Free Republic

The mystery of 2024: How is it possible that Donald Trump has a reasonable chance of winning the presidency despite all that voters now know about him? Why hasn’t a decisive majority risen up to deny a second term to a man in line to be judged the worst president in American history?The litany of Trump’s liabilities is well known to the American electorate. His mendacity, duplicity, depravity, hypocrisy and venality are irrevocably imprinted on the psyches of American voters.Trump has made it clear that in a second term he will undermine the administration of justice, empower America’s adversaries, endanger...

At the start of the summer, when former President Donald J. Trump visited Republicans on Capitol Hill, he hinted at a vision for a vastly different tax system than what the United States has employed for decades. Rather than taxing Americans on the money they earn at their jobs and on their investments, Mr. Trump instead suggested imposing a broad tax on the goods that Americans buy from abroad. In his view, such tariffs could replace income taxes as the main source of federal revenue. The idea, briefly floated behind closed doors, seemed to fizzle, and Mr. Trump did not...

In 2024, the deep state that defeats Donald Trump might be his own.That, after all, is what Project 2025 was actually meant to be. The 900-page tome that Democrats hoist in front of the cameras is a festival of policy options, detailed down to the sub-agency level. But options for whom? Not for Trump himself. Even the most wonkish of presidents can only engage on a small fraction of what the executive branch does. And Donald Trump was not the most wonkish of presidents. When he said, during his debate with Kamala Harris, that he hadn’t read Project 2025 and...

It was the spring of 2018 and President Donald J. Trump, faced with an accelerating inquiry into his campaign’s ties to Russia, was furious that the Justice Department was reluctant to strike back at those he saw as his enemies.In an Oval Office meeting, Mr. Trump told startled aides that if Attorney General Jeff Sessions would not order the department to go after Hillary Clinton and James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, Mr. Trump would prosecute them himself.Recognizing the extraordinary dangers of a president seeking not just to weaponize the criminal justice system for political ends but trying as...

False rumors of Haitian residents eating dogs and cats have thrown the Ohio city into turmoil.Daily life, says one resident, has been “turned upside down by such vitriol and ignorance.”Some Haitians have already decided to leave Springfield and Ohio altogether. A disturbing scenario has played out at public schools across Springfield, Ohio, in recent days, with children turned away as they arrive or, worse, rushed out of classrooms, all because of bomb threats.Parents have struggled to explain to 6- and 7-year-olds what is happening. Some aren’t quite sure about sending their kids back.“You don’t want to give in to the...

Last February, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. sent his eight Supreme Court colleagues a confidential memo that radiated frustration and certainty. Former President Donald J. Trump, seeking to retake the White House, had made a bold, last-ditch appeal to the justices. He wanted them to block his fast-approaching criminal trial on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that he was protected by presidential immunity. Whatever move the court made could have lasting consequences for the next election, the scope of presidential power and the court’s own battered reputation. The chief justice’s Feb. 22 memo, jump-starting the...

Donald J. Trump has made his revisionist account of the Capitol attack the foundation of this campaign, even when there is little political advantage.When a moderator asked Donald J. Trump about Jan. 6, 2021, at the presidential debate, the former president slipped immediately into a now-familiar revisionist history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. He falsely claimed that he had nothing to do with the assault, blaming it on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the police officers who protected the building that day against a mob of his supporters. But then Mr. Trump made a brief but telling...

In Tuesday’s debate against Donald Trump, Kamala Harris emphasized her middle-class background, her admiration for small business owners and her plans for an “opportunity economy.” She promised tax credits for young families and support for first-time homeowners. Those attempts to put meat on the bones of her economic plan will not be enough to win the presidential election.In the latest Times/Siena poll, Ms. Harris trailed Mr. Trump by 13 points on the economy, the issue that matters most to voters. It’s why she’s merely tied with Mr. Trump in the race overall, not crushing him.Optimistic words and some admirable proposals...

When my family moved back to the United States from East Africa in the mid-1980s, one might have thought it was a peak time of compassion for people suffering in faraway places. A glittering group of music superstars had recorded “We Are the World,” a smash hit charity single to raise money and awareness for the victims of a brutal famine that had gripped my mother’s home country, Ethiopia.But when I told my new grade school classmates of my origins, I was met with cruel taunts. I was awfully fat for an Ethiopian, one said with a snigger. Must be...

There are many damning anecdotes in Kate Conger and Ryan Mac’s new book, “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter,” but one from February of last year perfectly captures the astonishing pettiness of the world’s richest man. Attending the Super Bowl as a guest of Rupert Murdoch, Musk had one of the most luxurious seats in the house, but rather than watching the game, he was glued to his phone in dismay. Both he and President Biden had sent tweets cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles, but even though Biden had far fewer followers than Musk on the platform, the president’s...

