Free Republic

As Super Tuesday draws near and Americans from 12 different states choose their candidate, I want to make one final plea to my friends, fellow tea partiers, patriots, conservatives, and Christians, who will be voting on Super Tuesday. I know you're tired of losing. I am too. I know it feels good to have someone voicing our frustrations and be heard for a change. I know it feels like voting for Trump will send the establishment, the media, and everyone who has ignored us for the past eight years a powerful message. I know it feels good to finally feel...

I hear it all the time, and as quickly as I hear it, I reject it.It is a paralyzing, destructive mentality, and it is unbiblical, plain and simple.I'm talking about the mindset that says, "Jesus told us everything will get worse, so why bother trying to bring about change?"Can you imagine what Church history would like if Paul and Peter felt that way in the first century or if Wesley and Wilberforce felt that way in the 18th and 19th centuries?Why fight against infanticide in the early Church? Jesus said things will only get worse.Why fight against slavery in Great...

There's still time to turn it around, of course. But now that many conservatives are moving from the bargaining phase to the depression phase of the Kubler-Ross model, we can begin to grapple with the prospective reality of a Trump-vs-Hillary general election. Whether you're an ideological conservative, a proponent of limited government or someone who believes that the president has too much power already, you shouldn't think of this matchup as a contest between horrifying candidates. Rather, you should ask yourself which scenario would be more damaging? I'm pretty sure you'd find that Donald Trump is the form of the...

This week, the Obama administration did something uncharacteristically sensible: It declined to urge Americans to eat less meat. Despite the recommendation of a top nutrition advisory panel to use federal agencies to set new dietary guidelines involving fewer cheeseburgers, barbecued ribs and filet mignon -- all in an effort to merely save the planet -- administration officials quietly announced that such new guidelines are not "the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability." Liberal supporters of kudzu climate change legislation were furious that the president wouldn't take the advice of Scientists-with-a-capital-S -- who are to the left the...

Last week, on February 13th precisely, Justice Antonin Scalia passed away at the age of 79, as was widely noted in the American and the international media. The fallout has been predictable and highly charged with many conservatives notably down-at-the-mouth, and many liberals struggling to contain their glee. The sudden nature of the Judge's passing and his undeniable position as the conservative champion on the US Supreme Court guaranteed that this would become a most contentious vacancy. Most of the mainstream media commentary concerning the upcoming battle stuck largely to the facts of a liberal President likely nominating an equally...

Mitt Romney showed once again that he is truly a class act. In his announcement that he will not be running for president in 2016, he stated, "I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee." This was unusual political humility. But let me highlight this specific phrase: "one who has not yet taken their message across...

Trump appears on MSNBC for a town hall hosted by “Morning Joe.”

In yet another aggressive move that will thrill Trump supporters, late Tuesday morning, Jesse Rodriguez, Senior Producer of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, announced a town hall event with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump that will take place Wednesday night at 8 p.m. The night will be hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. The MSNBC town hall will compete directly with CNN’s long-schedule town hall with Trump’s two closest competitors, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio.

"The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both." -- Milton Friedman 'If there is ever a fascist takeover in America, it will come not in the form of storm troopers kicking down doors but with lawyers and social workers saying, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" - Jonah GoldbergIn a time where consumers have almost unlimited choices of music, movies, websites and every product you can imagine in the supermarket, socialism is an outdated economic system that...

That headline is technically accurate: Last night's Trump-free Fox News forum pulled in roughly 12-13 million viewers, better than the 11 million or so who watched the Fox Business debate earlier this month, at which The Donald stood center stage.  Trump out, ratings up!  Well, sort of.  The Des Moines debate was still the second-least watched GOP debate of the cycle (maybe third-least, including online live streams), and many Trump fans -- suddenly highly interested in nuance in context -- are pointing out that the lowest-rated one aired on FBN, which has a smaller footprint than Fox News or CNN nationwide.  True enough, although FBN's November debate...

"I can see why THEY gave you this question," says the kid. The version on CNN now cuts out the flub. Scripted questions shared with the candidates ahead of time. So much for the 'town hall'!

