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Pro-LGBT Republicans, both gay and straight, say the party is going through a fundamental change. Equality issues are not controversial among younger Republicans, majorities of whom support gay marriage and other measures. Richard Grenell, an openly gay former diplomat, told The Hill he is encouraged by how much progress the party has made, even over the last four years. During the 2012 campaign, Grenell stepped down as Mitt Romney’s national security and foreign policy spokesman after to a conservative backlash over his sexuality. “When I walk through the convention, I see politicians, activists and staffers who swarm me to tell...

We all claim to hate the “establishment.” And why not? Look at the mess around us. It’s obvious that the folks in charge haven’t done a very good job. But who is the establishment? The term gets tossed around a lot as an insult these days – even by some people who sure appear to be part of it. There’s a lot that can go into being a member. Education, job, philosophy, position, mindset. All matter. But attitude trumps experience. Some of those campaigning against the establishment assume that anyone holding office is a member. That’s a big mistake. Many...

The three networks on Thursday night immediately derided Donald Trump’s “dark speech” as one coming from a “vengeful” “demagogue.” On NBC, Tom Brokaw allowed that “some” will see Trump as on a “white horse who will lead them to some kind of sanctuary and then pull the drawbridge up.” But he sneered, “Others looking in are going to see someone they will only think as a demagogue of some kind.”

They didn't riot in the streets of Cleveland, as Donald Trump said his supporters would do had things not gone his way. But you saw the raw essence of a riot, the madness and loss of reason, on display in four days of chaos at the Republican National Convention. For a campaign now devoted to "law and order," the launch was mob rule: in spirit, in tone, in words. Long after we've forgotten Trump's closing speech - that paean to self, that nightmare portrait of an America where the lights have gone out - we will remember the savagery just...

In one of the most dramatic, polarizing, not to mention longest ever (at 75 minutes, it was the longest since 1972), convention speeches, Donald Trump claimed the Republican presidential nomination with a highly charged text in which he promised to be "the voice" of disenfranchised Americans and the guardian of "law and order" as president. "Friends, delegates and fellow Americans, I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States," Trump said to raucous chants of "USA, USA, USA" from the delegates in the Quicken Loans arena in Cleveland. "Our plan will put America First. Americanism,...

During MSNBC’s coverage of the RNC on Thursday night, anchor Chris Matthews stated that the phrase “law and order” “carries a racial tone to it.”

Hope. Confidence. Resolve. As the country reels from its crises, facing domestic and international terrorism, culture wars orchestrated by the powerful machinery of the left and economic decline robbing generations, these are the qualities that a nation on the edge of despair is desperately looking for.

Donald John Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night with an unusually vehement appeal to Americans who feel that their country is spiraling out of control and yearn for a leader who will take aggressive, even extreme, actions to protect them. Mr. Trump, 70, a New York real estate developer and reality television star who leveraged his fame and forceful persona to become the rare political outsider to lead the ticket of a major party, drew exuberant cheers from Republican convention delegates as he strode onto the stage of the Quicken Loans Arena and delivered a speech as...

CLEVELAND — In the end, it was all about Ted Cruz. Delivering an unvetted speech before the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, Ted Cruz — as is always his custom — carefully calculated just how to do it so it would benefit himself the most. And it backfired.

Case Western Reserve University is providing a “safe space” for students who are upset about this week’s Republican National Convention. The fancypants private school in Cleveland — where tuition, fees and room and board cost $60,304 per year — is located just over 4 miles from Quicken Loans Arena, where the GOP convention is occurring. A July 11 statement in The Daily, Case Western’s internal e-newsletter, informs students — and professors, and administrators — that the private school’s Social Justice Institute “will host a ‘safe space'” in the basement of concrete-laden Crawford Hall for the duration of the convention, which...

FR brothers and sisters, this thread is for all the Ted Cruz supporters. I'm a proud Texan, and ashamed of Ted Cruz. I am supporting the Trump / Pence ticket all the way. This experiment in a republic form of government with limited federal controls will not survive a Hillary presidency. I believe in my heart that Trump will be a transformational president. The good he'll do will outlive his Trump Towers. As for Ted, I don't think he'll win another election here in the great state of Texas. That being said, there are FReepers who still support Ted. I'd...

[Thursday, July 21, 2016/ 7:20 PM EDT] Make America One Again Convention Called to Order Reince Priebus Chair, Republican National Committee Entertainment Heavenly Joy Presentation of the Colors VFW Post #6846 Cleveland, OH Pledge of Allegiance To Be Announced The National Anthem Ayla Brown Singer/Songwriter Invocation Reverend Dr. Steve Bailey Pastor, New Philadelphia First United Methodist Church Remarks Fran Tarkenton Former NFL Quarterback, Media Personality, and Businessman Remarks Brock Mealer Wauseon, OH Video We Win Because Remarks The Hon. Marsha Blackburn (TN) U.S. Representative Remarks The Hon. Mary Fallin (OK) Governor Remarks Dr. Lisa Shin Korean Americans for Trump Video...

CLEVELAND (AP) — It's Donald Trump's big moment to make his case to the country — and to the many rattled doubters in his own party. The most important speech of his presidential campaign will bring down the balloons on a convention marked by divided loyalties and unwanted distractions as well as full-throated roars against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Outside the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Wednesday, the 60s reenactors were venting in the usual style. Donald Trump was in the building but again the dominant themes were American security and the Democratic nominee.

CLEVELAND -- Ted Cruz did the Republican Party no favors last night when he pointedly refused to endorse GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, breaking a promise he and other rival candidates made at the outset of the primary campaign last year.

Republicans from all corners of the party scorned Ted Cruz Wednesday night after the Texas senator delivered a speech before the Republican National Convention that not only failed to endorse nominee Donald Trump, but encouraged audience members to not do so if it would violate their "conscience." "Cruz condemned to Republican hell," conservative-news mogul Matt Drudge tweeted, before placing a "HELL'S A-BURNIN'" banner on his popular website. Full article. Pretty good, actually. http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-rnc-speech-convention-backlash-2016-7

The Republican Party has taken a page straight out of the campaign books of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. What? No, we’re not kidding. In the party’s 2016 platform, the GOP advocates for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that regulated the U.S. banking industry until it was repealed in 1999. Bringing the law back would lead to the breakup of major U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase in order to separate investment banking from commercial banking. …

Trump plans to saddle his veep with most of the duties of being president. Because why not? Anyone looking to tune in to the Republican National Convention this week to hear from the man the GOP is seeking to send to Washington to run the country needs to adjust their DVRs, because that speech won't be given by Republican presidential nominee and apocalyptic circus peanut Donald Trump on Thursday. Rather, it will be given by the party's vice-presidential nominee, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, on Wednesday night. So what gives? Well, it's not entirely surprising. See, Trump has, throughout his campaign,...

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This week, as we witness the horrifying spectacle of the GOP crowning Donald Trump as its presidential nominee, we may find solace by anticipating the positive change that his ill-fated candidacy might actually bring about. Ever since Trump secured the nomination, influential leaders and intellectuals on the right who reject him have been working to reimagine the right as it should be. Under normal circumstances, envisioning a more mature version of Republican politics might just be speculative fantasy. But this unique historical moment provides the American right with an unprecedented opportunity to redefine itself and reclaim its role as an...