Free Republic

What is striking about the reactions to the apparatuses of exception that have been put in place in our country (and not only in this one) is the inability to observe them beyond the immediate context in which they seem to operate. Rare are those who attempt to interpret them as symptoms and signs of a broader experiment — as any serious political analysis would require — in which what is at stake is a new paradigm for the governance of men and things. Already in a book published seven years ago, now worth rereading carefully (Tempêtes microbiennes, Gallimard 2013),...

During the Democrat “debate” last night, Hillary Clinton made the astonishing claim that Donald Trump was being used in ISIS recruiting videos. That resulted in a quick bit of “fact checking” by the progressive media which revealed that, no, Donald Trump wasn’t being used in ISIS recruiting videos. My colleague, Joe Cunningham, covered the demolition of that egregious lie.

Not since I voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 have I been so excited about the prospect of a true conservative as I was for 2016. With the likes of Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 94% there was plenty to be excited about. What I didn’t realize was the depth of disgust and anger that the base had for the establishment republicans. It wasn’t so apparent to me given that I have been living with RINO’s and turncoats up here in Massachusetts for decades. Then enter Trump. I could never have...

Donald Trump just trumped all the Republican candidates for President. The day after the mom jeans wearing squat to pee President came out to assure us that tolerance, gun control, and climate change would save us from ISIS, Donald Trump demanded we bar any muslims from entering this country and bar any American citizen who is muslim from re-entering the United States. Set aside the merits of what amounts to at least, in part, an unconstitutional position. This is actually brilliant politics for the here and now. Immediately, every other Republican candidate except Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% rushed out...

RedState's own Leon Wolf did a great job exposing the Politico story about Ben Carson and West Point as a lie. Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel is also churning out great information on Twitter regarding the story. I want to focus on what Donald Trump is doing with the story, however. Yesterday, November 5, Donald Trump had this to say about Politico: Look, Politico is so dishonest in so many different things. This Politico website or whatever the hell they call it, I mean, they write about me. We don't deal with them anymore because the level of dishonesty is...

Last week, National Review’s Jim Geraghty published what may be the most insightful essay yet [1] on the difference between the conservative movement and Donald Trump and his followers. Geraghty has noticed a telling reticence on Trump’s part to utter such words as “freedom” or “liberty.” By contrast, Geraghty notes that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used the word “freedom” six times in the 179-word announcement of his plan to replace ObamaCare, and Ted Cruz used “freedom” twice and “liberty” eleven times in his announcement speech at Liberty University, not counting references to the university itself.The reason for this lack of...