Free Republic

Jeb Bush, who unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, told CNBC on Thursday he feels like a "fish out of water" in the current state of divisiveness in America. Asked if he'd ever consider running for president again, the 66-year-old former Florida governor said: "I don't know. I love policy. I love my country. But this political environment right now, I'm not suited for. To be honest with you. I'm a fish out of water. I can't imagine having to attack someone to make yourself look strong." In the "Squawk Box" interview, Bush said he did not...

Nancy Pelosi stopped caring about what people think of her a long time ago, so she has no qualms about eating ice cream for breakfast with a stranger. Dark chocolate, two scoops, waffle cone. It’s a freezing January morning in Baltimore’s Little Italy, where Pelosi grew up in the 1950s. “You know what’s good about ice cream in this weather?” she says. “It doesn’t melt down your arm while you’re eating it.” We are sitting in an Italian café on Albemarle Street, alone save for the staff and Pelosi’s security detail, to whom she has offered coffee. The Trump era...

Election season is upon us again, two years after one of the wildest roller coaster political campaigns in recent memory. This time it’s Congress on the ballot, not Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton. Yet President Trump is still on the ballot – his agenda, his policies, his future. If Democrats win the House, we can expect Trump’s economic plans to be put on hold. Aside from the unlikely prospect of impeachment, Democrats will use every congressional committee under their control to investigate the president and his officials. Endless hearings, subpoenas and media coverage will have the Trump administration spending every...

The long-shot path to killing Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination runs through the heart of the American health care system — and right into the November midterm elections. Senate Democrats prepping for this week’s marathon confirmation hearings are zeroing in on the health care views of the man who could pull the nation’s high court to the right for a generation — and determine the fate of abortion rights, the social safety net and Obamacare itself, possibly within months. Their goal: to box Kavanaugh into committing to preserve those health care pillars. Or, failing that, to get the 53-year-old appellate...

• Former Secretary of State John Kerry said on 'Face the Nation' that 2020 talk is 'a total distraction and waste of time' and he's 'not really thinking about it' • But he also didn't rule out a bid for the Democratic nomination • Also said that Trump is 'dishonest' and 'doesn't know what he's talking about' • He praised the sitting president for acting in Syria, though, and said Obama should have enforced his own 'red line' warning to Bashar al-Assad • Finally responded to Trump's slap at him for refusing the 'walk away' from the Iran nuclear pact...

Two former friends of Sen. John McCain say his daughter Meghan McCain's pointed criticism of President Donald Trump in her speech at the Arizona Republican's memorial service on Saturday reflected the character of her late father. "She is her father's daughter," South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "If you say something bad about her dad, you will know it, whether you're the janitor or the President of the United States. She is grieving for the father she adored. I think most Americans understand that." Former independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who joined...

The always-on Trump campaign tested its new slogan Thursday night at another one of its loopy rallies. The mostly filled Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., seemed pleased. President Trump asked: “You ever hear this before: ‘Make America Great Again’?” They had. “You know our new slogan that we will be switching to because we are ahead of schedule to make America great again? It’s called ‘Keep America Great!’” The fair-skinned figures in candy-colored T-shirts and dark sports coats — the gung-ho crowd unfailingly known as Trump’s “base” — cheered again. Oh, the inanity. “Ahead of schedule?” Sure, bud. No wall...

Former VP rejects tribal politics. The president embraces it ANALYSIS | Two very different speeches by two very different politicians Thursday — made 1,600 miles apart — provide a possible preview of the next presidential campaign. Former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, went first by feting his longtime friend Sen. John McCain at a memorial service for the late Arizona Republican in Phoenix. Biden spoke about “values, fairness, honesty, dignity, respect,” and McCain’s belief in “giving hate no safe harbor.” Biden spent much of his eulogy lauding McCain’s willingness to work with Democrats and lamenting...

A shout-out from President Trump has given a boost to a long-shot hopeful in the New York Senate race. Republican Chele Farley has a decidedly uphill battle in her race against Democrat incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand. Polls conducted earlier this summer have Gillibrand, running for her second full term in the Senate, ahead of Farley by an average of 29 points. So Farley was pleased when Trump called out her name at a Utica fundraiser earlier this month. "I want to thank Shell Farley," Trump said. "Good luck.” “It was unexpected," Farley said. "But I was very happy that he talked...

An Illinois candidate for congress is facing backlash after comparing President Donald Trump to al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden in a recording that was posted to an online news outlet. Sean Casten, who is running for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, made the comments during the primary in February. The audio was posted on the Washington Free Beacon’s website on Thursday. In the audio clip, Casten can be heard saying, “I don’t mean to sound overly hyperbolic in this. Trump and Osama bin Laden have a tremendous amount in common because they both figured out how to use the bully pulpit...

