Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that GOP prospects for keeping control of the Senate after the November elections are “very dicey,” sounding an alarm amid mounting Republican concerns about presidential nominee Donald Trump. […] Twenty-four GOP-held seats are on the ballot this year, compared with 10 for Democrats, he noted. McConnell was promoted to majority leader two years ago when a Republican surge wrested Senate control from Democrats. McConnell did not mention Trump as being a drag on Republican down-ballot races, but he chided Trump’s campaign tactics. The Kentucky senator said he hopes Trump “settles down and follows...

Sarah Palin says "establishment" Republicans are on a mission to destroy the careers of "hard-hitting conservatives" who are making a difference in Washington — and is urging GOP voters in Arizona to stop them from ousting Rep. Paul Gosar. "It’s still RINO season," the former Alaska governor declares on her Facebook page, referring to the acronym for "Republicans in Name Only," the dismissive term tea-party supporters use to describe GOP members they consider too liberal. "Establishment Republicans (Wall Street and K Street agenda dictators) have teamed up to take out true commonsense conservatives. The Tea Party wave of 2010 sent...

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 Kirk, Dold, Radogno stand with leftist groups in support of illegal immigration CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R) together with U.S. Congressman Bob Dold (R) and Illinois State Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R) participated in a panel today for illegal immigration liberalization. The panel was hosted by the left-wing Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC) and FWD.us, an advocacy organization started by wealthy Democrat businessmen Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman. Calling illegal immigration "the American Dream," Kirk argued that that it "unlocks human potential faster and better than any other," and that he...

People who donated to establishment Republican candidates in the primary season are more likely to give money to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, than to their own party’s candidate, Donald J. Trump.

Last year I arrived early for a lunch address by Gen. Michael Hayden, who ran the National Security Agency and later the Central Intelligence Agency in the George W. Bush administration. Hayden was already there, and glad to chat. The conversation turned to Egypt, and I asked Hayden why the Republican mainstream had embraced the Muslim Brotherhood rather than the military government of President al-Sisi, an American-trained soldier who espoused a reformed Islam that would repudiate terrorism. “We were sorry that [Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed] Morsi was overthrown” in July 2013, Hayden explained. “We wanted to see what would happen...

Donald Trump thanked a group of Republican national security officials Monday for coming out against his candidacy, saying it is good for voters to now know who is to blame for “making the world such a dangerous place.” . . . Mr. Trump countered in a statement of his own, saying the signatories "are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power, and it's time they are held accountable for their actions." . . . "It's time we put our foot down and declare that their gravy train is over: no longer will Crooked Hillary...

Mike Murphy — who ran Jeb’s Super PAC — says that “if it came down to just my vote and I had to decide, I’d probably vote for Hillary and then jump in a lake out of massive depression.” Appearing on With All Due Respect, Murphy added that he hopes Trump doesn’t win because he’s “a demagogue and a neo-racist.” Murphy gave Trump a 10% black-swan shot of winning. View the video here.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has become the second and most-senior Republican senator to say she will not vote for GOP nominee Donald Trump for president. In an op-ed published online Monday night in The Washington Post, Ms. Collins said it was “not a decision I make lightly, for I am a lifelong Republican.” The column outlined a series of common criticisms of Mr. Trump’s conduct and temperament — mocking a reporter with disabilities, feuding wioth a Muslim Gold Star family, suggesting a Mexican-American judge might not be impartial.

Key players in GOP’s anti-Trump movement are preparing to launch an independent presidential campaign for Evan McMullin — a CIA veteran and the chief policy director of the House Republican conference — sources close to the effort told BuzzFeed News. Veteran Republican strategist Rick Wilson, a Florida-based media consultant and outspoken Trump critic, is expected to be involved in McMullin’s campaign. Sources said Wilson was in Washington on Sunday meeting with members of McMullin’s prospective campaign — which includes some who were involved in a group called Better for America, which has been pushing an independent presidential bid.

The Harvard Republican Club came out against Donald Trump this week, making this the first time in 128 years the college organization has refused to support the Republican presidential nominee. “Donald Trump holds views that are antithetical to our values not only as Republicans, but as Americans,” the club wrote on their Facebook page. “The rhetoric he espouses – from racist slander to misogynistic taunts – is not consistent with our conservative principles, and his repeated mocking of the disabled and belittling of the sacrifices made by prisoners of war, Gold Star families, and Purple Heart recipients is not only...

