Free Republic

Donald Trump’s presidency has been anything but predictable. It’s a continuous roller coaster and no one can really know what might follow, but underneath all the noise, the commander-in-chief has actually done a better job than many might have thought. Yes, the presidency has been controversial with Trump often angrily-tweeting from behind his phone, but has he worked enough to get re-elected as Democrats gear up to remove the businessman-turned-politician out of the White House? With a successful midterm election from the Democratic Party, one might think the president holds a bleak chance of regaining office, however, things might not...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Sunday that she's taken steps to ensure the safety of Rep. Ilhan Omar following President Trump’s tweet of a video that, according to critics, showed the Minnesota Democrat being dismissive of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The California Democrat also called on Trump to take down the video. That same day, the video was no longer pinned to the top of Trump’s Twitter feed, although it was not clear whether it was because of Pelosi's request. Pelosi was among numerous Democrats who had criticized Trump over the tweet, with some accusing him of trying to...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to the friendly terrain of Wisconsin on Friday, promising to build a coalition that will defeat President Donald Trump as he kicked off a swing through pivotal states that are part of the Democratic "blue wall" strategy for 2020. Sanders, speaking to a crowd of about 2,400 who braved 40-degree (4 Celsius) temperatures with a stiff 20 mph (32 kph) wind, pledged to flip Midwestern states such as Wisconsin that Trump narrowly won in 2016. "Together, we are going to make sure that does not happen again," Sanders said to cheers....

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Sunday Dreamers, children of immigrants brought into the country illegally, should get legal status. "Well, it's been put in place by President Obama and I believe we have a responsibility to fulfill what is a presidential pledge and commitment. So that's in the past. I would provide legal status for those Dreamers in the country," Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press," referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields these individuals from deportation. "That's something the president's put on the table. I think we should get that job done, and hope,...

Democratic presidential contender was at the Jazz Foundation’s ‘A Great Night in Harlem’ annual gala Sen. Bernie Sanders made a trip to the Apollo Theater in Harlem to pay tribute to Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett and the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but along the way slammed President Donald Trump as a racist. The Democratic presidential contender was at the Jazz Foundation’s “A Great Night in Harlem” annual gala where Belafonte and Bennett were honoured on Thursday night. Both worked with King, and the evening marked the 51st anniversary of King’s slaying in Memphis, Tennessee, during a...

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said a chant from President Donald Trump's supporters mocking her was emblematic of Trump finding a female politician to attack. "You know this is part of a pattern that the right and the far-right and, frankly, the President is consistent with," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN in New York. "He doesn't have another woman, Hillary Clinton or whoever else, to vilify anymore so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up and become a lightning rod." At a rally in Michigan on Thursday, members of the crowd could be heard chanting "AOC sucks"...

He’s just a likable, plain spoken Midwestern mayor who happens to be about everything that Donald Trump isn’t. Now, South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg has surged to third place in a new Iowa poll, making strides in a crowded field in the key caucus state. The 37-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan vet jumped to earn 11 percent support in the latest Emerson poll of Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa. He trailed two vastly better known candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t yet entered the race, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Back in January, Buttigieg didn’t even register in the...

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that President Donald Trump is “a symptom of much deeper problems” that won’t simply go away if he were to be impeached or voted out in the next presidential election. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York’s 14th district, posted to Twitter on Sunday afternoon, resharing a tweet by actor George Takei. The celebrity — most famous for his role in Star Trek and a frequent critic of Trump — wrote that even if the president were removed from office, the U.S. would still have “a big question” to answer. “How did a guy like that...

Watch in slow motion as Democrats, goaded by the media, conspire to re-elect President Trump: Voters care about the economy and making education and health care affordable. And so Democrats are talking about … abolishing the Electoral College? Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren started the latest distraction at a CNN town hall on Monday. “Get rid of the Electoral College,” she said, neglecting to mention that this has zero chance of occurring in the foreseeable future. The media took it from there. On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Garrett Haake pressed former representative Beto O’Rourke: “Getting rid of the Electoral College: Is that an...

