Commentary: A Viewer’s Guide to Harris vs. Trump Debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will soon meet in a high stakes nationally televised debate, perhaps the only one of this campaign.

In previous elections – 1960, 1976, 1980, 2000, and 2020 come immediately to mind – the election contests were heavily influenced by such encounters. This year, for sure, it is “high risk, high reward.” With an election so close, we believe this debate will be important – maybe even decisive – in determining the winner.

Read More

RFK Jr.’s Quest to Remove Name from Ballot Hits Snags, Sees Some Victories as Lawsuits Continue

Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is working to get his name removed from presidential ballots across various states, which has resulted in lawsuits in swing states where his requests were initially denied. While those lawsuits started as losses for him, upon appeal, Kennedy has seen success in removing his name from some of the ballots.

Following his withdrawal from the presidential race and endorsement of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Kennedy has tried to get his name removed from presidential ballots in swing states. However, in some of those states, Democrats have attempted to prevent him from doing so, even after they had initially tried to keep him from being placed on the ballot.

Read More

Judge in Arizona ‘Fake Elector’ Case Sets Trial Date for 2026

Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen on Monday set the trial date in the “fake electors” case, which saw charges brought against multiple allies of former President Donald Trump, for January 5, 2026.

Read More

Commentary: Trump Supporters Must Avoid Overconfidence

Trump with Supporters

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has led his supporters and some, though not all, of his opponents to acquire a greater perspective on the most important things in life. It has also led his supporters to a broader recognition what is not necessarily important in the present campaign. This is a healthy development for the Republican Party and the Make America Great Again movement. Mr. Trump continues to lead and is, again, its presidential standard bearer. Yet, if not properly channeled, the ensuing enthusiasm can engender overconfidence among the campaign and its supporters.

The temptation to feel overconfident is all too human. For quite some time, Mr. Trump had been being persecuted as someone beneath the law by the left’s noxious lawfare cabal and was deemed a threat to democracy to be eliminated by Democrats and their mockingbird media. Following the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump’s life, his supporters and all decent people offered an outpouring of gratitude that his life had been spared. Having witnessed the twist of fate that allowed a turn of Mr. Trump’s head to save him and allow his life and candidacy to continue, two potentially contentious GOP political events possessed far less potential to ignite divisive intraparty arguments.

Read More

Trump Expands Push for GOP Embrace of Early and Mail-In Voting

Mail in Ballot

The 2020 presidential election witnessed a nationwide surge in the prevalence of early voting and vote-by-mail practices, which featured heavily in former President Donald Trump’s claims that mass election fraud influenced the outcome. According to the Pew Research Center, 46% of voters in the 2020 race voted by absentee or mail-in ballot, and 27% reported having voted early.

Republicans were subsequently reluctant to embrace such practices, though a lackluster midterm performance and the about-face of the presumptive GOP nominee on the matter appears to have the Republicans rethinking their approach.

Read More

Redistricting Won’t Hurt GOP Chances at Keeping the House, Experts Say

US Capitol building

Changes in congressional district boundary lines across several states do not appear to have damaged Republicans’ chances of maintaining a majority in the House of Representatives after 2024’s elections, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and New York have experienced redistricting processes ahead of the 2024 election. While experts had previously forecast adverse changes from redistricting in these states that could have cost GOP incumbents their seats, the processes have resulted, on balance, in races where likely losses of some GOP seats could be offset by the gains in other states, experts told the DCNF.

Read More

Google Threatens to Demonetize Wall Street Watchdog as GOP Targets Ad Collusion

Wall Street Bull

Google’s artificial intelligence isn’t particularly bright when it comes to evaluating publishers’ compliance with its advertising policies, if the experience of a heterodox economics blog with outsized influence is any indication.

With a megaphone from Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi, both darlings of progressives in the “Occupy Wall Street” era, Naked Capitalism accused Google of making “flagrant errors” in its threats to demonetize the 18-year-old site for verboten content.

Read More

Republicans Take on Ballot Harvesting, Drop Boxes but Legally Using them in 2024 Election Cycle

Ballot drop box

As Alabama has banned ballot harvesting and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania are fighting ballot drop boxes, GOP campaign efforts are using those same tools where legal.

Democrats have long focused on mail-in and early voting while Republicans have warned of potential insecurities of those methods. Now the GOP is starting to embrace it this election cycle. However, the acceptance of mail-in voting as a tool isn’t preventing Republicans from looking to secure or ban certain aspects of it, such as ballot harvesting and ballot drop boxes.

Read More

Commentary: Gov. Al Smith and the Anti-Trump Republicans

Al Smith and FDR

As I’ve watched some of President Donald Trump’s former appointees and allies say they can’t support him in 2024, I was reminded of a similar scenario in American history.

