Free Republic

Michael Bloomberg’s official 2020 website unveiled the new campaign’s logo Friday night, but the near universal ridicule it received online was almost perfectly described by Bloomberg’s own tagline: “Owning It Together!”

Reducing Pete Buttigieg’s struggle to attract black support solely to black homophobia is not only erroneous, it is a disgusting, racist trope, secretly nursed and insidiously whispered by white liberals with contempt for the very black people they court and need. I have never been blind to this — the people who see black religiosity as an indicator of primitive thinking and lack of enlightenment. (For the record, I am bisexual and not a religious man.) They are those who see black people as a blight on our big cities, pathologically prone to violence and in need of pity and...

Kamala Harris has dismissed claims that Black voters are less likely to support Pete Buttigieg as “nonsense.” The presidential candidate was responding to comments over the weekend from South Carolina Representative Jim Clyburn, who told CNN that there was “no question” that Buttigieg’s sexuality was a problem for older Black voters. "I know of a lot of people my age that feel that way," Clyburn said. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you otherwise. I think everybody knows that's an issue." But Harris rejected that claim, speaking with CNN not long after. “I’m never going to buy into...

Addressing a conference of African-American church congregations in this vote-rich city, Pete Buttigieg quoted scripture on Sunday morning and extolled his “Douglass Plan” to combat racial inequities in America, one of several attempts this weekend to confront his strikingly low support among black voters. But Mr. Buttigieg also undertook a delicate task before the African Methodist Episcopal worshipers. As a gay, married man addressing a denomination that does not allow same-sex marriage rites, he tried to seek common ground over being members of minority groups whose civil rights have come under attack. It was a nod to his sexuality, following...

The idea of 2020 hopefuls Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg facing off against President Trump next November would be a tragedy as the Democratic party continues to forge ahead without a true frontrunner, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said during a Thursday interview with The Intercept’s “Deconstructed” podcast. Omar was asked about the field of 2020 candidates and whether she preferred Biden or Buttigieg. She answered, “None,” before characterizing their hypothetical nominations as “tragic.” Host Mehdi Hasan asked.“But if you had to pick one? If one of them is the candidate for your party, who would you rather it be?” Omar...

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday rolled out a proposal for a “millionaires surtax,” amid a growing interest from Democrats in increasing taxes on the wealthy. “This is a bill designed to address two major problems of public policy: the lack of revenue, and inequality,” Beyer said on a call with reporters. “It’s a laser-focused solution that requires those who benefited the most from the economy to contribute in a way they simply haven’t been asked to before.” The lawmakers’ bill, which is being co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), would create a 10-percentage...

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren is expected to be joined at a town hall event in North Carolina on Thursday by Ayanna Pressley, the Massachusetts congresswoman who on Wednesday broke away from her Democratic “Squad” pack to support her home-state senator. The boost for Warren's candidacy comes as she has spent the week fending off attacks from former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic rivals -- and even from billionaires Bill Gates and Jamie Dimon. It also comes as Warren has seen a surge in the polls. The newest numbers show her surpassing Sen. Bernie Sanders -- the...

Elizabeth Warren may be surging in the polls, but you wouldn’t know it by the size of the crowd that heard her speak on Friday. The senator from Massachusetts spoke at a sparsely attended environmental forum in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on Friday. The auditorium where the event was held appeared as if it could hold hundreds of spectators, but there were no more than a few dozen who could be seen watching the event. **SNIP** Most of the Democratic candidates in the race skipped the event. When asked if it was wrong for the Democratic Party not to stage an...

Independent Vermont senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is not impressed by tech giant Apple’s efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing in California amid a growing crisis. In a statement on Monday evening, Sanders called out the Cupertino, California-based company out for trying to distract from a problem it helped create. “Apple's announcement that it is entering the real estate lending business is an effort to distract from the fact that it has helped create California's housing crisis – all while raking in $800 million of taxpayer subsidies, and keeping a quarter trillion dollars of profit offshore,...

