Free Republic

President Biden is the frontrunner in a hypothetical matchup against former President Trump for the first time since October, as positive views of the economy inch up — hitting their highest level thus far in the Biden presidency, according to a new Fox News national survey. Since May, there was a 3-point change in the presidential race. Trump was ahead by 1 point last month, while Biden is up by 2 points today: 50%-48%. That’s well within the margin of error. Beyond improved evaluations of the economy, a range of other events since the May survey could influence small shifts...

Senior Democrats, including some of President Biden's aides, are increasingly dubious about his theory for victory in November, which relies on voter concerns about Jan. 6, political violence, democracy and Donald Trump's character. Why it matters: Biden's core inner circle hasn't lost faith in that approach, the product of Biden and his longtime aide, Mike Donilon. But that puts them on an island within much of the party about what will decide the election, as polls consistently have shown Biden tied or behind even after a slight bump following Trump's criminal conviction. Several polls have indicated voters are deeply concerned...

There’s just something very sketchy about this public release of information from Judge Merchan in New York City. Merchan doesn’t have an integrity bone and the comment he is bringing attention toward is innocuous and random. However, Merchan could be trying to get Trump to violate the gag order aspect and talk about jurors; thereby making the sentencing worse. According to information Merchan is providing the lawyers in the Trump case, a comment was made on the court’s FaceBook page indicating one of the jurors said the Trump guilty verdict was predetermined. [SOURCE] “My cousin is a juror and says...

Donald Trump traveled to Silicon Valley Thursday night and raised a reported $12 million from tech executives, a notable foray into a long-time Democratic stronghold. The event, co-hosted by billionaire investor David O. Sacks and venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, capped a wave of new Trump inroads with wealthy donors from the worlds of tech, crypto and Wall Street. "The Blue Wall of Tech has been breached," posted Messari CEO Ryan Selkis after attending the event. Selkis, who co-founded his crypto market intelligence firm, was among those who reportedly paid between $50,000 and $500,000 for tickets to attend the event at...

Team USA pulled off one of the greatest upsets in cricket history on Thursday. They defeated powerhouse Pakistan by five runs in the T20 World Cup, shocking the rest of the sport. The match went to a super over, a tiebreaker in cricket, and Team USA recorded 18 runs. Pakistan needed 19 for the win but were held to just 13 runs. To make the upset even more special, it happened on United States soil in Dallas, Texas. The T20 World Cup features the 20 best teams in the world, and Team USA now leads Group A following its massive...

Israeli-American casino billionaire Miriam Adelson is expected to announce a multi-million dollar boost to Trump's campaign this week. Politico reported that the contribution is expected to exceed the $90m donation to Preserve America by Mrs Adelson and her late husband, Sheldon in the 2020 election. In the hours following the verdict, a number of wealthy billionaires posted messages of support for Trump. Among them was Silicon Valley investor David Sacks, who posted on X that there "is now only one issue in this election: whether the American people will stand for the USA becoming a Banana Republic". On 6 June,...

As my colleague Bonchie covered, college basketball phenom Caitlin Clark is receiving a rough welcome to the WNBA. She’s been receiving hard—dangerous—fouls at an alarming rate. Why? You be the judge. But it certainly seems like jealousy and resentment are the driving forces behind much of the hate she’s received. She’s deserving of her accolades; this is not someone who’s getting attention just for her looks or for her social media profile—she’s the real deal: Top-seeded Iowa, which reached the NCAA title game for the second consecutive season, ended the season at 34-5. Clark finished with 30 points Sunday -...

Odds via BetMGM UK. Chance to win the election and election predictions based on implied probability with the vigorish removed.Donald Trump is still the favorite to win the 2024 Presidential Election, despite a guilty verdict that makes him the first former president to be convicted of a felony in American history. His odds have shifted slightly from earlier this week. Prior to the verdict, Trump was a -150 favorite, meaning oddsmakers gave him a roughly 53% chance of winning the election. After being found guilty of falsifying business records, Trump's odds have fallen to -112, which translates to a 48.28%...

Billionaires are putting their influence and money behind Donald Trump, a wave of support that is helping the former President narrow his fundraising gap with President Joe Biden. The latest example came last week with the news that Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, after years of keeping his distance from Trump, is now a supporter. A collection of familiar GOP names announced their support for Trump in recent months. They include figures like Robert Bigelow and Nelson Peltz. Both have donated to Republicans for years. Both distanced themselves from Trump after Jan. 6. Both are now back on board. Robert Bigelow,...

U.S. President Joe Biden's public approval rating this month fell to its lowest level in almost two years, tying the lowest reading of his presidency in a warning sign for his reelection effort, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The four-day poll, which closed on Monday, showed just 36% of Americans approve of Biden's job performance as president, down from 38% in April. It was a return to the lowest approval rating of his presidency, last seen in July 2022. While this month's drop was within the poll's 3 percentage point margin of error, it could bode poorly for Biden as he...

