Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump lost three major legal challenges in the past week, including his efforts to dismiss a racketeering case on First Amendment grounds. Here is a look at the rulings in three separate cases this week in Georgia, Florida, and New York. New York judge denies Trump’s attempt to delay hush money trialNew York Judge Juan Merchan denied the former president’s attempt to delay his criminal hush money trial on Wednesday, after Trump claimed he was protected under presidential immunity. Merchan said that Trump had plenty of opportunity before March to claim presidential immunity in the case. Trump...

The advocacy group Republican Voters Against Trump announced a new six-figure campaign highlighting former Vice President Mike Pence‘s refusal to endorse former President Donald Trump in his 2024 campaign. The 15-second digital ad is set to run in five battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while the billboard campaign will be featured in Phoenix, Atlanta, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee. “This is someone who worked with Donald Trump all four years of his presidency. He saw Donald Trump up close and personal every single day,” said John Conway, the group’s director of strategy, in an...

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) is holding firm on his commitment to not support former President Donald Trump in the November election as he locks up the Republican nomination. Young split from the former president after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, though he voted against impeachment. He pledged not to vote for Trump again in 2023 over his conciliatory tone toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine and has remained undeterred by the wave of endorsements from his GOP colleagues. “I won’t be voting for Biden. I also won’t be voting for Trump,”...

Former NBA star and CNN host Charles Barkley said he would punch any black person he sees wearing former President Donald Trump’s mug shot merchandise, citing recent comments that Trump made at an event aimed at black Republicans. The comments Barkley took issue with were made by Trump at the Black Conservative Federation Honors Gala in South Carolina last month. During his speech, Trump claimed that he had been told his numerous indictments are why he is gaining support among black voters because they see him “being discriminated against.” “First of all, if I see a black person walking around...

CNN contributor Bob Costas shared a brutal analysis of former President Donald Trump in a rant on the network on Saturday. Costas was asked to share his thoughts on Trump while appearing on Smerconish. His subsequent rant was not limited to just the former president, but also his fans. “He is by far the most disgraceful figure in modern presidential history. He‘s only become more disgraceful since 2016, and since 2020 he has a bubbling cauldron of loathsome traits,” Costas said of Trump. “You have to be in the throes of some sort of toxic delusion in a toxic cult...

Former President Donald Trump has been discussing the future of the Defense Department with former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, as he plots the future of the branch should he return to the White House. Trump, who went through multiple National Security and Defense advisers in his first term, met with Gabbard at least once in person last year, a source familiar with the conversations told the Washington Post. Gabbard, previously a Democrat, has become a vocal critic of sending resources to Ukraine in its war with Russia. She has faced criticism from both parties over her isolationist approach to foreign...

If you expect former President Donald Trump to fulfill even one campaign promise he is making for 2024, you would have to explain why he is openly mocking the idea that he could fulfill the promise that defined his entire candidacy in 2016. The core promise of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was that he would build a wall on the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. This is what defined his tough-on-illegal-immigration approach, and he even mocked detractors who said that he would not or could not possibly do it. As late as October 2020, less than one...

Former President Donald Trump‘s penchant for punishing GOP detractors is trickling down to Congress as some of his most ardent supporters are using loyalty to the former president as a litmus test for the Republican Party. Since launching his bid for the 2024 presidential election, Trump has kept a continuous calculation of those who have thrown their support behind him and, more importantly, those who have not. For those who have considered other candidates, the former president has been quick to decry their disloyalty and even vow to make them suffer politically. “Bob Good won’t be electable when we get...

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley passed Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for second place in the GOP primary, according to a Wall Street Journal poll conducted days before Wednesday's GOP primary debate in which the former United Nations ambassador was the subject of repeated attacks. Every Republican White House hopeful is still far behind former President Donald Trump, who holds 59% of the vote, according to the poll released Thursday. Haley narrowly surpassed DeSantis, who has been stuck in neutral for months, polling at 15% compared to the Florida governor’s 14%.

Former President Donald Trump slammed Republican infighting Tuesday as some House Republicans banded with Democrats to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership. Ahead of the vote to oust McCarthy, Trump posted on Truth Social, saying that Republicans should focus on fighting the "Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country." "Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, why aren’t they fighting the Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country?" Trump posted. Trump has been a supporter of McCarthy for House speaker, backing him in January during his prolonged fight for the speakership. House Democrats...

