Free Republic

The history of the 2016 presidential election is still very much in its draft stage, but there is at least one line -- from New York Sen. Chuck Schumer -- that is sure to feature in the final accounting. During a live interview hours before Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia, he was asked if Donald Trump's blunt appeal to white working class voters could turn the Midwest red. Schumer, the unwavering optimist, offered allies this soothing equation: "For every blue-collar Democrat we will lose in western P-A, we will pick up two or three moderate Republicans...

It turns out that the end of Lena Dunham's HBO series “Girls” actually came at the best possible time, if the latest whispers are true. Dunham, in the past week, indicated that a film version of Hillary Clinton's latest memoir, “What Happened,” is on the table as an option for an upcoming project. Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter that she intended to give the book careful thought — but then came the million dollar question: would she adapt it? When queried on whether the book would make a good TV or film adaptation, Dunham jokes, “Great question slash suggestion,” with...

The Russia Investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Deep State has taken over the identity of this Country. It has cost taxpayer money, it has shamed our Country, and it has taken up precious time we simply do not have. You could liken this investigation into a fake story to a petty rumor mill in your local high school. If one teen does not become prom princess, she starts a rumor on the one who does. The jealous little loser spreads the rumor all over the Internet until the actual winner can no longer enjoy her victory. Her...

Conspiracy Theories: Instead of building up to a troubling conclusion about the Trump campaign's conclusion with Russian to interfere in the 2016 election, the "facts" about this story keep turning out to be untrue. The latest is the claim that Russian tried to hack 21 state election systems. For months, we've been told that Russian hackers had targeted anywhere from 21 to 39 state election systems. Here's how Bloomberg reported the story in June: "Russia's cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump's election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and...

On January 13, Robert González Nieves, archbishop of San Juan, revealed Pope Francis’ role in Barack Obama’s pardon of terrorist mastermind Oscar Lopez-Rivera. Speaking from the Cathedral of San Juan, Nieves announced that although the Holy Father made no public statement of his involvement, he had indeed worked behind the curtain on behalf of the unrepentant, bloody-handed Lopez-Rivera. The archbishop was pleased to say: “I know that there have been efforts made through diplomatic channels. The pope is very aware. We are grateful to the Holy Father for his support.” Papal complicity in this politically charged act received little notice...

Last Friday, most major media outlets touted a major story about Russian attempts to hack into U.S. voting systems, based exclusively on claims made by the Department of Homeland Security. “Russians attempted to hack elections systems in 21 states in the run-up to last year’s presidential election, officials said Friday,” began the USA Today story, similar to how most other outlets presented this extraordinary claim. This official story was explosive for obvious reasons, and predictably triggered instant decrees – that of course went viral – declaring that the legitimacy of the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election is now...

Hillary Clinton hoped to wear white on election night, a tribute to the suffragettes and the sweep of political history. Instead, as she wrote in her new book, the white suit stayed in her garment bag as she donned the gray and purple garment she had intended for her first trip to Washington as president-elect. Given the opportunity to make history by electing the first female president, women didn’t take it. And ironically, the women who bore the most resemblance to Clinton – white, heterosexual and married – were less likely to vote for her. Many had expected Clinton to...

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about why Hillary Clinton lost. Clinton herself -- as explained in her new memoir "What Happened" -- puts blame on her campaign, the news media, former FBI director James Comey and WikiLeaks. Donald Trump tweeted this morning that "Crooked Hillary" was simply a "bad candidate." And now Stan Greenberg, the man who served as the lead pollster for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign (and Al Gore's 2000 campaign) has written a long essay titled "How She Lost" that slams Clinton (and her campaign) for a series of messaging, tactical and broader strategic errors....

Hillary Clinton said Saturday that some women are "publicly disrespecting themselves" in their support of President Trump. "When I see women doing that, I think why are they publicly disrespecting themselves? Why are they opening the door to have someone say that about them in their workplace? In a community setting? Do they not see the connection there?" Clinton told MSNBC's Joy Reid on "AM Joy." Clinton made the comments when asked about pro-Trump women who wear profane t-shirts "that used the b-word, the c-word about you." "And I think that's one of the problems with sexism. We had such...

Economic nationalist and former Trump Campaign Chairman/Advisor Steve Bannon discussed his experience.

