Free Republic

It doesn't get any better in the U.S. Senate race where former party state chair Jane Timken, perennial right-wing candidate Josh Mandel and author J.D. Vance are fighting over who is the most Trumpian. Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan jumped into the race, giving the anti-Trump forces an outside shot if the others split their vote. It'll be interesting to see if retiring Sen. Rob Portman — who didn't stand up to Trump for four years — will show political courage now that he’s not facing voters. It’s not much better in neighboring Pennsylvania, where the leading Republican U.S. Senate...

More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort.

President Joe Biden wraps up his first full month in office this week having set a new record of speed and aggression in pursuing a partisan, hard-left agenda. At the Democrats’ virtual convention in 2020, former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, branding the Democratic nominee a “unifier” with a commitment to bring the country together. “America is at a crossroads,” Kasich said, while standing at a physical crossroads for the taped address. The message of unity, decency, and bipartisanship became the defining theme of anti-Trump Republicans who promoted the most radical pair of candidates...

To state an obvious thing media will intentionally hide: If George W. Bush had lifted a single finger to help out 2020 GOPers running for House, Senate, Presidency, to say nothing of doing anything helpful since 2016, his words might have some value with 71 million GOP voters.— Mollie (@MZHemingway) November 8, 2020 1. Well said, Mollie. Turns out when it comes to politics the Bush family is focused on the Bush family. And good job, Cindy McCain in Arizona. And hat tip to Tom Ridge in PA. All backstabbing RINOs. https://t.co/cSwaXFQzyp— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) November 9, 2020...

Tom Ridge on #TrumpTaxReturns: "Is anybody surprised when we find out that he probably hasn't paid any taxes at all? Why are we surprised?"

---SNIP--- I actually consider it a point of personal pride that I’m recognized for being among the first Republicans to reject Donald Trump. It was way back in December 2015. I told NBC’s Chuck Todd that day that I could never support Trump. I said then that he was an embarrassment to the Republican Party and our country. I said he belittles, demeans, and ridicules people who disagree with him, and that I’ve never thought that loud, obnoxious, and simpleminded solutions to complex problems are the kind of qualities we want in a president. I believe that earned me my...

s their preferred candidate crashes in national polls and the race tightens to a dead heat in Joe Biden’s must-win states, NeverTrump “conservatives” are once again taking their marching orders from Democrats. The death, destruction, and mayhem besieging Democratic-run cities across the country, NeverTrump dutifully recites, is all Donald Trump’s fault. Team Biden crafted the inane talking points to deflect concerns that the violence in cities such as Portland and Kenosha rapidly was backfiring on Democrats; scenes of angry mobs attacking Trump supporters, including Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his wife, leaving the White House late Thursday night after the...

President Trump called out former Republican Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge on Twitter Thursday. According to CNN the former Homeland Security secretary says he doesn’t think President Trump should bring federal agents to cities with protests. In the tweet Trump said, “Recently watched failed RINO Tom Ridge, former head of Homeland Security, trying to justify his sudden love of the Radical Left Mayor of Portland, who last night was booed & shouted out of existence by the agitators & anarchists. Love watching pathetic Never Trumpers squirm!”

The divide between President Trump and local leaders in places where he has deployed federal agents is widening. This week, 15 mayors asked Trump to withdraw federal forces from their cities, citing “fundamental constitutional protections.” Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why he disavows Trump's action.

"The department was established to protect America from the ever-present threat of global terrorism. It was not established to be the president’s personal militia," Ridge said, alluding to the department's creation after the 9/11 attacks. Ridge did say he would "welcome the opportunity to work with any federal agency to reduce crime or lawlessness in the cities" if he were governor. But "it would be a cold day in hell before I would consent to an uninvited, unilateral intervention into one of my cities," he added, specifically calling out how the federal authorities were unwelcome in Portland.

Ex-Gov. Bill Richardson is one of several former top U.S. government officials pocketing large fees to speak in support of an Iranian group that is listed by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Richardson, a former energy secretary and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was in Washington, D.C., in January and in Paris in February to call on the State Department to remove the Mojahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, from the terror list. During the ’70s, the MEK killed U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of...

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge suggested in an interview that aired Friday on "Rising" that he did not believe President Trump's move to slap new tariffs on Mexico would solve the immigration issue at the U.S. southern border. "I'm not quite sure tariffs on Mexico are going to solve the problem for us," Ridge, who served under former President George W. Bush, told Hill.TV. "I have a great deal of support for the notion about securing the borders, but I think we politicize the issue instead of solving the problem," he continued. The Hill obtained a draft document on...

Keith Weissman and Steven Rosen Are PhDs and Middle East Experts Who Did Some Lobbying. They Thought They Were Doing What Washington Insiders Always Do. Thomas O’Donnell didn’t reveal his job when he phoned Keith Weissman in 2004 and got the policy analyst’s wife. He says he didn’t want to scare her. When Weissman returned the call and found out O’Donnell was an FBI agent, his first reaction was to attempt a joke: “What did I do?” “I’m sure you didn’t do anything,” O’Donnell told him. He wanted to meet that day, for five or ten minutes, and get Weissman’s...

George Conway, a conservative attorney whose wife is Donald Trump's senior White House counselor, has formed an organization whose goal is to push back against the president. Charter members of the group, called Checks and Balances, include former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson, former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty and former Deputy White House Counsel Phillip Brady. Missing from its mission statement is any mention of Conway's wife, who helmed Trump's White House quest and became the first woman to successfully bring a presidential campaign across a November finish line. 'We believe in the...

Editor's Note: This column was co-written by Ann McElhinneySo where will you be on the evening of October 12th? Here are your cinematic choices, First Man or Gosnell: The Trial Of America's Biggest Serial Killer. Both open on the same day. We would like to propose you come to the Gosnell movie (and not just because we produced it). Both movies are based on true stories but only one has chosen to exclude details that donÂ’t fit the politics of the director and cast - who seemed to be embarrassed by American heroes and their achievements. First Man tells the...

Judging by the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, John Bolton’s appointment as America’s National Security Advisor is the worst thing that ever happened. The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council labeled Bolton’s appointment “a matter of shame.”  The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy declared,  "The use of hardline elements against the Islamic Republic of Iran shows that the Americans seek to exert more pressure on Iran.”First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri opined, “They (US officials) are wrong to assume that the Iranian nation will give in to their threats against the Islamic Republic.”  ...

A spokesman says former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is in critical condition after undergoing an emergency heart procedure at a hospital in Austin, Texas. Ridge spokesman Steve Aaron says the 72-year-old Ridge, Pennsylvania's Republican governor from 1995 to 2001, was attending the Republican Governors Association conference when he called for help at his hotel about 7 a.m.

A vice president is never more important than at the instant of being chosen, because the choice tells you so much about the person who does the picking. When the doors are closed, George W. Bush doesn't have to listen to advice or stroke Republican egos; he can say what he pleases. John McCain? asked a friend. Gimme a break, said Bush. Ohio Congressman John Kasich, Bush argued, isn't ready for the job. Pro-choice Pennsylvanian Tom Ridge might cost him too many pro-life votes in states where a point or two will make the difference. And it has been clear...

“How many terrorist attacks do you think we will suffer in the United States in the next year?” journalist and author Steven Brill asked the former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and current Secretary Jeh Johnson on Thursday. Ridge refused to “speculate” on a number, but he said terror attacks are inevitable: “Let’s reflect of our past 15 years. We’re safer now than we’ve ever been. There’s still gaps; let’s close the gaps and let’s accept it. And don’t ever, ever change what we do because we’re fearful of another attack. Because another attack is going to happen.” […] Current...