Free Republic

The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections. The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto...

President Trump likes his military and diplomatic victories quick, clean and decisive. (snip) But now, Mr. Trump has hit the stalemate phase of his presidency. The war with Iran is clearly at that stage. When he declared a cease-fire on April 7, Mr. Trump said on social media that the end of combat operations would be conditional on “the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.” It wasn’t. Even if commerce now resumes across the strait under a memorandum of understanding still under negotiation, it will still leave the future of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs exactly...

The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation. It’s unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email “there was never an investigation into her to shut down.” But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this...

The negotiations between the United States and Iran to end their war are following President Trump’s familiar playbook for resolving a Middle East crisis: agree to a cease-fire and deal with the toughest problems later. Analysts say the approach has had mixed results in the Gaza Strip, where Mr. Trump brokered a truce last year between Israel and Hamas, the Iranian-backed militant group. Plans for a so-called Phase 2 agreement — under which Hamas was to lay down its arms and Israel would allow Gaza to be rebuilt after a devastating war — have stalled. A similar approach in U.S....

The social media post by President Trump made it sound straightforward. The United States would orchestrate a deal to end the war with Iran and, in exchange, a slew of countries across the Middle East and South Asia would join an agreement, called the Abraham Accords, establishing relations with Israel. In fact, he said, that “should be mandatory.” But half of the countries he named — such as Egypt, Jordan and Turkey — already have relations with Israel. And the other half — including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan — have no interest in establishing them anytime soon. As a...

Rob DeSanctimonious is in FIFTH PLACE in New Hampshire. 📉“Trump leads big in New Hampshire as Haley rises, Post-Monmouth poll finds” - The Washington Post https://t.co/8ngZnA5gR5— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) November 17, 2023

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to Donald Trump's recent attack on former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, saying that it was "really, really bad." "Donald Trump, even his greatest supporters have acknowledged, had a tough time picking good people. He had a lot of terrible personnel decisions, people like Jerome Adams, his Surgeon General...so we know there was a tough record, but Kayleigh was one of the greatest selections. She did a fantastic job," DeSantis, who is also a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said while appearing on the NH Journal podcast on Friday. DeSantis added: "She's a Harvard-trained lawyer,...

President Donald Trump took his attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a new level Wednesday, as a super PAC linked to the 76-year-old accused his would-be rival of ethics violations tied to what it calls DeSantis’ “shadow presidential campaign.” A draft of the 15-page letter by Make America Great Again Inc. calls on the Florida Commission on Ethics to investigate DeSantis, alleging that the 44-year-old has violated a slew of state statutes as well as federal campaign finance laws. The complaint refers to DeSantis as a “de facto candidate for president” and claims that ​the governor is “leveraging his...

During an interview that aired on Thursday’s broadcast of Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated radio show, former President Donald Trump, now a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, took a shot at his possible rival in the contest, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).Trump recounted his version of DeSantis seeking his endorsement in the 2018 Florida Republican gubernatorial primary against then-Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.According to the former president, DeSantis begged for the endorsement. Trump also claimed he had to help DeSantis in his run in the general election against then-Tallahassee, FL Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic Party’s nominee.“[R]on DeSantis got elected...

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at evangelicals for not supporting his latest presidential campaign, saying it was a “sign of disloyalty” after he appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices and made their long-held dream of overturning Roe v. Wade possible. Trump, 76, told Real America’s Voice’s “The Water Cooler” Monday that the religious bloc of voters who were key to his 2016 victory have not yet come out to back his 2024 White House bid. “That’s a sign of disloyalty,” Trump told host David Brody. “There’s great disloyalty in the world of politics, and that’s a sign of disloyalty.”

Congratulations to our presumptive nominee, Donald Trump! Great job in New York and throughout this campaign. Cruz and Kasich are now mathematically eliminated and just like all the others who were mathematically eliminated should concede and drop out so we can all unite behind our nominee and prepare to defeat the godless America-hating traitor Hillary Clinton in November. As conservatives and patriots, it's time to put bruised egos behind us, heal our differences and act united in the best interests of our nation. The media and the GOPe will try to keep us divided, of course, but we must not...

