Free Republic

Panic mode Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Trump has had a terrible 24 hours. There’s just no way to argue otherwise. Throughout his campaign, unforced errors and foot-in-mouth syndrome have been his twin demons, and they’ve been on full display over the last couple of days. Unnecessary entanglements and poor (or nonexistent) damage control have injured him in the polls, sent his donors scrambling, and have the Republican Party weighing its options. As ABC News reports, Reince Priebus has been on the horn, and he’s not pleased.

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can't bring himself to bear with the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump saying Saturday that the choices are breaking his heart. "Either choice is destructive," Romney said ... [Snip] The former Massachusetts governor has come out strongly against Trump. In an interview Friday, Romney said: "I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following. Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily...

Mitt Romney laid into the large and rambunctious group of 2016 Republican candidates here on Saturday, arguing that they deserved a share of blame for the rise of Donald Trump. During a question-and-answer session with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer before around 250 Republican donors gathered here for the Romney-hosted Experts and Enthusiasts summit, the former Massachusetts governor said this year’s group of primary candidates misplayed their hand. By spending months attacking each other and ignoring Trump, he argued, they made a severe tactical error that allowed Trump — who Romney has criticized as a "con man" and a "fraud" —...

The panty-wadding on the part of anti-Trump Republicans is reaching comic proportions. The latest example involves a fantasy based on a third-hand report. It all began when sportscaster Robert Costa gave a friend-of-a-friend third hand account in a tweet of something Donald Trump supposedly had said, off the record

Considering the long history of legislative abuse carried out by the insufferable GOPe, and knowing the only way to rid the apparatus of the corrupting infection is to cut out clear margins, Donald Trump would be well advised to take Paul Ryan up on his offer to resign his chairmanship at the national convention. In addition, and considering the patriotic bench available for immediate dispatch, Donald Trump could request Reince Preibus resign from his post as RNC head and immediately replace him with a more favorable and competent executive.

Holy cow. While I’m not as hard on Reince Priebus as a lot of other folks are inclined to be, this is a major, major unforced error on his part. Time Magazine online had an interview with Priebus yesterday and completely buried the lede, which was that Priebus refused to unequivocally declare that one of the Party’s leading candidates was eligible to run for President: A topic in the news today: Ted Cruz was born in Canada. Is he constitutionally eligible to be President? Listen, I don’t get involved. I’m not going to get in the middle of all these...

Blasting the Republican-led Congress over a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill that, among other things, fully funds Planned Parenthood and has the White House declaring victory yet again on fiscal fronts, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Thursday that the GOP should be disbanded. "There is no Republican Party!" Limbaugh said. "You know, we don't even need a Republican Party if they're gonna do this. You know, just elect Democrats, disband the Republican Party, and let the Democrats run it, because that's what's happening anyway.” Limbaugh recounted how American voters "showed up in record numbers" and "defeated Democrats down the ballot"...

Election day highlights from around the country: Ohio nixes marijuana, San Francisco boots their Sanctuary City Sheriff and Kentucky elects a Republican governor whose black, female lieutenant governor running mate has a back story that sounds like a female version of Ben Carson’s.Oh, and did I mention that both Governor-elect Matt Belvin and his Lt. Governor, Jenean Hampton, are Tea Party activists who have never held public office before?  That sounds like bad news for the DNC and the RNC. Connect the dots, Reince.   And as a follow-up on this week’s informal topic, free speech, there’s this killer article from...

The 2016 GOP presidential campaigns agreed on Sunday evening to cut the Republican National Committee (RNC) out of the debate negotiation process and instead deal directly with networks moderating debates, Breitbart News has learned. Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for frontrunner Donald Trump, confirmed to Breitbart News via phone on Sunday that the “biggest consensus” of five separate points the GOP campaigns agreed on was cutting the RNC out of the negotiations with the networks, as the campaigns would each like to negotiate with the networks directly. In response to the revelation that the RNC will be cut out of...

MADISON, Wisconsin — This week the Wall Street Journal revealed just how expansive Wisconsin’s political John Doe investigation was, targeting not only Badger State conservatives but national political figures such as Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich. Now Wisconsin Watchdog has learned the unconstitutional probe also went after state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and other Wisconsin conservative leaders who may not be aware that they, too, were targets of a widespread spying operation. The information comes from the same sealed court documents referenced in the Wall Street Journal editorial board piece published Tuesday. Sources have shared with Wisconsin Watchdog the...

Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Reince Preibus says Vice President Joe Biden’s decision not to enter the presidential fray is good for the party, because Republicans have a better chance of beating Hillary Clinton. “The Vice President’s decision not to enter the 2016 race is a major blow for Democrats, who now will almost certainly be saddled with their unpopular and scandal plagued front-runner Hillary Clinton,” Preibus said in a statement first provided to Breitbart News. “Vice President Biden was the most formidable general election candidate the Democrat Party could have fielded, and his decision not to challenge Hillary Clinton...

Sub head: Running as 'a fighter who can win' and implement 'commonsense conservative reforms.'Scott Walker isn’t big on self-reflection. He spent much of Sunday on a this-is-your-life tour of southeastern Wisconsin with an ABC News production team and World News Tonight anchor David Muir. Late in the afternoon, he signed the biennial budget for the state of Wisconsin, a final item on the to-do list he compiled last winter as he began exploring a bid for the presidency. Today, Walker will formally announce his candidacy for the White House. It’s pretty heady stuff, but Walker, who grew up the son...

Gregory T. Angelo, Meghan McCain and Fred Karger signing the St. Louis Resolution Tuesday night. In a move designed to head off anti-gay rhetoric during the 2016 Republican presidential campaign, three prominent GOP leaders signed a resolution Tuesday and will send it off to the 18 prospective Republican candidates for president. After speaking on a panel entitled “Marriage Equality and the Republican Party” in Graham Chapel at Washington University, political columnist and television host Meghan McCain, Log Cabin Republican Executive Director, Gregory T. Angelo and the first openly gay candidate to run for President, Fred Karger, all signed the Resolution,...

As the field of possible GOP contenders for the White House start to take shape, it is important to assess what Latino voters think about the potential presidential candidates, if they even know who they are, and how they can possibly position themselves to court the Latino vote. There is no question that Republicans will lose the White House again in 2016 if they repeat the mistakes of Mitt "I would veto the Dream Act" Romney and lose three-quarters of the Latino vote. GOP Chairman Reince Preibus has said future Republican candidates "must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," while...

Non-political junkies might not have noticed, but Reince Priebus got in a real zinger against Debbie Wasserman Schultz today. In a joint appearance on Fox News Sunday, DNC Chair DWS claimed that the key question for voters will be "who has my back?" Shot back RNC Chairman Priebus: "the President hasn't had anybody's back: not even your back." That was a reference to the Politco story "Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz" reporting on President Obama's disdain for Debbie. Since 2012, the White House has wanted to dump DWS as DNC Chair. She is so shut out of meetings with...

A year after losing the popular vote for the fifth time in the last six presidential elections, the Republican Party has crafted a series of rules tweaks designed to regain control of — and dramatically shorten — its presidential nominating process. The subcommittee charged with looking for fixes has approved five proposed changes for review by the Republican National Committee's rules committee at its January meeting. The full RNC would then need to pass the changes by a three-quarters supermajority. "I think this strikes a good balance," said John Ryder, the RNC's general counsel. February 2016 would be set aside...

For the record, I do not know the Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. I'm told he's a nice person, and I understand shares membership in a collegiate fraternity. But nice guys with lots of experience as president of a student body or as an aide to some state legislator or even as a lawyer for the national GOP -- all of which he has accomplished, just won't cut it anymore. The RNC and its many "affiliated groups" gave up on GOP nominee for governor of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. They likely relied on the same old bunch of...

Mark Levin interviewed RNC chairman Reince Priebus and asked if Sarah Palin was offered a speaking position, in prime time at the Republican National Convention beginning next week in Tampa, Florida. Priebus said (snippet): (see video below) Photo: Sarah Palin PRIEBUS: Governor Palin was definitely invited to speak at the Convention, and it wasn't like in the afternoon or anything like that. She was invited to speak one of the evenings. I don't know if it got to the point of what time and date, and which particular period of time, but she was invited to speak and it just...

Dear Chairman Preibus, I am writing an open letter to you in hopes that you will do the right thing and make the Florida Republican Party abide by the rules of the Republican National Committee. The state of Florida deliberately snubbed its' nose at the party and the rules several months ago when it voted to hold the Florida primary early, which has already cost if 49 delegates out of the original 99 delegates allocated by the RNC. Now they further give the party the middle finger by allocating the remaining delegates as "winner-take-all", instead of the proportional allotment that...

WASHINGTON – The Republican Party's national chairman says he's had no thoughts of resigning despite criticism of his first-year performance and controversy about his recent book that takes shots at the GOP. Michael Steele is apologizing for not alerting Republicans in advance about the book's release. In the book, he accuses GOP leaders of abandoning conservative principles over the past decade. Steele also is defending his record as party chairman, saying he's "pushing the ball" for the GOP and helping the party win elections and raise money.