Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump lost three major legal challenges in the past week, including his efforts to dismiss a racketeering case on First Amendment grounds. Here is a look at the rulings in three separate cases this week in Georgia, Florida, and New York. New York judge denies Trump’s attempt to delay hush money trialNew York Judge Juan Merchan denied the former president’s attempt to delay his criminal hush money trial on Wednesday, after Trump claimed he was protected under presidential immunity. Merchan said that Trump had plenty of opportunity before March to claim presidential immunity in the case. Trump...

Is it Donald Trump's Republican Party? You can make the case it is, as partisan Democrats do, from the victories of various candidates endorsed by the former president in Republican primaries. But it's not an airtight case, and Trump's batting average is inflated by the dozens of endorsements he has made of incumbents with no significant primary opposition. Thus Trump endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott and many other easy winners in Texas's Tuesday primary. But incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton, endorsed by Trump last July, was forced into a runoff by George P. Bush. Paxton leads in runoff polling, but one...

On January 6, 2021, in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as presiding officer of a joint session, counted the electoral college votes for President, just as his predecessors had done for every presidential election since the founding of the republic. Sounds routine enough, doesn’t it? Not quite. For that act, Mike Pence became the most hated man in America among Trump supporters. Millions of Americans were left fuming at Pence for squandering the golden opportunity to flip what they were certain was a Democrat-rigged election. Trump supporters with a grain...

Things keep changing. A few months ago I thought Trump would not run. Then I thought he would run. Now, I don’t think so once again. And one of the tells is the subtle shot he took at DeSantis over vaccines. The fact is that Trump, if he runs, is not a shoo-in. And this could be an epic battle for the chance to beat Kamala Harris like a drum in 2024. And, at least according to people like you who took my most recent Twitter poll, Trump is not a shoo-in. He’s dropped to just one-third support from nearly...

All things considered, 2021 was a good year for Republicans. In 2022 will the GOP build on its 2021 successes, or allow itself to be dragged back to 2020? The answer is right in front of our eyes. This year has been a disaster for the Democrats largely because they refused to move forward, electing instead to remain mired in the past and fighting yesterday’s battles. If Republicans take the same course in 2022, they will likely reap the same disappointing harvest. The events of last January 6 at the U.S. Capitol will predictably be a focal point for Democrat...

If you are on the political right, you might view TV commentators like Chris Cuomo or Rachel Maddow as “the enemy.” In the same way, many on the political left view commentators like Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity as “the enemy.” It is no surprise, therefore, that many are on the right are gloating over CNN’s firing of Chris Cuomo, just as many on the left gloated when Bill O’Reilly had to leave Fox. But the Book of Proverbs has something to say about this, stating “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your...

Donald Trump’s greatest accomplishment as president may not have been the policies he enacted or the justices he appointed. Instead, as important as those accomplishments were and are, it is possible that the most important thing he did as president was to say to the political world, “I will not play your games. I am the champion of the people, not a member of the good old boys club.” But now that he has broken the mold, thrown out the old rule book, and forged a new path of leadership, it will be best in 2024 for another conservative leader...