Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would not consider being Donald Trump’s running mate one day after the former president confirmed the former 2024 rival was on his “short list” — with DeSantis revealing that he was looking at other prospects, including another White House bid in four years. “People were mentioning me [as a potential vice president]. I am not doing that,” DeSantis told Republicans his presidential campaign had recruited to be delegates to this summer’s nominating convention during a thank-you call, audio of which was shared exclusively with The Post. The 45-year-old also went in-depth about who...

In his first interview since dropping out of the presidential race, DeSantis told Blaze TV’s Steve Deace that the blame is on Iowa caucusgoers who rallied behind front-runner Donald Trump even though many didn’t like him. “They did not want to see Trump nominated again, but they had basically been told that it was inevitable, that it was over,” DeSantis told Deace on Tuesday. DeSantis, who lost to Trump in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month, added that those voters were “checked out” and had “just totally dropped out of the process.” The Florida governor told Deace he’d consider running...

After visiting all 99 counties in Iowa and failing to win a single one, specifically because he visited all 99 counties in Iowa, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared the dark, unknown and mysterious forces of universe tried to stop him, “threw everything at him,” yet he alone stands victorious. Yeah, he actually said that. The DeSantis campaign put most of their resources into Iowa and gained a total of 23,000 votes (roughly 21%), quickly declaring victory in a tenuous 2nd place finish and proclaiming their victory ticket has been punched. The cognitive disconnect is exceptionally strong; but hey, everyone has...

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida lashed out at the media Monday after networks declared former President Donald Trump the winner before some caucus sites had started voting. “It is absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote,” said DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo. “The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.”The news broke at a caucus site here right around the same time a surrogate for Mr. DeSantis had taken...

Ron DeSantis has further alienated the America First conservatives he hoped to win over from Donald Trump’s base by disparaging January 6th protestors, denying they were motivated by patriotism.Speaking at a CNN town hall, the Florida Governor was asked if “the January 6th insurrections display[ed] patriotism, as some of them claim they did” by an audience member.“No, of course not,” DeSantis replied immediately. “I mean, that was not a good day for the country. I think the media has taken that, and I think the left has taken that, and really tried to politicize it, but it was not a...

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy delivered his farewell address on the House floor, commending Democrats for their embodiment of America’s diversity while censuring his own party. Once holding the Speaker’s gavel, McCarthy saw his tenure end abruptly in October after a historic ousting due to his failed leadership. Earlier this month, McCarthy announced that he is retiring from Congress at the end of the year. “I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” McCarthy wrote in a Wall Street Journal. “I...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday clapped back at NATO opposition to freezing the war in Ukraine and said their support for Kyiv was tantamount to their direct involvement in the war. "If NATO, through the mouth of [Secretary General Jens] Stoltenbeg, once again declares that they are against freezing, as they say, the conflict in Ukraine, then they want to fight," he told reporters according to Russian media outlet Tass. "Well, let them fight!" "If they declare at the same time that they are not waging a war against Russia, but in fact they are doing exactly that,...

Chris Christie appealed to Republican bigwigs in a private meeting in which he made his case that he would be the solution to their Trump problem, expressing his willingness to be deployed as a human torpedo to sink the 2024 GOP frontrunner in a 45-minute rant in New Hampshire, according to a new report on the former New Jersey governor who is ready to declare his candidacy. The Daily Mail dished the scoop on Christie’s clandestine meeting with “Republican kingmakers” that reportedly took place behind closed doors six weeks ago as the buzz began to build that the ABC News...

Kostyuk, the world number 39, had warned she would not shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players due to the ongoing war in Ukraine – a stance she and other Ukrainian athletes have stuck to since Moscow’s forces invaded their country last year, with support from Belarus. The 20-year-old from Kyiv duly avoided her opponent on Court Philippe Chatrier, the French Open’s showpiece arena, after losing 6-3 6-2 in a lopsided contest with world number two Aryna Sabalenka. But she was taken aback by what followed. A significant part of the crowd booed and whistled at her as she skipped...

