Free Republic

Outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room” that it is former President Donald Trump’s fault Republican Mehmet Oz lost the Pennsylvania Senate seat to Democrat John Fetterman. Toomey said, “I think Dr. oz ran a very good campaign. I actually think he was a very good candidate in a lot of ways. So the question that I think arises is why did a good candidate running a good race in what should be a very good environment not prevail in a state like Pennsylvania, which is very, very competitive, always close, or almost always close? And...

On the other hand, a Handel win is not anywhere near the victory/mandate/endorsement the Trump team will claim it to be. This is a Republican district. The only reason it was close: A lot of Republicans voted for a Democrat. So, the GOP victory on the merits is pretty limited. Spending enough money to scald a wet mule (to borrow a phrase from Haley Barbour) to hold on to a district that Tom Price (Trump’s HHS secretary) and Newt Gingrich held is not a sign of Republican health.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former House Speaker John Boehner says that aside from international affairs and foreign policy, President Donald Trump's time in office has so far been a "complete disaster." Speaking at an energy conference Thursday in Houston, Boehner praised Trump for his approach abroad and his aggressiveness in fighting Islamic State militants, according to the energy publication Rigzone. "Everything else he's done (in office) has been a complete disaster," the Ohio Republican said, according to the publication. "He's still learning how to be president." Boehner said he's been friends with Trump for 15 years, but still has a hard...

House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Greg Gianforte, the GOP House candidate charged with assaulting a reporter, should apologize but added that it is now up to voters in Montana to choose whether they want him as their representative in Congress. "There's never a call for physical altercations," Ryan told reporters during his weekly press conference. "That is wrong and it should not have happened." "I think he should apologize," Ryan added.

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...

Glenn Beck spent a portion of his television program last night debating with audience members who are not very happy with his refusal to support Donald Trump, which Beck continues to insist he cannot do because voting for Trump carries eternal consequences. To vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton is to give his approval to genuine evil and "darkness," Beck said, and so unless God tells him otherwise, he cannot vote for Trump. "We have to do what we feel the Lord would want us to do," Beck explained. "All I'm looking for now is to be seen in...

With many prominent Republicans ducking out of the GOP convention next month in Cleveland, presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has lined up a slew of sports figures and musicians to appear, including former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka.Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that Trump campaign aides have lined up former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, Ditka, former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight and NASCAR chief Brian France.

Sen. Marco Rubio is sticking by his former attack line that Donald Trump can't be trusted with the nuclear codes, despite having previously come around to support Trump as the nominee. In an interview with The Weekly Standard, Rubio reaffirmed his statement from February — when he was still in the throes of a nasty primary battle — that America can't give "the nuclear codes of the United States to an erratic individual." "I stand by everything I said during the campaign," Rubio said on Thursday. Rubio's wobbly support of Trump comes after the presumptive Republican nominee's comments about Judge...

Per Twitter "Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate--an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance." -Bill Kristol Who is it, Mittens? This absolutely disgusts me. This fool is going to cost us the election because he and some bitter Cruz supporters didn't get their way. He knows it will split the vote and we won't win. A few things: 1)He wants to cause enough of a vote split where no candidate has the 270. Ok. Let's say he does that. He will literally be usurping the will of all...

Mark just announced he will Never Vote for Trump and gave all the reasons why on today's radio program.

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer predicted that the Republican Party would most certainly collapse if Donald Trump is denied a presidential nomination at the convention in July. In his latest column for the Washington Post, Krauthammer said if Trump does not lock up the nomination before the convention — he has the most delegates but needs a majority — it is possible the party will coalesce around an alternative and the billionaire's supporters will walk away, leaving the party in shambles. "And if Trump loses out, a split is guaranteed," wrote Krauthammer. "In Trump's mind, he is a winner. Always. If...

A disqualifying & disgusting response by @realDonaldTrump to the KKK. His coddling of repugnant bigotry is not in the character of America.

Monday on the campaign trail in Reno, NV, Republican presidential candidateSen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 79% said if his opponent Donald Trump becomes the nominee, the GOP cannot win in November, because half of the Republican Party “hates” him. Rubio said, “We can’t win if we nominate someone, if we nominate someone that half of the Republican Party hates. We are going to be fighting against each other all the way to November. I don’t care how much you may think they’re funny or how interesting they may sound. If we nominate someone that 40 to 50 percent of our party can’t stand, we...

Jeb Bush campaigned in two backyards Monday - his own and Donald Trump's - to ask longtime Bush believers to keep the faith in his presidential candidacy. At a Hialeah rally and a West Palm Beach speech, the former Florida governor made no reference to his stagnant poll numbers, which have him trailing several rivals even in his home state. -snip- Trump's name had drawn jeers from the largely Hispanic Hialeah crowd. -snip- "I'm very optimistic about New Hampshire," Bush insisted to reporters in Spanish. "It's already my second home." When another Spanish-language journalist asked Bush if he might drop...

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush says Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton "has no clue" about leading the country and GOP front-runner Donald Trump is "not serious about being a candidate." [...] Speaking mostly in English, Bush said America's leadership in the world is "essential for peace and security" and that "Hillary Clinton has no clue." ...

Presidential candidate Jeb Bush continued on Monday to attack Donald Trump as a "bully" who has thrived by exploiting the country's divisions, telling reporters in his home state that "people are latching onto him because life's not good right now." "Donald Trump divides us in all of our disparate parts," said the former Florida governor. "He insults people, and he garners the attention. The press eats it up." "I'm the only candidate that has gone after him because everybody else seems to be intimidated by the bully. I'm not," he added.

George Will is warning that if the GOP nominates Donald Trump for president, it would be the "end" of the conservative party. “Conservatives’ highest priority now must be to prevent Trump from winning the Republican nomination in this, the GOP’s third epochal intraparty struggle in 104 years,” he writes in a new Washington Post column Thursday.

It's hard to keep up with the twists and turns in this presidential race. Hillary Clinton under fire on Benghazi! Ben Carson has a theory about the pyramids! Bernie Sanders wrote about rape fantasies! Donald Trump . . . well, Donald Trump! Figuring out which headline will have the biggest impact on the general election is a bit of a parlor game. But what if they have no impact at all? After the 2012 election, political scientists John Sides and Lynn Vavreck wrote a book called"The Gamble"that looked at the cause of President Obama's victory over Mitt Romney. They sifted...

Friday on Fox New Channel's "Fox & Friends," Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)said his rival Donald Trump's attacks on his finances are "ironic" considering Trump has been in charge of businesses that have declared bankruptcy. Rubio said, "I just find it ironic that Donald Trump had four bankruptcies in his businesses and who is he to attack anybody on finances. I find that ironic. I'm proud of where I come from. I'm proud of what we have been able to achieve. Today my family and I have we have one debt in the world which is the...

Monday on Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Press, Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) said he believes most Republican voters and candidates agree with him, not his loud rival Donald Trump and that it is a double fantasy that the United States could deport the 11 million illegal immigrants currently living here and get Mexico to pay for a border wall. Kasich said he is in the majority of Americans who believe there needs to be a path to legal status for those here but if they haven’t broken laws, after paying penalties, possibly performing community service and the border is secured, saying...