Free Republic

A winning 2020 candidate needs three things: authenticity, credibility, and viability. Few could have predicted that President Donald Trump would be this good at surrendering the political advantage of a strong economy. Not only is he now underwater in the three states that pushed him to victory in 2016—he’s now unexpectedly vulnerable in places such as Texas, Florida, and Ohio as well. His popularity rises to 50 percent or higher in states that total a mere 102 electoral votes. Probably of more concern to his campaign: He’s fallen below 40 percent approval in states encompassing a 201-electoral-vote bloc. But Democrats...

Americans are as proud of the cities and towns we live in as we are of being American itself. We expect degrading attitudes toward our native lands to come from hostile countries, not from people within our own nation. Yet that was exactly what happened last week when Bill Maher, host of the HBO show “Real Time,” went on a disparaging rant that picked at the scab that is the cultural and political divide of red state and blue state America. Maher began by blaming Jeff Bezos for courting wealthy cities like New York for his next Amazon headquarters while...

The first two years of Donald Trump's presidency haven't exactly been filled with stellar ratings from the public. Trump's approval rating in Gallup has never -- not one time -- been above 50% since he was sworn into office. His overall job approval number in the Real Clear Politics' average is below 44%. Almost six in 10 people disapproved of how Trump has handled the Russia investigation in a CNN-SSRS poll last month. On and on it goes -- bad numbers following bad numbers, leaving the poll-obsessed Trump to cherry-pick a piece of data here and there that suggests he...

During CPAC on Feb. 28, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) thanked President Trump for nominating Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and having his "back."

House Democrats on Wednesday hammered Pentagon officials over President Trump's plan to move Defense Department military construction (MILCON) dollars to build his proposed southern border wall after declaring a national emergency. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment Robert McMahon offered few new details on Trump’s plans to take $3.6 billion in MILCON funds for his project, effectively sidestepping Congress. The lack of more information angered Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who heads the Appropriations Committee's sub-panel on military construction. “I’m not sure what kind of chumps you think my colleagues and I are,” she told McMahon during a particularly testy...

•Bernie Sanders is entering the 2020 presidential race. •Sanders has supported policies such as Medicare for all, breaking up big banks, a $15 per hour minimum wage and free public college, all of which have gained more traction in the Democratic Party in recent years. •Out of all the 2020 candidates, Sanders would have perhaps the biggest effect on businesses and wealthy Americans.

President Trump has declared a national emergency in order to pay for physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, but will Congress block it? That’s a long shot — but we can’t rule it out either. Here’s the basic process, as the New York Times explained in an article after Trump’s declaration. Congress can take up a resolution to end a presidential national emergency declaration. If such a resolution passes in one chamber, the other must bring it up for a vote within 18 days. If the resolution passes both chambers and the president vetoes it, a two-thirds majority in Congress...

Please contact White House RIGHT NOW - tell POTUS "do NOT sign the spending bill!" ********************* If You Don't Stand Up, You Will Be Stood On. ****** If you support building the wall, ending chain migration and instituting merit-based immigration, please contact the President RIGHT NOW and tell him do NOT sign the omnibus spending bill that went on his desk earlier today. Just declare a Border Emergency and FINISH THE WALL. Moreover, this [omnibus] bill will likely override Trump’s executive powers because of the sneaky limitations on wall construction. This is the sort of omnibus bill that ensnared Reagan...

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her battle with President Trump on the road to the Hawkeye State, as the newly minted Democratic hopeful mused before a crowd of Iowans that the president “may not even be a free person” by the time the presidential election rolls around. The Bay State’s senior senator visited Iowa, an important early primary state, on Sunday, a day after making her 2020 bid official. “By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person,” Warren told a crowd in Cedar Rapids....

Some are grudgingly conceding that Trump’s bulldozer mentality has pushed leaders to have difficult conversations — even if the byproduct is chaos. The authoritarian rule of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela is in peril. Afghanistan could finally see a peace deal with the Taliban and a drawdown of American troops. North Korea has stopped its nuclear tests — for now. President Donald Trump is expected to tout these developments as major foreign policy wins during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, rebutting critics who say Trump’s main role on the international stage has been to bully American allies and...

