Free Republic

Defeated conservatives like to believe they are beautiful losers. The remnants of the Never Trump movement are convinced they were right in standing (as they see it) for principles, character, and competence against a Republican nominee lacking all three. They may be politically exiled and impotent, but they are preserving an unsullied conservatism.A new book from Oxford University Press, Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites, provides an extensive account of the leaders of this movement. The authors, Robert Saldin and Steven Teles, are sympathetic to their subjects, whom they quote at length, and this book does not...

Sen. Bernie Sanders really would be an easier candidate for President Donald Trump to campaign against in November. Sanders is so far left, with a history of burning bridges, that Trump and the Republican Party could easily and deservedly vilify him. The American public got a taste of Sanders, the true believer in communist revolution, when he sat for an interview with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes." Sanders praised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro for a literacy program after the Cuban revolution. Never mind that Castro also rounded up dissidents, engaged in mass murder and pulled his people into unending poverty....

been as head-spinning as the social conservatives and evangelical Christians who now consider Mr. Trump a hero. Many of the conservative women who once saw him as a boor have come to believe that for too long they were focused on the wrong qualities in presidential candidates. They wanted someone pious when they should have been looking for someone who could throw punches. “I endorsed Rick Santorum in 2012. And Mike Huckabee,” said Penny Young Nance, who signed the statement in 2016 of anti-abortion activists opposing Mr. Trump. “But at the end of the day, I’m not sure those guys...

Trump’s 'lack of decorum, dignity, and statesmanship' By Evan Sayet in his article "He Fights" My Leftist friends (as well as many ardent #NeverTrumpers) constantly ask me if I’m not bothered by Donald Trump’s lack of decorum. They ask if I don’t think his tweets are “beneath the dignity of the office.” Here’s my answer: We Right-thinking people have tried dignity. There could not have been a man of more quiet dignity than George W. Bush as he suffered the outrageous lies and politically motivated hatreds that undermined his presidency. We tried statesmanship. Could there be another human being on...

WASHINGTON — In 2016, Erick Erickson could not have been clearer. Donald Trump was “a racist” and “a fascist.” It was no wonder, Mr. Erickson wrote, that “so many people with swastikas in their Twitter profile pics” supported him. “I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever,” he insisted, adding his voice to the chorus of Never Trump Republicans. Last week, Mr. Erickson, a well-known conservative blogger, titled one of his pieces “I Support the President.” In three years, he had come completely around, a transformation that is a testament to President Trump’s remarkable consolidation of support inside the Republican...

.@SenatorRomney is a good man who cares deeply for the country and the constitution.— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 5, 2019

Your government, the one your tax dollars fund, is systematically rounding up African Americans and placing them into forced labor. The government is reenslaving a people against their will and in violation of the 13th Amendment. Just hypothetically, what is your response? What would you do? Now presume the government is also rounding up other people and putting them in concentration camps. People are disappearing. What do you do? How do you respond? I assume your response is not to tweet angrily. Consider Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, joined by various members of the Democratic Party and journalists from MSNBC, The New York...

As I do every year, I wrote my Holy Week column about Easter. Major historians, even atheists, recognize that the execution of a man named Jesus around A.D. 33 is one of the most -- if not the most -- significant events in human history. Christians go a step further. They believe Jesus rose again from the dead. And therein lies the problem. Last week, I noted that "there are many who call themselves Christians, but only those who actually believe in the physical resurrection of Christ are truly Christian." It is not a controversial statement, or at least, I...

Will wonders never cease?  Erick Erickson, one of the original leaders of the NeverTrump movement and the one who initiated the NeverTrump hashtag, has come out saying he will vote for the Trump-Pence ticket in 2020.  Quoting Erickson: I will vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence.  And, to be clear, it will not be just because of what the other side offers, but also because of what the Trump-Pence team has done.  They've earned my vote. My, my, my.  Probably not many here care what Erickson has to offer.  I don't.  But look at his conversion as yet another straw in the wind pointing...

Had John C. Fremont not run as a Republican in 1856, there would probably would have been no Lincoln in 1860. The Republican Party formed in the 1850s with the collapse of the Whig Party. The central unifying issue Republicans shared was abolition of slavery. It unified people across political parties, bringing them together into something new. In the early 1990s, fueled by a single billionaire's calls for reform, the Reform Party sprang up under H. Ross Perot. He won 18.9 percent of the popular vote. The Reform Party, unlike the Republicans in the 1800s, was one man's party,...