GUTHRIE: Do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy? TRUMP: I do. I do – including myself. I do. That was...this morning, in an interview that featured some other controversial statements.  In fairness to Trump, he's been using the "raise taxes on rich people like me" line for months, embracing Obama-style class warfare tax gimmicks like the 'Buffet Rule.'  But raising taxes on anyone, an outcome Trump just re-endorsed, is not what his formal policy agenda proposes.  Just the opposite.  As we've seen on issues such immigration, abortion and foreign policy, Trump routinely makes clear that he isn't familiar with his own positions.  His stances aren't...

Things did not go well for Ted Cruz last night, but his performance in New York's 16th District was especially depressive... Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz was so disliked in Westchester County’s 16th congressional district that residents cast more votes for Ben Carson - who is no longer running... Carson, who bowed out of the GOP race in March, was still featured on Tuesday’s ballot as his request to be removed was made after the deadline had passed. Roughly translated...You Get Nothing! One final thing... CRUZ HAS $9 MILLION IN BANK AS OF END-MARCH: CAMPAIGN MANAGER tick tock...

Wyoming County is picturesque rolling hills country dotted with apple orchards and maple groves located in the western part of the state. Both the state of Wyoming and Wyoming County are predominantly white 92% with similar per capita income. Where they differ significantly is in their ability to vote within a Republican Primary Election. Although the State of Wyoming has a population 10 times the size of Wyoming County, only a fraction of a percentage of Wyoming republicans are chosen to vote for the delegates that pick the presidential nominee. Wyoming County, NY had a 40% voter turnout in 2016....

Donald Trump is right: The system is rigged. It’s rigged in favor of front-runners. That’s why Trump, who is leading the Republican nominating contest, has a larger percentage of delegates (46 percent) than of votes (37 percent). Unsurprisingly, Trump never mentions when the rules have helped him. He much prefers to whine and peddle conspiracy theories when they don’t. Trump’s latest tantrum is over Colorado, where Ted Cruz just swept all 34 of the state’s available delegates. Trump is calling the results “totally unfair” and on Twitter he asked: “How is it possible that the people of the great State...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump erupted on Twitter Sunday night, after a weekend which saw Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sweep all of Colorado’s 37 delegates without any votes being cast by citizens in a traditional primary process.

In his first Sunday show interview since taking on an expanded role in Donald Trump's campaign, Paul Manafort was quick to raise questions about the tactics Sen. Ted Cruz' campaign is using to secure delegates. After being asked whether threatening delegates is fair game in the hunt for the 1237 required to secure the republican nomination, Manafort responded, "It's not my style, and it's not Donald Trump's style … But it is Ted Cruz's style." He then called the Cruz campaign's methods "Gestapo tactics, scorched-earth tactics." "We're going to be filing several protests because reality is, you know, they are...

In his, shall we say, ‘defeat’ statement following his Wisconsin loss, Donald Trump leveled some pretty heavy accusations at his opponent, Ted Cruz. This time, he’s accusing the Republican presidential hopeful of flat-out violating election law. ... According to opensecrets.org, there are 12 pro-Ted Cruz super PACs (independent-expenditure only committees) that have raised millions of dollars. A group called Keep The Promise III has raised the most funds at over $16.5 million. However, to date, we have no evidence that Cruz openly coordinated with these groups, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. The rules on what counts as coordination...

Donald Trump lost the Wisconsin primary to Ted Cruz Tuesday night by a landslide. The usually vocal billionaire refrained from giving a speech in defeat, but is campaign did release a statement accusing Cruz of being "worse than a puppet," a "trojan horse" for the GOP establishment and accused him of illegally coordinating with pro-Cruz super PACs.

I've only recently become a Trump supporter. I was leaning toward Cruz, but couldn't go with him when he decided to collude with the GOPe, fully knowing (I have to imagine) that there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell they would pick him in a contested convention. It's obvious that the GOP has decided to self destruct. Their disregard for conservatives and their complete disdain for the middle and working class has turned my stomach. I've turned in my membership. I'm finished for good with the Republican Party. I've decided to go Independant from this point forward, and I've gotten...