President Donald Trump met with a key Republican negotiator Thursday, Feb. 7, to lay out his demands for a border deal, as lawmakers sought an agreement to stave off another government shutdown. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters after meeting with Trump that he believes the president will support a deal bipartisan congressional negotiators produce - as long as it meets his parameters. Lawmakers face a Feb. 15 deadline when large portions of the government will shut back down absent a deal. Shelby declined to detail Trump's requirements, and he did not say whether the president had agreed...

Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who blocked former President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland from ever having a hearing in 2016, told the New York Times Magazine that his "decision not to fill the [Justice Antonin] Scalia vacancy" was the "most consequential thing I've ever done." The big picture: McConnell cited "a longstanding tradition of not filling vacancies on the Supreme Court in the middle of a presidential election year" in his refusal to even meet with Garland after the death of Scalia — a tradition deemed "false" and "entirely a matter of circumstance" by Politifact. Since Trump's...

I've been a U.S. senator for three weeks now, and I can tell you that reports of hate and incompetence in Washington are severely understated. Things are actually much worse than they appear.

Ever since one leading 2020 presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called for eliminating private health insurance to implement "Medicare for All," there has been pushback by some moderate Democrats, including a Washington Post columnist who cautioned the party against embracing such a platform, especially while campaigning against President Trump. Harris is one of the biggest champions for "Medicare for All," especially on Capitol Hill, where she co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. However, after reiterating her support for the program at a CNN town hall earlier this week, Harris was asked about those who currently have health...

Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he can’t run for president as a Democrat because he doesn’t like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal to slap a 70-percent marginal tax rate on income above $10 million. Schultz revealed Sunday that he’s “seriously considering” running for president as an independent. In an interview with CNBC Monday night, he shed some light on why he feels he would not run as a Democrat: Because he could end up having to argue for massive taxes on the super-rich like himself. “I respect the Democratic Party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don't know...

Eric Trump said his father should declare a national emergency to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. “I want him to declare an emergency,” Trump told Fox News Tuesday night. The president has said he will consider using a national emergency declaration to override congressional discussions and obtain the money for a border wall by executive action. Democrats proposed a bill, which was passed and signed, that temporarily reopened the government for three weeks while discussions continued over President Trump’s demand of funding for a physical barrier at the southern border. The president had scuttled a bipartisan spending deal...

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager is pushing him to hold firm in his ongoing battle with Democrats over funding for a border wall with Mexico. Brad Parscale is making his pitch as Trump continues to negotiate with Democrats over border wall funding with the possibility of another government shutdown looming in less than three weeks. As part of his pitch, Parscale is presenting the President with internal data that shows voters in key swing areas believe a border wall or fence is needed. After the shutdown ended, Parscale commissioned a GOP firm to test the President’s job performance and his...

President Donald Trump’s political team has concluded that shutting down the government hasn’t damaged his 2020 prospects — if anything, they’re convinced it’s bolstered his standing in key electoral battlegrounds. Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale commissioned a survey taken during the final days of the shutdown that was conducted by respected GOP pollsters Neil Newhouse and Robert Blizzard. The poll, surveying 10 GOP-leaning House districts that Democrats won in the 2018 midterms, found that a plurality of voters blamed Trump for the shutdown. But a plurality of voters also supported his push for a border wall. Trump is expected to...

[This segment is called "Why Is The Right So Obsessed With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?" on MSNBC's Hardball by Chrissy Matthews] (snip) JASON JOHNSON, THE ROOT: "I really think that the criticism of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes from two sections. One, you've got sort of the angry, trollish incel Republicans who just hate seeing a charming Latino woman who is in a position of power. The other side I think is jealous Republicans. She is like Dennis Rodman or Gronkowski; you hate her because she's not on your side. Republicans wish they could find a young, dynamic charismatic member of Congress who can...

Former Secretary of State John Kerry says President Donald Trump’s actions on the international stage do not help the United States and show he is not a negotiator. “This is the pull-out, walk-away presidency, and it is not enhancing the interest of the United States of America,” Kerry told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” airing on CNN on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET. “This President is not negotiating; he doesn’t negotiate. This is a man who claims to be the world’s greatest negotiator. What is he negotiating?” Kerry said, citing Trump’s decisions to pull troops from Syria and Afghanistan,...