Free Republic

With the passage of Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” the GOP won a generational victory. It did so by co-opting key Democratic messages and building a MAGA-based story of America and what ails it.Democrats are getting used to that. Most of them consider Trump as a sui generis political figure who voters don’t associate with the GOP’s least popular ideas.Ironically, Trump built that reputation in 2020, before he lost the presidency. He had scrapped the GOP’s old commitment to reforming Social Security and Medicaid in his 2016 campaign, denying Democrats one of their best issues. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he...

Are interest rates too high? A lot of people think they are, and a growing chorus of voices is calling on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to cut rates. Are they right? Does the central bank need to step in, slash interest rates, and loosen monetary policy? The honest answer to the question is that nobody really knows. However, from a historical perspective, interest rates are low, and monetary policy remains loose. What Are Interest Rates? Before we delve into whether the current interest rate environment is too high or too low, we need to understand exactly what an interest...

Republicans finally got their “big, beautiful bill” across the finish line. Now they’re turning to their next urgent tasks: codifying billions in spending cuts and avoiding a government shutdown. The Senate plans to vote no earlier than next week on President Donald Trump’s request for lawmakers to scrap $9.4 billion in previously approved funding for NPR, PBS and foreign aid, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans. That’s running dangerously close to lawmakers’ July 18 deadline to vote in favor of the rescissions package, or the administration will be forced to spend the money as Congress originally...

In a shocking interview, an FBI whistleblower revealed the deep state operation within the federal government to sabotage Director Kash Patel, explaining that a little-known piece of the agency’s rule book allows its operatives to launch a counterintelligence investigation into anyone, including the Trump nominee for FBI director. For background, on December 4, 2024, FBI whistleblower Steve Friend appeared on Benny Johnson’s “The Benny Show” to discuss corruption within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During the interview, Friend shared some shocking information about what he described as a “full counterintelligence investigation” into Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee for director of...

The U.S. Navy is facing a critical shortage of attack submarines, a “nightmare” scenario where aging Los Angeles-class boats are being retired faster than new Virginia-class submarines can be built. This impending capability gap is a symptom of a much deeper crisis within the American naval shipbuilding industry, which is plagued by inefficiencies, delays, and an inability to keep pace with the rapid expansion of China’s Navy.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has arguably topped last week’s embarrassing performance on the House floor with one of the worst Photoshop jobs of all time. On Monday, Jeffries attempted to make himself relatable to everyday Americans by posting a photo of himself on Instagram leaning against a park bench in Brooklyn. He is seen wearing a tracksuit and sunglasses to try to give off a cool vibe. “Home Sweet Home,” he wrote. However, as one can see, there are a few problems with the photo. Not only is Jeffries’s waist far thinner than in real life, but the bench...

I asked Grok: Fact check: Compared to the 1950s, here are some things that are far, far better in 2025: Average life expectancy. Square footage of housing per person. Houses today are much bigger, but the number of people in each house is much smaller. Number of bathrooms per person in each house. Percentage of homes with air conditioning. Number of dental cavities for the average 18 year old. Percentage of the population that is vaccinated against polio and measles. Percentage of the population that has indoor plumbing. Percentage of the population that takes a daily shower. Being able to...

Former President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council director has slipped from being the voice of reason on inflation to going full Cocaine Bear by screeching that President Trump was killing people with his economic agenda. You can’t make this up. Economist Larry Summers waved around a ridiculous Yale Budget Lab report to seethe July 6 to ABC’s This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) “will kill, over ten years, 100,000 people. That is two thousand days of death like we’ve seen in Texas this weekend...In my 70 years, I've never been as embarrassed for my country...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the world waited with bated breath to learn about the contents of the ancient biblical artifact, U.S. Attorney General Pam Pondi made an official statement confirming that the Ark of the Covenant was sitting on her desk waiting to be reviewed. Though the public was eager for the secrets of the Israelite relic to be revealed, Bondi urged patience as the federal government took its time to investigate the Ark and follow a methodical process before releasing its findings. "I can assure the American people that we've got top men working on it right now," Bondi...

As Congress was approving President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" on Thursday, the Social Security Administration touted the legislation by stating that it "eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries." That claim, which echoes previous promises by Mr. Trump to remove taxes on Social Security, may have come as welcome news for the millions of older and disabled people who depend on the program for income. So does the bill deliver? Not entirely. In a press release, the SSA said that the tax and spending package, which the president is set to sign into law on Friday,...