Former President Donald Trump shifted his line of attack to focus on former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, one of his Republican primary opponents in 2024, in a number of posts to Truth Social as she rises in the polls. Trump, who leads his opponents by double digits and boasts the support of more than half of likely Republican primary voters, has mostly limited his criticisms to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who initially showed donors the most promise in challenging him for the nomination. But now, as DeSantis struggles to recoup support in the polls and Haley is on the...

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton warned voters on Tuesday that a second term in the White House for former President Donald Trump could trigger a constitutional crisis in the country. Bolton said his issue with a possible second term, should his former boss win reelection in 2024, is that the second Trump presidency could bring down major United States institutions by driving major leaders to resign. One of the greatest dangers that a second Trump term brings would be a constitutional crisis," Bolton told CNN's Jake Tapper. "Who is he going to nominate to be attorney general, and [what...

WHY IS DESANTIS TANKING? A new poll Wednesday from the University of New Hampshire shook up the world of political obsessives who watch each twist and turn in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. No, there was no change at the top — former President Donald Trump is still in the lead in New Hampshire, 26 points ahead of the nearest competitor. The news was that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), for a long time Trump's chief rival, has slipped to fifth place in New Hampshire, the second state to vote in the GOP primary contest. Fifth place! How...

Most people say former President Donald Trump should go to trial for his various cases regarding classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election prior to the 2024 contest, in which he appears likely to be the Republican nominee. According to a new POLITICO Magazine/Ipsos poll, 62% of people said they believe Trump should stand trial for his storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, for which he was indicted in June, prior to the 2024 presidential election in November. Sixty-one percent also believed he should stand trial for cases regarding alleged attempts to subvert...

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he “would expect” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to have known about an order from former President Donald Trump to declassify documents before leaving the White House. Pence's comment's come after Meadows reportedly told investigators in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that he didn't remember Trump having a “standing order” to declassify documents as they left the White House, per ABC News on Sunday. "I would expect so," Pence said on ABC News's This Week on Sunday when asked if he believes Meadows would have known about a declassification order, "But...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) posted stronger numbers in a poll of likely Iowa caucus goers than nationally, while former President Donald Trump's support in the Hawkeye State dipped below 50% amid public tensions between himself and Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), who enjoys great popularity among the state's Republicans. In a newly released New York Times/Siena College poll of Iowa Republicans who are likely to attend caucuses, 20% reported planning to vote for DeSantis. Trump still maintained his status as the front-runner, with 44% saying they would vote for him. While the former president is still ahead in the Hawkeye State,...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) reiterated his "anti-woke" stance in a radio interview Monday morning, claiming, "I'm the only guy running who's been very clear about that issue." The Republican presidential candidate has been criticized by many on the Left and even some on the Right for his focus on "culture wars." But DeSantis insisted that it permeates several different areas of society. "This woke ideology impacts the economy, the military, criminal law, everything," he told South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell on The Morning Answer. "Our freedom is under assault as woke infects more institutions," he said. "I've defeated the...

Former President Donald Trump claimed the straw poll at the Western Conservative Summit on Saturday barely 24-hours after his federal indictment was publicly unsealed. He surged past Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his nearest challenger for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination, by 40.3 percent to 35.8 percent, the Washington Examiner reports.

Chief Washington Examiner political correspondent Byron York charted a hypothetical path to the Republican nomination for newly announced 2024 presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). "This is the kind of candidacy that's not just going to burst on the polls and all of a sudden he’ll be in second place next week," York said Monday on Fox News. "It’s the kind of candidacy that you visit Iowa a lot, and good news, good word starts spreading around you. "They say good things about you and, after a while, you just start rising in the most important first contest," he continued.

New Hampshire's uber-popular Republican governor Chris Sununu put it plainly on NBC's Meet the Press: "Donald Trump is a loser." Before that, Sununu had rightly rebuked all the pundits who say the GOP presidential nomination for 2024 is a done deal. "Most folks don’t decide who they are voting for until about three weeks before the election," he said. And he is right. At this time, a year before the 2008 election, Hillary Clinton was the odds-on favorite to be the Democratic nominee. She lost to Barack Obama. At this time, 28 months before the 2016 election, polls showed the...