MSNBC Host Katy Tur got a little testy with conservative commentator Erick Erickson, who dared to bring up that the Left has become unspooled since Donald Trump's upset win over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Over the past few days, 13 devices that look like bombs have been mailed to prominent Democrats, including former presidents, and celebrities. We just had an arrest in Florida, but we don't know what their political leanings are, if any, or a motive. We don’t know. Yet, the liberal news media know exactly who it is: Donald Trump…and his supporters. We’re to blame for the Left becoming...

I have long been critical of Republicans who abandoned principles to stand with Trump and I am as critical of Republicans who abandon principles to oppose Trump. Principle should stay because people go. The Kavanaugh nomination has been clarifying in this regard. Seeing some conservatives willing to aid and abet character assassins because Trump nominated Kavanaugh is disgusting. I find myself in an odd position where, for the first time, I see myself, one of the original so-called “Never Trump conservatives,” voting for President Trump in 2020. I have inevitably concluded at times that Trump would do something to push...

President Trump’s fight for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is breaking up the “Never Trump” coalition of GOP leaders and pundits, many who are now uniting behind the president in advance of Saturday’s Senate confirmation vote. Rocked by the wall of Democratic opposition no matter what evidence supporting Kavanaugh is presented and impressed with Trump’s solid backing amid a brutal media attack, Never Trumpers are abandoning their opposition in a show of support for the man they once mocked. One famous Never Trumper even told Secrets that Trump’s unwavering support for Kavanaugh, a long-time public servant who worked for former...

So Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser has finally come forward: In a Washington Post piece, 51-year-old research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford says that she was sexually assaulted by the Supreme Court nominee in high school back sometime during the early 1980s. ...snip... This led to a predictable backlash on social media. It also led to a predictable phrase that appeared in a lot of tweets by prominent liberals. See if you can notice — and figure out why NeverTrumper conservative pundit Erick Erickson thinks this was the work of a PR firm.

A Bernie Sanders donor makes an accusation from 35 years ago with no witnesses. Democrats pounce. 38 years after Roy Moore did inappropriate things with Leigh Corfman, Corfman came forward publicly to the Washington Post and told her story. Democrats are citing Corfman as proof the GOP should treat accusations against Brett Kavanaugh from high school as credible. Except there are some major differences. Corfman told multiple people around the time Moore behaved inappropriately with her. Just because you did not read about it in the Washington Post does not mean she did not tell others at the time. Brett...

Militant feminazi Liz Mair was forced to resign from the Scott Walker campaign Tuesday after Mair’s radical pro-amnesty, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion views went viral… (SNIP) "She is very good at her job. She is also a friend of mine. I have known Liz for a number of years…I am very saddened to see an organized effort by conservatives to have Governor Walker fire Liz Mair…it is really appalling to see self-described Christians showing as little grace." (SNIP) Even after two autopsies, a toxicology report, surveillance footage, and additional witness testimony called into question his initial reading of events– Erickson refused...

On Saturday, conservative talker Mark Levin offered his top three picks to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. In a Facebook post, Levin named Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) as his first choice, followed by 11th Circuit U.S. Appeals Court Judge William Pryor as his second choice and Seventh Circuit U.S. Appeals Court Judge Amy Barrett as his third choice.

Apparently the firings were done according to two criteria: Cost of contract and support for Trump. People whose contracts were expensive were almost all fired. People whose contracts were less expensive were either kept or fired depending on how pro- or anti-Trump they were.

First lady Melania Trump’s menu for the state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte was described as “froo-froo [sic] garbage” by a conservative pundit, who suggested the fare was out of touch.In a tweet, Erick Erickson mocked the menu selected by Melania—who eschewed an event planner in favor of organizing the occasion herself—which included a rack of lamb and jambalaya... Erick Erickson ✔ @EWErickson This menu is why I could never be President: http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/384422-first-lady-releases-menu-details-for-macrons-state-visit … I'd serve fried chicken and mashed potatoes with sweet potato pie for dessert. None of this unpronounceable froo-froo garbage.1:14 PM - Apr 23,...

One of the President's congressional defenders has privately decided he hates Trump and wants to unload. .....He says he just needs to vent. I suggest what we're doing is one of the reason's Trump won -- a congressman says nice things in public and bad things in private.....