Free Republic

Other GOP elected officials may be avoiding the Republican National Convention later this month, but Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst sees an opening night speech as an opportunity “to give Iowans a voice on the national stage.” “Right now, Iowans are pretty darned frustrated — just like when I ran for election,” said Ernst, whose 2014 campaign caught fire with a “Make ’em Squeal” promise to cut federal spending. National security is to be her focus when she addresses the Cleveland convention on Monday, July 18. “There’s a real pushback against the failed policies we have right now,” Ernst said Tuesday....

... Once Congress finishes this week, it will go on a seven-week recess to give both parties a chance to hold presidential nominating conventions, ahead of a five-week August break. ...

After attending a fundraiser for John McCain’s Senate re-election — a campaign in which McCain is locked in a tight race with conservative primary challenger Kelli Ward — Kristol mused on Twitter if McCain would run as an independent candidate in the presidential election. But while Kristol was just speculating, McCain added intrigue to the Stop Trump movement with his surprise announcement that the delegates should be free to vote their conscience at the upcoming Republican Convention

JULY 5--The Democratic Party’s plan to crash this month’s Republican National Convention is heavy on gimmicks and stunts meant to highlight a possible “Trumpocalypse,” as well as to ridicule the presumptive GOP candidate’s purported spray tan, tiny fingers, and dog whistle proclivities. (snip) DNC officials also plan to “infiltrate friendly union hotels and properties around the convention that Republicans will be patronizing to distribute ‘care’ packages” to those who will be sickened by Trump’s nomination. (snip) The plan also envisions a citywide strike by fast food workers, presumably over the fight for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. (snip) http://thesmokinggun.com/documents/stupid/dnc-rnc-plan-645391

Asian Americans were among dozens of Donald Trump supporters who gathered in Washington, D.C. Friday with GOP officials and the Trump campaign to strategize ways of mobilizing minorities to vote for the presumptive presidential nominee. Vietnamese-, Chinese-, and Filipino-American members of the National Diversity Coalition for Trump were some of the 65 people who participated in the three-hour meeting just two weeks before the Republican convention... "We're putting together our field program, we're putting together grassroots strategies in order to engage all Americans — Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanics and Latinos — to support Mr. Trump's candidacy," Jason Chung,...

Here are the GOP governors. Donald Trump has stated that he wants someone who knows government, and could step in if need be. Can we give some observations of our own governor to help us determine if that person might make a good VP pick? Alabama Robert Bentley Alaska Bill Walker Arizona Doug Ducey Arkansas Asa Hutchinson Florida Rick Scott Georgia Nathan Deal Guam Eddie Calvo Idaho C.L. “Butch” Otter Illinois Bruce Rauner Indiana Mike Pence Iowa Terry Branstad Kansas Sam Brownback Kentucky Matt Bevin Maine Paul LePage Maryland Larry Hogan Massachusetts Charlie Baker Michigan Rick Snyder Mississippi Phil Bryant...

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Washington Post columnist George Will explained why he left the Republican Party over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Will said, “I left it for the same reason I joined it in 1964 when I voted for Barry Goldwater, because I was a conservative. I leave for the same reason, I’m a conservative. To give you a time line, shortly after Trump became the presumptive nominee he had a summit meeting with Paul Ryan where they stressed their vast shared ground, which is more important than their differences. I thought that was puzzling...

A time-lapse video recorded by convention organizers shows the first 36 hours of the arena's transformation — from a few hours after Game 6 ended, to the start of construction. About 250 people will work inside the Q each day to ready the arena for the RNC. The Republican Party typically needs six to eight weeks to convert a space into the RNC convention floor. This year, the GOP only has four weeks — but officials have said they are confident the Q will be ready in time for the convention.

Apple CEO Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans — despite its decision to pull support for the GOP convention because of its distaste for Donald Trump. Cook will help generate cash for Ryan at a private breakfast on June 28 in Menlo Park, Calif., along with Gary Wipfler, the company’s treasurer, according to an invite obtained by POLITICO on Monday. The money benefits not only the speaker but a joint fundraising committee aimed at helping to elect other House Republicans. Cook...