The graduating class of 2024 has been treated to three very different commencement speeches in recent days. Only one was not self-serving, dishonest and destructive. You can guess which one made the left flip out. As part of his Nationwide Pandering Tour to win back dwindling black support, Joe Biden went to the prestigious, black, all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday and told the students that they are victims of racism and white supremacy. He told these aspiring leaders that American democracy has failed them. “What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street … when...

The Financial Times headlines: “The violent gang crisis shaking Sweden.” Spoiler alert: it all has to do with immigration. Sweden has suffered an extraordinary spate of violence in recent months, particularly in Uppsala and its neighbour to the south, capital Stockholm. At its worst in September and October, barely a day went by without a shooting, bombing or hand grenade attack — sometimes several. The Nordic country has gone from having one of the lowest levels of fatal shootings in Europe to one of the highest in just a decade. … In a televised addressed at the end of September,...

The US economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter. The Bureau of Economic Analysis's advance estimate of first quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) showed the economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.6% during the period. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimated the US economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.5% during the period. The reading came in significantly lower than fourth quarter GDP, which was revised up to 3.4%. The softer-than expected print is a sign that the Federal Reserve's historic interest rate hikes are putting pressure on consumers and the economy. Investors...

What did the founders do? They committed an act of treason by signing the Declaration of Independence. They recognized at some point you have to take on the established regime when it is not only unjust, but when there is no lawful way to get it back on track. These matters frame our own nation. Texas had just filed its original action in the Supreme Court against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan -- four swing states whose election officers had clearly violated election law in those states and with an impact that put Biden over the top in all four....

Barring some last-second surprise, on Monday a dream will come true for the Democrats, resistance warriors, Never Trumpers, and lawfare specialists who have hoped for years to put former President Donald Trump on trial. It finally happens Monday in a courtroom in Manhattan. Many legal experts, and not just those on the Right, have said the case against Trump is weak. But that doesn’t really matter. The fact is, Trump will be on trial, charged with 34 dubious felonies, and a jury in deep-blue Manhattan will likely find him guilty of something. That’s the point. After this trial, if things...

Homebuyers are feeling whiplashed by surging mortgage rates, and the outlook just turned grim. The average rate on the 30-year mortgage increased to 7.37% on Thursday, a steep climb from 7.11% at the beginning of the week, according to Mortgage News Daily. The quarter-point increase comes as rattled investors respond to a hotter-than-expected inflation reading. At the same time, a separate measure tracking weekly average rates rose to 6.88%, up from 6.82% the week prior, Freddie Mac found. Elevated rates have left would-be buyers in a pinch, causing both repeat and first-time buyers to step away from any purchase plans....

The Biden re-election campaign should be dead in the water. Inflation is surging again, wokeness is deeply unpopular with most Americans, bills are beginning to come due for the Left’s “green” initiatives, and, most of all, Biden himself is so far gone in dementia as to be dysfunctional. How can he possibly win in November? By running on abortion. We saw it in many areas of the country in 2022. What should have been a red wave petered out, as the Democrats grabbed the lifeline that Dobbs gave them and often rode it to victory. Can it happen again in...

U.S. inflation pressures quickened again last month, with core price pressures also rising past Wall Street forecasts, a reading that will cast further doubt on market bets for a June interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve. The headline consumer price index for March was pegged by the Commerce Department at 3.5%, rising from the prior month's tally of 3.2% and coming in ahead of Wall Street's 3.4% consensus forecast. On a monthly basis, inflation edged 0.4% higher, matching the 0.4% gain in February but also coming in ahead of Wall Street's 0.3% forecast. So-called core inflation, which strips out...

Unless you are deeply immersed in politics, you likely missed a major development over the last three weeks: Since his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden has seen a marked reversal of his fortunes. Indeed, since Biden addressed the nation in early March, polling shows that Biden is gaining ground, as former President Donald Trump now leads Biden by only one percentage point according to the RealClearPolitics polling average — Trump’s smallest lead since January. In the Quinnipiac poll released last week, Biden led by three points, 48 percent to 45 percent, bringing the total to 12 national...

President Biden’s reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that, in a nutshell, aims to spend more — and spend faster. Not only has Mr. Biden aimed to show himself off as a fundraising juggernaut this month, but his campaign is also making significant early investments both on the ground and on the airwaves — hoping to create a massive organizational advantage that leaves his Republican opponent, President Trump, scrambling to catch up. While the money pouring in has given Mr. Biden and the Democrats a major cash advantage, it’s also becoming clear Mr....