Free Republic

If we've learned one thing from Donald Trump during his meteoric rise in the GOP presidential sweepstakes, it's that he likes to win. He never wants to be seen as a "loser" — the pungent term he has used to describe some of his challengers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. So why would Trump agree to rally tea party, pro-Israel, and other conservative forces seeking to kill the Iran agreement when the outcome is basically foreordained in favor of President Obama? Unless there is a sudden change in plans, Trump has agreed...

Two Labor Day Polls Portend ‘Splodey Heads For The Anti-Trump Advocates…. Earlier today Gallup released a poll showing that Trump is the most heavily favored candidate (63% Approval Rating) amid Republicans. A devastating defeat for the establishment GOP (GOPe) who are seeking to push their preferred candidate Jeb Bush. Such substantive favorable opinion of candidate Trump puts the RNC/GOPe in a difficult position as they plot to begin their collective assault against the unpalatable frontrunner. But tonight the news for the Vichy Republican crowd is infinite degrees worse. As they plot the best course of Trump’s annihilation – national polls...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is “not ready to be Commander in Chief” because of his stance on spending cuts for the U.S. military, GOP presidential rival Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told New Hampshire voters Friday. “John Kasich is a good friend of mine,” Graham said, according to Time , before adding, “He said he has no problem with sequestration.” Graham told voters that sequestration hurts U.S. national security. “As the enemy increases in its ability, our approach is to disarm,” Graham said. “If the next president doesn’t understand that the cuts are killing us, in terms of defending ourselves, you’re...

Friday on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said ISIS loves his rival, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s idea of “seize oil for the benefit of America” because it would be a huge “recruiting opportunity.” Graham said, “Well number one, Donald Trump’s plan to destroy ISIS is the most ill-conceived, insanely dangerous idea I have ever heard. Worse than Obama. I never thought I would hear myself say that there is a Republican running for office that’s got a worse idea when it comes to radical Islam than Obama. So here is...

Port Clinton, Ohio, Police Chief Robert Hickman was seen in photos wearing a Confederate flag vest while on vacation in South Dakota.An Ohio police chief isn’t really addressing the controversy that has unfolded since he was seen in photos wearing a Confederate flag vest while vacationing in South Dakota, WKYC reports. Port Clinton Police Chief Robert Hickman said that he doesn’t “look at the Confederate flag as a racist symbol,” with some residents defending him, saying he doesn’t have a “racist bone” in his body. “I think he was just wearing a shirt,” Port Clinton resident Bryan Meek told the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s presidential campaign has had a tough time getting traction so far, and a new Quinnipiac University poll keeps him in the conversation about who might be the first of the 17 Republican presidential candidates to fold. But do his low poll numbers suggest the end is near? The poll released Thursday showed nothing new: The South Carolina Republican has been unable to differentiate himself from other candidates in any way. But the national poll — which says that 13 percent of Republican or leans-Republican voters said they’d never vote for him and zero percent said they would...

GREENVILLE, S.C.—As Donald Trump studied the crosstabs of a recent poll, his favorite hobby since he started leading in all of them, he was pleased, he said, to see that GOP primary voters perceive him as better equipped than his rivals to handle the economy, national security and even social issues. But one nugget in the survey nagged at the New York billionaire. “The only thing I did badly on was: Is he a nice person? I was last in terms of niceness,” he said. Campaigning deep in the Bible Belt yesterday, the businessman spun this as an asset, not...

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s presidential campaign has had a tough time getting traction so far, and a new Quinnipiac University poll keeps him in the conversation about who might be the first of the 17 Republican presidential candidates to fold. But do his low poll numbers suggest the end is near? The poll released Thursday showed nothing new: The South Carolina Republican has been unable to differentiate himself from other candidates in any way. But the national poll — which says that 13 percent of Republican or leans-Republican voters said they’d never vote for him and zero percent said they would...

In a challenging field of competitors, Fox News Channel’s Andrew Napolitano has a strong entry for the most laughable legal analysis of the Indiana religious-freedom law. In an April Fool’s Day op-ed that he evidently means to be taken seriously, Napolitano argues that state Religious Freedom Restoration Act laws are unconstitutional. Napolitano’s core claim is that the Supreme Court, in its 1997 ruling in Boerne v. Flores, ruled that the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act is unconstitutional. In Boerne the Court ruled that Congress lacked the constitutional power to apply the federal RFRA against the states. Napolitano accurately summarizes...

Out of 17 Republican presidential candidates, 4 have signed a pledge to support a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. The pledge which would define marriage as the union between on man and one woman is sponsored by a non-profit named the National Organization for Marriage. In a press release Tuesday, the group announced the names 4 Republican candidates that have signed the pledge along with 3 that have refused to signed.

GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee is doing quite well according to two national polls conducted after the first GOP presidential primary debate. One poll has Huckabee in second place behind GOP frontrunner Donald Trump and another poll has Huckabee listed with the highest favorability rating among 15 GOP presidential candidates; however, former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson takes the highest net favorability rating when comparing the results in totality. A Reuters-Ipsos poll conducted August 21-25 has Huckabee in second behind Trump – the only two candidates with double digits in that poll: Donald Trump – 30.1 percent Mike Huckabee –...

A new national poll out today by OANN and Gravis Marketing has Trump up to 40%, his YUGEST lead ever over his Republican contenders. Here’s how each candidate rated: oann_trump_forty While Carson’s lead more than doubled, he’s still a distant second place with the rest of the GOP field behind him. Not that Jeb lost a bit as both Cruz and Fiorina gained. Here’s the info on the poll: Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 3,567 registered voters across the U.S. regarding the presidential election. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2%....

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has shifted his focus from censuring fellow Republican candidate Donald Trump to blasting the head of the Republican Party. The hawkish senator appeared on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" Tuesday to defend his plan to deploy U.S. ground-combat forces to Iraq and Syria if elected president and to discuss China's economic woes. But when the conversation shifted to Trump, the senior senator was quick to reject the GOP front-runner's plan to deport children born to illegal-immigrant parents and had some choice words for Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus who recently called Trump a "net...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that fellow candidate Donald Trump has tapped into the "dark side" of the GOP. Graham was explaining how his rival has managed to dominate the Republican presidential race, polling as high as 35 percent depending on the survey. Graham said the support still represented a minority of the GOP. “Twenty-five percent of our party that probably thinks Obama was born in Kenya or wants to believe that. There’s 25 percent of our party wants him to be a Muslim because they hate him so much,"...

Tuesday on CNN’s “At This Hour” Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s calls for the deportation of the 11 million illegal immigrants and their American citizen children is “Joseph McCarthy-like” and “illegal” and he added, “he’s a complete idiot when it comes to Middle East Policy” so if he is the nominee the GOP will “lose, and we should lose.” Graham said, “Well, I think Donald Trump’s pretty much an idiot on policy and Jeb Bush is a good man. What Jeb was talking about is birth right tourism. Millionaires from China and other...

NEW YORK — (CNN) Donald Trump must rule out a third party bid before October if he wants to compete in South Carolina’s Republican primary, a crucial test in the nominating contest. Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out a third party candidacy, noting that he could use the threat of an independent bid as leverage, but he cannot appear on the South Carolina primary ballot unless he pledges to support the GOP nominee in the general election.

Lindsey Graham excoriated Republican presidential rival Donald Trump on Tuesday morning for his immigration plan, calling it both “stupid” and “illegal.” In an interview with “Fox & Friends,” Graham addressed Trump’s immigration proposal, which would call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, revoke birthright citizenship from the children of immigrants who came to the United States illegally and call for the construction of a wall along the United States’ 1,900-mile long border with Mexico. “Well, Donald Trump’s plan on immigration is stupid,” the South Carolina senator said. “It’s illegal.” If you try to deport American-born children of immigrants who...

Washington (CNN)Sen. Lindsey Graham says Donald Trump is a "complete idiot" and if the two face off in the Republican primary in Graham's home state of South Carolina, "I'll beat his brains out." Graham, the South Carolina senator, attacked Trump in a Tuesday morning interview on CNN. Trump had taunted Graham earlier in the day, highlighting a poll of South Carolina GOP primary voters that showed the real estate mogul leading the pack with 30% support and Graham much further back at 4%.

Donald Trump is dominating in two key early-primary states, according to new polls of the states released Tuesday. A new Public Policy Polling poll of Republican primary voters in New Hampshire found that the real-estate mogul is far ahead of the competition, with 35% saying that they would vote for Trump if the primary were held today. The closest opponent was Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who garnered 11%. "This is by far the best we’ve found Donald Trump doing anywhere during his entire surge,” Dean Debnam, the president of Public Policy Polling... The results were similar to a Monmouth...

PPP's new New Hampshire poll finds Donald Trump in the strongest position of any poll we've done anywhere since he entered the race. Trump laps the Republican field with 35% to 11% for John Kasich, 10% for Carly Fiorina, 7% each for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 6% for Ben Carson, 4% each for Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio, and 3% for Rand Paul. Candidates falling outside the top ten in the state are Rick Perry at 2%, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Rick Santorum at 1%, and Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal all at less...