Free Republic

There was an eight-point swing to former President Donald Trump away from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) among likely Republican primary voters after Wednesday night’s second debate. Two days before Wednesday’s debate, Trump had 58 percent support in Morning Consult’s poll. After the debate, where he did not appear, Trump’s support surged to 63 percent.On the other hand, DeSantis fell three points in the poll, down to 12 percent from the 15 percent he held on Monday.Trump now holds a 51-point advantage over DeSantis, according to Morning Consult’s poll.“The sizable shift from Monday to Thursday is notable compared with what happened...

In an easily missed moment during Wednesday night’s chaotic GOP presidential primary debate, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would sign a federal 15-week abortion ban. Throughout his campaign, DeSantis, who has signed both a 15-week and six-week abortion ban in Florida, has walked a very fine line on abortion access, saying that he would be a “pro-life” president and support “pro-life legislation,” but has stopped short of saying he would support any national abortion ba This is a complete flip from the last debate in August, where the governor indicated that he would prefer states to make their own abortion...

California governor Gavin Newsom mocked Florida governor Ron DeSantis on live television for taking the “bait” in debating him while calling DeSantis a “distracted” candidate. “Why is he doing it? That’s the right question. He’s running — I think, I’m not sure after tonight — but currently he’s running for president of the United States,” Newsom said in an interview Wednesday. The California governor’s remarks come on the heels of the second GOP debate, in Simi Valley, Calif., where he said he wasn’t particularly impressed with DeSantis or the rest of the Republican presidential field. Newsom attended the event. Newsom...

Fox News contributor and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” that former President Donald Trump will be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.Gingrich said, “I suspect the money is there, but the votes aren’t. I’m a big fan of Glenn Youngkin. I think he’s doing a great job as governor. I think in 2028, he could be a very impressive, maybe even frontrunner for president, but not this time. Not this year.”He continued, “I was talking to our mutual friend, the pollster Matt Towery this afternoon, and Matt said to me, based on...

According to the sheriff, 42 of the suspects admitted to detectives that they were married; 13 said they received government assistance; 42 brought illegal drugs to the undercover location; two had firearms on them and 18 were from other states. Authorities reported that the oldest person arrested was 76-year-old Frank Bydairk, and the youngest was 18-year-old Latrice Vilsaint.

People were wondering how many people were tuned into the Fox Business RNC debate, the second GOP primary debate without Donald Trump. The answers are in per an NBC review of Nielsen ratings.Approximately 9.3 million people tuned in to watch the debate on Fox, Fox Business and Univision. That’s a drop of 27% from the first debate which had 12.8 million viewers.[…] Even though it was broadcast on Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel and Univision, it still attracted roughly 3.4 million fewer viewers than the first GOP debate just one month ago, which was hosted by the Fox News...

It is important, VERY IMPORTANT, to remember the Club for Growth (CfG) is the Ron DeSantis career financial vehicle. Ever since his first steps into Congress, CfG has been the primary financial sponsor for the now Florida Governor. There is no moment in the political career of DeSantis where CfG does not exist.While the DeSantis SuperPAC Never Back Down is the mechanics of the DeSantis election strategy, CfG is the well invested advising side, and David McIntosh has been the source of DeSantis’ career guidance for a decade. That’s how intrinsically connected Club for Growth is to Ron and Casey...

For reasons mysterious to the rational human mind, Fox News and the Republican National Committee decided to subject Americans to the most bizarre public spectacle in recent memory. It was stupid. It was strange. It was the second Republican presidential primary debate, which began with British-American Stuart Varney having a seizure while attempting to introduce his Univision cohost Ilia Calderón and concluded with Dana Perino asking the contestants who should be “voted off the island.” “Leading the charge, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed the question outright,” The Independent reported. “I’m not going to do that, with all due respect, we’re...

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec Wow who could have predicted this DeSantis gifted Biden the ultimate out on inflation Biden will play this over and over and over

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed back on a “hoax” during the second Republican presidential primary debate that was started by Vice President Kamala Harris several weeks ago and was pushed during the debate by a leftist debate moderator and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). Harris promoted the smear campaign about Florida’s African-American history curriculum back in July, claiming that “in the state of Florida, they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery.” Harris seized on one sentence from the 216-page curriculum that noted that freed slaves at times used skills they learned and developed during...

