Free Republic

Spirits were high inside the House chamber on Thursday, November 16, when, in the early afternoon, the gavel fell and a measure to rewrite the American tax code passed on a partisan tally of 227 to 205. As the deciding votes were cast—recorded in green on the black digital scoreboard suspended above the floor—the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, threw his head back and slammed his hands together. Soon he was engulfed in a sea of dark suits, every Republican lawmaker wanting to slap him on the shoulder and be a part of his moment. Ryan was the man...

Several establishment Republicans cheered as the Alabama Senate Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore lost to his Democratic opponent Doug Jones. Here are some of the establishment Republicans who praised Roy Moore’s loss in the Alabama Senate race on Tuesday: National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Cory Gardner (R-CO) said in a statement, “Tonight’s results are clear – the people of Alabama deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate. I hope Senator-elect Doug Jones will do the right thing and truly represent Alabama by choosing to vote with the Senate Republican Majority.”

Mark Levin Congratulations to Mitch McConnell! 2 HOURS AGO · PUBLIC You beat Mo Brooks with millions in dishonest ads during the GOP primary because Brooks pledged to vote against you for majority leader. Then you helped Doug Jones in the general election well before the Washington Post story on Roy Moore was published. You didn't get your guy so you sabotaged the process.

After years of strong gains in states across the country, Republicans now fear they stand to lose hundreds of state legislative seats in next year’s midterm elections if there is a significant voter backlash against President Trump. Any losses would come at the worst time: Just ahead of the redistricting process that begins with the 2020 census.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld says he hopes Republican Roy Moore loses Tuesday’s special election in Alabama for a U.S. Senate seat. “I hate team-sport politics, and right now this is team-sport politics,” he said on “The Five” on Monday. “The argument is: Moore is bad, but a Democrat is worse, and... it’s a shame, because it shouldn’t be. It doesn’t always have to be a team sport.” He said President Donald Trump throwing his weight behind Moore is part of the “team sport” element of politics. “Even though Trump is endorsing this guy, it’s because he has to, because...

RUSH: Something that’s got me rather disappointed today. I must admit I’m a bit down. There’s a column by David Brooks in the New York Times today, and the title of the column is “The GOP Is Rotting.” So I figured I had to play prominently in this because I’ve always played prominently in David Brooks columns. I’m always held up as one of the primary perpetrators in the dissolution of the party, the damage to the party. But I didn’t make the cut in this column. Sarah Palin and Fox News are held out today as the primary perps...

Fox News and nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity joined Breitbart News Tonight Special Edition host Stephen K. Bannon on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel on Monday evening. Asked to discuss the establishment’s “nullification process” to undermine the Trump presidency, Hannity said, “I think the only way to stop it is all of us and all of the people that mobilized in 2016 to get back, organized, fighting every day.”

Failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked Alabama Judge Roy Moore right after President Donald Trump backed More on Monday. Romney argued that having Moore in the U.S. Senate would amount to a stain on the GOP and the nation. Romney tweeted on Monday, “Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.”

"Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity," Romney tweeted Monday in reference to the women who have come forward accusing Moore of sexual assault and harassment....."

<p>If the tax reform proposal passed by the House of Representatives last week becomes law, 95% of current donors to nonprofit organizations, churches, and colleges will no longer be able to claim a tax deduction for their contribution. The bill passed by the House increases the standard deduction for individuals and families and will drastically reduce the number of tax filers who itemize.</p>

GOP Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said on Monday that he did not vote for Republican nominee Roy Moore in the state's Senate special election. "No, no, no, I voted absentee. I didn't vote for him. I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in," Shelby told reporters when asked if he would vote for Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Sunday urged Republicans not to succumb to “political tribalism” in backing embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R). “After what we know, for Republicans to support Roy Moore over Doug Jones is political tribalism at its worst," Flake tweeted. Moore is under pressure from numerous Republican lawmakers to step down in the race. He faces allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, including claims that he made advances on teenage girls decades ago when he was in his 30s. Moore has been defiant, refusing to drop out of the race and calling the allegations an...

If you are a Bob Dole Republican, as I generally am, it is oh-so-difficult to be gung ho about where the GOP is headed these days, which seems like straight to hell. The party all too often has abandoned traditional Republican principles. The gargantuan tax bill, touted by President Donald Trump and passed by the House of Representatives, is being debated in the Senate. Only one aspect of the bill personifies Republican principles, and that is a pro-business tilt, which I can embrace, but only to a point. When the result is higher taxes on the middle class, they lose...

Fusion GPS, the liberal research firm that funded and distributed the anti-Trump dossier, has paid three journalists for work related to Congress’ Russia probe, according to court filings. Lawyers representing the House Intelligence Committee made the assertion in a bid to force Fusion to turn over additional bank transactions involving reporters, law firms and a media company. “The committee seeks transactions related to three individual journalists,” stated the House general counsel court filing, “each of whom have reported on and/or been quoted in articles regarding topics related to the committee’s investigation.”The journalists’ names are blacked out. Documents list 10 House-demanded...

Senior Republicans in Washington are unsure about what to do about Roy Moore now that it’s become clear that their attempts to oust him as the GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama have failed. Some Republicans argue that it’s better for Moore to defeat Democrat Doug Jones for the sake of President Trump’s agenda, which would become imperiled if the Senate Republican majority fell from 52 seats to 51. Others, however, contend that it’s better longer-term for the party if he doesn’t come to the Senate. They see the prospect of losing a Republican seat to be a better option...

Republicans have long been known as "the stupid party." They do stupid things, such as waiting until mid-November to push a must-pass tax cut that should have been done by April. But in recent weeks the GOP is finally showing some brains and some backbone on taxes. They are using their majorities in Congress to roll back and roll over the left, and it's about time. In a more rational world, tax reform could have been bipartisan. But once Democrats declared they would be unified obstructionists on tax reform, there was no reason to throw a bone to the "resistance...

Alabama Senate President Pro-Tem Del Marsh has a lot of concerns about the thumbprint Washington, DC has left on the race to fill Alabama’s U.S. Senate formerly held by Jeff Sessions. In an interview with Breitbart News, Marsh, one of the Yellowhammer State’s highest-ranking Republicans, explained how he and other candidates were discouraged from running for the seat. He said that “Washington” was set on Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), who was appointed to the open seat earlier this year by then-Gov. Robert Bentley (R-AL), being the GOP candidate and ultimately retaining that U.S. Senate seat. “Washington had determined that Luther...

On Thursday Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced a new gun control bill which centers on background checks for gun purchases. The bill was also signed by Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Dean Heller (R-NV). Fox News Congressional reporter Chad Pergram tweeted that the bill is designed to “strengthen the background check system” in the wake of the Texas church attack. ==snip= Murphy is ecstatic. He tweeted that the legislation is the most significant gun law promoted since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-NW) pushed universal background checks as a response...

Whispers about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) military service during the Vietnam War have been floating around Washington for years and were reported in print at least as far back as two campaigns ago. From the Kentucky Kernel of November 1, 1996, Senator”s Discharged Questioned:

Senate Republicans on Monday signaled that they will do whatever it takes to prevent Roy Moore from becoming the next senator from Alabama, though hopefully without letting the seat fall into Democratic hands. (R-Ky.) called on Moore to withdraw from the Senate race and said he believes the women who are accusing the former judge of sexual misconduct. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), the leader of the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, went one step further, urging his colleagues to expel Moore from the Senate should he win the special election on Dec. 12.