AUGUSTA, Georgia (CNN) — Among the possible evidence in the government's case against former federal contractor Reality Winner is a notebook with information handwritten in Farsi, prosecutors said in court Tuesday. The writing is being translated, federal prosecutors told a judge at a hearing. Winner, who is accused on one count of taking classified information home from work and leaking it to a media outlet, remains in jail awaiting an anticipated October 23 trial. She has pleaded not guilty. Winner was a linguist while in the US Air Force from 2010 to 2016 and speaks Farsi, Dari and Pashto, her...

Malpractice cost Clinton the election, but her ambivalence on big issues was produced by big structural factors that affect all Democrats. Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen Penguin Hillary Clinton’s tragic 2016 campaign faced withering criticism in the press, social media, and now, in Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’s inside account, Shattered. From my vantage point as lead pollster for the Democratic nominees in 1992 and 2000, part of the closing clutch of pollsters in 2004, and invited noodge in 2016, I have little quarrel with the harshest of these criticisms. Malpractice and arrogance contributed...

Review: This well-written account is a catharsis for wounded Hillary Clinton Never write from anger. It is simple but sound advice. You make statements you might regret or share thoughts that might benefit from calmer reflection. Or worse still, you might be wrong. In the months since Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the White House to Donald Trump, the Democrat has poured her thoughts and considerable ire into a book running to almost 500 pages that tries to explain “What Happened”. The candidate should have been less definitive in her synopsis, perhaps adding a question mark to the title because it...

Documentary filmmaker and radio host John Ziegler debates Jesse and callers about Donald Trump. He's a "Never Trump" guy, because he believes Trump's not qualified, not conservative or Republican, and has no chance against Hillary... He says there's no path for Trump to get 270 votes in the electoral college, unless the polls are catastrophically wrong on an unprecedented level.

In a wide ranging interview, Hillary Clinton said that she would consider contesting the results of the 2016 presidential election, but is not sure (Constitutionally) how that would work. She claims that the election and Russian interference was a bigger scandal than Watergate. She has blamed just about everything and everyone for her loss, but why does no one ask the real question? Why is it that despite the entire establishment and media operation against Trump, did he still manage to win the election? Here are a few points worth considering: In the run-up to the election, all major news...

Rule of law is imploding in Denmark as “low-tech jihad” and migrant gangs take over the streets. The Danish government should not be surprised. But it appears to be. Thousands of incidents involving loosened wheel bolts on cars, large rocks or cinder blocks thrown from highway overpasses, and thin steel wires strung across bicycle paths meant to decapitate unsuspecting cyclists, is spreading a growing sense of horror among the Danes. In almost all cases, the perpetrators have turned out to be from MENAP countries (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan).

Hillary Clinton just can’t face the fact that Donald Trump’s in the White House and she’s not. Ten months after her stunning defeat​ in the 2016 presidential race, the Democratic nominee would not rule out challenging the results if investigators turn up solid proof of Russian meddling in the election. But when asked how she could do that, Clinton was stumped. “I don’t know if there’s any legal constitutional way to do that. I think you can raise questions,” she told National Public Radio. Clinton said if she had been elected president and the US intelligence community told her of...

Let’s start with a caveat from one of the authors of The Intercept’s story, just so we’re clear on what *isn’t* being alleged. very very important: there’s nothing in the NSA report indicating the actual voting machines or vote tabulations were compromised— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) June 5, 2017 Was that the goal, though? The piece is long and difficult to excerpt so I’ll try to summarize. According to the NSA (CBS has confirmed that this is indeed a real NSA report), last August Russia’s military intelligence unit — the GRU — hacked into a software company, likely VR Systems...

In trying to reckon with her loss, Hillary Clinton doubles down on the same hollow rhetoric and questionable politics that contributed to it. "I'm coming around to the idea that what we need more than anything at this moment in America is what you might call 'radical empathy.'" — Hillary Rodham Clinton, "What Happened"I have empathy for Hillary Clinton. This is not because I agree with her politics, or because I like her at all, but because in an effort to be a kinder, more grown-up person, I try to have empathy for everyone. But because my empathy extends beyond...

In Hillary Clinton's new book "What Happened" she details the experience of her 2016 campaign, and tries to answer the question posed by the title: what happened that caused her to lose the election? In the book, and in news appearances, Clinton has pinned her loss on several different factors, such as how journalists covered the election, former FBI Director James Comey, and the questions asked at debates. Here are the 16 reasons Hillary says she lost: 1.Herself: In her book, Hillary blames her "damn emails," her remarks about putting coal miners out of business, and calling Trump's supporters "deplorable."...