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the leadership shown by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on the issue of gun control in the wake of the deadly Christchurch mosque shootings by a white supremacist. Ardern announced that, as a result of the far-right terror attack which left 50 people dead and dozens more injured, some critically, New Zealand will ban a swathe of what she called “military-style” weapons and parts that allow other guns to be converted. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and rising star in the party, drew a comparison with the lack of action on gun control in America...

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is preparing an early focus on Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, states that were instrumental to his improbable 2016 victory but where his support has softened, two campaign advisers said. The decision to accelerate campaign organising and eventually get the Republican president to make trips to the three states is a recognition that Trump’s path to re-election in 2020 will need to repeat some of the successes he had in 2016. Advisers also see a need to bolster Trump’s support in Florida, a battleground state he considers his second home but where opinion polls show him...

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...

On Sunday, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley that he is seriously considering a run for president in 2020. Not everyone was pleased. Shortly after he took to the stage for a talk at a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan on Monday, Schultz was heckled. “I am seriously considering running for president as a centrist independent,” Schultz said during the discussion, echoing his remarks on 60 Minutes. “And I wanted to clarify the word independent, which I view merely as a designation on the ballot.”...

Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) hasn’t taken office yet, but she’s already looking to take out fellow Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), according to a report Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked the political world when she defeated veteran Queens Rep. Joseph Crowley, said last month she’d support challenges to Democrats who are not as left-leaning as their constituents. Politico reported that she’s recruited an African-American woman to challenge Jeffries in 2020. A source told the news website that running a primary rival to Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, was the “highest priority” for Ocasio-Cortez. Jeffries was recently elected the...

The House Democratic Women's Working Group is inviting female members of both parties to wear white to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address next week as a symbol of solidarity. "Wearing suffragette white is a respectful message of solidarity with women across the country, and a declaration that we will not go back on our hard-earned rights," Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, the chair of the working group, told CNN. Frankel pointed out there have never been as many Democratic women serving in Congress as there are today. In 2017, the same group coordinated Democratic women wearing white...

One of the country's most popular Republican governors on Thursday called for an independent investigation into the allegations made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and said the Senate should hold off on a vote. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker made the comments as Professor Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Kavanaugh sexually and physically assaulted here. "The accusations brought against Judge Kavanaugh are sickening and deserve an independent investigation," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker tweeted. "There should be no vote in the Senate." Baker, who faces re-election this November, is one of only a few Republican governors,...

If you're one of the many American progressives cheering on the performance of your new political rock star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, look around: Many of the people cheering with you are Republicans. Ocasio-Cortez's 14-point victory over 10-term incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley was certainly impressive. Her performance since then? Not so much. The GOP have branded her a gaffe machine, Democrats on Capitol Hill her urging her "to do things differently," and her stumbling media appearances have sparked references to the "P" word: "Palin." Yes, it's that bad. There's a lot to like about the bold, outspoken battler from the Bronx who,...

Media outlets this week are all over a new Pew study that finds, the headlines promise, that President Trump's support is not quite as broad and not quite as happy as his stunningly stable approval rating might suggest. But what's striking from the numbers, at least as far as I can see, is not how much support Trump has lost but how, given the daily barrage of tweets and countertweets; ugly chants and ugly corruption trials (his campaign chairman); intense criticism in the media; all-out war in Congress; and foreign policy flubs and domestic failures, much remains firm, and how...

A voice crying in the wilderness is supposed to be ignored, not rewarded with accolades and growing influence. Bernie Sanders is the prophet with honor in his own party. The former socialist gadfly is now the socialist trendsetter. At the moment, he has to be counted among the most successful ideological leaders in a generation in terms of moving the terms of the American political debate and putting previously discounted ideas on the agenda. This doesn’t mean that he’ll be the next Democratic nominee for president, or even run. It doesn’t mean that his ideas are good (I personally consider...

Democrats seem to agree: A job guarantee will be part of the 2020 election debate. What they don't yet agree on is what a "job guarantee" is. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is working on a full blown national bill to enshrine the right to a job. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has a bill that would essentially run a test pilot of Sanders' program. The Congressional Full Employment Caucus has been pushing yet another national job guarantee bill, with some differences from Sanders' plan, for years. Finally, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) just introduced his own bill, which would subsidize more private...