Free Republic

Only two questions mattered going into Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate. Number one: Would any one viable candidate stand out among the crowd? Number two: If the answer to the first was “Yes,” would our champion distinguish themselves by acting as the absent Donald Trump’s proxy or by setting up a favorable contrast with the frontrunner? Trump’s decision to sit out the first forum of the 2024 primary season has been cast as a cautious, cowardly decision. It was undoubtedly the latter, but despite the illusion of political safety, the choice also came with considerable risks. If another candidate was...

Longshot presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has accused his prospective Republican rivals of parroting him, but Ramaswamy himself has made an intentional effort to conceal his own biography, even paying a Wikipedia editor to remove potentially politically damaging details about his past from his page.

Last week Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) voiced the commonly held belief that the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the country was wrongly decided — yet popular Twitter personalities twisted his words to tell a more sinister story. Yet that is an oversimplification of the senator’s comments on the subject on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz. https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1548340766920978434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1548465411481432065%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalreview.com%2Fnews%2Fprogressives-twist-ted-cruzs-obergefell-criticism-beyond-recognition%2F Cruz, asked what the argument would be for overturning Obergefell v. Hodges, replied that the decision, like Roe v. Wade, “ignored two centuries of our nation’s history.” “Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states,” he...

An old video circulating on social media shows Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warning that even just “close contact” with those already afflicted with AIDS could result in infection. In the context of a conversation about childhood infections, Fauci speculates that “if the close contact of a child is a household contact, perhaps there will be a certain number of cases of individuals who are just living with and in close contact with someone with AIDS, or at risk of AIDS ----SNIP--- The clip was posted in response to Chasten Buttigieg, the...

An Australian reporter covering President Biden’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday was “startled” by how aggressively the press pool was treated by the White House communications team. The designated pooler, France24’s Washington correspondent Kethevane Gorjestani, reported that she “was asked by a very startled Australian reporter whether WH wranglers were always so strict about ushering the pool out without questions,” after a press conference held by Biden and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison. Biden and his press team have been criticized for a reclusive, question-averse approach. His first press conference as president did not come until...