Free Republic

The already-bitter divide between Republican presidential candidates over immigration is deepening, a struggle that’s going to keep the party in turmoil well into 2016 – and jeopardize its chances of winning the White House next year. The clash over how to deal with immigrants in the country illegally sparked the ugliest exchanges of Tuesday's debate, as the two sides showed little taste for even a hint of compromise. They may show agreement on the basic outlines of other core conservative issues, notably tax policy, but the schism on immigration shows no signs of fading. If anything, it's deepening. Monday, a...

Our friend Ben Weingarten recently gave us a heads-up on some pretty amazing info put together by David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report for the FiveThirtyEight site. Wasserman and Weingarten argue that the campaigns of the so-called "outsiders" of Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump may be "cooked" because the nomination process gives outsized power to "moderate" Precinct committeemanRepublican voting blocs over conservative grass-roots primary voters. Wasserman writes: "Only 11 of 54 GOP senators and 26 of 247 GOP representatives hail from Obama-won locales, but there are 1,247 delegates at stake in Obama-won states, compared with just...

Events over the past few months including the rising popularity of nontraditional, anti-establishment presidential candidates, an insurgency within the House of Representatives leading to the early retirement of John Boehner, and a politically detrimental showdown with Hillary Clinton over Benghazi, have the Republican establishment visibly shaken. On the congressional front, party Golden Boy, Paul Ryan, probably sacrificed his future dreams of the Oval Office to take over the party’s highest leadership position. A move that may not be good for the party long-term, but salvaged what could be saved of the party’s leadership. Further complicating its image problem is the...

Well, this should make the crapweasels in D.C. listen. On Monday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals told the immigration power-grabbers in the Obama administration to stuff it. The amnesty sympathizers in the media mourned mightily. "Appeals court rules against Obama's plan to protect about 5 million people from deportation," the Associated Press spun. "Court again blocks Obama's plan to protect undocumented migrants," the left-wing U.K. Guardian decried. "President Barack Obama's executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation suffered a legal setback on Monday with an appeal to the Supreme Court now the administration's only option," Reuters...

On Tuesday's Breitbart News Daily (6AM-9AM ET on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125), one of the nation's top immigration experts said GOP presidential candidates and debate moderators never want to discuss how many legal immigrants America should actually admit. Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies told host and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon that though only 7% of the country is calling for an increase in legal immigration, "everyone that's wandering the halls of Congress out here in D.C. is lobbying for more, more, more immigration at all costs." -snip- Feere also pointed out that one...

"As revenge for their 'boy' becoming his own man, Mike Murphy intends to destroy Sen. Marco Rubio." Here is something you need to know to this morning - Jeb Bush's Super PAC ads have been terrible. They have not helped Jeb Bush at all. In fact, more Republican primary voters say they would never vote for Jeb Bush than say the same about Donald Trump. Here is something else you should know - Team Bush premised his strategy on keeping Sen. Marco Rubio out of the race. Bush announced early that he intended to run, then stockpiled his Super PAC...

Donald Trump's campaign for president drew early mockery for being nothing more than "entertainment." Almost five months later, there's little doubt that Trump has become one of the figures most responsible for shaping policy on his signature issue: immigration. Republicans from the state to federal level have worked to enact tighter immigration laws, as the issue has gained prominence on the campaign trail. "For the the longest time we saw a lot of anti-immigrant measures happen at the federal level, or complete inaction at the federal level, and then we saw the states going in the opposite direction, and seeking...

… While Trump and other GOP presidential candidates push for a giant wall between the United States and Mexico, San Diego is literally building a bridge. In December, an international group of developers, which includes real estate magnate Sam Zell, plans to open a pedestrian walkway that bypasses the regular U.S. border crossings and directly connects San Diego to Tijuana’s international airport. Meanwhile, all five members of San Diego’s congressional delegation, including stalwart Republican Reps. Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter, have successfully advocated for the $500 million in additional funds needed to expand the main border crossing. And the city’s...

“You told me you were in favor of an eventual path to citizenship,” Todd said, according to NBC’s transcript of the program. “Well, legal status is what I was talking about,” said Ryan.

