Free Republic

PALM BEACH, Fla. (NewsNation) — With dueling events this weekend, some of the nation’s biggest GOP donors will have to choose between former President Donald Trump or former presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump is expected to attend a major joint fundraiser between his campaign and the RNC on Saturday. A campaign source confirmed to NewsNation that it will be hosted at a private residence in Palm Beach. Expectations are high for Trump to offset President Joe Biden’s recent $25 million fundraiser, with the Trump campaign anticipating an estimated $43 million fundraising haul Saturday. That’s an effort that could...

Republican strategist Karl Rove urged Democrats to “go hard” at former President Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, calling the former president’s pledge to free imprisoned rioters a “critical mistake.” “If they were smart, they’d take the January 6 and go hard at it. And they would say, ‘He wants to pardon these people who attacked our Capitol,'” Rove said told MSNBC’s Ari Melber. “One of the critical mistakes made in this campaign is that Donald Trump has now said ‘I’m going to pardon those people because they’re hostages,'” Rove said in the interview, which...

Sylvester Stallone recently announced that he and his wife Jennifer Flavin had decided to permanently move from California to Palm Beach, Florida. As he addressed his three daughters in a scene on the reality show “The Family Stallone,” the iconic actor said: “After long, hard consideration, your mother and I have decided, time to move on and leave the state of California permanently, and we’re going to go to Florida.” The likely reasons involve three main factors: a change of scenery, a less crime-infested environment and a lowering of their state tax burden. Whatever the real motivations, what was of...

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has officially announced her plans to step down next month. McDaniel, 50, who has held the post for seven years, said she plans to resign on March 8. “Some of my proudest accomplishments include firing Nancy Pelosi, winning the popular vote in 2022, creating an Election Integrity Department, building the committee’s first small dollar grassroots donor program, strengthening our state parties through our Growing Republican Organizations to Win program, expanding the Party through minority outreach at our community centers, and launching Bank Your Vote to get Republicans to commit to voting early,” she said...

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), a surrogate for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that former President Donald Trump’s multiple indictments would “ripen into convictions.” Massie said, “You know, the main thing I hear from people back home is there mad that nobody’s held accountable in Washington DC. I think we need to hold Trump accountable. snip The lawsuit itself is ridiculous, but the underlying facts aren’t disputed, and I think people are going to kind of recoil from that when all that stuff starts coming out this summer. And the polls that show...

A group of Wall Street billionaires is planning a fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley in New York City after the New Hampshire primary, Bloomberg News reported. Billionaires Stanley Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, Ken Langone and Cliff Asness are reportedly planning a fundraiser for Haley on Jan. 30, according to an invitation viewed by Bloomberg. A donor speaking on the condition of anonymity told the outlet that the event is just one part of a fundraising swing slated for Haley in between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.

Nikki Haley Says She Will ‘Change Personalities’ on Campaign Trail Former Gov. Nikki Haley said Friday that she will “change personalities” from state to state on the campaign trail. snip Haley, whom many conservatives consider a globalist, took heat from Trump during his speech in Iowa on Friday. “Nikki Haley has been in the pocket of the open borders establishment donors her entire career and she’s a globalist. She likes the globe,” Trump said. “Haley’s campaign is being funded by Biden donors. Did you know that? Trump asked. “Biden donors,” he repeated. “We fought long and hard to rescue the...

Ron DeSantis has further alienated the America First conservatives he hoped to win over from Donald Trump’s base by disparaging January 6th protestors, denying they were motivated by patriotism.Speaking at a CNN town hall, the Florida Governor was asked if “the January 6th insurrections display[ed] patriotism, as some of them claim they did” by an audience member.“No, of course not,” DeSantis replied immediately. “I mean, that was not a good day for the country. I think the media has taken that, and I think the left has taken that, and really tried to politicize it, but it was not a...

Great American Comeback, the leadership PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign, has donated nearly $100,000 to a slate of Iowa legislators who have endorsed the governor’s White House bid, according to Iowa campaign finance records. At least 14 of the 42 Iowa state legislators who have endorsed DeSantis received donations from the leadership PAC, ranging in individual sums from $2,500 to $15,000. The first donations were made in early October, followed by several more in November and another three in December, the campaign finance records show. Earlier this summer, DeSantis’ allies linked Great American Comeback to Team...

On the menu today: The cover piece in the newest issue of National Review has Ron DeSantis fans grumbling that it’s far too early for such a gloomy assessment of his campaign because not a single vote has been cast yet. Fine, but to believe that DeSantis has a shot of winning Iowa, we need to believe that his support is at least 15 percentage points higher than his highest numbers in recent polling and that Donald Trump’s support is at least 15 percentage points lower than his lowest numbers in recent polling. (If you simply take DeSantis’s best number...

