Free Republic

Much like the 1960s comedy "Get Smart," GOP establishment operatives and candidates have formed their own version of "KAOS," the evil organization that continually tried to "get" Agent Maxwell Smart. Except in this case, it's many Republican traditionalists that are trying to "get" Donald Trump. These efforts will backfire on them, as did the best attempts at mischief by KAOS in the comedy classic. To fully comprehend how off-base the pundits and establishment consultants are about the 2016 race for the GOP presidential nomination, let's first examine a tale of two polls taken in Florida recently. The first was conducted...

Most Americans agree with Donald Trump -- the illegal aliens have to go. Head 'em up, move 'em out. A new Fox News poll shows 52 percent of the nation favors deporting the millions of illegals back to their home countries. Republicans and Democrats support Mr. Trump’s plan. But the numbers among Republicans are astronomical. Seventy percent agree with Mr. Trump -- a super-majority. So why does the Republican establishment continue to support pro-amnesty candidates? Jeb Bush accused Mr. Trump of preying on people's deep-seated fears. “This whole idea of preying on people’s deep-seated fears of what the future looks...

The super PACs going after Donald Trump are making a "bad, bad decision," the candidate's special counsel and adviser warned Tuesday morning, saying that if the reports are true, "it changes everything." "Donald Trump wants to be treated fairly. He will demand that the GOP treat them fairly," Michael Cohen told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day." If the party does treat him fairly, Trump "will honor the pledge because he’s an honorable guy," he said. But, "if they break that agreement with him, as they say, woe be on them," Cohen cautioned, referring to the loyalty agreement Trump signed,...

Republican donors with links to several presidential candidates - as well as a prominent GOP operative - are pooling their resources in a new effort to go after Donald Trump and keep the party's presidential front-runner from winning the nomination. The most recent bid is a reported "guerrilla campaign" led by a group called Trump Card LLC and run by Liz Mair, former communications official for the Republican National Committee. The group's goal, according to The Wall Street Journal, is to collect money from anonymous donors to "defeat and destroy" Trump, who has essentially led the GOP presidential field since...

A well-connected GOP operative alarmed by the enduring strength of Republican Donald Trump's presidential bid is planning a "guerrilla campaign" backed by secret donors to knock him out of the race. Liz Mair, former online communications director of the Republican National Committee, recently created Trump Card LLC to "defeat and destroy" the celebrity businessman's candidacy, according to a memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal. "In the absence of our efforts, Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race," the Trump Card memo says. "The stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is...

Tuesday at a news conference in Kosovo’s capital city Priština, King Abdullah of Jordan declared the planet was in the midst of a Third World War.

<p>The number of families illegally crossing the southern U.S. border has more than doubled over the same period last fall, prompting concern about a new surge of migrants from Central America.</p> <p>Many more unaccompanied children are also crossing, with 4,476 apprehended in September — an 85% increase over that month in 2014, according to new Border Patrol data.</p>

The Democratic Party presidential candidates will hold a two hour long debate Saturday starting at 9 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. PST at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The debate will be broadcast by CBS News and can be viewed on over-the-air CBS television and radio affiliates as well as various online streaming sources. The candidates: Former Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of New York. Co-hosting the debate are CBS News, the Des Moines Register and CBS affiliate KCCI-TV. Debate moderator: CBS News Face the Nation host John...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) corrected a woman who called President Obama a "traitor" during an event on Friday. "He's a traitor," the woman called out during Graham's appearance at the Sunshine Summit in Orlando, accusing the president of betraying the U.S. with the Iran nuclear deal. "No, ma'am, he's not a traitor," Graham responded. "He just doesn't know what he's doing."

Hillary Clinton has a word for Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 million people from the country: No. The Democratic presidential candidate blasted Trump's call for a "deportation force" on Wednesday, calling it "absurd." "The idea of tracking down and deporting 11 million people is absurd, inhumane, and un-American. No, Trump. -H" Clinton tweeted, quoting a New York Times reporter's tweet on Trump's comments made earlier in the morning on MSNBC.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: On this program yesterday after the Republican debate, you know Trump was talking about Eisenhower and how he deported a million and a half, and I added to that news. RUSH ARCHIVE: Trump was entirely correct to point out the history, what Eisenhower did. And I don't think Trump went far enough, actually. In reality, Harry Truman, another Democrat president, deported illegal aliens, over 3.4 million. Did you know that? You did not know about Harry Truman? Well, then I'm happy to be able to inform you. RUSH: Last night, Trump was on The O'Reilly Factor, and...

Sen. Marco Rubio clarified his view on the 11 million immigrants, who are in the United States illegally. The day after a presidential debate, which exposed a continuing divide in the Republican Party on immigration, Rubio told NPR on Wednesday that he favors a path to citizenship for some, though the prospect would be very distant. "If you haven't been here very long, or you're a criminal, you will be deported," Rubio told NPR's Morning Edition. "Otherwise, you will have to come forward, pass the background check, learn English, pay a fine, because you violated the law, start paying taxes,...

To win the crown, you have to knock out the champ. That would be Trump. Nobody came close last night. Apparently John Kasich and Juan Ellis Bush didn’t get the paraphrased memo from Harry S. Truman: If you give people a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat, they’ll pick the Democrat every time. Kasich had no business even being on the stage last night. He belonged in the kiddie debate, from whose bourn no traveler returns. Ditto Juan Ellis Bush. Who exactly did the son of a mailman think he was kidding when he said the U.S. couldn’t deport...

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...