Free Republic

It may be April 1, but apparently Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is not joking about supporting Donald Trump for the Republican nomination if — if — he emerges as the party's nominee in the general election. Paul said Friday morning that he would support whoever is named the Republican nominee, even if it's Trump, telling a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter during a visit to the metro area in Kentucky that backing the Manhattan businessman would be better than going for Hillary Clinton. The senator, according to the report, specifically criticized Clinton's comments in Ohio that she would "put a whole lot...

An ad created by the super PAC supporting John Kasich has adopted Donald Trump’s nickname for rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): “Lyin’ Ted.” New Day Independent Media Committee’s video ad begins, “Many just call him Lyin’ Ted,” as a narrator proceeds to list Cruz’s alleged “lies.” “Lied about Ben Carson to steal a win in Iowa; lied about being the best for the GOP when polls show he can’t even beat Hillary Clinton; his TV ad about John Kasich lied. Stations had to pull it off the air.”“If Ted Cruz’s mouth is moving, he’s lying,” the ad continues.

I have a major endorsement announcement to make tomorrow. Stay tuned... 12:37 PM - 31 Mar 2016 The announcement is going to be YUGE. Don't miss it...

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Time and time again Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has failed to usher conservative priorities successfully through the Senate. He failed to pass legislation that would deter illegal immigration. He failed to defund Planned Parenthood, much to the dismay of conservatives. And he failed to stop the nuclear deal with Iran. Now he is being pressed to usher through the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. If he fails, conservatives say, he could be forced out of leadership. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act was introduced and shepherded through the House last fall by Rep. Trent...

Talk about your Hobson's Choice . . . on today's Morning Joe, Nicolle Wallace, citing GOP consultants, suggested that--other than social conservatives--Republicans concerned with foreign policy should consider supporting Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. Hillary supporter Harold Ford, Jr. could be heard chiming in with a "well said." Wallace was echoing the argument laid out by Joe Scarborough: that on a range of issues from foreign intervention to Israel, taxing the rich to breaking up the banks, Clinton's positions are closer to those of the GOP establishment than Trump's. But Joe, Nicolle and those Republican consultants are forgetting one overriding...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told CNNÂ’s Dana Bash today that the Senate would not confirm Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated by President Obama earlier this week, in the lame duck session. Senate Republicans have been adamant that the next president, whoever that may be, should decide this nomination. This has drawn the ire of Democrats who feel that Republicans are skirting their constitutional obligation to advise and consent on judicial nominations, despite the fact that the Constitution doesnÂ’t say the Senate must consider a nominee upon recommendation by the president. Yes, Senate Republicans can sit on their...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich stuck by his desire for a path to legalization for illegal immigrants in the United States during a Q&A with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. He described the idea of deporting millions of illegal immigrants from the U.S. as unacceptable. "The idea that we're going to pick these people up and ship them out is unbelievable," Kasich said. "It's just not acceptable in America." Kasich, eighth in the Washington Examiner's power rankings, did not explicitly rule out a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants during his remarks to the Hispanic group, but said...

There are few things that keep me up at night, but this is one of them. It may be cynicism, but more likely it’s the long sad experience of watching the courts over the years. So when your side finally wins one that should have you celebrating, and yet you walk away with a knot in your gut, it’s probably warranted. Senior Judge Laurence H. Silberman’s majority opinion in Parker v. District of Columbia was a thing of beauty, affirming armed self-defense as an individual right pre-existing the Constitution. It was almost hard to believe. Maybe that's what’s bugging me....

If Ted Cruz is to come from behind and win the Republican nomination, it's "gonna take an entire unity effort" to win support from the establishment, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show Thursday. The comment from Limbaugh, who has not formally backed any candidate, is the latest indication that the iconoclastic Texas senator will have his work cut out for him as he seeks to cut off Donald Trump. Limbaugh presented two theories, the first of which assumed that Cruz accepts the premise that he still has time to get to 1,237 delegates before the Republican National Convention, adding...

In last June’s Mississippi GOP runoff, liberal Republican Thad Cochran engaged in mass election fraud to defeat conservative primary challenger Chris McDaniel.

Where are the results for that?

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party's most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump's candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

“We need a new crew leader in the Senate,” former Congressman Mark Foley (R-WPB) told a recent meeting of the Martin County Republican club. This reporter asked the final question of the evening, namely, “What’s wrong with McConnell and Boehner…our readers and commenters on our conservative threads are furious with the Republicans…we gave them victories in 2010 and 2014 and nothing has changed...Boehner won’t stand up to Obama.” That’s when the West Palm Beach resident said it was time for a change in Washington. Foley suggested that John Thune, a newer, younger face, would move the party forward. “Boehner is...

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt over the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

Ted Cruz, celebrating a big win in Kansas, said on Saturday that it's time for Marco Rubio and John Kasich to drop out and for their supporters to rally behind him. "We’ll continue to amass delegates but what needs to happen is the field needs to continue to narrow," Cruz said during a press conference Saturday night, adding that he hopes the remaining candidates who are underperforming will ask themselves, “Do I have a path coming forward?” "If we’re divided, Donald wins," he said. The Texas senator has been advertising himself as the candidate best placed to beat Donald Trump,...

It would appear Trump fever has broken. It would seem the down, dirty, and ugly attacks by Rubio particularly, but also Romney, Cruz and others have kicked in. I sense that Trump has become a figure of ridicule, and no politician survives that. Plus his latest flip flops, like on torture, have weakened him as a serious person, although that may not have been obvious at the time. I think the teflon has worn off. If true, Chris Christy gets the bad timing of the year award

resident Obama is not only expected to close Guantanamo Bay, but rumor has it he is prepared to give our U.S. Naval Station in the region to Cuba. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce has prepared legislation to halt this potential dangerous transition. The United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Preservation Act would require the president to seek approval from Congress before making anymore dangerous decisions. “In just a few weeks, President Obama will meet with the communist government in Cuba.  The White House says our Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay is ‘sure’ to be a part of discussions. ...

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Friday praised Donald Trump for his last-minute decision to skip the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). CPAC organizers announced Friday that the GOP presidential front-runner had dropped out of his commitment to speak at the conference on Saturday morning. The real estate mogul's campaign issued a statement shortly after saying he would instead be campaigning in Kansas and Florida. “Because of this, he will not be able to speak at CPAC as he has done for many consecutive years,” the statement read. “Mr. Trump would like to thank Matt Schlapp and all of...

The New York Times leaked off-the-record conversation with Donald Trump in January recently to Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed’s editor in chief Ben Smith wrote this week that Mr. Trump reportedly told the NY Times that his extreme position on deporting immigrants was fluid and developing. Senator Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio lashed out at Trump and immediately demanded that Donald Trump order the release of the off-the-record conversation.