Following Bowling Green’s 73–60 victory in the women’s NIT Super 16 on Thursday night, an ugly scene broke out during the handshake line between Falcons players and the Memphis players and coaching staff. Memphis star player Jamirah Shutes stopped the line and exchanged some words with Bowling Green senior Elissa Brett. After a brief altercation, Shutes punched Brett in the face before being pulled away by members of the Tigers coaching staff.

Former Bush 43 adviser Karl Rove said Monday on FNC’s “The Story” that former President Donald Trump needs to “move on” from claiming he won the 2020 presidential election. Sunday at CPAC in Maryland, Trump said, “We are never going back to the party of Paul Ryan, Karl Rove, and Jeb Bush.” Anchor Martha MacCallum said, “President Trump went after you at one point, went after other Republicans and said, you know, that’s not the direction we’re going anymore. We’re moving hard on America first, and this is the last battle. Everyone knows it. The country could be lost forever.”

A failed New Mexico state house candidate described by police as an "election denier" was arrested Monday in a string of shootings at the homes of regional Democratic leaders. Republican Solomon Pena is accused of conspiring with and paying four men to carry out four shootings at the Albuquerque-area homes of two Bernalillo County commissioners and two state legislators, Albuquerque police said. The onetime candidate might have been motivated by anger over his November loss, police said. Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said at a news conference early Monday evening that Pena alleged his defeat was the result of...

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Kari Lake has spoken out against the rigged and conflict-ridden Arizona Midterm Elections, which were certified by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and several other counties today. The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that the corrupt Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to certify the rigged election that was overseen by MAGA-hating RINOs, a Katie Hobbs surrogate, and radical leftist gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs. Today, Maricopa County certified its rotten election, despite hours of witness testimony of wrongdoing and an extremely flawed election in the public comment portion of their meeting. Many in the audience pointed out the clear...

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) declined to concede governor race to Democrat Katie Hobbs Thursday, raising concerns about the election process. The Associated Press and other outlets projected that Hobbs won the race on Monday. But Lake indicated she is assembling a legal team that is “collecting evidence and data” pertaining to the electoral process. “Rest assured, I have assembled the best and brightest legal team and we are exploring every avenue to correct the many wrongs that have been done this past week,” Lake said in a video address posted Thursday morning. “I’m doing everything in my power...

MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill claimed Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that the Republican Party lived in a “really slimy little dark corner where all they want to do is lie.” Discussing the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) during the 2008 presidential campaign, McCaskill said, “It wasn’t that long ago when we had a Republican candidate for president, where there was a town hall, and a woman said, well, you know Barack Obama is a Muslim. And that Republican candidate right there in real time said, ‘No, ma’am, no. That’s not correct. No. He and I may not agree on things, but...

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney on Thursday endorsed and plans to campaign for Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, the first time that the critic of former President Donald Trump who lost her GOP primary has crossed party lines to formally support a Democrat. Slotkin is competing against Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Their race is considered a toss-up by both sides and one of the Republicans’ chief targets in their campaign to win the House majority on Nov. 8.

AUSTIN, Texas — Hillary Clinton chimed in on the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago on Friday, calling former President Trump's handling of documents "deeply disturbing" while denying that she ever had classified information on a private email server at her home. "He's gone from nothing was there, FBI planted it, then if stuff was there, I had I right to have it there, and now this latest claim, ‘I declassified it in my mind,'" Clinton told a crowd at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Friday. "I'm sick about talking about my emails, but I do think it's important to...

Allies of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) tell Axios that after last night's primary loss, they expect her to start a super PAC — which would attract lots of wealthy, anti-Trump Republican donors. Why it matters: Forming a national group would signal a run in the '24 GOP primaries, giving a real voice to anti-Trump Republicans. Driving the news: It sure looked like a presidential-campaign stage when Cheney — vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee — conceded Wednesday night in Jackson, Wyo. She immediately teased a '24 presidential run.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) would probably have won the 2020 Democratic primary—and presumably the general election as well—if Democratic voters weren't a bunch of disgusting misogynists, the failed candidate told an NBC News correspondent following her third-place finish in the Iowa caucus. "Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘I would vote for you, if you had a penis,'" Warren vented to Ali Vitali, who recounts the previously unreported conversation in her forthcoming book, Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.