Free Republic

If Orwell were alive today, he'd be more concerned with the world's genuine dictatorships than with the Trump administration. On April 4, almost 90 art-house movie theaters across the country will show 1984, the British film starring John Hurt, as a form of protest against President Trump's stated desire to defund the National Endowment for the Arts. The theaters say they "strongly believe in supporting the [NEA] and see any attempt to scuttle that program as an attack on free speech and creative expression through entertainment." The George Orwell novel on which the film is based, you'll recall, is the...

This is probably just the right balance for Ted Cruz: Senior Republicans have been asking Cruz to apologize to [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell so they can unite behind his bid to defeat Donald Trump. But Cruz did offer some kind words for McConnell Thursday. “Now I will tell you this, I am happy to praise Mitch McConnell and praise him effusively for his stand, along with (Senate Judiciary Chairman) Chuck Grassley, saying we are not going to hold hearings on a replacement” to the Supreme Court, Cruz told Bash. “Mitch McConnell’s doing the right thing, Chuck Grassley’s doing the right thing,...

The conventional wisdom is that though Ted Cruz can excite the conservative-activist base of the Republican party, he can’t beat Hillary Clinton in a general election. But the recent head-to-head polling tells a different story. Unless your name is George W. Bush, it’s tough to win 270 electoral votes without winning the popular vote. And Cruz is hanging in there against the Democratic front-runner. The RealClearPolitics average puts Clinton at 46.4 percent and Cruz at 43.9 percent; the most recent McClatchy-Marist survey has it a tie. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, hasn’t led Clinton in any national poll...

It’s not that last night’s contests in Idaho, Hawaii, Michigan and Mississsippi doomed Marco Rubio’s campaign; it’s that the four bad performances atop Rubio’s previous disappointments — New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and just about everywhere else not called Minnesota and Puerto Rico – have now created what feels like an insurmountable perception of defeat. Three Rubio-friendly conservative writers — Jen Rubin of the Washington Post, Dan McLaughlin of Red State, and Guy Benson of Townhall.com — contend it’s time for Rubio to quit the race and endorse Ted Cruz. Jen and Dan urge Rubio to strike the deal now...

An exposé on Donald Trump where Dana Loesch reveals how Donald Trump has long time connections with organized crime in almost all of his partnerships, his always changing and never constant stance on the 2nd amendment, and how he is basically controlled by the banks who he depends on for his big business deal ventures.

In the middle of tonight's debate, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Rand Paul spent about ten minutes trading accusations of inconsistency on immigration reform. It felt like the last ten minutes of The Departed, where almost every major character suffered a grievous injury.

Trump offends Muslims? Trump offends a lot of people. There was a time when it was okay to say offensive things in the country, before "Charlie Hebdo," before the President of the United States stood before the United Nations and declared, "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Immediately preceding the video's use of Trump is a statement from Anwar al-Awlaki, the American terror leader who was killed in a drone strike in 2011. Do you think drone strikes offend or rile up terrorist groups? Should we stop doing those, too? In the debate,...

It is now axiomatic that Marco Rubio is the "establishment" favorite in the 2016 Republican primaries, due for a collision with a conservative alternative such as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or Ben Carson. But if Rubio really represents the new GOP "establishment," then the fight is over and the conservatives won. Despite infuriating many grassroots conservatives by pushing the failed Gang of Eight immigration-reform bill and advocating a path to legalization, Rubio has an indisputably conservative record as a senator. This is a man who has a lifetime ACU rating of 98 out of 100. A man who has a...

Let's hope the unnamed source in this Politico story has no idea what he's talking about: Mike Murphy, the Los Angeles-based ad man running Bush's Right to Rise super PAC, isn't about to leave the $75 million left in the group's bank account unspent and is readying a 15-minute biographical film about Bush. According to another source close to Right to Rise, Murphy has been floating another tactical shift to potential supporters, suggesting that he might spend the bulk of the $75 million to carpet bomb Rubio, Cruz, Carson, Christie-everyone but Trump. The thinking: making the race into a binary...

Appearing with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show, Donald Trump was in the mood to tweak his own persona — to a point. “I think apologizing’s a great thing,” he said. “But you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.” It’s funny because it’s true: Trump’s steadfast refusal to apologize for his controversial antics may be the most striking thing about him. A significant portion of the Republican base craves it, and a handful of pro-Trump conservative pundits does, too. None of them looms larger, perhaps, than Ann Coulter....

‘Jerry, how much do you think Lorne Michaels would pay me if I were to run in 2016?” Sarah Palin asked Jerry Seinfeld in a skit that aired as part of Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special in February. “Run for president? Sarah, I don’t think there’s a number too big,” Seinfeld responded. “Run for president? Sarah, I don’t think there’s a number too big,” Seinfeld responded. “Hypothetically, then, what if I were to choose Donald Trump as my running mate?” Palin continued. “Sarah, you’re teasing us, that’s not nice!” Seinfeld responded in mock indignation. Eight months ago, the idea...

