Free Republic

Only eight percent of Americans believe Democrats “won” the government shutdown battle, a weekly survey from the Economist/YouGov found. The survey asked respondents, “In your opinion, who won the shutdown battle?” Across the board, a plurality, 39 percent, said “neither” side won the shutdown battle, followed by 35 percent who said Republicans. Only eight percent deemed Democrats the victors. Even Democrats themselves are aware that their side lost. Only 14 percent of Democrats surveyed said Democrats won the shutdown battle, as 25 percent said Republicans and 45 percent said neither side. A slight majority, 52 percent, of Republicans said their...

Democrats now celebrate the very nullificationist tactics they once decried, embracing a neo-Confederate defiance of federal authority to undermine a president they despise. Is Jeff Davis the Model?Who is the real, or fictional, inspiration for the new insurrectionary wing of the Democrat Party? The fictitious Hollywood insurrectionist, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “James Mattoon Scott” (Burt Lancaster), who in the 1964 film Seven Days in May attempted to overthrow the presidency? Or perhaps Jefferson Davis? He ultimately ordered the attack by South Carolina state forces against the federal garrison at Fort Sumter, which ignited the Civil War. Or...

America’s leftists have gone from a reverence for Europe’s socialist institutions to a subtle but complete nullification of the United States Constitution and American law. Leftists always adored Europe’s soft socialism. They wanted socialized medicine, practically free pharmaceutical drugs, six weeks of paid vacation a year, one year of parental leave for both parents (not that leftists actually want people to have children), subsidized housing, etc. Pointing out that all of this came about because of American taxpayers who funded building Europe back up after WWII, who absorbed all of Europe’s defense costs, and who pay the costs of all...

As Trump’s downward spiral starts producing harsher media coverage, a writer who regularly dissects MAGA and political media explains why he’s entering a tailspin that will be very hard to reverse. Suddenly, media outlets seem to have figured out that President Donald Trump is really, really unpopular. There’s been a palpable shift in the discourse: The New York Times reports that Republicans are quietly looking beyond Trump, suggesting he’s losing his grip on the party. Axios claims that it’s “red alert” time for Trump and the GOP. Politico describes how Republicans are getting routed in school board races, a sign...

Infighting. Bad polls. Party divisions. Midterm fears. It’s all back. President Donald Trump’s administration has been embroiled in scandal and sloppiness. His own party has defied his political pressure. His senior staff has been beset by infighting. He has sparred with reporters and offered over-the-top praise to an authoritarian with a dire human-rights record. A signature hard-line immigration policy has polled poorly. And Republicans have begun to brace themselves for a disastrous midterm election. That was 2017. But it’s also 2025. Ten months into the president’s second term, Trump 2.0 is for the first time starting to resemble the chaotic...

At least three people were killed, and 26 others were wounded in weekend shootings across Chicago as of Sunday. The ages of the victims range from 13 to 65, according to police. Two separate shootings took place in Chicago's Loop following holiday festivities. The first was around 9:50 p.m. in the 100 block of North State Street, near the Chicago Theatre. Police said officers saw a large group on the sidewalk and heard gunfire before the group ran from the area. Responding officers immediately responded to the area and found seven people, between 13 to 17 years of age, who...

Norwegian Cruise Line is alerting guests on Hawaii cruises in 2026 and beyond of the new Transient Accommodations Tax that levies an additional 14% on their cruise fare. While the cruise line is part of the legal challenges to the new tax, it may be some time before any court cases are resolved and in the meantime the tax goes into effect from January 1, 2026. Booked guests are reporting additional taxes on their cruise fares from $50-500 and higher, depending on the overall cost of their cruise and how much time their itinerary spends in Hawaii. Norwegian Cruise Line...

The Democrats’ orders to defy President Trump’s lawful orders and their outrage over Trump’s calls for accountability– and even the death penalty– are now blowing up in their faces after days of intended backlash against Trump.Trump is being proven right to call for criminal charges and the death penalty, if a jury determines it appropriate, by their own statements! In a recent video message to active-duty military members, six Democratic lawmakers told service members and intelligence officials that they have a “duty” to disobey “illegal” orders from President Trump. The members of Congress used their credentials as high-ranking former members...

In Chicago, the great city shaped by Mayor Richard J. Daley and his son, Mayor Richard M. Daley there is a new policy, a progressive policy. It is not the law-and-order city. Instead, the liberal politically correct Democrats who have followed the Daleys now refuse to punish repeat violent lawbreakers. The Democrats have become George Soros Social Justice Warriors and the newspapers reflect the progressive view. “Burn alive B****!” That is what a career violent predator with more than 50 arrests–at least 10 of them for violent felonies–is alleged to have shouted the other night in Chicago after dousing a...

Fmr CIA Ops Officer: Slotkin ‘Knew Exactly What She Was Putting Together with Her Little Propaganda Video’ On Friday’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” on FNC, former CIA operations officer and host of the “The Wright Report” podcast, Bryan Dean Wright, argued that Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) intentionally sparked a firestorm with what he deemed a “propaganda video” urging military members to defy so-called “illegal orders.” “All right, Brian, these Democrats. Is this seditious what they’re doing?” host Jesse Watters asked. “It is,” Wright replied. “And look, we need to be very, very clear about Slotkin and who she is, so she...

