 2016 RedState blogger Ben Howe, who's promised to phone bank for Clinton if Trump gets the nomination, followed suit. #ImWithHer — Ben Howe (@BenHowe) May 3, 2016 Once it became clear that...