Free Republic

If Trump Wins The Nomination, Prepare For The End Of The Conservative Party By George F. Will December 23 If you look beyond Donald Trump’s comprehensive unpleasantness — is there a disagreeable human trait he does not have? — you might see this: He is a fundamentally sad figure. His compulsive boasting is evidence of insecurity. His unassuageable neediness suggests an aching hunger for others’ approval to ratify his self-admiration. His incessant announcements of his self-esteem indicate that he is not self-persuaded. Now, panting with a puppy’s insatiable eagerness to be petted, Trump has reveled in the approval of Vladimir...

Marco Rubio may be the most gifted natural politician to come out of the GOP since Ronald Reagan. But the GOP base seems in no mood to rally around a principled conservative who happens also to be an optimist. That may change, but it hasn't yet. The problem is, Rubio is competing in a primary with two demagogues willing to say pretty much anything to win; several other candidates long on experience but with little personal appeal; and one neurosurgeon who should stick to medicine. Donald Trump tapped into a deep well of anger in the Republican grassroots, driven by...

One take on new polls from New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina is that "The crowded GOP field is harming Marco Rubio and helping Donald Trump." Well, sort of. The crowded field is not going to be crowded for very long, and it is Rubio (or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is surging in New Hampshire) who stands to gain the most when others drop out. Donald Trump - with 100 percent name recognition and high unfavorables - is about topped out. No one who likes Trump is not with him now. As for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), he...

With Christmas fast approaching and the public's attention in other places, the pieces appear to be falling in for Democrat Governor Tom Wolf to get the 30.8 billion dollar budget he wants along with 2.2 billion dollars in tax increases over the next 18 months. It looked like the big spending deal approved by the Republican controlled Senate 43-7 was being shot down in the House last Saturday when a pension reform bill was shot down in flames. But now a group of the mostly liberal Republicans in the House, mainly from the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, have stepped up....

The long awaited voice of reason for the 2016 election has finally weighed in. Mitch McConnell took time out from his busy schedule of cutting budget deals with the Democrats to caution everyone against going crazy next year and nominating a bunch of wacko birds who can’t possibly win. Let’s tune in to a short segment of the sage advice....

A parody of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again..." here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q You've been voting at the booths With your children at your feet That the morals they worship will be gone And the men who spurred us on Thought it all along That your will, will be damned I'll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Watch the transformation all around Go to work again today Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray 'Cause we've been fooled again The changes we'd hope to come But suspected all along Will...

It’s terrible for a number of reasons, but it’s on the way to the Senate anyway. A bipartisan vote closes out the House effort on the FY2016 budget, with the same kind of bloated and opaque legislation that Republicans were supposed to stop supporting: The House has passed a $1.14 trillion spending bill to fund the government through next September. It’s a peaceful end in the House to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican demands of President Barack Obama. … Senators are expected vote on the budget measure in combination with a year-end tax plan that gives...

More Americans favor than oppose a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. While most Republicans oppose such a path to citizenship, it doesn't seem to be a dealbreaker issue for them. ...

Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, says he came to Washington to cut spending, not add to the deficits and debt that will crush future generations. He spoke on Thursday, one day after House leaders, working with the White House, produced a $1.1 trillion spending bill. And Brat warned of worse to come. ...

The White House objects to a few Republican provisions in the omnibus $1.1-trillion spending bill, but overall, "We succeeded," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Wednesday. "So we walked into these negotiations focused on making sure that Republicans would not succeed in advancing their ideological agenda through the budgetary process, and I think, based on all of the solid reporting work that you have done over the last several weeks, there were a variety of attempts that Republicans undertook to try to do exactly that, and we did succeed in fighting off those efforts." ...

The 2,009 page fiscal 2016 spending deal that the Republican House leadership released today authorizes $1,205,146,000,000 in federal outlays between now and the end of fiscal 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and it does not prohibit funding of Planned Parenthood, according to the House Appropriations Committee. The spending bill is paired with a separate 233-page tax bill. “We are maintaining all of our pro-life protections, including the Hyde Amendment, and we are making cuts to the UNFPA program,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said of the omnibus spending bill at a press conference today. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s...