The group of Democrat lawmakers who told military members to disobey orders should be locked up, President Donald Trump proposed Saturday.Trump made his statements after those lawmakers, including Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), were featured in a video on Tuesday urging troops to ignore orders in the clip that said “Don’t give up the ship,” per Fox News.In his post on Truth Social, Trump said, “THE TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW, NOT ROAMING THE FAKE NEWS NETWORKS TRYING TO EXPLAIN THAT WHAT THEY SAID WAS OK. IT WASN’T, AND NEVER WILL...

The following quote is the opening salvo from an article titled “The Largest Funder of Al-Shabaab Is the Minnesota Taxpayer,” by Ryan Thorpe and Christopher Rufo, both with the Manhattan Institute: Minnesota is drowning in fraud. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been stolen during the administration of Governor Tim Walz alone. Democratic state officials, overseeing one of the most generous welfare regimes in the country, are asleep at the switch. And the media, duty-bound by progressive pieties, refuse to connect the dots. [snip] In many cases, the fraud has allegedly been perpetrated by members of Minnesota’s sizeable Somali community. Federal...

After Democratic lawmakers, who also are military veterans, released a video this week warning service personnel about following orders of the commander in chief that may be "illegal," President Trump reacted angrily, saying the action was "seditious." Now a group of Republican veterans have released their own video, reminding Americans in the military of the oath they took to the Constitution and criticizing the "insinuation" of the Democrats that Trump had given "illegal" orders. The video was put together by the Republican Conference of the U.S. House of Represenatives.

In Cypress, Texas, a Houston-area suburb that lures families with its high-quality education, Republicans used their two years of control on the school board to ban textbook chapters on climate change, diversity and vaccines. This month, Democrats took over the majority, picking up three seats on the school board and ending the conservative reign. From Texas to Pennsylvania to Ohio, Democrat-backed candidates ran successful campaigns in some of the nation’s largest school systems and in political battlegrounds. They emphasized test scores and bus safety over debates about which bathrooms transgender students use and banning books from school libraries. The result...

Congressional Democrats are openly encouraging anarchy with a new video calling on military and intelligence officials to disobey what they claim are unlawful orders from President Trump. All government officials take an oath to uphold the law, including the United States Constitution and all statutes. There are some examples where orders are plainly unlawful, and a defense of "I was just following orders" is unavailing. An infamous case involved Lt. William Calley, who led the horrific My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War. Democrats’ call here, however, is staggeringly dangerous and invites a coup. But exactly which orders do...

The House Democrat accused of stealing $5 million in FEMA funds called the indictment against her an attack on “Black and brown people.” Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) on Wednesday was indicted for allegedly stealing millions in relief funds and using a portion of the money to fund her campaign in 2022. Earlier in the year, the state of Florida sued Trinity Health Care Services for overpaying the company for a Covid-19 vaccination contract. Instead of correcting the supposed issue, the CEO of Trinity — Cherfilus-McCormick — allegedly loaned herself the money to invest in the campaign. The Justice Department accused...

Grok Summary of Video Transcript:1. Core Allegation: The "Podesta Plan" and Imminent Civil War PlotDescription: Jones repeatedly references a 2020 Democratic "war game" simulation (attributed to John Podesta via New York Times reporting and congressional records) as an "official plan" to refuse Trump's Electoral College win, send fraudulent electors from swing states, threaten Western secession (e.g., "Cascadia"), and demand reforms like abolishing the Electoral College or splitting California. He claims it's revived post-2024 election, aiming to stoke race-based riots, false flags (e.g., AI deepfakes of Trump crimes, attacks on Black churches blamed on him, or shooting down his plane), and...

Jim Ferguson @JimFergusonUK 🔥 WOW. You actually can’t make this up… Hakeem Jeffries just stood in front of the cameras and claimed: • “It’s a lie.” • “It’s a clown show.” • “I never met Epstein.” • “I never took his money.” Except… the financial records exist. The emails exist. The transactions are documented. You can deny reality, but you can’t erase a paper trail. For YEARS the American people were told that anyone who asked questions about Epstein was a conspiracy theorist. Now the very people who screamed “transparency!” are panicking because their own names are surfacing. The hypocrisy...

Multiple police officers were attacked, including one who was injured, while responding to a shooting in Chicago on Friday in which at least five victims were shot. The incident happened near State and Randolph streets at about 10 p.m., just hours after a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, according to Fox 32. Ald. Brian Hopkins of Chicago's 2nd Ward said at least five people were shot, including one person in critical condition. "300 juveniles rioting in the Loop now, at least 5 victims shot, one critical with life threatening gunshot wound to torso," he wrote on X. "Multiple police officers attacked...

Several congressional Democrats filed police complaints over social media posts from President Donald Trump calling for them to face arrest and even punishment by death after they advised U.S. service members to defy illegal orders. At least three lawmakers — Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) — said they contacted U.S. Capitol Police and filed complaints about Trump’s threats, which they said has undermined their personal safety and the safety of their offices. Though the complaints are unlikely to result in any further action by Capitol Police, it marks an escalation in the tensions simmering...