Donald Trump has had an uphill battle since the day, over a year ago, when he announced his candidacy for the Republican Party presidential nomination. Against long odds and endless naysayers in the media and in his own party, he secured the party nomination for president and in the process received more primary votes than any other previous Republican candidate. Ever. Sharing votes with 16 other primary candidates. Now that he has the GOP nomination, one would think his main opponent would be Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. If only it were so. Mrs. Clinton is a flawed candidate,...

Donald Trump's effort to appeal to establishment Republicans suffered another setback on Monday as 50 senior GOP national security officials warned in a new letter that Trump would "risk our country’s national security and well-being.” The signatories of the letter, which was first reported by The New York Times, all worked in Republican administrations, with many serving as top aides to President George W. Bush. They said none of them would be voting for Trump. “Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President,” they wrote. “He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world. He...

Under any scenario, however, the very fact of the McMullin candidacy is almost certain to have a major impact on the Republican electorate. Anyone can see this by heading over to large conservative communities like Free Republic where the members are positively incensed at McMullin’s bid and at the people backing him. Free Republic is an interesting case because, by and large, its members are more conservative than the Republican Party and also a majority of the membership took a long time to come around to support Trump during the GOP primaries. Initially, Anybody-But-Trump was the leading candidate with many...

GOP at 'new level of panic' over Trump," ran the banner Washington Post headline on August 4. Just two weeks earlier Donald Trump had accepted his party's presidential nomination, marking the occasion with an effective if not elegant speech. A few days later, polls showed Trump opening up a slight lead over Hil-lary Clinton. Then came the Democratic convention, well-produced but not particularly notable—except for the speech of Gold Star father Khizr Khan. Even this powerful statement would have drifted quickly into the rear-view mirror but for Donald Trump's grotesque and undisciplined reaction to it, which continued for days on...

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Beyond that, anti-Trump Republicans treat his voters like immoral enablers of a malignant boob. Should Mr. Trump lose decisively in November they’ll lord it over everyone, say “I told you so,” and accept what they imagine will be forelock-tugging apologies. Then they will get to work burying not only Mr. Trump but his issues. That’s where the future of the GOP will be fought, and found: on whether Trumpism can be defeated along with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump would care about that if he cared about that. I end with a new word, at least new to me. A friend...

After a disastrous week of feuds and plummeting poll numbers, Republican leaders have concluded that Donald J. Trump is a threat to the party’s fortunes and have begun discussing how soon their endangered candidates should explicitly distance themselves from the presidential nominee. For Republicans in close races, top strategists say, the issue is no longer in doubt. One House Republican has already started airing an ad vowing to stand up to Mr. Trump if he is elected president, and others are expected to press similar themes in the weeks ahead. In the world of Republican "super PACs," strategists are going...

Mitt Romney, George Bush 41 and George Bush 43, as well as other mainstream Republican party figures, are set to endorse Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson next week, say sources within the "Never Trump" movement and other disaffected Republicans. Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico, is known for having balanced the budget during his 8 year tenure. The Libertarian's Vice presidential running mate is also a former Republican governor, William Weld of Massachusetts.

(Snip) Party officials are nominally neutral in primaries, but Nehlen said the Wisconsin GOP has been anything but. The Nehlen campaign reports getting rebuffed in efforts to put signs and campaign materials in county GOP offices and having a presence at party events. He said pro-Nehlen comments have been removed from Republican Party Facebook pages. “It’s ridiculous, because people are going to these party tents, to these Republican victory offices, and my materials aren’t there,” Nehlen told LifeZette. The onetime Ryan supporter said the speaker has betrayed his southeastern Wisconsin district on issues like immigration and trade. “The system is...

Washington (CNN)Sarah Palin reiterated her support for Paul Ryan's primary challenger Friday night immediately after her political ally, Donald Trump, endorsed the House speaker. Trump on Friday evening said in Wisconsin that he would back Ryan in his Republican primary against Paul Nehlen, a little-known challenger. That announcement was a reversal from earlier in the week, when the presidential nominee declined to endorse the speaker. Minutes after Trump announced his support during a rally in Ryan's home state, Palin wrote on Facebook that she was "proud to be standing with Paul Nehlen since May 9th." "Wisconsin, please vote for this...