Free Republic

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is going to be a weeks-long torment for some on the Hill—and I’m talking about red state Democrats. Senate Republican moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have been very receptive to Kavanaugh’s nomination, easing pressure from the right that they could sink this SCOTUS nominee if they defect. That could be the case, but for now, pressure has ramped up on Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and maybe Bill Nelson (D-FL). Nelson needs help. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is outworking him on Hispanic outreach, and he’s beating Nelson...

Democrats are in for an uphill battle in November’s midterm elections as they struggle to overtake the GOP-led Senate, according to an Axios and SurveyMonkey poll of key states released Tuesday. Although Democrats only need to pick up two seats to gain the majority in the Senate, they are struggling to control 10 states already held by Democratic senators. These states are now predominantly red states with voters who are strong supporters of President Donald Trump. They include Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, all of which Trump won in 2016, while his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton couldn’t even win...

MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski comment on President Trump mocking John McCain and George H.W. Bush to the delight of crowds at his rallies: JOE: Mika, we can talk about Donald Trump. We have. But, again, at what point is there decency in the crowd where people stop cheering when he mocks a man who has brain cancer and who is -- again, fighting for his life? A losing struggle for his life. Or George H.W. Bush. A man who fought in World War II. Was shot down by the Japanese, served America overseas as ambassador...

At least one group is organizing an anti-Trump rally to be held outside the 6,600-seat arena while the president is inside to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Rosendale against incumbent Democrat Jon Tester. The vast majority of attendees are expected to be Trump supporters in a state that chose him over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential elections.

Starts in less than an hour from now.

When the president hits the stage Thursday in Great Falls, Montana, it likely won’t be your average Donald Trump political rally. This one’s personal. That’s because Trump is heading to Big Sky Country to do more than just gin up Republican voters and try to take away a Democratic Senate seat in a traditionally red state. He has a personal score to settle with the state’s senior senator, Democrat Jon Tester, whom he has called “very dishonest.” Why? Three words explain it: Doctor Ronny Jackson.

Donald Trump Jr., President Trump's eldest son, is on the hunt in the state of Montana, setting his focus on ensuring that Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat who has served in the U.S. Senate for more than 11 years, doesn't get re-elected this year. He has visited the Northwestern state to campaign for Republican candidates, including last month when he spoke at the Montana Republican Party's annual convention in Billings. There he appeared alongside Sen. Steve Daines, Rep. Greg Gianforte, and State Auditor Matt Rosendale, who is challenging Tester this November and recently won the GOP primary. "I'm the son...

A troubling trend has occurred for ranchers in NE Washington ... cattle are experiencing breeding issues since the migration of wolves to the area... the rate of female cows .. that didn’t become pregnant has increased from five percent to about 20 percent. A cow must raise a calf every summer for the rancher to recoup costs ... Diamond M also has a winter range to cut costs, but when wolves came into the area about a decade ago, they’ve seen their cattle attacked ... Texas A&M University agreed with the open cow side effect from wolves, and an Eastern...

. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday said Donald Trump plans to target vulnerable red-state Democrats as the midterm election campaign heats up and denied the president is “serially untruthful.” She also disagreed with former Speaker John A. Boehner’s stance that the Republican Party is “taking a nap” that allowed Trump to take control of it, predicted more West Wing staff upheaval and offered a window into efforts to plug a series of leaks during a breakfast event with reporters. Conway insisted the president is busily preparing for his summit with his North Korean counterpart, but struggled to provide...

BILLINGS, Mont. — Yellowstone National Park’s superintendent said Friday that he plans to retire next year from a job he called “the best in the National Park Service” and dismissed speculation that the Trump administration pushed him out for political reasons. Superintendent Dan Wenk told The Associated Press that he decided last fall he would retire in early 2019 after more than four decades with the National Park Service. His seven years leading one of the premier national parks have been marked by an explosion in visitor numbers; tension with neighboring states over wild bison slaughters, wolf hunting and grizzly...

Vulnerable senators up for reelection have adopted a strategy of silence in response to the president’s avalanche of putdowns. Jon Tester was on his farm in rural Montana when his phone rang with the news: It was his chief of staff, informing him that the president of the United States had just called for his resignation on Twitter. The Montana Democrat briefly considered President Donald Trump’s latest attack on him, then fired up his tractor and went on his way. Tester wasn’t going to get into it with Trump over the senator’s role in bringing down the president’s Veterans Affairs...

