Free Republic

Whether it’s demonizing their political opponent or the propensity for violence, Saturday’s attack on Trump was consistent with Democrat rhetoric and actions. Forty years ago, after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, I remember watching ABC anchor Frank Reynolds violently slam his fist on the desk when he was given some conflicting information about the president’s fate. The ABC brass quickly marched Sam Donaldson out to co-host, hoping to keep Reynolds calm. The country was shocked and somber. While the left disliked Reagan, no one that I remember expressed a hint of joy that he had been shot or sadness...

The man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan has disavowed violence in the wake of the attempt on Donald Trump's life. John Hinckley Jr, who wounded the former US president during an attack in 1981, wrote on X: "Violence is not the way to go. Give peace a chance." Although Hinckley did not directly mention the Republican presidential nominee, people were quick to draw the connection, responding with bemusement at his statement. One X user summed up the sentiment of many commenters, writing: "Dude you literally shot the 40th president of the United States." A spectator was killed and two...

MILWAUKEE — When the Republicans put the final gavel to the wreckage of their convention in Cleveland eight years ago, they were in a state of nuclear meltdown.Yes, they had a nominee in reality television star Donald Trump. But the party itself was a collection of warring factions that agreed on little by way of principles, beyond their collective desire to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House. Strategist David Urban, who helped organize the 2016 convention for Trump, recalls that the floor of Quicken Loans Arena felt like “enemy territory.” Tensions were thick between Trump’s campaign and the...

Former President Donald Trump is the ninth US president to be a target of an assassination attempt. The last was President Ronald Reagan, who, like Trump, survived an attack by a lone shooter. But that was in 1981 — a decidedly different political moment than today’s highly polarized environment. And that means it’s uncertain that the political benefits Reagan saw after surviving his attempt will come to Trump. On March 30, 1981, Reagan was exiting the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, where he had just given a speech before members of the AFL-CIO. As he raised his arm to salute...

History repeating itself, John Hinckley was sexually fascinated by Jodie Foster, was Thomas Matthew Brooks the same with Taylor Swift.

Ronald Reagan was the last president to be shot in an assassination attempt before Donald Trump was hit at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. When leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot at several times and wounded when one bullet ricocheted off a vehicle and struck him under the left armpit. Then-President Reagan spent 12 days at George Washington University Hospital before returning to the White House. Trump, while not currently the U.S. president, is the first to be shot in an assassination attempt since that day in 1981. The gunman is...

On Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) suggested that 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is engaging in some sort of deal like “what happened to Jimmy Carter when Reagan and his troops cut a deal with the Iran[ian] ayatollah and leaving Jimmy Carter to hang out there.” Garamendi said, “If there’s going to be a cognitive test, let’s not have a kindergarten cognitive test, which is what Trump continually talks about. If there’s going to be a cognitive test, yes, both should. But I would like to see Donald Trump stand in...

Ronald Reagan, trailing President Gerald Ford in delegates leading up to the 1976 Republican National Convention, decided to make a high-risk move in his quest for the presidential nomination: He picked a liberal running mate. Yes, that’s right — the man whose name is synonymous with conservatism sought to balance his ticket by choosing Sen. Richard Schweiker, a liberal Republican from Pennsylvania. The Reagan campaign hoped the move would help win delegates from the state, make him more attractive to liberals and moderates at the convention in Kansas City, Mo., and ultimately improve his odds in the general election against...

"Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" was famously used by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential debate and remains relevant in elections today. Recent polls indicate that many Americans do not feel better under President Joe Biden's administration. According to a February AP-NORC poll, only 24% of Americans feel better off since Biden took office, while 41% feel worse off and 34% feel the same. These figures highlight the mixed sentiments about economic progress during Biden's presidency. Economic challenges such as inflation, high mortgage rates, and increased living costs are central to these perceptions. The...

With Reagan in home rehab after the assassination attempt, the White House planning began for a dramatic return and major address to a joint session of Congress. It was no secret; we were going to exploit all his heroic national goodwill to sell this economic plan. *** I returned a call from Nixon, and he offered wide-ranging advice. “Ken, on the economy, don’t go to the well too often, and don’t worry about minor GOP defections,” he advised. As for Reagan’s health, “I’ll be quite direct. It’s hard to come back from an operation. Don’t waste the asset [public sympathy]....

