Free Republic

A ban on nearly all abortions in Arizona doesn´t sit well with the Republican former governor whose expansion of the state Supreme Court allowed him to appoint the four conservative justices whose ruling cleared the way for it. Doug Ducey is among Republicans in several states who are wrestling with the consequences of their opposition to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. He expanded the state court in 2016, but thinks its ruling this week went too far. After the Arizona court ruled 4-2 on Monday to revive an 1864 law that criminalizes abortion...

Conservative groups backing former president Donald Trump in his re-election bid say they are "deeply disappointed" with his official position on abortion unveiled Monday, but it won't deter their support in November. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee in a video posted on Truth Social Monday morning said he cemented his position on the controversial issue, saying that abortion access should be a states’ issue and didn’t endorse a national, federal limitation – like a 15-week ban. Pro-life interest groups who have endorsed Trump expressed disappointment at his announcement, but it appears unlikely to sway their support in consideration...

Ron DeSantis isn’t committing to running for President again in 2028. At least not publicly. The Governor told Fox News Channel viewers that he didn’t “have any plans for the future” when asked about a future run by Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures. The comments are interesting in light of those being his first public remarks since a reported conclave with donors and supporters in South Florida,

PALM BEACH, Fla. (NewsNation) — With dueling events this weekend, some of the nation’s biggest GOP donors will have to choose between former President Donald Trump or former presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump is expected to attend a major joint fundraiser between his campaign and the RNC on Saturday. A campaign source confirmed to NewsNation that it will be hosted at a private residence in Palm Beach. Expectations are high for Trump to offset President Joe Biden’s recent $25 million fundraiser, with the Trump campaign anticipating an estimated $43 million fundraising haul Saturday. That’s an effort that could...

Miami Beach, FL (NewsNation) — The relationship between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remains fractured following a contentious 2024 presidential battle. At a press conference Wednesday morning, DeSantis sounded unlikely to campaign for Trump. When asked by NewsNation’s Libbey Dean if he would join the presumptive GOP nominee on the trail, DeSantis was hesitant to commit. The governor’s reasoning: Florida isn’t “competitive” enough for him to stump for Trump. “This is not going to be a state that’s competitive in November,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “So, I don’t anticipate there being much campaign here...

"I noticed that he threw -- um -- Vivek under the bus. I've seen a candidate run for an office and basically campaign for another candidate in the same race before, but that's what's happened. And the minute he wasn't useful they dropped the hammer on him. That's just the way they are. We're going to go forward as a party. We can go forward in a way that's focused on peoples' issues and a great agenda for America, or we can go forward with Trump, which will be focused, the 2024 election, on legal issues, criminal trials, convictions, on...

Desantis won't even say his name. Coward! pic.twitter.com/e8cNOC2gxi— NN 1500 🇺🇸 (@SecretaryNikki) December 19, 2023DeSantis is a follower, not a leader. All of his campaign went quiet on this for hours only for him to punt to SCOTUS. He can't even say Trump's name. https://t.co/68D7ewcAK7— Jonathan Defren (@DefrenJonathan) December 19, 2023The Left invokes “democracy” to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse. https://t.co/D4pCzZ7FhY— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 19, 2023You couldnt even draft your own statement, so you copy @chiproytx comments…You...

DEVELOPING🚨: Ron DeSantis has asked Bob VanderPlaats, Steve Deace, and Kim Reynolds to go on the campaign trail with him in New Hampshire after results of a Monmouth University poll came out showing him in fifth place.

If Donald Trump and Nikki Haley are going to continue to spend millions against me on television with false attacks, they should at least have the courage to meet on the debate stage. Now that Nikki Haley has been shamed into coming to the CNN debate, it's time for Donald Trump to follow suit and join us.

Governor Chris Sununu (R-NH) said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World” that former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) is going to be the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee Sununu said, “It’s the connection she has with voters. When she’s in New Hampshire, and she’s doing the town halls and all that, she’s not just telling you where she is. She does that. But she’s allowing folks to ask questions. She’s earning trust. And that’s why her numbers were soaring before I even got involved because folks are galvanizing around that. And then you have the international experience, which none of...

