Free Republic

I can smell Donald Trump’s fear from here. His panic. His anxiety. And yet, I don’t have a full picture of what is causing it. The only people who know what has been discovered in the Russian election meddling probe are Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team, and they aren’t talking. But President Trump no doubt knows far more about it than the rest of us, and what he knows — or what he fears — appears to be a consuming preoccupation. He tweets about the investigation constantly. Part of this is an overt play to bend public opinion,...

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) warned Republicans against continuing their "assault" against Robert Mueller, writing in an op-ed Friday that the GOP must let Mueller continue his investigation. In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, the former Tennessee Republican urged Republicans to fight for the "rule of law," even if it meant going up against the Trump administration. "I am also a Republican because I believe in the rule of law. Republicans must fight for that principle today — even if it means pushing back against a Republican administration," Frist wrote. "It isn’t easy to tell a...

Former CIA Director John Brennan compared President Donald Trump to notorious financial fraudster Bernie Madoff Thursday evening, calling the pair “remarkably unethical.” “You are to governance & politics what Bernie Madoff was to the stock market & investment advice. The two of you share a remarkably unethical ability to deceive & manipulate others, building Ponzi schemes to aggrandize yourselves. Truth & justice ultimately caught up with Bernie,” Brennan tweeted Thursday evening.

A federal judge upheld most of California’s new sanctuary laws Thursday, but did rule the state went too far when it ordered businesses not to grant access to the Border Patrol or deportation officers. Judge John A. Mendez, a Bush appointee to the court, said the state does not have to turn over illegal immigrants and can refuse to cooperate with federal agents, as long as it still allows local police to share information. And he ruled that California has the right to perform inspections on any facility that holds illegal immigrants in the state.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) privately urged President Trump in a phone call earlier this week to nominate federal Judge Merrick B. Garland, then President Barack Obama’s third nominee to the Supreme Court who was summarily shunned by Senate Republicans in 2016, to replace retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Trump had called Schumer on Tuesday afternoon for a Supreme Court-centered conversation that lasted less than five minutes, according to a person familiar with the call. Schumer, the person said, pressed the president to name Garland to succeed Kennedy, arguing doing so would help unite the country.

WASHINGTON — The pitched battle looming over the Supreme Court, along with a jolt to the Democratic leadership at the ballot box last Tuesday, is threatening to shatter the already fragile architecture of the Democratic Party, as an activist rebellion on the left and a lurch to the right in Washington propels the party toward a moment of extraordinary conflict and forced reinvention. For Democrats, the transformation could prove as consequential as President Trump’s consolidation of power in his own party and the conservative movement’s tightening grip on the federal government. “The Trump presidency has changed the dynamics in our...

Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized calls for civility from conservatives as Trump officials face public harassment over the administration’s immigration policies. In an interview published on Friday in the British newspaper The Guardian, Clinton accused the right of “bothsideism,” arguing it is hypocritical for Trump officials to be treated civilly in public while the government separates children from their purported parents who illegally crossed through the U.S.-Mexico border. “Oh, give me a break,” Clinton snapped when asked about calls for civility. “Give me a break! What is more uncivil and cruel than taking children away? It should be met...

The campaign against the president’s zealots will be a major test of strength for civil rights and abortion rights groups. A new Democratic lion is needed Republican president who is eager to build a clear, conservative majority on the United States supreme court – and too sure of his political ground – overreaches. He picks a rightwing zealot for the open seat created by the retirement of a justice. At stake in the subsequent political battle over his nomination is the constitutional right of American women to have an abortion. This was the Washington drama that unfolded in 1987 –...

Deputy Attorney General might want to plug the leaks in his own office before he keeps trumpeting how he is reforming the corrupt FBI. A high-ranking Justice Department official with a pristine record of divulging Intel gems now says Rosenstein privately fumes at the likes of Jim Jordan, Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows and other GOP Congressman who have been relentlessly pressuring Rosenstein to produce internal documents related to many facets of FBI corruption. “Rosenstein and his people have no respect for Congress, especially GOP,” the Justice source confirmed. “Most of the GOP go along quietly because they know Rosenstein will...

Bill Clinton: Trump has poured 'poison' down 'America's throat' By Judy Kurtz - 06/27/18 10:03 AM EDT Former President Clinton is suggesting that President Trump is at least partly to blame for a lack of civility in politics, saying he has poured “poison" down "America’s throat.” “It started off calling Mexicans rapists and murderers,” Clinton said during a Tuesday interview with “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah, referring to a line from then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 2015 speech announcing his White House run. During that speech, Trump said Mexico was "not sending their best." "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime....

n February 1960, four black students walked into Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at the lunch counter, and attempted to order coffee. As the segregated establishment catered to whites only, nobody would serve them. Waitresses ignored their attempts to get their attention and place orders. Other (white) patrons either ignored them as well or made it clear by word and deed that they should move on. Those four students never got served that day. But they returned the following day with hundreds of compatriots. From Greensboro, their protest spread across the South. Black would-be patrons were harassed, verbally...

When President Trump tweeted “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” the media quickly went ballistic. Wolf Blitzer, speaking on behalf of CNN, replied: “A lot of his supporters believe that we are the enemy of the American people, and that is really an awful situation. We are not the enemy of the American people. We love the American people.” The media loves the American people? The media may love some Americans, but certainly not Trump voters. How else to explain the increasing frequency with...

West Columbia, South Carolina (CNN)It was fitting that President Donald Trump chose his rally in South Carolina Monday night to thank film director David Lynch for his recently announced support. Lynch, who is best known for such cinematic trips into the surreal as "Blue Velvet" and "Wild at Heart," could not have directed the scene any better. I felt like I was in one of his movies. Approximately three hours before Trump took the stage in West Columbia, an elderly woman walked right up to me and ordered me to leave the venue. Her language would likely make her grandkids...