Unfortunately, this lesson is also lost on America’s leaders. America is selling hundreds of billions worth of assets—everything from shares in New York’s largest companies to Iowa’s best farmland—every year to pay for our trade deficit. For example, foreign investors now own some 40% of all U.S. equities. This has skyrocketed up from just 12% in 2007. Likewise, Americans are selling enormous amounts of real estate to pay for foreign production. In 2019 alone, foreigners purchased $183 billion in American real estate. America is selling its heritage and its economic lifeblood for cheap Chinese trinkets. We are selling our soul...

After thoroughly demonstrating its impotence against the Israeli Air Force and the US precision strike on its nuclear facilities, Iran is pursuing several divergent strategies for restoring its prestige as a force to be feared. First, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has written a letter to the United Nations demanding that the UN "impose reparations for the damage caused by the unprovoked and unwarranted airstrikes on our country by the Little Satan and the Great Satan. The Security Council is obligated to hold the aggressors accountable and recognize the targeted attacks on Iran as heinous and serious crimes. They must...

VIDEOIt used to be that young women were warned against smoking cigarettes not only due to reasons of health but also because the inhalation of tobacco leads to the ruin of their looks. The good news is that smoking among young people has dropped dramatically in the past few years. The bad news is that extreme TDS now seems to be the leading cause of women having their appearances destroyed. Just look at what happened to Kathy Griffin. It's SCARY what happened to her and it is all due to her hatred of Donald Trump.

President Trump's Justice Department and FBI have concluded they have no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a "client list" or was murdered, according to a memo detailing the findings obtained by Axios. The administration is releasing a video — in both raw and "enhanced" versions — that it says indicates no one entered the area of the Manhattan prison where Epstein was held the night he died in 2019. The video supports a medical examiner's finding that Epstein died by suicide, the two-page memo claims. Why it matters: The findings represent...

Virginia’s off-year elections are being viewed by both parties as a key bellwether heading into next year’s midterms, as well as a potential indicator for how voters view President Trump. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) will face off to become the first female governor of the state, while Democrats will seek to maintain and grow their majority in the House of Delegates. The races could prove to be a litmus test for the first year of Trump’s second administration as Republicans prepare to defend their majorities in Congress next year, especially as Virginia has...

We’ve spent the last few years marveling at how AI tools seem to think, with me, for me, and even a curious cognitive construct that I've struggled to put my finger on. snip So, here are the emergent questions. What happens when a machine can predict your professional judgment better than a colleague? What happens when it completes your thoughts more fluently than you can? What happens when an LLM can model your biases, your hesitations, your habits of mind and then adjust accordingly? Read this paragraph again and really think about it—in a way that only a human can....

It’s common sense: Local challenges should be confronted and solved locally whenever possible. Protecting Americans’ health is no exception. Yet few realize that the World Health Organization still exerts influence over American health care, even as the United States has taken steps to separate from it. Earlier this year, a presidential executive order initiated the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO, citing concerns that the organization prioritizes politics over science and public accountability. There is no question that leaving the WHO was and still is an important step forward for American patients, but there is much more work...

Maybe it's the insatiable need for attention, maybe it's the desperation felt by unimpressive also-rans to come up with anything provocative enough to generate some kind of reaction, or maybe it's the obnoxious preoccupation that DC-dwellers have with their own egos that prevents the exercise of basic human decency. But whatever it is, the penchant far too many politicians demonstrate to crawl on top of freshly dead bodies - particularly those of innocent children - puff their chests out and use soul-searing pain as a perch for their own pet agenda remains one of the most deplorable social cancers plaguing...

On June 16, 2025, Lebanese TV host Walid Abboud, on Hala Al-Arabiya (Lebanon), addressed Hizbullah and Iranian regime supporters in Lebanon, telling them to leave Lebanon. He said that they should take their weapons, drones, rockets, flags, and allegiance to the Supreme Leader and the "Resistance Axis" with them.He said that their "Great Iran" has planted a nuclear bomb in the midst of Lebanon, while its people are consumed by wars and killed by hunger. He accused Hizbullah of planting weapons and drones throughout Lebanon under the guise of saving the country, saying that in reality, it is finishing it...

There are 12 states where concealed carry on campus is legal during the first half of 2025. On July 1, 2025, there will be fourteen states, as laws become effective in Wyoming and South Dakota.On June 30, 1971, the 26th Amendment was ratified, allowing people 18 years and older the right to vote in the United States. Thus, the age of majority was lowered from 21 years to 18 years. Most students at universities are less than 21 years old. For most of the history of the United States, universities took on the role of a parent for the minors...