Free Republic

Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Rand Paul are in. Donald Trump is out.A total of 14 candidates will participate in the Voters First Republican Presidential Forum on Monday, Aug. 3, at St. Anselm College. The two-hour forum,intended to highlight the importance of the first-in-the-nation primary,along with the Iowa caucuses and South Carolina’s early primary.“I am in the North Country today,” Bush said Thursday,“meeting with voters about my message of reforming the culture in Washington. I’m looking forward to participating in the August 3rd forum. It’s clear it is a great opportunity to engage with Granite Staters about the important issues...

Nevada Sen. Dean Heller knew it wasn’t a good idea to ban arms from our military bases and recruiting centers, which is why in June—weeks before the Chattanooga attack—he submitted an amendment to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act which would “give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms.” Unfortunately, his amendment was blocked, by none other than Sen. John McCain. The Republican senator explained in an interview on the Lars Larson Show that McCain, who’s the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, “didn’t want the amendment as part of the [2016 National Defense Authorization]...

Dear Jim..OK, the GOP now has its candidate. McCain isn't the first choice of the majority of us on FR, and even now, there are spirited, yet for the most part, civil exchanges on the threads as to whether or not some will support the GOP nominee. One of the more unfortunate, and unpleasant events on FR was the mass banishment and/or leaving of a great many Freepers who were supporters of Rudy Guliani for the nomination. I'm posting this to see if you'd be open to the idea of inviting them to return, and see how others might feel...

We've got some real challenges facing us. FR was established to fight against government corruption, overstepping, and abuse and to fight for a return to the limited constitutional government as envisioned and set forth by our founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and other founding documents. One of the biggest cases of government corruption, overstepping and abuse that I know of is its disgraceful headlong slide into a socialist hell. Our founders never intended for abortion to be the law of the land. And they never intended the Supreme Court to be a legislative body. They...

During a July 23 interview on the Lars Larson Show, Senator Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) said that in June he “submitted an amendment” to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) “to give military base commanders the authority to allow service members to carry personal firearms.” That was weeks before the heinous attack on Chattanooga, but he says the amendment went nowhere because Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “didn’t want the amendment as part of the bill and wouldn’t accept it.” On July 21–just 5 days after the heinous attack in Chattanooga–Senator Heller re-introduced his amendment...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday ordered U.S. marshals to seize documents from the office of controversial Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio as part of an ongoing racial profiling case.

RUSH: Today is Thursday. Last weekend was four days ago. Depending on which day of the weekend you go back to, it could be five days ago. And if you have wishful thinking about weekends it could be six days ago, all the way back to last Friday. What happened last weekend? Donald Trump supposedly took himself out of the presidential race with one sentence about John McCain. I mean, that's what the conventional wisdom told us. From the moment it was reported that Trump said he wasn't impressed with McCain because he's not impressed with people that get captured,...

Ted Cruz has a lot of “friends.”The Texas firebrand known for throwing Republican leadership under the bus on a regular basis dismissed the feud between Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump in a scrum with reporters Wednesday. That feud, of course, includes Graham’s charge of Trump being a “jackass” and Trump’s retaliation of giving out the phone number for Graham’s old-fashioned flip-phone.“Who cares?” Cruz said. “Let’s focus on the issues that matter for the American people.”Cruz had just presided over a Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Supreme Court activism. The presidential hopeful was asked about his proposed Supreme Court reforms — he...

In a clear case of intra-party punishment aimed at Maricopa County Republican Chairman Tyler Bowyer for having the audacity to buck AZGOP Chairman Robert Graham and his McCain-led establishment allies, comes this inexcusable retaliation. Bowyer hosted and appeared onstage at the July 11, 2015 Phoenix event featuring presidential candidate Donald Trump. That kind of independence doesn’t play well with those who want to dominate the party and, like John McCain, consider the conservative base “crazies.” Kudos to Frosty Taylor, editor of Maricopa County Republican Briefs for the following report: Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham has stopped payment on the...

PHOENIX -- Gov. Doug Ducey signed an executive order Wednesday arming the Arizona National Guard in response to multiple shootings at military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. "With the number of tragic shootings that have occurred on military installations in recent years, it's imperative that our soldiers and airmen -- people who put their lives on the line every day to protect our state and nation -- have at least the same level of self-defense as the citizens they're fighting for," Ducey said in a statement. Ducey's order will allow Guard personnel to carry weapons at Guard facilities and train them...

