Free Republic

The day after the midterms, Trump tried to paint a rosy picture of the Dem majority in the House, saying he was eager to work with likely Speaker Nancy Pelosi and would sign key legislation even if most Republicans opposed it. Now his message is far more stick than carrot. As he said in our interview, the new Dem leaders would be unleashing the furies from hell if they engage in “presidential harassment.” “I will hit them so hard, they’ve never seen a hit like that,” he said, referring to his power to release secret documents, some of which, he...

Two events from the last two days stand out. The first came Monday night with President Trump’s forceful yet compassionate speech at the swearing in of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The president opened with an extraordinary apology on behalf of the country to Kav­anaugh and his family “for the terrible pain and suffering” they endured during the historically brutal confirmation process. He said the unfounded allegations violated fairness and “the presumption of innocence.” Trump also tenderly addressed Kavanaugh’s young daughters, telling them “your father is a great man, a man of decency, character, kindness and courage.” The event...

Reader Jamie Gelfand asks the right question about the Brett Kavanaugh disgrace, writing: “If Christine Blasey Ford held a news conference tomorrow and said she made everything up and apologized for dragging Kavanagh through the mud, would even one Democrat change his vote?” The question answers itself because the Dems keep moving the goalposts. When one line of attack fails, they come up with another. The only consistency is their determination to keep Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court. Recall that some of the party’s initial talking-point objections described his judicial rulings as “extreme” and “out of the mainstream.” They are...

The memo is a giant step in ­uncovering what appears to be an unprecedented conspiracy, but it is not the endgame. More documents, congressional hearings, investigations and criminal prosecutions are unavoidable. Hysterical Trump haters greeted the memo’s release by declaring that we face a constitutional crisis. They are right — and they are creating it.

Speaking as Congress neared final approval of the historic tax bill, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders hailed the culmination of a year of major accomplishments. She cited the defeat of the Islamic State, the creation of 1.7 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years, a rollback of excessive regulations, and more than 60 record highs of the stock market. It is an impressive list, yet a catch was reflected in a question. Why, a reporter asked, in the face of such accomplishments, do polls show President Trump’s approval stuck at under 40 percent? Sanders is good...

Leo Tolstoy wrote in “Anna Karenina” that “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Terror attacks are like unhappy families; each is different in its own awful way. The unspeakable horror of 9/11 was a wake up call about how much some Muslims hate America and about the gaping holes in airport security and intelligence sharing. Because another jihadist tried to ignite explosives in his shoe, passengers around the world must remove their shoes before boarding. The Fort Hood slaughter taught officials to take signs of radicalism literally, even from those in the...

In the beginning, Donald Trump’s candidacy was treated as an outlandish publicity stunt, as though he wasn’t a serious candidate and should be treated as a circus act. But television executives quickly made a surprising discovery: the more they put Trump on the air, the higher their ratings climbed. Ratings are money. So news shows started devoting hours and hours simply to pointing the cameras at Trump and letting them run. As his rallies grew, the coverage grew, which made for an odd dynamic. The candidate nobody in the media took seriously was attracting the most people to his events...

Sometimes a speech is just a speech. And sometimes it heralds the prospect of a great national revival. Donald Trump gave the best speech of his short political life last night, and it had nothing to do with grand oratory. He was thoroughly presidential, speaking plainly and yet masterfully in projecting an optimistic vision of the America he aims to build. It is a vision so optimistic and encompassing that even steaming Democrats had to join boisterous Republicans in the applause at times. Anything you could possibly want, he served it up in a feast of ideas and promises. Trump...

Video Link...discussion of Obama's War of Narratives with ISIS.

If it is true that the best defense is a good offense, President Obama should be celebrating in the end zone now. Obviously furious over criticism that his anti-terror policies are weak and that the Orlando slaughter proves it, he went on a televised tirade to let America know he’s mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. He laid waste to a field of straw men, cable-TV pundits and the always-evil “partisan rhetoric,” by which he means anyone who disagrees with him.