Vice President Mike Pence deserves praise for not only remembering the national horror but also personally showing up and speaking out at Fort Hood, Texas, the scene of the Nov. 5, 2009, terrorist massacre that killed 13 American soldiers and citizens. It has been a decade since that terrorist attack on U.S. soil by a self-identified Islamic terrorist and American traitor. Ten years on and only a damnable trickle of mainstream media bother to reflect on this horror. In terms of mainstream printers, TV images and internet pixels, this savage outrage has been ... briefly mentioned, barely touched. For the...

Several Wall Street Democratic megadonors are reportedly withholding donations for down-ballot Senate candidates due to their dissatisfaction with presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's rise in the polls. CNBC reports the Massachusetts senator's rise is hurting the party's fundraising efforts. "Some finance executives have recently told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that they are, for the moment, holding back from donating to Democrats running for Senate in 2020," the report says, "due to their concerns with Warren becoming a front-runner in the race for the party's presidential nomination." Longtime Democratic donor Bernard Schwartz said he knows of multiple Wall Street executives who...

... Working from the premise that the country largely agrees with them on everything, or that agreeing with the majority of voters on issues is not necessary to win, the [Democrat] campaign has proceeded in blissful unawareness of the extremely high chance that Trump will win again... A new batch of swing state polls from the New York Times ought to deliver a bracing shock to Democrats. The polls find that, in six swing states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona — Trump is highly competitive. He trails Joe Biden there by the narrowest of margins, and...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) on Sunday rallied supporters of his presidential bid in Minnesota alongside Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who depicted the Vermont senator as a steadfast champion of progressive causes. Omar, who said she was "honored to stand with the son of a Jewish refugee who survived genocide," introduced the senator at Williams Arena, which the campaign said drew just over 10,000 people, according to CBS News. "The acknowledgement of pain and suffering is personal for both of us," she added. Omar, who recently endorsed Sanders along with two other members of the so-called "squad" of progressive female freshmen...

The clock is ticking faster now. Beto crashed miserably; Kamala’s giggling high-school schtick is embarrassing herself and others; the DNC has run out of handlers for Biden’s frequent episodes; Bernie is still yelling at trees; and now Warren has outed her plan to tax everyone into oblivion to fund her $52 trillion, yes TRILLION, healthcare scheme. Hence, the New York Times jumps into action… Buttigieg is now their latest hope. Quick dispatch all immediate narrative engineers to the typeset: […] Ms. Warren appears to have solidified her gains in the first voting state while Mr. Buttigieg has climbed quickly to...

Patriot Industries Louisa, Virginia THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, hello, Virginia! (Applause.) Thank you all for that wonderful welcome. And would you all just join me in thanking an incredible public servant: the Treasurer of the United States of America and a woman whose life story is an inspiration to millions, Jovita Carranza. Thank you. (Applause.) What an amazing leader. And we’ve got some other great leaders here — like Governor George Allen is with us today. (Applause.) Two great allies of this administration: Congressman Rob Wittman and Congressman Denver Riggleman. (Applause.) It is so great to be back in the...

Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Friday that Democrats would not recognize America if President Donald Trump was re-elected in 2020. “This country cannot afford four more years of Donald Trump,” he said. “We will not recognize it if he gets reelected.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday released a new plan laying out how she would pay for her "Medicare for All" proposal that would not directly raise taxes on the middle class, responding to pressure and criticism from other Democrats in the presidential race. The plan is a shift from Warren's progressive rival in the 2020 primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has said tax hikes on the middle class will be necessary to help pay for Medicare for All. “We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All,” Warren wrote...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged Friday not to raise middle-class taxes to fund her "Medicare for All" plan, responding to pressure she faced as she emerged as a front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.In a new outline, Warren's campaign said her single-payer health plan would cost the country "just under" $52 trillion over a decade, which includes $20.5 trillion in new federal spending. It estimates the proposal would cost just less than the estimated $52 trillion in spending for the current system over 10 years. The Massachusetts Democrat's campaign said her plan would give every American "full...

The myth of Joe Biden’s ascendancy has begun to unravel, especially in Iowa. For most of the year, the former VP has dominated in national and state polling for the Democratic presidential nomination, but his polling has sputtered recently. Today’s New York Times/Siena poll knocks Biden all the way down to the fourth position — behind the mayor from South Bend: