Free Republic

Democrats should not expect the path to the White House to be a cakewalk if Hillary Clinton faces Donald Trump in November, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday. "We've got to be very careful because Trump has tapped into a negativity, a populism that is out there, and I think we have to work extra hard" to attract young voters and turn out the party's base, the 2008 Democratic presidential contender told CNBC's "Squawk Box." Clinton will be a strong candidate, he said, but she will have to overcome her party's shift far left of the American electorate....

Donald Trump is bound for the White House, and when he reaches the Oval Office, stocks will "go straight up," said Kevin O'Leary, chairman of O'Leary Financial Group. *snip* Last month, Blackstone Group Chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a longtime Republican, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that if he were faced with a choice between Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, he would "be really trying to figure out where we go." Though he said he would opt for Trump in that scenario. But O'Leary said he does not believe corporate America is truly afraid of a Trump presidency. "He wants...

CNBC host Joe Kernen took House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to task Friday over the Republican Party's opposition to same-sex marriage. In a rare discussion of social issues on the financial news program "Squawkbox," Kernen argued that the GOP has squandered its appeal with fiscally conservative voters by virtue of its opposition to gay nuptials. Cantor said some people, himself included, have legitimate religious objections to same-sex marriage. “There are those of us who have personal religious convictions about the issue," Cantor said. "And I think that we as a country need to respect people about their opinion, not...

In a worst case scenario, he painted a much darker picture. “When people get at each other’s throat, the rich and the poor and the left and the right and so on, and you have a basic breakdown, that becomes very threatening,” Dalio told CNBC in an exclusive interview on “Squawk Box.” “For example, Hitler came to power in 1933, which was the depth of the Great Depression, because of the social tension between the factions. So I think it very much is dependent on how the people work this through together and worry about the social elements.”