If you think that Donald Trump already has the Republican nomination locked up, then you don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes.  It has long been my contention that the elite will move heaven and earth in order to keep Trump from ever setting foot in the Oval Office.  One way that they could try to do this is by attempting to deny him the nomination at the Republican convention next month.  Over the past couple of days, the Washington Post, CNN and a whole host of other mainstream news outlets have been reporting on a new “last-ditch...

I predict an escalation of weirdness in these next few weeks

Civility Two years ago, Stephen Henderson won a Pulitzer Prize. I’ll let you decide what you think that says about the state of journalism, especially as you consider what he wrote late last week. Henderson, the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press (and a Facebook friend of mine, at least as I type this), has become increasingly hysterical in the past year - seeing racism behind almost every perceived societal ill and ascribing to conservative policymakers not just mistaken thinking but, invariably, an intent to hurt people. But his column of this past Saturday took the cake. A...

We just got this email from TPM Reader DL. And as far as I can tell, she's right. There does not seem to be any mention of Donald Trump on the official Republican Party website, gop.com. Hillary is there. Bernie is there. George H.W.Bush is there. Reagan is there. Reagan/Bush. Lincoln is there. No Trump anywhere. Not on the blog, signups. Not anywhere that I could find. If you go to the Republican National Committee website, there is a crowded homepage with no mention of Donald Trump. I’ve been watching it for a few days. They recently had a petition...

Presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign is turning toward the general election, launching a website that targets frustrated Republican voters who don’t support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. “The website, republicansagainsttrump.org, was registered on May 27 and launched on June 2, according to domain registration records,” Politico reports. “The Clinton campaign only appears to have begun buying ads to promote the site more recently.”

The vice chair of California's Republican party supported a rally on Monday at San Jose City Hall to demand answers to the violence that erupted at the Donald Trump rally last week. Harmeet Dhillon, who is a Trump backer and an attorney in San Jose, said she is in favor of a group called Silicon Valley Vet, who is asking San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo how the Thursday rally got so out of hand. Trump's critics were seen as the main antagonists of the raucous behavior, which included egging, bruising and punches.

Corrected version with paragraphs I’ll say it again. We must take over the MSM. Not Limbaugh, not Beck, not Levin. I mean CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, NY Times and all major newspapers. All major radio networks. By “take over” I mean an “all of the above” approach. Buy them, own them, own majority or controlling stock positions in them. Infiltrate them. In the boardroom and in the cubicles. Populate their staffs, reporters, advertisers, customers, associates, friends, colleagues, with far right or right leaning individuals and entities. The exact OPPOSITE of this George W. Bush conservative type who withdrew from...

Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a victory news conference in just over an hour in Bismarck, North Dakota (it’s the capital), where Guardian politics reporter Ben Jacobs is laying in wait. DT Jr celebrates victory: — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 26, 2016 1237 ✔️

Leaders of the Republican Party have begun internal deliberations over what would be fundamental changes to the way its presidential nominees are chosen, a recognition that the chaotic process that played out this year is seriously flawed and helped exacerbate tensions within the party. In a significant shift, Republican officials said it now seemed unlikely that the four states to vote first would all retain their cherished place on the electoral calendar, with Nevada as the most probable casualty. Party leaders are even going so far as to consider diluting the traditional status of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina...

Oklahoma’s state legislature isn’t messing around. They are so furious about President Barack Obama’s dangerous actions about transgenders in public school bathrooms, that they are officially calling for OK’s members of Congress to start impeachment proceedings. Obama’s actions have been unconstitutional, and boys and girls should be using the restroom according to the gender they were born with. It’s about time for impeachment! Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated legislature has filed a measure calling for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over his administration’s recommendations on accommodating transgender students, saying he overstepped his constitutional authority. Lawmakers in the socially conservative state are also expected to...