Now it’s Bernie Sanders’ turn to feel the burn. Unfortunately, the heat is coming from the Clinton Mafia. The DNC, top members of Congress and their media handmaidens are turning on the formerly adorable, 74-year-old senator with rabid ferocity. His sin: refusing to concede to St. Hillary. -Off with his head! -...Sanders and his followers ... accused of fomenting violence... intimidation tactics,...being rude...sexist....sabotaging Clinton. In short, they are being treated as if they are Republicans or other infidels. The New York Times, having failed to kill Donald Trump with a hit piece on how he treated women 30 years ago,...

Garbage bags could help bring down the Blasio administration. Of many revelations about City Hall’s pay-to-play culture, the case of how New York came to buy a certain brand of trash bags caught the prosecutors' attention . Joseph Dussich, tried for nearly a decade to get the city to buy his Mint-X bags, which he says deter rats and squirrels. But he got the brush-off until he contributed $100,000 to Campaign for One New York, a slush fund de Blasio created. Presto, Dussich got a meeting with the mayor, a trial contract for $15,000, and then a deal worth nearly...

As Bob Dylan told us long ago, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” These days, a foul wind blows from City Hall. With subpoenas issued, investigations spreading and at least one federal grand jury at work, the question isn’t whether Bill de Blasio’s administration has a corruption problem. The questions are how big is the problem, how many agencies are tainted and how high up the pecking order does it go? […] The two biggest and most recent scandals involve lucrative gifts and cash given to current and former top officers in the NYPD,...

My friends are worried about me. They insist something is not right and suggest prayer, counseling, even rehab. “Take a break,” they urge. “Get away for a few days and clear your head.” They are wise and kind, and it would be foolish to dismiss their concerns. Truth be told, there are moments when I doubt myself. Am I making a huge mistake? Am I losing my mind? Perhaps I am. My friends say that’s the only possible explanation for the fact that I might support Donald Trump for president. The insanity defense is all that’s left now that the...

My friends are worried about me. They insist something is not right and suggest prayer, counseling, even rehab. “Take a break,” they urge. “Get away for a few days and clear your head.” They are wise and kind, and it would be foolish to dismiss their concerns. Truth be told, there are moments when I doubt myself. Am I making a huge mistake? Am I losing my mind? Perhaps I am. My friends say that’s the only possible explanation for the fact that I might support Donald Trump for president. The insanity defense is all that’s left now that the...

Say this for the dim bulbs of the GOP: They finally made a decision. It is now Marco Rubio or bust. With Rubio now designated the favorite son of the anti-Trump crowd, the theory will be tested Tuesday. If Trump runs the table or anything close, it's game over. Not just for Rubio, but also for the party's entire establishment. Trump is a total disrupter, and the GOP would never be the same.

With another shoe dropping in the Hillary Clinton scandal nearly every day, America is witnessing an unprecedented spectacle. Never in modern times has a presidential candidate been so tarnished — and yet also so popular. Oops, there was one other time. Actually, two. Those were the times when Bill Clinton ran for president. Like her husband, Hillary’s a human Rorschach test. He captured the White House twice without ever winning a majority of the popular vote, and polls paint an eerily similar challenge for her. Half the country thinks she is fundamentally dishonest and untrustworthy. The other half is ready...

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he’s coming for Israel. Barack Obama’s promise to transform America was too modest....

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he's coming for Israel. {snip} Whatever form the punishment takes, it will aim...

First he comes for the banks and health care, uses the IRS to go after critics, politicizes the Justice Department, spies on journalists, tries to curb religious freedom, slashes the military, throws open the borders, doubles the debt and nationalizes the Internet. He lies to the public, ignores the Constitution, inflames race relations and urges Latinos to punish Republican “enemies.” He abandons our ­allies, appeases tyrants, coddles ­adversaries and uses the Crusades as an excuse for inaction as Islamist terrorists slaughter their way across the Mideast. Now he’s coming for Israel. Already paving the way for an Iranian nuke, he...