Free Republic

Forget the calendar. When it comes to media coverage of Donald Trump, it’s 2016 all over again. Proving they remain infected by a fact-resistant virus, most members of the self-proclaimed smart set are once again horrified by GOP voters. Repeating the contempt they displayed when Trump won the nomination and the White House eight years ago, they are also furious that their nightmare could be happening again. How can it be that their fellow Americans remain so stupid after they’ve repeatedly explained Trump’s flaws? Why do voters refuse to listen to their media masters? The New York Times certainly doesn’t...

As both parties rapidly approach their respective nominating conventions, it’s clear that both parties are not unified. The Republican Party still has a choice in Cleveland. Will the party choose established Republican principles or their “presumptive” candidate who has the necessary delegates but wants to do this campaign his way? In response to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s continued call for Trump to support conservative principles in the party plank, Donald Trump suggests that the GOP leaders “have to get a lot tougher and be quiet. Just please be quiet, don’t talk…. We have to have our Republicans either stick together...

Was it good-natured ribbing by John Heilemann, or unvarnished venom? On today's With All Due Respect, Republican Dan Senor made the case--at length--as to why Paul Ryan would make a great candidate to oppose Hillary Clinton. But Senor then proceeded to claim that Ryan would not seek the nomination because the Speaker doesn't think it's "appropriate." Heilemann responded with a flurry of "lying" accusations: "stop telling your lies on television . . . stop with the lying . . . lyin' Dan Senor." View the video here.

AFTER MARCH 22ND, ONLY DONALD TRUMPhas a viable path to winning the nomination through the Primary Process Some people are saying that the Utah caucuses were fraudulent. I do not believe they were. They were caucuses...and Cruz has always had a better ground game in most of the caucus states. On the other hand, Trump has typically not done as well in Caucus states. But in the end, Utah will not matter. Here's why: Even though Trump has lost several primaries with relatively low percentages, overall Trump is still winning big time. Kasich won 1 contest Rubio won 3...

A day after his public attack on Republican front-runner Donald Trump, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney hinted that he might soon endorse one of Trump's rivals. "There's no question I'm going to do everything within the normal political bounds to make sure we don't nominate Donald Trump," the former Massachusetts governor said on NBC's "Today" show Friday morning. "After March 15, I think you'll see it narrow down." "I wouldn't be surprised if I endorse one of those guys," he added. CNN reported Thursday that Romney has asked his team to explore how he might block Trump from being nominated...

Romney’s unwanted mewlings are for naught as time will prove that rather than turning people against populist Trump, all he did was to get him elected as president Like Tweety of cartoon fame, We ‘Tawt we taw a puddy tat’ when two-time presidential loser Mitt Romney tried to hurl his feline self at Republican front-runner Donald trump on CNN this morning. Up to now other than watching his son Josh Romney try to force a primary challenger on Utah Senator Mike Lee, the most conscientious conservative in office today, it’s been a case of of ‘cat’s got your tongue’ for...

Over the course of the last 48 hours, the Rubio campaign pulled one of the great head-fakes in recent political history by telegraphing that they weren't at all interested in attacking Donald Trump at tonight's debate. Technically, this wasn't a ruse because Rubio didn't just attack Trump. He went after him with a chainsaw. And Ted Cruz brought a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. If the normal laws of politics applied to the 2016 race, it would have been a catastrophic night for Trump. By any reasonable measure, Trump had a meltdown. He was exposed as a policy lightweight...

Ted Cruz may have a knack for the debate stage and a disciplined, data-driven campaign, but he may also have a huge viability problem. Cruz’s short-term dilemma has received plenty of attention: Donald Trump is on the verge of a big victory in the South Carolina Republican primary, according to most polls, and could easily capture all 50 of the Palmetto State’s delegates. And if Cruz can’t beat Trump in South Carolina — a Southern state with a large proportion of evangelical and very conservative voters, Cruz’s supposed bread and butter — what “SEC Primary” states can he win on...

Ted Cruz -- my guy -- confounded the public pollsters with his victory in Iowa, snapping up 35% of the vote in a (much too) crowded field. The comb-over candidate Donald Trump ran away with New Hampshire, as nearly everyone predicted. John Kasich, with almost 16%, came in second with Cruz, at nearly 12%, in third place. BushRubioChristieCarsonFiorinaPaul formed the caboose, and one might be forgiven for observing that while Rand Paul isn't even running anymore, most of the caboose, with the exception of Rubio, should follow suit and take their little trains to the siding.An intelligent and canny friend,...

The ever entertaining and mercurial Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, threatened to file a lawsuit if the Republican Party picks Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas as its presidential nominee in 2016, according to a Friday story in the Washington Times. Grayson made this threat while appearing on Alan Colmes’ radio show. The stated reason for the threat is that, in Grayson’s view, Cruz is not a natural born American as required for being president in the United States Constitution, having been born in Canada, albeit to an American mother.

WASHINGTON - If Ted Cruz's presidential campaign has a target audience, Dick and Betty Odgaard are pretty close to the bull's-eye.They were sued for refusing to host a same-sex wedding at their gallery in Grimes, Iowa, turning them into martyrs for evangelical Christians at the core of the Texas Republican's base, particularly in the South and Midwest. Since then, the Odgaards have become "religious liberty ambassadors" on Cruz's Iowa leadership team, helping deepen his hold on the social conservatives he needs to climb to the upper tier of a crowded Republican field - albeit one still dominated by real estate...

Many have predicted that the 2016 race for president would be the year of the super-PAC. The thinking goes: Candidates don't need money — they need a sugar daddy to fund a super-PAC. Not so fast, my friend. Already two formidable and impressive Republican candidates, former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, have bowed out of the presidential race due to slow campaign fundraising. Perry raised under $300,000 in the third quarter and Walker has $1 million in debt. Both possessed super-PACs that were flush with millions in cash. Why does hard money fundraising matter?...

Trump leads the GOP pack this week, though few think he will win the nomination The Republican horserace continues to be a contest of multiple candidates – with frontrunners sometimes ahead by only a few points, and no one dominating the race. In this week’s Economist/YouGov Poll, businessman Donald Trump leads among Republicans, ahead of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

When Ted Cruz officially stepped into the 2016 presidential ring this week the boo-birds attacked immediately. But it wasn't just the liberals of the mainstream media who threw bottles and chairs at the conservative Texan. It was Cruz's fellow Republicans. Is he qualified after only three years in the Senate? Where was he born again? Isn't he too aggressively Christian? Isn't he too conservative to win the general election? Shouldn't we nominate someone more moderate, someone who isn't hated by the MSM and wouldn't scare independents? Unfortunately, we're already heard lots of negative chatter - from Republicans - about...

The Republican National Committee on Thursday unveiled new rules for the party's 2016 presidential nominating process, but the changes are expected to protect the traditional schedule and status of early-voting states. The first nominating contests of the GOP presidential primary calendar are reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- and all are scheduled for February. But the party is also proposing new, stiffer penalties to prevent other states from moving up their election schedules in an attempt to gain greater influence. The RNC has failed in the past to prevent state parties from moving up their primaries,...

You can get agreement from almost all points on the political spectrum that the worst aspect of our political system is the presidential nomination process. It is perhaps no coincidence that it is the one part of the system not treated in the Constitution. That’s because the Founding Fathers abhorred political parties and hoped that presidents would be selected by something like an elite consensus. But we have political parties, the oldest and third oldest in the world, and they are not going away.Surely a better system is possible. The current system of primaries, caucuses and national conventions is the...

In the wake of the 2012 election, one point on which practically all Republicans seemed to agree was that their party's presidential-nomination process was broken. Supporters of the GOP's eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, believed that the nature of the process weakened him for the general election. The party's base of conservative activists, meanwhile, believed that the process favored the candidates with the most money, and therefore the views of (often less conservative) wealthy donors. More moderate Republicans thought the process elevated a parade of unserious firebrands who were never real contenders, thereby damaging the party's image with swing voters. And...

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has now secured at least 88 of the 155 delegates at stake in the Texas Primary, bringing his secured delegate total to 1174, 30 more than necessary to win the majority of the delegated needed for the GOP nomination. With 4% of Texas precincts now reporting, Romney has consistently maintained or increased a 60 point lead over his nearest competitor, Congressman Ron Paul. In the contested race for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, David Dewhurst is holding a 48% to 31% lead over his nearest rival Ted Cruz in a nine person contest.

Gingrich and Paul supporters still trying to keep conservatism alive are being molested by fake conservatives. Two headlines prove what I’ve been saying all along about Santorum, Cain and their supporters. Not only are they not patriots, no conservative should look to them to lead our movement anymore. Cain has decided to jump Newt’s ship and endorse Romney and Santorum has said he won’t release his delegates so he has some “impact” at the GOP convention. These are selfish, self-promoting politicians who care more about their own ego’s than the United States of America. Or the conservative movement. And frankly,...

The Republican primary has revealed distinct geographic tendencies. Mitt Romney is dominant in New England and in the West. Newt Gingrich has run well in the Deep South, while Rick Santorum has done well in caucus states, the Great Plains, and the peripheral South (it remains to be seen whether his support has bled into Gingrich's strength in the Deep South). That leaves the Midwest as a battleground between Romney and Santorum. While Romney had a good night on Super Tuesday, the truth is that he did nothing to alter the basic regional nature of his support.... Given the structure...