Free Republic

Although The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro is celebrating Steve Bannon's ouster at Breitbart, not everybody shares his happiness. Writing for The Weekly Standard, Jonathan V. Last explains that although he and Bannon didn't see eye to eye on all issues, he did like him. Or, at least, he liked the fact that Bannon had ideas. 'If you squint at him a certain way—and ignore Pepe and Milo and his enthusiastic embrace of an ugly crew—Bannon was almost a reformicon. Or at least what happens when reform conservatism goes on a date with populism, has five drinks too many, and makes...

From the start of his short, truculent and unabashedly populist inaugural address, President Trump called out the Washington establishment: “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.” He painted a dystopian picture of the United States and promised: “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”

Did Donald Trump violate IRS rules, by using a charity's money to buy himself a signed football helmet? Four years ago, at a charity fundraiser in Palm Beach, Donald Trump got into a bidding war at the evening's live auction. The items up for sale: A Denver Broncos helmet, autographed by then-star quarterback Tim Tebow, and a Tebow jersey. Trump won, eventually, with a bid of $12,000. Afterward, he posed with the helmet. His purchase made gossip-column news: a flourish of generosity, by a mogul with money to burn. "The Donald giveth, and The Donald payeth," wrote the Palm Beach...

The New York Times' article published Saturday with the headline "Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private" begins with an anecdote from a woman named Rowanne Brewer Lane, who as a 26-year-old model was asked by the businessman to put on a swimsuit during their first meeting at a Mar-a-Lago pool party. "But the 1990 episode at Mar-a-Lago that Ms. Brewer Lane described was different: a debasing face-to-face encounter between Mr. Trump and a young woman he hardly knew. This is the private treatment of some women by Mr. Trump, the up-close and more intimate encounters,"...

A former girlfriend of Donald Trump blasted The New York Times on Monday for fabricating part of a front-page story about the Republican presidential candidate's history with women, calling the paper's retelling of her story 'false.' The Saturday Times story described the billionaire's first meeting with the young model as 'a debasing face-to-face encounter between Mr. Trump and a young woman he hardly knew.' 'Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he asked her to change out of her clothes,' the newspaper reported, describing a moment where he offered her a swimsuit to wear at a pool...

A woman who dated Donald Trump said early Monday that The New York Times "spun" her comments for an article about the presumptive presidential nominee's treatment of women, adding that he always treated her respectfully. “He never made me feel like I was being demeaned in any way,” Rowanne Brewer Lane said on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “He never offended me in any way,” the former model added. "He was very gracious. I saw him around all types of people, all types of women. He was very kind, thoughtful, generous. I did not have a negative experience with Donald...

A New York Times "hit piece" on Donald Trump's relationship with women was highly inaccurate, according to Trump's ex-girlfriend Rowanne Brewer Lane. Lane told Ainsley Earhardt on "Fox and Friends" this morning that she was misquoted, and her story was not told honestly by Times writers Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey. She explained that they took her words out of context, spinning them to fit their own narrative. "I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump," Lane said. "He never made me feel like I was being demeaned in any way, he never offended me in any way."...

Donald Trump's ex-girlfriend, model Rowanne Brewer, has told Inside Edition how Trump was pondering a presidential run 25 years ago, how the 'gentle' billionaire treated her sweetly during their time together - and why she doesn't regret moving on. Brewer met Trump at a party in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1990 just after Trump had divorced first wife Ivana. The pair 'hit it off' instantly, according to Brewer. Trump, then 44, asked the 26-year-old former Miss Maryland out on a date - and they began a brief relationship that Brewer now says was 'exciting' and 'a wonderful time.'

Almost a decade ago, Donald Trump promised to build the world’s greatest golf course, in Aberdeen, Scotland. The course, Trump International Golf Links, was opened in 2012, no thanks to some windmills and a rebellious farmer, but a Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel report that will air Tuesday night on HBO shows just how much Scotland came to despise Trump over the course of the ordeal. Basically, Trump, in all his bluster, promised massive job creation and beautiful development and expansive investment and (from the Scottish perspective, at least) fell short on all fronts, making far more enemies than friends...

Former New York City Michael Bloomberg issued a directive that opinion journalists not attack Republican frontrunner Donald Trump after he complained about coverage, according to a report from New York Magazine. Gabriel Sherman reported after Trump had a "scathing letter" about negative coverage from Bloomberg's media arm hand-delivered to Bloomberg's Upper East Side home, stories about the real estate mogul were subject to "special scrutiny."The original story quoted an unnamed high-level source saying that Bloomberg handed down an "edict" to ensure journalists did not attack Trump in their stories. Even a reference to Trump as "P. T. Barnum" was cut...