Free Republic

“I’m worried about 2020, I think it’s 50-50. I think it’s a coin flip,” said Ted Cruz, the Republican U.S. Senator from Texas. The 2020 presidential race happens when the country is “deeply divided.” “It is an incredibly polarized country,” he said. “I think it all comes down to turnout.” “I think the Left is going to show up in massive numbers,” he continued. “And it all comes down to who shows up on the center-right.” Ted Cruz was on the Ben Shapiro Show Sunday when, 45-minutes into the interview, Shapiro asked Cruz for his assessment of the 2020 election...

Sen. Mitt Romney said Friday he may never be ready to endorse President Donald Trump's re-election, but wouldn't give the race's Democratic front-runner, Joe Biden, "more than a 50-50 shot" of winning the White House. "I think the attitude here has got to be the same as across the country, which is the president will surely be the Republican nominee and an incumbent in a growing economy is more likely to win than to lose. But it's not a sure thing," he said. Romney said if the Democrats nominate "a strong contender, anything's possible." But he declined to say whether...

Even with President Donald Trump backing off his threat to slap tariffs on goods from Mexico, his transformation of Republican Party trade policy is nearly complete. Republican lawmakers usually don’t like tariffs. They’re viewed as a tax on consumers and unwanted government intervention in free trade. But many Republicans, unwilling to buck Trump, were prepared to follow the president’s lead and support 5% tariffs on Mexico in his dispute over illegal immigration. But after Trump returned Friday from Europe, he tweeted: “I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico....

Senate Republicans say President Trump should postpone tariffs set to be imposed on Mexican exports Monday, and allow more time for negotiators to reach a deal. The senators say further negotiations could help prevent an escalating trade fight they say would damage the U.S. economy. “We have a lot of people who don’t want to see this go into effect next week,” said Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.).

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced on Tuesday that he’ll recall lawmakers to the state Capitol in the coming weeks to take up a package of gun-control legislation, which he said is urgently needed to prevent killings like Friday’s mass shooting in Virginia Beach. Northam said he plans to convene a special legislative session this summer. The Democrat said in an Associated Press interview ahead of his announcement that he wants the Republican-controlled General Assembly to hear from the public about the need for “common-sense” law related to guns and accessories. Republicans have previously rejected Northam’s gun control bills out of...

Republican Sen. Martha McSally broke with President Donald Trump on Friday over his threat to hit all Mexican imports with steep tariffs. In doing so, McSally finds herself aligned with her potential Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly.

Republicans are moving fast to squelch Justin Amash's rebellion against Donald Trump before his conclusion that the President "engaged in impeachable conduct" -- the first by a GOP lawmaker -- can gather momentum. But Democrats who want a more hardline strategy against the President are seizing on the Michigan congressman's sudden intervention to pile pressure on their own leaders for tougher action. Amash's act of conscience on Saturday sparked immediate speculation over whether a tiny leak in the Republican dam could grow into a torrent of support running away from the President.

President Donald Trump’s only major Republican primary challenger said Saturday that the recent spate of abortion laws being passed in states like Alabama has him feeling “terrible,” and declared that abortion is a decision the government should not come anywhere near. At a campaign stop in Exeter, New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld told a crowd of voters he’s “the most pro-choice person you’re ever going to meet.” “The way I look at it, it’s kind of a power issue,” Weld said. “And who wants a lot of big, fat, white guys who live in Washington 700 miles away...

A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent President Trump a letter Wednesday urging him to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria within the next six months. Trump has already committed to pulling back U.S. forces from the region, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and others say it needs to happen quickly. “We write in bipartisan support of your announcement of the start of a “deliberate withdrawal” of U.S. military forces in Syria, and we welcome the completion of this process within the next six months.” Paul wrote to Trump in a letter that was also signed by Rep....

Vermont’s Republican governor Phil Scott suggested he could support former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld in the Republican presidential primary, but stopped short of an official endorsement. “Oh sure, yeah,” Scott said during his weekly press conference Thursday when asked if he would prefer Weld over Trump.

Bre Kidman, a Saco, ME attorney who enjoys spending weekends dressed as a "queer feminist mermaid" and splashing around in kiddie pools filled with glitter, recently announced a campaign run for the Maine Democratic Senate nomination in hopes of unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. According to Steve Collins of the Sun Journal, "Kidman said they have been fat since they were 7, gay since age 10 and figuring out what it all means ever since." The attorney does not use traditional gender pronouns, Kidman instead asks people to use "they/them" as pronouns. “Like all other politicians, whether or not they want...