“Reagan” is an upcoming biopic focused on the life and work of President Ronald Reagan, according to the movie’s official website. It will star Dennis Quaid as Reagan and Chris Massoglia as Pat Boone. Although the film is not focused on religion primarily, both actors have remarked on the deep faith displayed by Reagan throughout his life, according to The Christian Post. President Ronald Reagan described himself as a Bible-believing born-again evangelical, per CBN. Ben Armstrong, who served as the executive director of National Religious Broadcasters in the 1980s, interviewed Reagan and asked him what he believed he needed for...

Yes, Regan was a very good actor, and now we have Joe Biden, the actor too. However, he plays a different part acting the way he does. But he still fools people. https://rumble.com/v54z4na-joe-biden.html

Former President Donald Trump was quick to name-check predecessor Ronald Reagan in Thursday’s presidential debate against President Joe Biden. Trump wasted no time in bringing up Reagan, who is beloved by almost all old school Republicans, and others, to seemingly make his points on abortion. The more significant callback to “Morning in America” was the former president’s ever-so-brief, and not-so-surprising, outline of his economic agenda. The economy, and more so, inflation, was the first topic broached by CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash at the debate. In the opening lines of the matchup, Trump repeatedly hammered President Joe Biden’s...

Gerald R. Ford (Republican) v. Jimmy Carter (Democrat) The 1976 presidential election was the first held in the wake of the Watergate scandal, which had consumed the Nixon presidency and resulted in Gerald R. Ford becoming president. Ford had first become Vice President by congressional confirmation in the wake of Vice President Sprio Agnew's own corruption scandal and resignation, resutling in the first American president who had not been elected to be either president or vice president. Ford, the Republican candidate, was pitted against the relatively unknown former 1-term governor of Georgia, Jimmy Cater. Carter ran as a Washington outsider,...

A growing part of the Latino electorate is relating less to the Democratic Party and more to the GOP because of blue-collar economic issues, an anti-Trump Republican consultant says in an upcoming book. The big picture: The gradual shift makes Latinos the new "Reagan Democrats" — moderate Democrats in the 1980s who supported President Ronald Reagan — and may change assumptions of race and politics that both parties aren't prepared to face, author Mike Madrid argues. Zoom in: Madrid's "The Latino Century: How America's Largest Minority is Transforming Democracy," is set for release on June 25 by Simon & Schuster....

On this date in 1987, then President Reagan made his famous Tear Down This Wall Speech. “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace–if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe–if you seek liberalization: come here, to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

Patti Davis, the daughter of President Reagan, pointed to Hunter Biden’s ongoing trial as a symptom of all-too-common systemic drug addiction, looking less at its political impacts and more about what it says about the pressure of scrutiny and danger of illegal drugs. “Hunter Biden’s legal case is, at its root, a story about the toxic, careless choices made by a drug addict,” she wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday. “It’s about the fact that addicts weave tragedy into their own lives and into the lives of those around them. Addicts don’t think about other people; they think...

According to a recent poll conducted by Emerson College, President Joe Biden has only a seven-point lead over rival and former President Donald Trump in the blue state of New York. Biden is also well under a 50 percent approval rating. Combined with the candidacy of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this potentially makes the state ripe for picking by Trump in this fall’s election. The Empire State has changed over the years since Ronald Reagan won it in 1980 and again in 1984, but not so much that it is a slam dunk for Biden. He will have to...

As the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation commemorates the 20th anniversary of the former president's death, both the pressing challenges facing Americans in 2024 and the milestone 80th anniversary of D-Day are front of mind for foundation leaders. "It's valuable to reflect on the tremendous successes of the Reagan presidency and to draw lessons for today," foundation President David Trulio told Fox News Digital in an interview. "So, it's important to recall that President Reagan won the Cold War. He unleashed an enormous economic boom. He helped restore America's pride in itself, and he restored and earned the respect that other...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly assigned to cover the Reagan White House, Associated Press photographer Ron Edmonds knew the most important part of the job was to keep watch on the president “at all times.” He did that for 28 years. But there was never a day like March 30, 1981. That was when Edmonds, who died Friday night in Virginia at age 77, took a series of images for the ages. President Ronald Reagan had just spoken to members of the AFL-CIO at a Hilton hotel not far from the White House. As Reagan emerged from the hotel, John Hinckley...