Free Republic

If Democrats thought it was hard to stop President Donald Trump's first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, it promises to be even tougher for them if he gets to fill another vacancy, potentially to replace the most influential justice, Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes sides with the court's liberals in key cases such as on gay rights and abortion, is one of three justices 78 or older. Justice Stephen Breyer is 78 and fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 84. Former Kennedy Supreme Court clerks said the justice, who turns 81 in July, may be pondering retirement either this...

Democrats’ post-election autopsy boils down to a battle between ideas and identities. At this point, it’s safe to say that Nimrata Randhawa has a far, far better chance to be the first female president of the United States than Hillary Clinton. But here’s the question: When or if Nimrata (she goes by “Nikki”) — a conservative, Indian-American daughter of immigrants who married Michael Haley, became governor of South Carolina, and is now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — wins a presidential election, will Hillary’s friends and supporters hail Haley’s ascension to the White House as a tremendous achievement...

The Democrats and some Republican NeverTrump bitter-enders are still so addled by losing the election that they have lost themselves in a political Area 51. Like peddlers of space-alien autopsies and earthling abductions, they are spinning preposterous conspiracy theories straight out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, while the real story––the illegal leaks of classified intelligence involving American citizens––is ignored. We all know the lurid scenario: Vladimir Putin, filled with hatred of Hillary for criticizing and sanctioning him for his invasions of his neighbors’ territories, “hacked” the election in order to tilt the outcome to Donald Trump. Trump, after all,...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in on the United States' airstrikes in Syria Friday, saying it was hypocritical to lament the loss of innocent Syrian children in chemical attacks while simultaneously forbidding those those children from entering the United States. Clinton criticized President Donald Trump's attempts to ban Syrian refugees from the U.S. She also emphasized the attacks need to be accompanied by a plan to end Syria's civil war, which the country has been embroiled in since 2011, when she was Secretary of State....

Almost four months after her stunning defeat, Hillary Clinton on Thursday primarily blamed her loss to President Donald Trump on four factors that were beyond her control. The former Democratic presidential candidate cited Russian meddling in the election, FBI Director James Comey's involvement toward the end of the race, WikiLeaks theft of emails from her campaign chairman, and misogyny. Clinton's comments came during her first post-election interview at Tina Brown's eighth annual Women in the World Summit in New York City. She was questioned by Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. She largely cited these factors for her defeat....

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton slammed Russia's meddling in the U.S. presidential election, describing it as an "act of aggression" meant to influence the election, and said potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians should be looked at. "I am deeply concerned about what went on with Russia," she said, adding that she favors an independent non-partisan investigation into the hacking. Clinton spoke at the Women in the World conference in New York City on Thursday. The conference marks the first time that Clinton has answered interview questions publicly since losing the presidential election in November to...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said Wednesday that she is “stunned” President Trump and conservatives for attacking three prominent black women. In a tweet, Jackson listed American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan, fellow Democratic lawmaker Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Obama’s former national security adviser Susan Rice as black women who have come under "attack" by the Trump administration and Republicans. (TWEET-AT-LINK) Jackson’s comments come hours after the president told The New York Times in an interview that he believes Rice likely committed a crime by requesting the names of Trump transition aides during an intelligence report....

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, said his idea to help pay for a border wall was well- received by President Donald Trump during a 45-minute meeting at the White House on Tuesday, April 4. “He was especially keen on my proposal to create a new visa program that would help finance the border wall and protect our country’s sovereign territory by charging wealthy foreigners to become citizens of the United States,” Rohrabacher said in an emailed statement. No additional details about the plan were available at press time. Described as a “wide-ranging discussion on foreign and domestic issues” with Trump,...

In her first interview since becoming Assistant to the President, Ivanka Trump addressed critics who have said she and her husband, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, are “complicit” with President Trump. “If being complicit is wanting to, is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact then I’m complicit. I don’t know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing,” Trump said. “So I hope to make a positive...

Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that the lack of a more aggressive policy from the Trump administration on Syria is contributing to violence there, along the lines of what was seen under the Obama administration. "We've seen this movie before when Barack Obama said we would have a red line, they crossed it and we did nothing," McCain said, "Bashar al-Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what the Americans say … and I'm sure they took note of what the secretary of state said." "I'm sure they're encouraged and know the United States is withdrawing," he added....

