Free Republic

Donald Trump had by far his worst debate of the 2016 campaign on Thursday. He was defensive and vulgar, evasive and condescending, rude and imperious. He moved drastically to the center on immigration, repudiating his position on H-1B visas on stage and saying “everything is negotiable,” including the border wall and the fate of illegal immigrants already in the United States. He defended his calls for expansive torture and the killing of civilians related to terrorists, saying the military “will do what I tell them” even if his orders contradict the law. He dismissed his opponents as “little Marco” and...

A lot has been written about how Donald Trump’s asset churning and bombastic attacks on partners and takeover targets in Atlantic City may have profited him personally, but ultimately led to the demise of his Atlantic City casino empire, costing small investors, contractors and suppliers millions of dollars and throwing thousands of employees out of work. But as our friend, and former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams has documented, Atlantic City isn’t Trump’s only failed enterprise, nor is it the only example of how Donald Trump has made money by duping Donald Trumpand bullying the little guys he now...

Election ’16: At a rally in New Hampshire over the weekend, Donald Trump spent a good deal of time complaining about how much the government spends on drugs. Too bad his math, and his facts, were all wrong.

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...

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...

The Iowa caucuses have solidified Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as two of the leading candidates in this cycle: Sanders is the democratic socialist channeling liberal disenchantment with the Goldman Sachs wing of the party, while Trump represents the frustration of Republican blue-collar, white, middle-class voters with global competition and immigration. Both of them are leading a revolt against their respective party elites. The similarities don't end there. You might think the two candidates have wildly different views on the signature domestic issue of the last six years: health care reform. But you'd be wrong. Sanders' plan, to the extent...

Five days from the New Hampshire primary, Ben Carson has yet to set foot in this state since his fourth-place finish in Iowa. His detour to Florida for a fresh set of clothes has become a running joke online. The candidate is, by all indications, consumed by what he calls the "dirty tricks" of Ted Cruz's campaign. "Dr. Carson feels absolutely robbed, violated," said Armstrong Williams, a Carson confidant, in a phone interview. "He realizes, the Democrats are not his enemies trying to malign him. It's people who smile in his face, shake his hand, go out to dinner with...

In the lead-up to Donald Trump's loss in Iowa, staffers sought additional funding for campaign infrastructure and were denied. Now, six days from the New Hampshire primary and looking for his first win, Trump is still refusing to shake up his ground game. He has added just one paid organizer in the state, a move that came a month ago. Instead, he is pushing ahead with plans to campaign outside of the state in the final week of voting and will count on the glamour of famous surrogates, including his sons, who plan to tour New Hampshire beginning this weekend....

Veterans have come out against Sarah Palin after she said in a speech on Wednesday that PTSD caused her son Track’s alleged domestic abuse ‘As a combat vet, EXTREMELY disgusted by #SarahPalin blaming PTSD 4 domestic abuse,’ wrote one man on Twitter Another said: ‘Speaking as a combat vet who literally slept in the same barracks as Track Palin, his mother is wrong and her son is not a victim’ Paul Rieckhoff, who heads Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, also criticized Palin for blaming the incident on President Obama Brandon Friedman, former digital media director for the Department of...