The catch-all spending bill Congress is set to pass this week will provide President Barack Obama with the funds he needs to admit an extra 45,000 refugees in the next two years, including a minimum of 10,000 from Syria. Congressional leaders did not use the Obama administration's annual request for funds as leverage to force him to address concerns with the resettlement program, and they did not negotiate the addition of a measure backed by conservative lawmakers that would require the administration to jump through additional security hoops when admitting Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Instead, House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled...

. Remember Mississippi ? The professional apparatus of the Republican Party are signaling their intent to do exactly what we predicted they would do. Trump will win the primary, and the GOPe will split the party to run an additional candidate in the general election. It’s not Trump going third party – It’s the establishment GOP (GOPe) intending to go third party. They are planning a modified version of the Mississippi Strategy from 2014. .

"Unless Republicans go along with Democrats, "the government shuts down at midnight this Friday," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday. "If we fail to meet that deadline, it will be another evidence of a Republican failure in leadership." Reid said if Republicans fail to pass an omnibus appropriations bill by midnight on Dec. 11 -- a date they picked -- it will be because they continue to attach their "ideological agenda" to the must-pass omnibus. "No legislation will pass with these poison pill riders. We passed a bipartisan budget agreement, we did it through good-faith negotiations. It was...

The n ewly elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was just shown on network news, sporting a full beard and mustache. His appearance closely resembles that of the recent past president of Iran.

A Republican operative who is organizing an effort to torpedo Donald Trump’s presidential campaign says she is starting a super PAC that could collect unlimited funds from individual donors. Liz Mair, former online communications director for the Republican National Committee, created a limited liability company in October called Trump Card LLC. The anti-Trump effort is focusing on the two states hosting the earliest nominating contests, Iowa and New Hampshire. In an e-mail to supporters, Ms. Mair said the group has reached out to 150 churches in Iowa, 50 community leaders in New Hampshire and media outlets in both states. She...

Gov.-elect John Bel Edwards is expected to name Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne as his top state government administrator and chief budget officer Monday afternoon (Dec. 7), according to three sources -- two who are close to Dardenne and another who is a leader in state government. The move could be interpreted as Edwards' first substantial commitment to a bipartisan cabinet. Edwards, a Democrat, has picked Dardenne, a Republican who ran against him in the gubernatorial primary, for arguably the most important and high-profile job in the state government next to his own. As Louisiana's commissioner of administration, Dardenne will be...

Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslim immigration into the US, including that of tourists, was met with an immediate and massive backlash from across the political spectrum. Republican presidential candidates moved quickly to condemn their party's frontrunner, with Jeb Bush describing Trump as "unhinged" and Lindsey Graham calling on everyone seeking the presidency to denounce the plan. "Donald Trump today took xenophobia and religious bigotry to a new level," Graham told the Guardian in an interview shortly after Trump unveiled his proposal. "His comments are hurting the war effort and putting our diplomats and soldiers serving in the Middle...

This question is directed to Obama and his admin, all dhimmicrats, GOPe RINOs like Rubio, McCain, McGrahamnesty, Kascich, Bush, and the usual cheap labor lobby traitors: You say you want to keep us safe and that we have to sacrifice our rights for security, and that you can't tell which Muslims are radical vs which will remain peaceful (until they too are radicalized), but why then do we allow the bloodthirsty enemy to infiltrate into our country? Would not the prudent thing be to place a moratorium on importing people from Muslim countries and immediately cease allowing refugees in? It's...

Presidential candidate Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) took a bold step away from many in the pro-life camp Thursday when taking aim at his rival for the White House, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), over his allegedly extreme stance against abortion.The South Carolina senator indicated that taking a hardline pro-life stance, in essence, will preclude any presidential candidate from winning the 2016 election. “You can be pro-life and win an election, but if you’re going to tell a woman who’s been raped she has to carry the child of the rapist, you’re losing most Americans,” Graham argued. The 60-year-old GOP member took specific...