While the majority of the mainstream media focuses all of their energy on reporting every item they can find which looks like “bad news” for the Trump administration, they’re clearly generating something of a sense of false optimism among Democrats. There still seems to be some sort of (primarily delusional) hope that if these investigations into Russian meddling bear fruit, then last November’s elections can be swept under the rug and Hillary Clinton can be carried on the shoulders of the adoring crowds and installed at the White House. (Or at least Trump could be swapped out for someone else.)...

President Donald Trump brought Sen. Rand Paul to his Virginia golf course on Sunday to talk health policy with the outspoken critic of the failed plan to repeal and replace so-called Obamacare. The outing to Trump National Golf Club came hours after Trump tweeted that talks on replacing the law have been going on and "will continue until such time as a deal is hopefully struck." He added that anyone who thinks the effort is dead "does not know the love and strength in R Party!"(continued)

A third Senate Democrat has announced his intention to vote for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. "After meeting with Judge Gorsuch, conducting a thorough review of his record, and closely following his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I believe that he is a qualified jurist who will base his decisions on his understanding of the law and is well-respected among his peers," Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly said in a statement. Donnelly joins Democratic colleagues Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who both pledged last month to vote to confirm Gorsuch,...

As opponents of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline continue to fight the project, others who believe it will stimulate the economy recently ensured their voices were heard, sending hundreds of letters expressing a positive view of the pipeline to U.S. lawmakers. The Mid-Atlantic Region of the Laborer’s International Union of America (LIUNA), a union of construction workers and public service employees, on Friday hand-delivered about 1,600 letters from workers to U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. The letters express support for the proposed $5 billion natural gas pipeline, which would run about 600 miles from West Virginia to North...

How serious is President Trump about drug prices? Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings tells me that Trump has called him three times to follow up on their conversation at the White House earlier this month. And Trump's not just talking about letting Medicare negotiate drug prices, Cummings says. It's even worse for Republicans — because Trump is also talking about importing cheaper drugs from other countries. Why it matters: Trump has said many times he wants to do something about drug prices, and has terrified both the pharmaceutical industry and free-market Republicans with his talk of doing more price negotiations. They...

Sen. Jeff Merkely says a decision to use the 'Nuclear Option' to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court would "destroy the integrity of the Senate" and "highly politicize the [Supreme] court." "If this process goes through, every 5-4 decision will be one we will look at and say that it is not really legitimate, because that Supreme Court Justice wasn't really legitimate," he said. "If we change it to a simple majority, that means the next president will have an easier time approving appointments, and might decide to go further to the left or right outside of the mainstream....

Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp on Thursday became the first Democrats to support the confirmation of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, giving Republicans two of eight Democratic votes needed to avoid a nasty fight on the U.S. Senate floor next week. Both West Virginia's Manchin and North Dakota's Heitkamp are up for re-election next year in states that voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. "I hold no illusions that I will agree with every decision Judge Gorsuch may issue in the future, but I have not found any reasons why this jurist should not...

My travels around the country provide continuing exposure to how the country is responding to our new president. Included in this learning is information about how average Americans are coping with the dramatic new production, "The Donald Comes to Washington". On second thought, "dramatic" may be too understated an adjective. Rarely has America witnessed such a radical turnabout in such a brief period of time. Yet even at this early stage, one can discern how various factions are coming together, or falling apart, in response to the Trump era. These five emerging constituencies are numerous and subtle and require further...

Since we started talking with Martin Armstrong years ago, he's been adamant in his belief that the stock market was heading higher. And he's been right. Perhaps it hasn't gone up as fast as he expected, but it has continued to make new highs. He's not backing down now. Businesses and the wealthy are putting their money into the market because they've lost confidence in governments around the globe. They believe their capital is safer in the stock market than in government bonds, the Euro, European Banks and elsewhere. Governments are on a rampage against the populace. It's all about...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke out against purported connections between the White House and the alt-right movement and white supremacists, citing the "poisonous attitudes we are witnessing now" in a speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference Tuesday. Pelosi briefly brought up the 2016 election to note the rise of both movements in a jab against President Trump and the White House. Pelosi's comments were likely directed at Steve Bannon, the White House chief strategist, and his work for Breitbart News prior to joining the Trump campaign last summer. "We come together in the aftermath of...