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that President Donald Trump called him after he delivered an emotional farewell to Sen. John McCain on the Senate floor, telling the South Carolina Republican he "did right by his friend." "He called yesterday after my speech and he couldn't have been nicer. He said, 'That was very sad. I just want to let you know you did right by your friend.' I said, Thank you Mr. President.'" Graham told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview on "Inside Politics" Wednesday, adding that the call from the President was "right out of the blue." Never one...

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) condemned President Trump’s warning of possible violence if the Democrats take back the House in the fall, calling it “fascism in the flesh.” “This is fascism in the flesh. This is the language of a fanatic that could be lifted from a tyrant’s playbook,” Pascrell tweeted Wednesday. “This is not a warning but an incitement. Unless we stand united against it." (TWEET-AT-LINK) The president told evangelical leaders Monday that Democrats will “violently” overturn Republican gains if they win back the lower chamber. “They will overturn everything that we've done and they'll do it quickly and violently,...

During an appearance on MSNBC Monday, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) urged fellow Democrat lawmakers to make efforts to impeach President Donald Trump a central issue. A partial transcript follows: DAVID GURA: You’ve had a couple of days to consider what happened on Tuesday of this week, just to pivot to another subject here. That being what happened in a federal courtroom outside of Washington, D.C. in Alexandria, what happened in New York, as well. Michael Cohen plead guilty to some campaign finance violations, among other things. I want to read a little bit from your statement you issued after those...

Carter also said an additional statement Trump issued under fire is “still not as enthusiastic as it should be.” Jimmy Carter remains unimpressed with President Donald Trump’s belated effort to take note of and honor the late Sen. John McCain’s service to the U.S. In fact, the 93-year-old former president characterized it as “at best adequate.” Carter spoke with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday about Trump’s responses after McCain ― who endured torture as a POW during the Vietnam war, served more than 45 years in Congress and was the 2008 GOP presidential nominee ― died at his home in...

If you’re confused by President Trump’s reluctance to celebrate the life of Sen. John McCain, it’s because Trump knows something you don’t: his base. The Red Hats And Talk Radio wing of American politics has long had a problematic relationship with the Arizona senator. And by “problematic,” I mean, they hated his guts. For years, McCain was the poster child of the kind of Republicanism they loathed, the kind of Republicanism that eventually led many of these voters to turn to Trump in the first place. And if he were still with us, McCain would say “You’re damn right.” New...

Pastor Robert Jeffress said on Monday night that evangelical supporters of President Trump don’t support his alleged “extramarital affairs” but do support his “excellent policies.” “I know a lot of people are still perplexed- why are Christians so supportive of Donald Trump?” Jeffress said during an appearance on Fox News. “Well, it’s really not that hard to figure out when you realize he is the most pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-conservative judiciary in history and that includes either Bush or Ronald Reagan.” The pro-Trump pastor went on to say that is why he believes so many evangelicals remain committed to the...

Shadowed by the death of six-term Sen. John McCain, Arizona voters are nominating candidates to replace his seat-mate in a primary contest that lays bare the fissures in a Republican Party dramatically remade by President Donald Trump. Three Republicans are vying Tuesday to replace Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring after his fierce criticism of Trump made his political future in the state untenable. All three, including establishment favorite Rep. Martha McSally, have embraced Trump and distanced themselves from McCain — a sign of how far the late senator’s status had fallen with conservatives who dominate Arizona’s GOP primaries. The...

Georgia Democrats hope that President Donald Trump helps fuel a blue wave that will surge over Republicans on the November ballot. But that doesn't mean they're putting him at the center of their election plans. For as much as state Democrats despise Trump -- and opinion polls consistently confirm they do -- he's been largely missing from campaign trail attacks. Stacey Abrams, the party's nominee for governor, studiously avoids mentioning the president as she stumps across the state. And many of the down-ticket candidates have followed her lead, instead focusing on their policies -- or their GOP opponents' stances. At...

(Senator Flake talked to Chuck Todd on McCain on his Sunday talk show round, saying McCain was the 'voice for civility' and especially needed in Trump era, link here) When asked if he supports a candidate in the primary in Arizona for his seat, Flake said, “I wish them well.” On his endorsement, he added, “Nobody would be asking for a Republican primary, I can tell you that. This is very much — you know, I am not happy about it, but this is the president’s party right now. I think that we’ll be sorry for that in the future,...

During Sunday’s “The Cats Roundtable” on New York AM 970 radio, pollster and political analyst Pat Caddell weighed in on the 2018 midterm elections and said it was pretty obvious Democrats would “make an effort to impeach” President Donald Trump if they took the House. “I’m not sure this is an ordinary midterm, any more than 2016 was an ordinary presidential election. I believe we have yet to see this election engaged,” Caddell told host John Catsimatidis. “And it should be a national election. It will be nationalized. One of the issues is going to be impeachment. I don’t think...