Free Republic

The numbers show Democrats have an image problem, amid record-low approval ratings and a growing voter registration gap. To reverse that trend, some Democrats are working to build a message they say can win over more Americans. Democrats suffered heavy losses in the 2024 elections, both nationally and in battleground states. Last year more new voters registered Republican than Democrat for the first time since 2018, according to data from business intelligence firm L2. “Democrats have to reestablish trust with voters and win a whole bunch of folks back,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. Landsman hopes to lead the charge...

In a move that’s sending shockwaves through the American media landscape, Fox News personalities Jeanine Pirro and Tyrus have fired a warning shot at the country’s legacy networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—declaring an all-out “war” that’s as much about influence as it is about ratings. The campaign, fueled by a staggering $2 billion war chest, isn’t merely a battle for viewers; it’s a fight for the soul of American discourse as the nation barrels toward the 2025 election. The War Begins: Fox News Goes Nuclear The drama unfolded in a series of televised segments and behind-the-scenes strategy sessions that quickly leaked...

Democratic friends, let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine you woke up one morning and all your media sources were produced by Christian nationalists. You sent your kids off to school and the teachers were espousing some version of Christian nationalism. You turned on your sports network and your late-night comedy, and everyone was preaching Christian nationalism.That’s a bit how it feels to be more conservative in the West today — to feel drenched by a constant downpour of progressive sermonizing. What would you do in such circumstances? Well, at least at first, you’d probably grit your teeth and take it...

... In 2022, after eight years of intermittent fighting in Ukraine’s east, Russia initiated a full-scale invasion, with the aim of reducing a rump Ukraine to a satrapy. Putin has given no indication of renouncing that ambition or of abandoning his broader goal of restoring Moscow’s sway over much of the former Soviet or tsarist empires, including the Baltic states and other nations to Russia’s west. Any “deal” between Trump and Putin (and the U.S. president, who has more recently referred to a “feel-out” meeting, is clearly downgrading expectations) will, given the Kremlin’s longer-term objectives, never be enough. The best...

‘How many people do you employ this month?” might sound like the kind of question an employer can easily answer, but it’s not. Especially for large businesses, the exact number of employees in a given month is hard to pin down. The media report layoffs and hires in round numbers, but for calculating total employment in the country, it really matters whether “500” means 478 or 523, because those discrepancies multiplied across millions of businesses make a huge difference. Within government, Donald Trump’s appointee as BLS commissioner, William Beach, has been a leader in calling for modernizing the surveys that...

Champions of the almost entirely party-line vote in the U.S. Senate to erase US$1.1 billion in already approved funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting called their action a refusal to subsidize liberal media. “Public broadcasting has long been overtaken by partisan activists,” said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, insisting there is no need for government to fund what he regards as biased media. “If you want to watch the left-wing propaganda, turn on MSNBC,” Cruz said. Accusing the media of liberal bias has been a consistent conservative complaint since the civil rights era, when white Southerners insisted news...

When Elon Musk sued Media Matters in 2023, the law firm of Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias swooped in to represent the liberal media group. It made little headway against the lawsuit before submitting millions of dollars in legal bills, prompting Media Matters officials to lash out at the firm as they faced financial ruin, according to a new report. According to the New York Times, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk’s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged...

Some people may call it the chickens coming home to roost. Media Matters for America (MMfA), a George Soros-funded left-wing censorship group, reportedly may be on the verge of collapse. The organization is reeling after a series of lawsuits and government investigations, which are straining its already frazzled finances. (MMfA raised $19 million in 2023 — and somehow spent $20 million.) But here’s what some may consider poetic justice: The group essentially claims the government is now doing the Right’s bidding in an effort to destroy it.This is the same group, a 2012 report held, that was previously coordinating with...

"The Late Show" wasn't just a platform for Democrats under Stephen Colbert's tenure, it was also one for left-wing journalists and hosts. Fox News Digital has counted at least 200 episodes of "The Late Show" that featured members of the liberal media. The far-left politics of "The Late Show" have been facing scrutiny after CBS announced last week that it was pulling the plug on Colbert's program, which will officially wrap up in May 2026. According to IMDB search results, CNN anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper holds the record with 20 formal guest appearances on "The Late Show."...

