Free Republic

In their final encounter during the transition following the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s incoming national-security adviser surprised Barack Obama’s outgoing national-security adviser. Susan Rice writes in her memoir that the Michael Flynn she was dealing with had nothing in common with the firebrand she had watched leading a “lock her up” chant against Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Convention a few months earlier. Flynn, a retired general and the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was respectful and subdued, eager for her advice. When Rice extended her hand and wished him the best of luck, Flynn asked her...

North Carolina Roy Cooper has got a doozy on his hands. He’s a Democratic governor, up for reelection in a Republican-leaning Southern swing state, pushing a go-slow approach to reopening the economy as protests intensify and neighboring states move quicker. But that’s just the start: How the first-term governor handles his state's reopening will likely dictate whether President Donald Trump and the Republican Party can forge ahead with a full-fledged convention in Charlotte this summer.

Nomination speeches

Without being able to peer into the mind of Donald Trump, it’s hard to discern what prompted him to pick Governor Pence. If we take his words at face value, party unity was one of the primary motivating factors. That undoubtedly played a role, although I doubt it will sway Republicans in the Dump Trump camp, whose obsession borders on the pathological and will undoubtedly persist through Cleveland. My take is that this choice is a bid to boost the perceived statesmanship of the GOP going into November. The gravitas deficit, a la Dick Cheney and Gaffes Biden, who was...

Bob Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential nominee, said he's disappointed in Jeb Bush for sitting out the Republican National Convention. Dole, who initially endorsed Bush for president before the former Florida governor dropped out, said he should unite behind the party and support presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

A Virginia delegate to the GOP national convention who opposes Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is hoping a favorable ruling on a legal challenge to state election law will serve as a last-minute spark to help dump the billionaire businessman as the party’s nominee. Carroll Correll Jr. said Thursday outside a federal courthouse in Richmond that he hopes an upcoming ruling will send a message to other Republican delegates that they are free to pick someone besides Trump. “As a party and as a nation, we could do a lot better than Donald Trump,” Correll said. The Republican National Committee’s national...

Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump's former chief rival for the GOP nomination, will speak at the Republican National Convention later this month, the Texas senator told reporters after the two met Thursday in Washington. Cruz told reporters Thursday that the real estate mogul offered his former primary rival a speaking slot during the meeting and Cruz accepted. He added that he and Trump did not discuss an endorsement.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has been quietly having conversations with state party leaders to discuss the latest push by convention delegates to nominate anyone other than Donald Trump. Priebus has spoken with GOP party chairmen in multiple states in recent days in part to get a better sense of how large the anti-Trump faction is among their convention delegations, according to two people familiar with the conversations. While Priebus has made clear in these conversations that he is not spearheading the latest push for a coup, his involvement sends a signal that the RNC is taking this effort...

Despite suspending his campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio is attempting to keep every delegate he won while running for president. The unusual move reflects preparations for a contested convention this summer — and comes as Donald Trump backed away from an earlier pledge to support the Republican party's nominee if he is treated unfairly after winning more delegates than his rivals. Rubio aide Alex Burgos told MSNBC that while the Florida senator is "no longer a candidate," he "wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump."

Shades of 1968 and the Days of Rage? Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has announced that "any opportunity we have to shut down a Republican convention, we will." Appearing on today's Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, Cullors also blithely spoke of "the murder of Mike Brown" in Ferguson, MO. Neither of the co-guest hosts sitting in for Harris-Perry, Richard Liu and Janet Mock, challenged Cullors' characterization. This despite the fact that even Eric Holder's Justice Department found no wrongdoing on the part of the police officer who shot Brown. View the video here.

Republicans on Friday are expected to remove all obstacles to holding their 2016 presidential nominating convention to the end of June, two months earlier than their 2012 convention in Tampa, The Washington Times has learned. “The party’s rules change moves the convention to an earlier date which will allow our candidate to begin the general campaign earlier,” said Republican National Committee member Bruce Ash, who is chairman of the RNC’s Standing Rules Committee. “I will be voting to create a level playing field for all candidates and to help vet and promote the best candidate to allow the GOP to...

In writing, especially in the era of the new media, you’re only as good as your last publication… in our case, that was a couple of weeks ago. Dee, my fearless editor, and I both have full time careers. Dee in particular has an awful lot on her plate… I honestly don’t understand how she does it all. We’ve experienced a sort of enforced hiatus due to a long overdue hiatal hernia reduction that I should have taken care of years ago. The operation, as such, went extremely well, except that I contracted pneumonia as a result of the anesthesia…...

Robert Gibbs: ‘Angry’ night ‘full of insults’ By: Kevin Cirilli August 29, 2012 12:06 AM EDT In Tampa to lead the pushback for President Barack Obama’s campaign, top adviser Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that the first night of the Republican National Convention was “angry” and “strange” and “full of insults.” “I’m kind of flabbergasted at the whole night,” Gibbs said on MSNBC after Gov. Chris Christie’s keynote speech. “It seemed first and foremost like this was a very angry convention tonight full of insults.” He said that the night’s speakers, including House Speaker John Boehner, did not capture the struggles...

Video of speech HERE.

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Wayne Terhune Delegation Chair, Nevada Six States Nominate Congressman Ron Paul for President at the Republican National Convention TAMPA, August 28, 2012-- Supporters of Congressman Ron Paul have collected the necessary signatures to nominate him for President of the United States at the RNC. The current rules state that a plurality of delegates from five states are required to nominate a candidate for President. The Secretary of the Convention, Kim Reynolds, was presented with the forms over an hour before the call for nominations. “We are excited to get Dr. Paul nominated,” said...

You may not agree with what Heinlein says here but he is speaking directly across the years to Ron Paul and his people at the Republican National Convention.

At 2:00 p.m. today in Tampa, the Republican National Committee, led by Team Romney, is moving to shut down conservative grassroots activists. I’ve been on the phone with several individuals involved in the fight who tell me that the fight is not over, it is only just starting.Specifically, the media is reporting that the rules fight is over because Team Romney is abandoning Ben Ginsberg’s effort to allow candidates to control delegates. Under an initial proposal, delegates would, in effect, be chosen by the presumed nominee’s campaign and not based on votes in the states and delegate selection processes in...

Tampa police say they've confiscated bricks and pipes from a rooftop in Tampa, and discovered what they say is "anarchist" graffiti. The anonymous symbol was spray painted, along with the number "99" in red paint. All of it was found on top of a building at 1000 North Florida Ave., which is at the corner of Florida Avenue and Tyler Street. "We are appreciative that the business owner called us," Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said Tuesday afternoon. "Finding those items for us was not a surprise," she added. "We are just pleased to see the communications process worked the...

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Tampa during the Republican National Convention, a campaign official confirms. "Next week, on Monday, August 27 and Tuesday, August 28, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Tampa area and other cities for campaign events," an Obama campaign official tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD. "Additional details on the Vice President’s trip are forthcoming." The Republican National Convention will run from August 27-30 in Tampa. The Drudge Report first reported the news that Biden would be in Tampa at the same time as the Republican convention.