In this modern-day 24/7 news cycle it is very easy to overreact to events and attribute far too much significance to stories which will seem, in retrospect, like nothing more than random data points. I do not believe that is the case with the sudden withdrawal of Scott Walker from the presidential race. Instead, it is my belief that this event -- and, specifically, why it happened the way that it did -- is a seminal moment in the history of the conservative movement, the media, and even our country. Let me first say that, while Walker was my choice...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says he cannot fathom how real estate magnate Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are dominating the GOP presidential primaries. Graham provided cutting assessments of their lack of political experience, foreign policies and overall temperaments during a wide-ranging interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday. “On our side, you’ve got the No. 2 guy [who] tried to kill someone at 14, and the No. 1 is high energy and crazy as hell. How am I losing to these people?” he said.

GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has called his rival, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, weak on immigration, but Rubio isn't much impressed with Trump's plan to deport all illegal immgrants, then allow those back in who don't have criminal backgrounds. "If you think about where he was six months ago, it's nothing like what he's saying now," Rubio said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Even what he's saying now borders on the absurd. He's going to deport all these people and allow back in the ones that are good. His plan makes no sense." Asked whether he agrees with former...

A battle over “sanctuary cities” is dividing Senate Republicans. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has teed up legislation that would crack down on cities that don't comply with federal immigration law. But its unclear whether the bill can get through the Senate — and not just because of opposition from Democrats. In addition to limiting federal money for sanctuary cities, Sen. David Vitter's (R-La.) bill would increase the amount of prison time an undocumented immigrant could serve if they re-enter the United States after having previously been deported. Conservatives like his plan, but it has drawn opposition from Sens. Jeff...

Former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, after speaking with Representative Paul Ryan about the race for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said on Friday that Ryan was a "man of ideas." "I wouldn't presume to tell Paul what to do, but I do know that he is a man of ideas who is driven to see them applied for the public good," Romney said in a statement provided to Reuters after he spoke by telephone with Ryan, who is being urged to run for the top House post.

Rep. Renee Ellmers stood up in a private meeting of Republican lawmakers on Friday and thanked them for their "prayers and support" after they received “nasty emails” accusing her of having an extramarital affair with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, according to multiple sources in the room. She did not mention McCarthy (R-Calif.) by name, detail the content of the emails or provide any other information. Sources close to Ellmers and McCarthy say the accusation is unfounded, and assert that it is being spread by a discredited troublemaker. McCarthy has publicly denied that any personal problems were behind his stunning...

McALLEN, Tex. — At the Republican debate Wednesday and throughout the campaign, candidates led by Donald J. Trump have assailed illegal immigration, and some have questioned whether children who are born to immigrants in this country illegally should be considered American citizens. But here on the Texas border some communities are engaged in activities that go beyond talk, enforcing some of the toughest rules in the country limiting the types of ID parents can show to receive copies of birth certificates. The result has been a refusal to issue birth certificates to many of the Texas-born children of immigrants here...

Des Moines (United States) (AFP) - President Barack Obama called anti-immigrant sentiment in Republicans' presidential campaign discourse "un-American", appearing without naming names, to be condemning the incendiary rhetoric of frontrunner Donald Trump. "This whole anti-immigrant sentiment that's out there in our politics right now is contrary to who we are," Obama said during a town hall meeting at an Iowa high school. "Because unless you are a Native American, your family came from some place else." .. SNIP .. Without naming Trump or his rivals, Obama denounced that on Monday. "We can have a legitimate debate about how to set...

The “Terror Threat Snapshot” for August 2015, released by the majority staff of the House Homeland Security Committee, states the terror threat level in America is high and “getting steadily worse,” and that there have been “more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11.”The “Terror Threat Snapshot” also reported that the Islamic State “is fueling the Islamist terror” globally; that Islamist terrorists “are intent on killing law enforcement” officers and U.S. troops, as well as civilians; and that 25,000 fighters from 100 countries have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State.In...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is defending his use of Spanish on the campaign trail, calling Donald Trump’s criticism of him a “joke” that made him laugh. “I laughed. I mean this is a joke,” Bush said when asked by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos about his response to Trump’s attack. “Part of it is, you laugh, because it’s so bizarre but it’s hurtful for a lot of people and Mr. Trump know there is. He’s appealing to their angst and fears rather than higher hopes.” In an interview with Breitbart News, Trump chided Bush for speaking Spanish to attack...

Republican Presidential Candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told a group at a Florida rally about his Texas border trip and explained why a border wall wouldn’t be practical or conservative. Bush returned to the friendly turf of the Sunshine State on Wednesday, with a town hall style meeting in Pensacola. Pensacola is a solidly conservative town in the Florida panhandle. He spoke of his experience as the state’s former governor, but only answered a single question about the Border Crisis. “I went to McAllen, Texas, in Hildago County, last week and met with the Mayors, the County Judge,...