Nikki Haley doubles DeSantis' support. Donald Trump leads him by 57 points. Gov. Ron DeSantis arguably had his best performance in a national debate this week, with a widely viewed showdown with California’s Gavin Newsom the week before. But new polling suggests it might not matter. In the latest Emerson College poll, the Florida Governor has fallen to 7%, his worst showing in any national survey in the 2024 cycle. Adding insult to injury, DeSantis is actually at 6.7%, benefiting from rounding to even hit the modest 7% threshold. DeSantis trails Nikki Haley, who has double his support at 14%....

'I think there's got to be something different for people to see that heart of yours.' In Iowa Saturday, Ron DeSantis heard from a supporter who suggested his campaign wasn’t successfully showing his “heart,” laying the blame on “consultants” as he questioned whether the Florida Governor could win the Presidency. During an event in Muscadine, which was hosted by the Never Back Down super PAC, the 2024 presidential candidate was confronted with criticism of how the DeSantis message is delivered. “I don’t know what your consultants are telling you, and it’s good for me to be here today to see...

In a recent interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis clarified his position on former President Donald Trump’s potential nomination as the Republican Party’s choice for the 2024 Presidential elections, in light of ongoing legal investigations.The conversation was prompted by host Willie Geist, who asked DeSantis about an earlier event in which all the GOP candidates, including DeSantis, were asked if they would support Trump even if he were to be convicted in court.

With two new polls of key early states showing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis losing ground to former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the main DeSantis-supporting super PAC is focusing on Republican voters who want to move on from the one-time commander-in-chief. Never Back Down has spent more than $30 million to date on advertising Despite the massive spending and fundraising haul, DeSantis has not made any headway in the race for the GOP nomination. “The way we look at this race is that there are three buckets,” a source familiar with Never Back Down’s advertising...

The G.O.P. contender’s campaign tried to take on Donald Trump’s online army. Now it just wants to end the meme wars. ---------------------------------- In early May, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida prepared to run for president, about a dozen right-wing social media influencers gathered at his pollster’s home for cocktails and a poolside buffet. The guests all had large followings or successful podcasts and were already fans of the governor. But Mr. DeSantis’s team wanted to turn them into a battalion of on-message surrogates who could tangle with Donald J. Trump and his supporters online. For some, however, the gathering...

DeSantis for President is selling plain white cotton T-shirts bearing the legend “DeSantis Airways” for $28 apiece. The governor signed an executive order Oct. 12 authorizing the Florida Division of Emergency Management to “carry out logistical, rescue and evacuation operations to keep its residents safe.” Per the DeSantis team, at least 544 Americans have been brought back from Israel via the flights. Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, estimated to NewsNation Tuesday that the price tag of the initial flight was “right around $4 million

'Why didn't Trump do something about it?' An incredulous Ron DeSantis is yet again addressing the former President’s contention that the 2020 election was “stolen,” saying that’s an “untenable position.” Speaking at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics’ “Politics and Eggs” event, the Florida Governor didn’t hold back when asked to evaluate Donald Trump’s ongoing contention that he didn’t lose fairly to Joe Biden. “If that is true, he was the sitting President of the United States and let that happen to him. I would never let that happen. As Governor, would I just sit there and let something like...

For reasons mysterious to the rational human mind, Fox News and the Republican National Committee decided to subject Americans to the most bizarre public spectacle in recent memory. It was stupid. It was strange. It was the second Republican presidential primary debate, which began with British-American Stuart Varney having a seizure while attempting to introduce his Univision cohost Ilia Calderón and concluded with Dana Perino asking the contestants who should be “voted off the island.” “Leading the charge, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismissed the question outright,” The Independent reported. “I’m not going to do that, with all due respect, we’re...

Donald Trump on Sunday said it was “my decision” to believe that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” — saying he didn’t respect the aides and lawyers who’d told him he’d lost. The former president, 77, was asked by NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” why he opted to ignore his “most senior lawyers” and campaign staffers about the election results. “Because I didn’t respect them,” Trump replied. Welker later asked the Republican frontrunner in the presidential primary whether he was “calling the shots … ultimately?” “As to whether or not I believed it was rigged? Oh, sure,” Trump...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed former President Donald Trump for claiming he was not "allowed" to fire former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DeSantis's comments come after Trump was asked on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Wednesday why he hadn't fired Fauci, who angered Republicans over his approach to masking and other pandemic-era guidance. "First of all, you’re not allowed. He’s civil service, and you’re not allowed to fire him," Trump told Hewitt. "But forget that, because I don’t necessarily go by everything. But Dr. Fauci would tell me...