In 1936, Former New York Gov. Al Smith decided that he could not support President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s re-election.

Read More

Commentary: It’s Time for GOP to Unite Behind Trump

Donald Trump Rally

For the first time in my 94 years on earth, I fear for the future of our democracy. I see the federal government using its enormous powers with contempt for the governed instead of with the consent of the governed as our founders envisioned.

Fundamental change in America is occurring by executive order or the force of the government’s police powers instead of through the legislative process required by the Constitution. From this, I fear that free market capitalism may be replaced by big government socialism. I also fear the erosion of our rights and freedoms, including parental rights, freedom of speech and religion, and due process. 

Read More

‘Make Voting Great Again’: GOP Warns Against Government Election Meddling

Joe Biden Merrick Garland

The Biden administration appears poised to put the government’s thumb on the scale in the 2024 election, House Republicans say.

The administration’s lack of transparency about implementing President Joe Biden’s executive order for federal agencies to help get out the vote—combined with a warning from Attorney General Merrick Garland—has sparked some concern among lawmakers.

Read More

Commentary: Trump Tightens Grasp over GOP

Trump Crowd

Former President Trump continued his romp through the Republican primary, easily winning all but one Super Tuesday contest and demonstrating a dominance so absolute that his stacked victories now seem nearly routine.

“We want to have unity,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, “and we’re going to have unity, and it’s going to happen very quickly.” On the eve of perhaps the greatest political comeback in modern American history, his remarks were relatively subdued by his standards. He never mentioned his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, almost as if the competition did not exist and a third nomination was guaranteed all along.

Read More

Mitch McConnell’s Legacy: $27.6 Trillion in National Debt

Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday announced plans to step down as GOP conference leader in November, marking an end to his more than 20-year stint in Senate leadership that saw the U.S. accumulate a mountain of debt.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said on the Senate floor. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. However, I’ll complete my job. My colleagues have given me until we select a new leader in November and they take the helm next January.”

Read More

Trump Defeats Haley in South Carolina, Steamrolling Toward Nomination and Fall Rematch with Biden

Former President Donald Trump humiliated Nikki Haley in her home state Saturday night, scoring a convincing win in the South Carolina GOP primary that opens the door for him to focus full time on a fall rematch with Joe Biden.

Read More

Commentary: The Establishment Still Doesn’t Get Trump

Trump Speaking

A few weeks ago, a “Morning Joe” panel concluded that if Donald Trump were to become the Republican nominee (spoiler alert: he will), Republicans will lose in the fall. This is by no means a unique sentiment – former House Speaker Paul Ryan expressing this idea here, journalist Bernard Goldberg wondering if Trump is trying to lose here, and so forth.

As I read these analyses, I wonder if I’ve somehow been transported back to 2016, when such takes were de rigueur. Here in 2024, we know that Donald Trump won in 2016 and came close to winning in 2020. He carried Republican senators across the finish line in both years, and the GOP gained House seats in 2020, much to the surprise of most election analysts. And, at a comparable time in the campaign cycle when he trailed Hillary Clinton by 4.5 points in the RCP Average and Joe Biden by 5.6 points, Trump actually leads Biden by 1.9 points in national polling.

Read More

Commentary: This Has to Be the End of the Road for Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell Senate

Mitch McConnell has to be finished as the caucus leader for the Republicans in the Senate. Now. He has to resign, and if he won’t, then that caucus needs to get together and force him out.

Now. Not next week, not next month, not after this election cycle. Now.

Read More

Dems’ Black, Latino Advantage Has Massively Shrunk Under Biden, Polls Show

Latinos for Trump

The Democratic Party has hemorrhaged black and Hispanic support over the course of President Joe Biden’s tenure, according to Gallup polling data published on Wednesday.

The substantial advantage that the Democratic Party previously held over Republicans in terms of black Americans in general and Hispanic Americans aged 18 to 29 has diminished by almost 20% in the last three years, according to Gallup. The Democratic Party now has a significantly smaller lead over the Republican Party with these demographics.

Read More

Commentary: Pro-Life Leaders Must Engage in Battle Against Abortion Ballot Measures Now

Pro-Life Rally

Thanks to the Dobbs decision and pro-life leaders, 24 states have laws protecting unborn children at 12 weeks or sooner. Through ballot measures, abortion activists are trying to reverse that progress so anyone can get an abortion anytime, anywhere. These activists are targeting ten pro-life states which have laws that protect 30,000 babies in the womb annually.

The proposed constitutional amendments go far beyond Roe to establish unlimited abortion, eviscerate parental rights, and remove health and safety requirements for women. Though some of the measures include the word “viability,” the broad exceptions in the law ultimately allow elective abortion in all nine months. Ohio Democrats have introduced legislation that does this following the vote on Issue 1 laying bare the policy agenda they are pursuing but denied during the amendment campaign.