Lewandowski’s bluffing, just as Trump bluffed before the September debate in implying that he might not participate unless CNN devoted the proceeds to veterans groups. Stirring a little extra controversy is all part of Trump’s regular debate pre-game. And there’s not a ghost of a chance that Roger Ailes will meet his demand: Not only would he look weak in caving, he would humiliate the network’s new biggest star in doing so. If Fox wants to keep Kelly away from network news, agreeing with Trump that she’s tainted by bias and needs to be kicked off the panel would be...

That Donald Trump is no conservative is a proposition of which this conservative needs no convincing. On this score, the self-styled "conservative" contributors to the recent National Review symposium against Trump are correct.  It is their conservative bona fides that I challenge. For example, Glenn Beck suggests that Trump is no conservative because along with Barack Obama, Trump supported "the stimulus, the auto bailouts, and the bank bailouts." Yet Trump had neither authority nor power to make these ideas materialize.  That distinction is enjoyed by just those politicians who Beck supported. For years, Beck ran cover for George W. Bush, the 43rd president who,...

My reaction to the "Against Trump" issue of National Review: It's about damn time. It's not like contributors and editors of the conservative journal had been ambiguous on their feelings toward the billionaire and current GOP frontrunner. They've clearly had problems with him from the jump. But they'd done so individually. Now, they've spoken collectively in a way few conservative organizations would dare. To them, I quote John McClane form Die Hard in saying, "Welcome to the party, Pal." The appeal of a Donald Trump is obvious: 1) He has his own money, which means he's beholden to no one....

Today on CNN's State of the Nation, Jake Tapper revisited an old question with Donald Trump. He asked him about his faith and specifically about if he had ever asked forgiveness. By my count this is the third time that Trump has been asked the question. At he Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, back in June: Trump, who told CNN earlier that he is both anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage, said people are surprised to learn about his Christian faith. "People are so shocked when they find ... out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church...

 There is a real chance that our next president will be Donald Trump.            I am not happy about that I've found a media niche as a hardcore conservative who outlets call to get the right wing view of why he's terrible (Well, at least media outlets without Don Lemon).  Yet it's foolish not to face the potential reality we are sort of just hoping he goes away thanks to flaws that never seem to actually hurt him.  We are not taking seriously the Donald Trump we actually face, as opposed to the one we wish we were facing.  Exactly 25...

And with Anderson Cooper's help, he flogs the conspiracy strawman You don’t think someone has this backward, do you? The president of the United States is determined to shove gun control down the throats of a nation that decidedly does not want it, and the president is very frustrated with the people for disagreeing with him. I’ve had enough of your insolence! CNN thought it would be a good idea to host a town hall, with an audience consisting of partisans on both sides of the issue, so Obama could calmly explain his position and “bridge the gap.” Yeah. That...

Today Guy Benson wrote that Ted Cruz lied about his positions last night on the legalization of illegals. Here’s what he wrote: Cruz now indignantly claims that the black-and-white evidence in these two clips is “not accurate.” Some of the Texas Senator’s defenders say that his pro-legalization amendment was merely a strategic move designed to prove a point (that Democrats were insistent upon citizenship, not legalization, because they were hunting for votes), or to help torpedo the broader legislation. But that’s not what Ted Cruz said at the time. He told journalist Byron York that his amendment was a good...

You have to feel sorry for Ted Cruz. Donald Trump has hogged so much airtime with his cynical demagoguery that the senator from Texas has had a hard time capturing the attention of Republican voters. That is surprising, because when it comes to cynical demagoguery, this is the first time Cruz has ever lost out to anyone. His patented formula is a mix of repellent ingredients: misrepresentation of facts, baseless smears, exaggerated sincerity and pretended solidarity with the average person. If Cruz tells you it's raining, you can leave your umbrella at home. Most candidates need a full-length speech or...

Donald Trump is like a contagion who infects everyone around him. Once you've kissed, you can never wipe his saliva off your face. Consider the venerable (in its own view) NBC. This year, the network fired Trump, only to find it is Trump Lite. On June 16, when Trump was announcing his candidacy for the White House, the billionaire reality-TV star faulted Mexico for sending problem people to the United States. Quoth Trump: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists." Those comments were stupid and racist -- and they should have caused Trump to tank in the polls and...