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) returned from a Middle East tour saying that he saw no alternative to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict other than the two-state solution, JTA reported Wednesday. “I would say I don’t know what the alternative is other than a two-state solution,” Romney was quoted as having said on Tuesday in his first meeting with reporters since returning from the region last week. “No one articulated to us anywhere in the region an idea or a proposal for something other than a two-state solution,” added Romney, who has just assumed the chairmanship of the Middle East subcommittee in...

President Trump announced Friday that he would un-sign the global arms pact known as the Arms Trade Treaty in the latest illustration of his aversion to international pacts and world governance. “We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom,” Trump said during a speech before the National Rifle Association in Indianapolis. “I’m officially announcing today that the United States will be revoking the effect of America’s signature from this badly misguided treaty.” The origins of the treaty, which sets out international rules for sales and transfers of everything from small arms to large planes and...

Former Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday said he believes it would be good if President Trump competed against a strong primary challenger for the 2020 Republican nomination. “Philosophically, you could look at it and say that it would be a good thing for our country should that occur,” he said Tuesday during the Time 100 Summit, according to the magazine.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's report poses a test for vulnerable Senate Republicans running for reelection, forcing them to decide how far to distance themselves from President Trump heading into 2020. Mueller declined to pursue charges of conspiracy, illegal coordination or obstruction of justice, but much of his report reflects poorly on the president and reveals there are several more federal investigations that have yet to wrap up. While House Democrats will need to decide how hard to go to attack Trump in the wake of the report and whether to pursue a politically charged impeachment process, Senate Republicans have to...

CLARK – Tom Kean Jr. wants to make sure there’s no doubt about his philosophy. “I’m a Tom Kean Republican,” he said Tuesday night to an overflow crowd jammed into the local American Legion hall. Kean Jr., was announcing his candidacy for the 7th District congressional seat now held by Democrat Tom Malinowski. The reference was to his father, Tom Kean Sr., who served two terms as governor in the 1980’s. The term, “Tom Kean Republican,” is not merely the type of throwaway line one often hears at political gatherings. Over the years in New Jersey politics, it has come...

One of the GOP senators from Kris Kobach’s home state said Tuesday that the Senate would not be able to confirm the Kansas Republican if President Donald Trump tapped him for a cabinet post. Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state, has been mentioned as a potential candidate for an array of immigration-related positions after President Donald Trump pulled his nominee for the director of Immigration Customs Enforcement and announced the departure of his secretary of Homeland Security. But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, doesn’t believe the Republican-controlled Senate could confirm his fellow Kansan, who has gained national notoriety for championing...

A Missouri county GOP committee disinvited Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to a dinner event next month, citing his recent vote against President Trump’s emergency declaration to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Blunt joined 11 Senate Republicans, and all Democrats, in voting to block the declaration, prompting the Christian County Republican Central Committee to rescind his invitation to the local GOP’s Lincoln/Trump Day Dinner, scheduled for April 6 in Ozark. “I am so disappointed in you now that I can hardly speak,” Wanda Martens, the party committee’s events chairwoman, wrote in an email to Blunt’s office obtained by The...

President Trump flexed his veto for the first time in his administration Friday, rejecting Congress‘ attempt to end his border emergency declaration and halt wall construction. Surrounded by “angel moms” who have lost children to illegal immigrant violence, Mr. Trump called the attempt to stop wall construction “reckless” and “dangerous.” “Today I am vetoing this resolution. Congress has the freedom to pass this resolution and I have the duty to veto it,” he said. He was moving with striking speed, rejecting the legislation just a day after it cleared the Senate on a 59-41 vote. It had previously cleared the...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 14, 2019 Contact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released the following statement after voting to disapprove of the national emergency declaration regarding the border: “I stand with President Trump on the need for a border wall and stronger border security, but the Constitution clearly states that money cannot be spent unless Congress has passed a law to do so.” On March 4, 2019, Dr. Paul introduced the Border Enforcement, Security, And Funding Enhancement (BE SAFE) Act as a constitutional, fiscally responsible alternative. The BE SAFE Act would impose a $2,500...