Read More

Commentary: America Can’t Afford Never Trump’s Nihilism

Ron DeSantis

It was a wise decision for Ron DeSantis to end his presidential campaign when he did. There would have been no point in prolonging a bitter and divisive primary battle when Trump has clearly won already. By endorsing Trump, DeSantis opened the door to repairing some of the damage from what turned out to be a disastrous career move. And he did the right thing for the country by signaling to his supporters that it was time to unite and focus on ending the Biden regime.

Unfortunately, just a day later, DeSantis took a gratuitous swipe at Trump. It was chum for many of DeSantis’ hardcore supporters, who remain full of spite after months of back-and-forth with the MAGA “cult.”

Read More

Commentary: Forget the Media Doomsaying — the GOP Will Be Ok

Congress Building

If you follow politics and didn’t know that voters in Charleston, South Carolina, elected the city’s first Republican mayor in almost a century and a half, you can be forgiven. A lot of people missed it because, while it was covered, the legacy media failed, unsurprisingly, to recognize it for the landmark it is.

The scant attention paid to the outcome of that race compared to, say, the GOP’s failure to take over the Virginia Legislature is a discordant note that throws off an otherwise harmonious national narrative that has the Republican Party hopelessly divided and unable to win elections now that Bidenomics is working.

Read More

Commentary: Working Class Is Fully Aligning Behind the GOP

There was a time when the Democratic Party maintained a moderately believable facade as the voice of the middle class, claiming to represent the interests of blue-collar families and rural America while condemning Wall Street elitists, but that political dichotomy belongs back in the 2010s.

The modern Democratic Party is now inarguably the party of coastal elitism, censorship, and distain for the working class, with Democrats concentrating themselves into a few extremely wealthy regions with economic and political climates that do not represent the rest of country.

Read More

Commentary: Hard Evidence Warranting the Impeachment of Joe Biden

In a staggering act of journalistic deceit, the New York Times is reporting that Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden without any “evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption by the president.” Similar statements have been made by a massive array of media outlets and Democrat politicians.

In reality, overwhelming proof of Joe Biden’s corruption and wrongdoing has been found, including hard evidence like written records and corroborated testimonies from first-hand witnesses. Collectively, at least 12 sets of documented facts leave no reasonable doubt that Biden participated in his son’s illicit businesses deals, bribed foreign officials, and obstructed justice.

Read More

Ramaswamy Blasts Haley for ‘Irresponsible Reaction’ on Israel

Divergent positions are emerging among GOP presidential candidates on U.S. involvement in Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas.

A day after former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley declared that it is time for Israel “finish off” the terrorist group, GOP presidential rival Vivek Ramaswamy blasted Haley for what he described as her “irresponsible reaction.”

Read More

Vivek Ramaswamy: ‘My Ideas Are a Threat to the GOP Establishment and That’s Why They’re Trying to Silence Me’

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy released a video message Tuesday in response to the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) threat to expel him from the next debate in Miami if he were to participate in an hour-long debate on Fox News against fellow Republican candidate Chris Christie.

Read More

Second GOP Presidential Debate Turns Into a Rhetorical Brawl as Candidates Jockey for Position in Trump-Dominated Race

In a second GOP presidential debate that often seemed more like a disorderly reality TV show, the Babylon Bee’s satirical news headline may have best captured the mood of viewers: ‘Mute Button’ Wins GOP Debate.

Read More

Voters Overwhelmingly Side with the GOP on the Economy: Poll

Republicans hold a commanding lead among voters’ views toward which party handles the economy better as President Joe Biden continues to pitch his economic policy to the American people, according to a new NBC News poll.

Republicans lead Democrats 49% to 28% among registered voters surveyed on the economy, which is the largest lead in NBC polling since 1991, according to NBC News. Biden has sought to sell his economic policy, dubbed “Bidenomics,” to Americans, which consists of high-spending stimulus programs and green energy subsidies.

Read More

Kinder, Gentler Iowa Cattle Call of GOP Presidential Hopefuls Sees Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Haley Generate Most Buzz

The latest cattle call of GOP presidential contestants — sans former President Donald Trump — mainly maintained Iowa nice, a departure from last month’s first fiery primary debate and a similar Christian conservative event in July hosted by conservative talk show host lightning rod Tucker Carlson.

Read More

Commentary: America’s Moms Saw a True Leader on the GOP Debate Stage

Donald Trump’s decision to skip the first Republican primary debate left a huge vacuum on the stage in Milwaukee. That vacuum was filled by Vivek Ramaswamy, who showed poise, conviction, and grace under fire – in the process making most of his opponents look like the career politicians they are.