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign confirmed to The Daily Signal on Wednesday evening that he will support 15-week protections for the unborn. In audio of the debate following DeSantis’ response to an abortion question, candidate Sen. Tim Scott can be heard asking DeSantis if he would support legislation banning abortions of babies after 15 weeks. “Yes, I will,” DeSantis responds.

Florida blogger and Ron DeSantis campaign influencer Chris Nelson was ejected from the Republican primary debate in Simi Valley, California after harassing Kari Lake and other debate guests. In the hours prior to the event, Nelson posted a series of videos to X (formerly Twitter) that show him shouting at Lake and others. In one video, he can be heard ranting about former President Donald Trump – suggesting his supporters intend to make him ‘Emperor of the United States.’Nelson has become a fairly regular figure among the DeSantis campaign’s online trolls, routinely attacking Trump supporters. Sources close to Nelson have...

VIDEOFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis must realize by now that he made the biggest mistake of his life by running for president in this election cycle. Common sense should have told him there was NO WAY he could go up against President Donald Trump. However hubris, plus campaign consultants fortified with Murdoch money, convinced him otherwise. And now he wishes he could somehow go back in time and NOT run since that way he would have been the odds on favorite for 2028. Instead his political career is in ashes and you can read it on his face. He is just...

According to a review done by Semafor of ad rates for the second Republican debate, technically the second of the first loser debates, Fox News has massively discounted the price for a 30 second advertisement to run during the broadcast.[…] Advertisers paid a premium for airtime during the first Republican presidential debate on Fox News, but it looks like they’ll be getting a major discount during round two on Wednesday night.Semafor reviewed the rates the network shared with one prospective ad buyer for both the first and second GOP primary debates. For the first debate, the cost of a single...

The Trump campaign on Wednesday urged the Republican National Committee (RNC) to end the debates and save resources to defeat President Joe Biden, making the call after the second Republican debate went off the rails, with plenty of criticism from viewers over Univision’s leftist bent throughout the two-hour spectacle.“The RNC should immediately put an end to any further primary debates so we can train our fire on Crooked Joe Biden and quit wasting time and money that could be going to evicting Biden from the White House,” the statement adds. “Tonight’s GOP debate was as boring and inconsequential as the...

Former President Donald Trump won the second Republican debate on Wednesday night by simply staying away, according to a snap poll of viewers for DailyMail.com. But there was good news for challenger Ron DeSantis who was declared the most 'presidential' and the most 'competent' of the candidates who took the stage at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in California. Analysts said DeSantis put in a more assured performance than the first debate when he disappeared from sight at times. This time, he dinged Trump directly and leant into his record as Florida governor to describe how he would lead the...

Long before the 2024 election was ever in the mindset of voters, CTH pointed out the specific moves the people who control Nikki Haley were taking in 2018 {GO DEEP}. It wasn’t difficult to predict, because Haley followed the Bush plan to an exacting measure.The BUSH PLAN is the five-year roadmap that modern Republican consultants use to position their principal in the approved Republican lane. “This ‘Five Year Plan‘ was the same historic approach done for Ronald Reagan. With a candidate in the private sector, the professional donor-class make investments in the candidate while it is legal to do so....

There are a few interesting aspects about this Harris/Messenger poll [DATA HERE] that merit some discussion. First, the poll itself is a large sample size with solid cross tabs and demographics. This is not a media poll.Second, the sample of independent voters is slightly less than norm. That means the actual reality of the Trump -vs- Biden portion of the poll is better than the result that is reflected. Independants increasingly favor Donald Trump. That said, this poll affirms previous recent polling showing that Trump is widening his lead amid all of the key demographics that matter. All good news...

Tuesday, during an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle,” 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) called on his opponent, former President Donald Trump, to participate in this week’s GOP presidential debate.DeSantis, who trails Trump by a significant margin in national polling, laid out how he would go at Trump if the opportunity presented itself.“So Donald Trump standing next to you on that stage, imagine he was, how would you go at him, in order to kind of again, shrink that gap from two to one?” FNC host Laura Ingraham said.“Well, I think it’s interesting, and he’s...

Former President Donald Trump has taken a massive lead in the Republican primary race, the latest NBC News poll found.The survey found a majority, 59 percent, choosing Trump as their number one candidate of choice in the GOP primary race. No other individual comes remotely close, as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis falls to a distant second, 43-points behind with 16 percent support.Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came in third place, nine points behind DeSantis with seven percent, followed by four percent who chose both former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, three percent who...