BILLINGS — Mild-mannered Cathy Whitlock is blunt when she talks about climate change in Montana. “Spoiler alert,” she said. “The climate is getting warmer, and we’re going to have to deal with it.” Whitlock is in a position to know. As a professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University she’s spent decades analyzing mud core samples drilled from lakes around the world to examine climate and fire going back thousands of years. She also recently co-wrote the 2017 “Montana Climate Assessment” report. What the assessment revealed is that the climate is continuing to get a little...

Vice President Mike Pence's physician, Dr. Jen Pena, resigned Friday following the failure of President Trump's nomination of White House physician Ronny Jackson to become secretary of Veterans Affairs. “The vice president’s office was informed today by the White House Medical Unit of the resignation. Physicians assigned to the vice president report to the White House Medical Unit and thus any resignation would go entirely through the Medical Unit, not the vice president’s office,” Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said. Pena had raised concerns about Jackson's conduct, which was reported this week. Trump nominated Jackson in April to take over the...

Vice President Mike Pence’s physician, Army Dr. Jennifer Pena, resigned from the White House Wednesday according to several senior Administration officials. Pena’s resignation comes just as the allegations she brought against President Trump’s physician Adm. Ronny Jackson were proven to be unsubstantiated. The onslaught of unfounded allegations – also propagated by Montana Sen. Jon Tester – led to Jackson’s decision to withdraw his name from consideration after being nominated by Trump to lead the Veteran’s Affairs Administration. “This is a rift between two doctors. Really has nothing to do with the Vice President or, sadly, the second lady. The effort...

Vice President Mike Pence's physician, Dr. Jennifer Peña, resigned after derailing the nomination of White House physician Admiral Ronny Jackson to become secretary of Veterans Affairs with unsubstantiated allegations of professional misconduct on his part.“The vice president’s office was informed today by the White House Medical Unit of the resignation,” Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah commented Friday. “Physicians assigned to the vice president report to the White House Medical Unit and thus any resignation would go entirely through the Medical Unit, not the vice president’s office.”Dr. Peña was among those who claimed professional misconduct by Jackson. In memos obtained by CNN,...

Vice President Mike Pence's physician privately raised alarms within the White House last fall that President Donald Trump's doctor may have violated federal privacy protections for a key patient -- Pence's wife, Karen -- and intimidated the vice president's doctor during angry confrontations over the episode. The previously unreported incident is the first sign that serious concerns about Ronny Jackson's conduct had reached the highest levels of the White House as far back as September -- months before White House aides furiously defended Jackson's professionalism, insisted he had been thoroughly vetted and argued allegations of misconduct amounted to unsubstantiated rumors....

Unsubstantiated rumors and accusations targeting White House physician Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to be Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Administration, have been propelled by media outlets and Democratic members of the Senate without any proof that those allegations were true. But where did these rumors and accusations start? Who was fighting to keep Dr. Jackson from being nominated and who wanted to smear his name publicly? According to four administration officials, the main allegations were brought forth by Vice President Mike Pence’s Army physician Dr. Jennifer Pena, who the officials contend has held...

Editor's note: Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. (CNN) The shameful smearing of Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician who was nominated by President Donald Trump to be Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Administration and has now withdrawn, is example #967 of why people hate Washington D.C. and were in a revolutionary mood at the 2016 ballot box. Montana Senator Jon Tester in particular ought to be ashamed of publicly airing unproven allegations against a Navy Admiral and doctor who has served...

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a Sunday show interview that some of the allegations against Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson should be investigated. “I think some of those allegations do warrant being investigated. I don't think you want members of Congress deciding whether or not the prescribing of Ambien is within the course of a professional medical practice,” Gowdy told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” "In fact, I can't think of anybody less well qualified to decide whether Ambien should be prescribed than a bunch of lawyers. So that's a medical license issue. Hostile work environment would be some combination...

Read Admiral Ronny Jackson, the personal physician to President Trump and former President Obama, may have withdrawn his nomination for Veterans Affairs secretary, but we’re now discovering that the allegations of impropriety, drunkenness, and pill pushing may have been both overblown and untrue. CNN’s Dana Bash and David Gregory warned against the allegation of Dr. Jackson being some “candyman,” doling out medication because other White House doctors have done this. Second, the allegations that he was drunk and wrecked a government vehicle, and that he banged so heavily on a female colleague’s door while on a foreign visit, which prompted...