If there's a small silver lining for the Republican Party in the bonanza of insanity that is Donald Trump's candidacy, it's this: He's single-handedly managed to make the rest of the GOP field look downright reasonable by comparison. There's less talk of a "clown car" primary when the main attraction is the ringmaster of his own circus. Each day, Trump seems to reach new heights of absurdity, offensiveness, and popularity among Republican poll respondents. On Tuesday, he called fellow candidate Lindsey Graham an "idiot" and handed out the South Carolina senator's cellphone number — a response to Graham referring to...

Donald Trump vs. Lindsey Graham match ends in a KO First it was Rick Perry that caught Trump’s attention. Then it was Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 60%. Now he’s focusing on Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 60%‘s Mini-Me, the lovely and talented Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 50%. In all fairness to Trump, Graham set out to pick the fight. He probably figured he had to stick up for his BFF from Arizona and that he’d never really done anything that Trump could criticize. On Monday evening, Graham told CNN that Trump was “becoming a jackass.” By Tuesday, Graham was appearing on...

I'm feeling a bit Onion-y today and consequently I must offer a explanation–a theory–about what we are seeing these days in this hallucinogenic political season. Now that Donald Trump has taken the lead in the latest Fox poll, it’s time to call this perverse reality show for what it really is. Trump is working for his friend Hillary Clinton’s landslide election.

Imagine if you will you were crafting the perfect presidential candidate. It's likely the following would not be on your list: two-time divorcee with multiple bankruptcies; bombastic reality television star who has appeared on professional wrestling shows; loud-mouth uncensored ego maniac with questionable hair. In other words, Donald Trump. But among the 2016 GOP presidential nominees, it's Trump that's taking the headlines. It's Trump who has people talking. And, most tellingly, it's Trump who is surging in the polls, with the latest numbers showing him with almost twice the support of his closest rival. Why? There a several reasons. First,...

In a poll conducted from July 17th to July 20th, support for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump hasn’t taken a hit despite Trump’s comments about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Saturday, July 18th, while attending the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa. A recent Morning Consult poll reveals Trump leads all of the GOP contenders, with 22 percent of the vote. This places Trump seven percentage points ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who held 15 percent of the vote. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker came in third place with 12 percent of the vote. According to the poll, Dr. Ben...

Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly said the media despises Donald Trump because “he has no fear, he could not care less about censoring himself, and the press does not intimidate him.” on Tuesday. O’Reilly said his “tip of the day” of the day was, “The media despising Donald Trump, and here’s why: He has no fear, he could not care less about censoring himself, and the press does not intimidate him.” He continued, that the media feel the need to “punish” Trump for being “disrespectful and not cowering before them.”

All the negative press Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing lately is the result of a national press out to get him and "not looking out" for the American public. That's according to Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly. On his show Tuesday, O'Reilly said Trump is getting a raw deal from the national press because he isn't "cowering before them." "He has no fear," said O'Reilly, who has been known to attend sporting events with Trump. "He could not care less about censoring himself and the press does not intimidate him. So because of that approach, the media believe...

ecause the Republican presidential candidate hasn't gotten around to mocking everyone in the world just yet Perhaps no presidential candidate in history has wielded the put-down quite like Donald Trump. John McCain’s a “dummy.” John Kasich is “desperate.” Rick Perry “needs new glasses.” Karl Rove is “a total loser.” Lindsey Graham, Trump said Tuesday as he announced the South Carolina Senator’s cell phone number on live television, is a “stiff. What a stiff.” The list goes on. Feeling left out that Trump hasn’t gotten around to insulting you or your friends? Here’s an app for that. Built on the real-live...

The king of talk radio could take out Trump if he wanted to, so why won’t he sack up and do it?The New York Times recently ran a piece titled, Rush Limbaugh Rallies Listeners to Donald Trump’s Defense. In reading Rush’s full transcript, I found that headline a bit unfair. On Monday, he did cite ex-CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s defense of Trump—which I (and others) found to be unpersuasive. But his comments were far more nuanced than the Times’ headline suggested. Apparently Limbaugh felt that way, too. “Because I don’t join in the condemnation of Trump,” he explained on Tuesday,...

Trump's name-calling must end: Nikki Haley - South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Tuesday came down hard on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, saying that the real estate mogul has gone too far with his personal attacks on political rivals, including him calling US Senator Lindsey Graham an "idiot" during a rally. "It's wrong," Haley said Tuesday during a Republican governors forum at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colorado. Haley added that though Trump is a supporter and friend, she said, "he's creating a very combative tone. Every day I feel like I'm hearing Mr. Trump attack another person personally."...