Florida is livid. They want to know why Governor DeSantis passed up good candidates to pick a controversial candidate for Sheriff in their county. The local St. Lucie press reported on the move this week. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointment of Lt. Keith Pearson to be sheriff after the abrupt resignation of longtime Sheriff Ken Mascara shocked local Republican leaders, who asked DeSantis to reconsider the decision. DeSantis, a Republican, on Friday tapped Pearson the same day Mascara, a Democrat in his sixth term, notified the governor about his sudden retirement. In a letter Mascara released Friday afternoon to the public,...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will meet this week with high-dollar Republicans to try to cement their support for the newest political action committee supporting his presidential bid, his campaign manager, James Uthmeier, wrote in a memo on Monday morning. Back Down, the super PAC which has bankrolled much of DeSantis' sprawling ground work in early voting states like Iowa and has hosted the governor for dozens of events there. In a fraught moment earlier this month that was first reported by NBC News, two board members from Never Back Down nearly got into a physical fight during a private meeting...

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney revealed the two GOP presidential candidates he refuses to support under any circumstance in a “Person to Person” interview that aired on CBS News. Romney responded that he would support “anybody” except former President Donald Trump and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy when asked by Norah O’Donnell if there was anybody he liked in the Republican field. “You know, I would uh, I’d be happy to support virtually any one of the Republicans. Maybe not Vivek. But uh, but the others that are running would be acceptable to me, and I’d be happy to vote for them,” Romney...

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has been engaging with Wall Street executives as she experiences a surge in key early primary state polls for president.Some GOP political consultants and conservative financial experts accused Haley of courting support from the “establishment,” and voiced concern over the top business leaders promoting ESG and DEI while supporting business relationships with China, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.“That’s why Nikki Haley is like a perfect person for the establishment — because they can control her, right? They can’t control a DeSantis, they can’t control a Vivek — so they don’t want them,” Bob...

The FBI whistleblower, now a fellow on domestic intelligence and security services at the Washington-based Center for Renewing America, told RedState why he called House Republicans “soulless demons” after they voted for funds for a new FBI headquarters, and have not taken steps to reform the troubled bureau. “It was a mixture of being utterly frustrated and disappointed, and the feeling of betrayal because that was one of the, albeit symbolic, gestures that I felt was insufficient,” said Steve Friend, a former FBI supervisory special agent and member of the bureau’s SWAT units. ... Friend said when 70 House Republicans...

Representative State CR-Score Assumed Office Duarte, John (CA) New 2023 LaMalfa, Doug (CA) 71% 2013 McClintock, Tom (CA) 92% 2009 Buck, Ken (CO) 96% 2015 Scott, Austin (GA) 65% 2011 Miller-Meeks, Mariannette (IA) 63% 2021 Spartz, Victoria (IN) 79% 2021 Massie, Thomas (KY) 96% 2012 Huizenga, Bill (MI) 74% 2011 Moolenaar, John (MI) 60% 2015 Walberg, Tim (MI) 62% 2011 Edwards, Chuck (NC) New 2023 Armstrong, Kelly (ND) 74% 2019 Miller, Max (OH) New 2023 Turner, Mike (OH) 43% 2003 Roy, Chip (TX) 100% 2019 Griffith, Morgan (VA) 78% 2011 Grothman, Glenn (WI) 78% 2015 Van Orden, Derrick (WI) New...

Three professional bootmakers told Politico Magazine they believe Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is likely wearing lifts in his boots following his viral interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David, who brought up allegations that he has heels inside of them. In the article published Tuesday, Politico Magazine’s Derek Guy noted that three bootmakers, including Zephan Parker, who owns the Houston, Texas-based Parker Boot Company, said that DeSantis’s boots are altered to accommodate lifts. “I’ve dealt with these politicians many times,” Parker told the outlet. “I’ve helped them with their lifts. [DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt.”“3 Expert Shoemakers Say Ron DeSantis...

Last month, Mitt Romney announced he will retire from the Senate after one term. Romney, who is 76, cited his age. That was undoubtedly a major consideration for a guy with a platoon of grandchildren. It’s also true that Romney is unpopular with Utah voters and had no real chance of reelection after becoming the most prominent elected Republican antagonist of Donald Trump. With Romney’s 30-year political career ending with a whimper, there would naturally be a forceful attempt to shape his legacy as something other than a failure. Fortunately, Romney already made plans for this. The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins,...

Self-serving Representative Matt Gaetz had absolutely no plan beyond “oust House Speaker McCarthy.” Some America First Patriots who support Gaetz claim that his actions “exposes” RINOs in Congress. That makes as much sense as Titanic passengers being happy the ship hit an iceberg because that “exposed” that the luxury liner lacked sufficient lifeboats. Finally, after three weeks of chaos, Republicans have a Speaker of the House! We wish fourth-term Conservative Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana complete success. He is currently the vice chairman of the House GOP conference. An attorney by trainng, he’s a former conservative talk radio host and...

Speculation that Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin could run for the 2024 Republican president nomination gets little encouragement from voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that only 19% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Youngkin should enter next year’s presidential campaign, while 55% think he should not. Another 26% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)