Like Trump, Ramaswamy is a businessman who feels called to run for office because he sees that the country is facing dark times and needs to be saved from the political establishment, which prioritizes self-interest and the status quo over patriotism and the sort of decisive action that our country needs.

Read More

GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Rides Debate Momentum to Second Place in New Poll

Ohio biotech entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has overtaken Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place in the Republican Party nomination chase, surging several points since last week’s debate, according to internal polling.

Read More

GOP Presidential Candidates Attempt to Seize on Any Momentum They Garnered in First Debate

Every candidate declared victory after Wednesday night’s first Republican presidential debate — even some who didn’t take the stage.

But what’s next for these self-proclaimed winners on the road to the Republican Party nomination?

Read More

Commentary: Keeping Trump Off the Ballot in 2024 Will Hurt the GOP

Now there are four separate trials against former President Donald Trump, the latest in Fulton County, Ga., arising from Trump challenging the results of the 2020 election, coming atop trials in New York City over supposed federal campaign finance violations, Miami, Fla. over his receipt of classified documents while he was president and retention when he left office and Washington, D.C. again over his challenge of the 2020 election.

Read More

Commentary: ‘Vivek on Track to Eclipse DeSantis,’ Donor Memo Admits

An internal memo circulated by the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign, and obtained by RealClearPolitics, outlines his pitch to donors ahead of the first GOP primary debate: The 37-year-old first-time candidate is surging as others stumble, going farther with fewer resources, and will soon “eclipse DeSantis.”

Until recently, those claims could be dismissed as so much bravado from an overeager, unknown biotech investor without any political experience whatsoever.

Read More

DeSantis Calls for US-Led Military Alliance in Pacific, ‘Economic Independence’ from China

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate, is calling for the United States to create a stronger military alliance in the Pacific to counter China’s rising aggression, as well as wage a strategic decoupling of the American economy from Beijing.

Read More

Commentary: Trump’s Coyness on Debate Participation All Part of His Grand Strategy

Donald Trump

The first Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential nominating cycle is set for one month from yesterday – on August 23, 2023. On that day, presumably, all major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination will assemble in Wisconsin to present their campaign pitches to the American public.

There isn’t an incumbent president in this year’s extravaganza, so it’s only natural that several hopefuls have expressed interest in a campaign. Deference is usually afforded a party president during his reelection run (as Democrats have announced there will be no debates on their side with senile Joe Biden currently in office), yet this year is different.

Read More

Haley Says She Would Support Trump If He is 2024 GOP Nominee

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday said she would support former President Donald Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

However, Haley also said she does not think Trump is capable of winning the general election.

Read More

Vivek Ramaswamy on His Rise in the Polls: ‘The Secret Sauce Is, Speak the Truth and Do It Without Apology’

The Star News Network’s national political editor Matt Kittle sat in Tuesday to guest host The Simon Conway Show, broadcast live from WHO Des Moines, an iHeart radio station at KDRB 100.3HZ, where he interviewed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Read More

Commentary: GOP Split on How to Handle Absentee Votes

“I can’t begin to understand what ballot harvesting is,” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the former Republican House Speaker, said in an interview in the wake of a 2018 political upset in Orange County, California. Democrats had swept the congressional seats in one of California’s few Republican strongholds, largely due to a well-executed strategy of harvesting, or the collection and submission of ballots by someone other than the voter.    

Read More

Pence Says Trump and DeSantis Are Wrong on Ukraine and America’s Role as Arsenal of Democracy

Former Vice President Mike Pence says his “former running mate,” among others in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase, are missing the significance of the U.S. coming to the aid of Ukraine.

Pence said he recently paid a call on the war-torn European nation and its president to see firsthand “the results of the extraordinary, unprovoked invasion by Russia” as well as the “tenacity and toughness” of the Ukrainian military.

Read More

Trump, Biden Dominate Latest Granite State Poll, but Many Don’t Want to See a Re-Match

Former President Donald Trump has upped his support over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the Granite State and President Joe Biden leads his Democratic Party challengers by more than 50 percentage points, according to a new poll conducted by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

But the latest poll also finds that a majority of New Hampshire voters believe a repeat of 2020 presidential candidates in 2024 would mark a “broken” U.S. political system.  

Read More

Commentary: The Crumbling Relationship Between Big Business and the GOP

Relationships don’t always last forever. As with friendships, neighbors, employment, and even marriages, sadly, longstanding political bonds can be severed. Today, the supposed “marriage” between big business and the Republican Party seems on the rocks. It might even be in a slow-motion breakup.

A recent Wall Street Journal article recounts the growing rift between the GOP and big business. Republican leaders are more willing to criticize corporations, Republican lawmakers are proposing more legislation regulating business, and the GOP is becoming less and less dependent on corporate donations.

Read More