Free Republic

Today’s Trump isn’t the original Trump. Watch ancient videos, on Oprah (1988) or testifying before Congress (1991). (Believe it or not, Democrats were then thoughtful legislators, not Marxist juveniles or foreign-born terrorists.)Trump was originally a public intellectual. What happened? Pro wrestling. And secondarily, the Apprentice series (2004–2014). The World Wrestling Hall of Fame (2013) was an Oval Office stepping stone. Adopting an intellectual public persona would have been political poison. Today’s Trump is an assumed persona feeding the mob’s appetites. By 2007, he was grounding and pounding Vince McMahon in the Battle of Billionaires. Along his path to the presidency,...

A tired canard is surfacing again in the era of wokery: “Estimates suggest that only about a third of the colonial population actively supported independence.” This misconception originates from misreading an 1815 letter written by John Adams. Adams referenced Americans’ attitudes toward the French, not the American Revolution. English tyrannies weren’t welcome here by 1776. Straightforward facts tell the story, beginning with the Revolution’s impetus, the Stamp Act, effective Nov. 1, 1765, long before Boston’s December 1773 Tea Party. It was indeed a relatively modest tax. What enraged colonists was its purpose; namely, subsidizing British continental wars that had stretched...

It’s becoming routine: Tucker Carlson is apoplectic at talk of using military force to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. Unable to conceal his animus, his June 4 X.com hyperventilation is a result. He hopefully feels better for the effort. This time it’s because Mark Levin visited Trump, advocating bold action against Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Carlson seems particularly incensed that two Jews, Levin and Steve Witkoff (whom Carlson describes as a “Long Island native”), advise Trump. Is “Long Island” an antisemitic dog whistle? San Francisco native Carlson referenced Levin six times, emphasizing his loathing. Carlson uses argument ad hominem and conjures imaginary...

RFK Jr. recently lamented:The Democratic party I grew up with, the party of Robert and John Kennedy, was fighting to make sure that Americans, every American, could vote for the candidates that they chose to vote for. And this Democratic party is doing everything in its power to make sure Americans are disenfranchised.Democrats abhor democracy and project their sins onto opponents. Is this new? Certainly not during the party’s founding or at any point in between.The Democratic party began in 1828 as a southern phenomenon to elect Andrew Jackson, famous for exploits in Indian wars. Jacksonian “democracy” excluded certain races....