The classic example of chutzpah is that of the child who murders his parents and then pleads for mercy as an orphan. With the 2024 presidential election, we have a new way to illustrate the point: the candidate who condones violence, dehumanizes his opponents and whips his supporters into a frenzy, then turns around to condemn the harsh rhetoric of his opponents and call for peaceful discourse. Following the second attempt on his life in as many months, Trump blamed Democrats for casting him as an existential threat to American democracy. “Look,” his running mate JD Vance said on Monday,...

On Saturday night in Hershey, Pa., JD Vance will participate in one of the more unusual political events of this presidential campaign. Several thousand people — almost all of whom have paid for the privilege, some as much as $1,600 — will pack into a hockey arena to watch the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson interview Mr. Vance, the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.The money made from the event will not go to the Trump campaign but to Mr. Carlson’s new media company, which made headlines earlier this month when Mr. Carlson aired — and praised — the views of...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis and Homosexuality: "There Is Something Personal at Stake"Those who knew Jorge Bergoglio in Argentina confirm that his attention towards homosexual propaganda shows that there is something personal at stake for him, writes AldoMariaValli.it (13 August).He has always liked to surround himself with homosexuals, except for being very harsh towards those who, as homosexuals, within his circle did not prove 'faithful'.Valli extensively quotes from a LifeSiteNews.com article by the Dutch psychotherapist Gerard J.M. van der Aardweg, a specialist on homosexuality.According to van der Aardweg, Bergoglio experiences some form of homosexual attraction. Therefore he consider it his mission to...

Veteran psychologist explains why Pope Francis may suffer from same-sex attractionVeteran psychologist Dr. Gerard van den Aardweg argues that Pope Francis’ fervent promotion of the narrative that homosexuality is innate and morally acceptable, while denigrating traditional family values, suggests an alignment with the pro-gay ideology.What animates the Pope to impose universal recognition of homosexual relationships on the Catholic Church?This question is in the back of the mind of many confused and perplexed people, Catholics and non-Catholics. It must be discussed openly, for people have a right to know who their leaders are and what they can expect from them. The...

Just heard that today, during our amazing Rally in the Great State of Michigan, esteemed Florida Circuit Court Judge, Robert L. Pegg, issued a Powerful Decision totally and completely DENYING the Pulitzer Prize Board’s desperate attempt to dismiss my ironclad Defamation Lawsuit against them for awarding the once respected Pulitzer Prizes to Fake News Stories about the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax by The Failing New York Times and The Washington Compost. The Judge specifically stated that the Fake Stories, and the Prizes awarded them, have been debunked by several Government Investigations. He did not allow Pulitzer to hide behind the...

The View welcomed Dr. Anthony Fauci on this morning’s episode, where the co-hosts chatted about his experiences with Donald Trump during the early days of the pandemic and the vitriol and threats that he’s continued to experience from his detractors years later. When it was Sunny Hostin‘s turn to ask Dr. Fauci a question, she mentioned the “countless Americans” who lost family and friends to COVID-19. “My husband lost both of his parents — two doctors — within three days of each other from the pandemic,” she told Dr. Fauci, who replied, “I’m sorry.” Hostin continued, “We remember those pandemic...

In 2018, the Washington Post and New York Times were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on alleged connections between Trump and Russia influencing the 2016 election. This was an attack on the truth, but not the worst in history. In 1964, the NYT was involved in an even greater assault on the truth in the case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. In this case, the United States Supreme Court, the most powerful judicial body in history, ruled that lies about public figures are protected unless the plaintiff can prove the publisher knew the information was false before publishing....

A couple years ago the journalist Matt Taibbi came up with a telling new term for the way the media works in our time: bombholing. Bombholing is the practice of publishing wild and unsubstantiated stories in the press, then sending those same stories down the memory hole when they turn out to be false. Then the media hits viewers with a new “bombshell,” which makes people forget the old “bombshell.” Viewers are led “from mania to mania.” Taibbi once laid it out in more detail: News in the Trump years became a narrative drama, with each day advancing a tale...

Christine Blasey Ford will release a memoir five years after she accused then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh of assaulting her. Ford’s memoir, One Way Back, is slated for public release on March 19, and the central topic is her allegations against Kavanaugh. According to Ford, Kavanaugh groped her during a gathering at a house in suburban Maryland in 1982. Kavanaugh vehemently denied the accusations from Ford, in addition to the two other women who stepped forward with claims of misconduct. “The fact is, he was there in the room with me that night in 1982,” an excerpt reads. “And...

I'm suing @JBSFoodsUSA, the world's largest beef producer, for misleading the public about its environmental impact. The beef industry is one of the largest contributors to climate change, and JBS has falsely advertised its commitment to sustainability and endangered our planet. — NY AG JAMES @NewYorkStateAG 1 53 PM · Feb 28, 2024 ·