“So, for the first time in history, Americans have stopped watching NBC, CBS TV, and ABC,” reported commentator Bill O’Reilly Thursday. “Their viewing level has fallen below 20 percent — unheard of.”“And it’s because they’re boring and they’re far left,” O’Reilly elaborated. “That’s the two reasons.”The latest casualty of this legacy-media collapse is notable, too.CBS is canceling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, effective after the 2025-’26 season.The move will end what will have been a 33-year run that began with host David Letterman in 1993. Colbert took the show’s helm in 2015, shortly after Letterman’s retirement.The news-making announcement has...

Everybody was shocked — shocked! — when Stephen Colbert announced this week that CBS canceled “The Late Show.” The despondent media reacted like a meteor was about to smash into Earth. But how surprising was Colbert’s kibosh really? Did peoples’ jaws also hit the floor when Blockbuster Video called it quits in 2014? Were they muffling their screams when blimps were phased out for air travel in 1937? “What do you mean ‘no more silent films’?!” The end of “The Late Show” was every bit as writ-in-stone as any of those predictable downfalls. And it’s not only Colbert. The Grim...

"CBS has announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, bringing the show’s historic run—and the Late Show franchise itself—to a close."Colbert addressed the show’s cancellation himself while taping tonight’s show."

It takes the undeveloped ego of a toddler to pout this long. But if Elmo on Sesame Street can learn how to share, surely these three can too. For all its concern about a peaceful transfer of power, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are probably not planning a story about the three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) who have refused to leave the board after Trump removed them in April.Not so long ago — in 2020 and 2021 — PBS and NPR were spreading propaganda that President Donald Trump was going...

Trump has largely shut down the southwest border by ending asylum programs and deploying troops. But those moves have shrunk the pool of easy-to-deport migrants.TIJUANA, Mexico — When President Donald Trump pledged to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history,” this border city swung into action. The local government declared a state of emergency. Federal authorities built a shelter for up to 2,600 deportees, complete with beds, showers and white-coated chefs. It was, one local official said, the “zombie apocalypse scenario.” But five months after Trump took office, the shelter is nearly empty. So few deportees have arrived —...

The mainstream media tried to destroy Trump—but in the end, they destroyed themselves. This is the story of anchors who lost their minds, reporters who lost their careers, and a media machine that couldn’t handle President Trump.

“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley spoke out about President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS and its parent company on Saturday, arguing that a settlement would be “very damaging.” “Well, it’d be very damaging to CBS, to Paramount, to the reputation of those companies,” Pelley said during a conversation with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Saturday, who asked how harmful a settlement and potential apology would be to the network. Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount Global, CBS News’ parent company, over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in October 2024. Fox News Digital confirmed that Trump rejected...

Scott Pelley ended @60Minutes by lamenting the resignation of Executive Producer Bill Owens who “did it for us and you.” Pelley ludicrously claimed Owens made sure stories on Israel and the Trump admin “were accurate and fair.” Pelley complained: “Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”

While all presidents tussle with the press, President Donald Trump has taken things to another level at the beginning of his second term. Trump, still in his first 100 days in office, has kicked the historic Associated Press out of the Oval Office and off of Air Force One, seized control of the White House press pool rotation to bring in friendly outlets, and now may take over coveted seating assignments in the Brady Press Briefing Room. All three moves generated howls of outrage from the White House Correspondents' Association, an 800-member group that previously self-policed access. "The White House...

The White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday pushed back against the White House’s plans to exert control over the briefing room seating assignments for journalists. In an email to members, the association — which is made up of an independent group of journalists covering the Trump administration — said it was aware of the reported efforts from the White House to take over the briefing room’s organization chart. The seating has long been set by WHCA. “If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The executive order directed at one of the country’s most prestigious law firms followed a well-worn playbook as President Donald Trump roared down the road to retribution. Reaching beyond government, Trump has set out to impose his will across a broad swath of American life, from individuals who have drawn his ire to institutions known for their own flexes of power and intimidation. Which is how the Paul Weiss, a storied New York law firm that since its 1875 birth has advanced the cause of civil rights, shepherded the legal affairs of corporate power brokers and grown...