Free Republic

Donald Trump’s distinctive rhetorical style — think of a drunk with a bullhorn reading aloud James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake under water — poses an almost insuperable challenge to people whose painful duty is to try to extract clarity from his effusions. For example, last week, during a long stream of semi-consciousness in Fort Worth, this man who as president would nominate members of the federal judiciary vowed to “open up” libel laws to make it easier to sue — to intimidate and punish — people who write “negative” things. Well. Trump, the thin-skinned tough guy, resembles a campus crybaby who...

Is that why he refuses to release his tax returns? After it was revealed this summer that Planned Parenthood was selling the organs and body parts of aborted human beings to biotech companies, Donald Trump said he wasn't sure if the organization should lose its federal funding. He even went out of his way to praise Planned Parenthood's good work. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd found Trump's stance interesting, so he asked Trump if he had ever been a Planned Parenthood donor. "It's possible," Trump replied. TODD: You were pretty--you were somewhat defending Planned Parenthood earlier this week. It...

Donald Trump has now made clear that the thrust of his campaign will not be conservatism. It will instead be populism and nationalism.

Politics is a full-contact sport, but it's not OK to hit below the belt. Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio spent last week blaming frontrunner Sen. Ted Cruz for a problem that originated from Team Carson's own disorganization—even after media records and Iowa exit poll data cleared Cruz. Before you vote in your primary, you deserve the truth. "You don't have to be a politician to tell the truth," Carson quipped in a recent debate. No, you don't. So let's start telling the truth. Unless you’re now a politician. Carson finished 4th in the February 1 Iowa caucus. Cruz...

In the announcement speech for his presidential campaign, Donald Trump railed against Obamacare. "We have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare," Trump declared. "I would repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare." Well, that sounds like something a Republican candidate would say. But there is one problem: Trump helped finance the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006 - which put in place the liberal majority that passed Obamacare over the objections of congressional Republicans. And he continued to support a Democratic Senate majority after Obamacare...

I know there are some of you who are willing to do what it takes to win but you want to make sure you do so with character and integrity. There's a line you don't want to cross. You are fine going up to that line and doing whatever you can that is within bounds but you don't want to cross that line and I am totally with you on that. I am going to walk you through this faux outrage story regarding Ben Carson and Ted Cruz. I'm going to walk you through a timeline but before I do,...

As I reported yesterday, at various times Donald Trump has had hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from Citibank and Goldman, some of which have been repaid, some of which were discharged in bankruptcy when Trump’s Altantic City casino went belly up. By Trump’s own standard, Citibank and Goldman own him, too.

....." Donald Trump: "I've built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions. I don't have to hear from this man." Norma Desmond: "No-one ever leaves a star. That's what makes one a star." Donald Trump: "We'll have so much winning, you'll get bored with winning." Norma Desmond: "Without me, there wouldn't be any Paramount studio." Donald Trump: "Let's see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me, okay?"..............

Ben Carson, however, is taking a break. His campaign announced that he will leave Iowa on Monday night and head to Florida to get some clean clothes. His aides said he was not ending his faltering presidential bid.