Free Republic

Donald Trump had by far his worst debate of the 2016 campaign on Thursday. He was defensive and vulgar, evasive and condescending, rude and imperious. He moved drastically to the center on immigration, repudiating his position on H-1B visas on stage and saying “everything is negotiable,” including the border wall and the fate of illegal immigrants already in the United States. He defended his calls for expansive torture and the killing of civilians related to terrorists, saying the military “will do what I tell them” even if his orders contradict the law. He dismissed his opponents as “little Marco” and...

When a man’s logic rests on the decorum and magnanimity of Donald Trump, you probably want to stop following his trail of bread crumbs before total and complete madness sets in. For no sooner had Ted Cruz declared victory in the Iowa Caucuses than Charles Hurt took to these very pages on Tuesday and claimed Mr. Trump to be the real winner despite the fact he didn’t win. Because, you know, Donald is so nice and all.

The one question left unanswered amid the fight over campaigns sharing media reports about Ben Carson dropping out is why the report was so easy to believe in the first place.  Carson’s campaign has been a series of stops and starts over the past few months – with a smattering of book promotion in between.  It is through that prism that Carson’s Florida swing to pick up his laundry was viewed. But first, a look at what happened on caucus night is in order.  Yes, CNN reported that it was “unusual” for a candidate who is “serious” about winning to...

In the beginning there was a combative media. Dating back to Colonial America, as Eric Burns has chronicled in his book, "Infamous Scribblers," politicians and journalists have mostly had a love (for Democrats)-hate (for Republicans) relationship. It is television and the advent of the celebrity culture -- from "TMZ" to "Entertainment Tonight," to now even broadcast news -- that has taken the process to new depths. The first televised presidential debate in 1960 between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon began the shift from substance to the superficial. As numerous journalism students have been taught, people...