Last week, National Review’s Jim Geraghty published what may be the most insightful essay yet [1] on the difference between the conservative movement and Donald Trump and his followers. Geraghty has noticed a telling reticence on Trump’s part to utter such words as “freedom” or “liberty.” By contrast, Geraghty notes that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used the word “freedom” six times in the 179-word announcement of his plan to replace ObamaCare, and Ted Cruz used “freedom” twice and “liberty” eleven times in his announcement speech at Liberty University, not counting references to the university itself.The reason for this lack of...

April 1, 2014 3:54 PM Democratic Senator Tells GM Car Owners to Stop Driving Immediately By Jim Geraghty A reader sends this in and quips, “Blumenthal to Michigan: Drop Dead!” CBS Connecticut: “Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal is among those calling for GM to make a stronger statement and tell owners to stop driving their cars immediately. Blumenthal believes GM made a decision to hide the defect of ignition switches.” Considering the risk from the switches, Blumenthal’s advice isn’t the most outlandish conclusion in the world. If an owner of one of the recalled cars wants to drive it at all,...

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! From the first Morning Jolt of the week: This Sandoval Guy Looks Like He Knows What He’s Doing in Nevada Congratulations on your second term, Nevada Governor Gov. Brian Sandoval! Okay, it’s not official, but he’s pulling a Jindal – putting together such a solid record in his first term that no top-tier or even second-tier Democrat challenger is throwing a hat into the ring to prevent a second term. The AP is saying it’s just about over before it begins: Fifteen challengers filed for the Nevada governor’s race by Friday’s deadline. But with little name...

It seems that the Republican camp’s hits on Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and his oversight of GreenTech Automotive, currently under an SEC investigation, are at least hitting the target to some degree. Earlier this week, the Washington Post editors posed a rather uncomfortable question or two for the Democrat, who resigned as the barely-productive company’s chairman just last December and remains the largest shareholder.In answer, McAuliffe wrote a piece for Friday afternoon — ahem — that took some rather interesting positions on his fiduciary responsibilities as the erstwhile leader of the company. For instance: You might think that the...

Joel Bennett, the lawyer for one of the former employees of the National Restaurant Association who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment, spoke to Wolf Blitzer live on CNN moments ago. Bennett said that in his legal opinion, what occurred between Cain and his client met the legal definition of sexual harassment. But despite repeated questions from Blitzer, he refused to specify what the alleged actions were, and he said his client would not be appearing to shed any further light on the matter. When Blitzer pointed out Cain’s vehement, blanket denial, Bennett replied, “In all my years of lawyering,...

Alternate headline: “Pessimistic eeyoreblogger thisclose to a nervous breakdown.” In the House, the projection is for the GOP to gain 70 seats: The GOP will win 76 House districts currently held by Democrats, and the Democrats will win 6 House seats currently held by Republicans, including a few surprises. Republican takeovers are in red; Democratic takeovers are in dark blue.I can hear it now: “Jim’s been gargling with Maker’s Mark again.” But I actually played it fairly safe on this list. I predicted no GOP takeovers in states where the early voting looks pretty “meh,” such as West Virginia or...

Here is what pollster the Tarrance Group is telling the Carly Fiorina campaign: The race for the US Senate in California is an actual dead heat, with both Fiorina and Boxer standing right at forty-four percent (44%) of the vote. Six percent (6%) of voters are voting for one of the other candidates, and 5% are undecided . . . It is also important to note that Boxer’s negatives are fully institutionalized to the point where she has never once broken the 45% level in terms of her ballot strength, and there are a “hard” fifty-three percent (53%) of voters...

A couple of Christine O’Donnell fans didn’t like yesterday’s post on the radio interview. My mistake, fellas. You’re right. It was a terrific interview. A candidate who doesn’t like the questions she’s being asked should always tell the host that there are rumors he’s taking bribes from the other campaign. When she says she won two out of three counties, no one should acknowledge that she lost both, one by 14 percentage points. Conservatism is best served when we all close our eyes and pretend we don’t see a false statement by a candidate we prefer! Now, I’m not going...

Public Policy Polling is avowedly pro-Democratic... "We're absolutely rooting in the race. We don't want Richard Burr to get reelected," as PPP's Tom Jensen declared to Politico last year. (Jensen did go on to say, "But our reputation is predicated on getting it right, and we're not going to cook the numbers just to tweak Richard Burr's nerves. They are what they are.") Burr is a first-term Republican North Carolina senator who has complained that PPP's partisan affiliation is largely ignored and that his numbers in PPP's polls seem strangely low compared to his numbers in other polls... Publications that...