Free Republic

There's a reason why Donald Trump is taking his loss in Iowa so hard - it's been devastating to his national standing. His standing in the polls might already be falling like a rock, and now it appears that the rolling concert tour that was his national campaign might be coming to an end. Now comes pretty convincing evidence that his crowds are shrinking, and he's trying to hide it (poorly). Trump was in Little Rock last night, and he tweeted a picture that seemed to show a typical Trump full house, and that specifically claimed that the crowd was...

In Monday's Iowa caucus, Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the man most hated by the Republican establishment, came from behind to nab front-runner Donald Trump. Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the supposed establishment favorite, came in just a point behind Trump. According to conventional wisdom, this should set up a battle royal among anti-establishment Cruz, anti-establishment Trump and establishment Rubio. If Rubio emerges victorious, the pundits explain, the establishment will have lived to fight another day, and put those rowdy conservative grass-roots anti-establishment types in their place. This is nonsense. Cruz is the most conservative person in the Republican race. Trump, up...

... Whereas Cruz has already survived one collision with Trump. And Cruz has already won a state. No other candidate can make either boast. And so long as that remains the case, no other candidate can claim to be a more likely nominee.

For those of you who haven’t had time to research the details of the recent brouhaha between Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, here’s a quick rundown of the facts. Monday, February 1 – Carson’s campaign announced that he would be delivering his post-caucus speech before the caucus results came in and then would immediately fly not to New Hampshire but rather to his home in Florida. This is how campaigns usually signal their candidate is about to drop out of the race. Monday, February 1, 6:29 p.m. – Marco Rubio supporter Conrad Close tweeted, “Rubio campaign pushing the narrative hard...