Free Republic

In near-daily briefings with top military officials at the White House, President Donald Trump has reviewed options that include sending American troops into Iran. The decision whether to go ahead is perhaps his most difficult of the war since US strikes began February 28. For many Trump allies in Washington, the deployment of thousands of US troops to the Middle East would mean the swift end of their public support for the war— and likely threaten the administration’s ability to deliver the hundreds of billions of dollars in supplemental funding the White House will soon seek. But for Trump, fully...

Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado has responded furiously to reports that the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war. Boebert told CNN's Manu Raju on Thursday that she would not support any supplemental funding for the war. "I will not vote for a war supplemental," she said. "No. I am a no. I've already told leadership. I am a no on any war supplementals. I am so tired of spending money elsewhere." She continued: "I am tired of the industrial-war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who...

A US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. Hawkins said the aircraft landed safely and the incident is under investigation. “The aircraft landed safely, and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation.” The incident would...

CNN hasn't exactly had a banner month. It started with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spanking CNN's Kaitlin Collins about the dignified transfer of our brave service members who died in Operation Epic Fury, and only went downhill from there.Just a few days later, the network repeatedly shared the false news that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of homemade IEDs that were thrown into a crowd of anti-Islam protesters near Gracie Mansion. They started by portraying the alleged bombers, Ibrahim Kayumi and Emir Balat, as "two Pennsylvania teenagers" who "crossed into New York City ......

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten dismissed the narrative of a MAGA split Wednesday with polls showing President Trump is enjoying 100% support from his Republican base. “Sometimes you look at the polling data and there are numbers that just jump off the screen at you – and this is one of those,” Enten said, as he highlighted an NBC News survey showing Trump’s 100% approval rating among Republicans who identify as “MAGA.” “You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to know you can’t go higher than 100%,” Enten quipped. “He is the 1972 Miami Dolphins,” the data expert...

Enten on Tuesday morning reported the polling shows MAGA overwhelmingly backs Operation Epic Fury. “Look at this! Nearly 9 in 10, 89% approve of the U.S. military action in Iran. That is the MAGA GOP base,” Enten said during a segment on CNN News Central. “Just 9% disapprove of it. This is tremendously popular among the Republican base.”

'It was not just a butt smack or a butt grab,' she continued. 'It was a groping of a private area. It had been occurring for several months.' The victims' parents were less than satisfied with how the school district and Principal Georgina Aye handled the distressing case. 'I think from the very beginning, Fairfax County has attempted to diminish what happened to these girls,' a parent said, calling the county's approach to the situation 'abysmal.' An undocumented migrant has been charged with nine counts of assault and battery after it was claimed that he was groping fellow students in...

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward joined "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Wednesday night live from Iraq, where she accused the White House of demonstrating a "staggering lack of humility" with its handling of the war in Iran so far. Colbert asked Ward directly how she, as an on-the-ground journalist, felt about the White House's use of action movie clips and "Call of Duty" gameplay in a recent social media video covering the war in Iran. "As a journalist, I'm really not supposed to say this, but I feel deeply ashamed, and I think it belies a staggering lack of...

Actually, it’s easy to say. On Friday’s CNN This Morning, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen claimed it was “hard to say” whether recent terror attacks have any connection to immigration. But the suspects’ backgrounds in four recent cases tell a very different story. [snip] "Calls for additional immigration constraints… as a practical matter when it comes to terrorism, it's not going to have any real effect.”Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said. And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon...

Iran’s military has shown off its enormous supply of naval suicide drones, which it is using to blockade the crucial Strait of Hormuz, in chilling footage taken from its underground “missile city.” Footage from Iranian state media purportedly shows underground tunnels full of naval drones, anti-ship missiles, and sea mines, with dramatic footage also showing some of them being fired. Experts have analyzed the footage, released by Iranian state media outlet Fars, telling CNN exactly what is being shown off. The full terrifying array of armory on display includes: Abadil-2/3 “kamikaze” drones: Shown on rail launchers inside the tunnels, these...

"If you are feeling dumb today, just remember, there are real people who believe Iran is winning." —Cam Higby on "X". Terminally Depressed on CNN. You probably wonder what the end of this war will look like. It won’t look like V-J Day in Times Square, 1945, with sailors kissing girls they met five seconds ago. Our country is way too divided and disturbed with politically-inflected mental illness for love to bloom in the streets like it did then. If you happen to catch the glum crew on CNN you will detect that they really want this operation to fail...

President Donald Trump was gravitating toward endorsing Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn last week. But he and some top advisers grew frustrated after his intentions leaked to the press, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, and the plan stalled. Then Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced on Friday that if the Senate passed the president’s voting restrictions bill — something Trump has grown particularly fixated on in recent weeks — he would consider dropping out of the runoff race. Paxton specified the GOP should lift the filibuster to do so, an idea many Republican senators oppose. White...

The Jan. 6 Select Committee's various improprieties and its prioritization of narrative over facts have been exposed. Nevertheless, key participants in the Democrat-led lawfare campaign have so far managed to evade consequence. That might soon change. House Republicans have reportedly referred Jan. 6 committee star witness Cassidy Hutchinson to the Department of Justice for criminal charges. A pair of sources reportedly familiar with recent developments told CNN that Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk (Ga.), the chairman of the Select Subcommittee to Investigate the Remaining Questions Surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, recently made the referral, which was co-signed by House Judiciary Chairman Jim...

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on Wednesday over why he was the only Senate Democrat who did not sign a letter pressing for an investigation into the strike on an elementary school in Iran. Fetterman joined The Source to discuss the ongoing U.S. military operation and his view of the war as it continues through its second week. Reporting on Monday claimed that the U.S. campaign in Iran was responsible for a strike on a girls’ elementary school that killed 175 people, most of whom were children. In a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,...

Greg: All right, so this week CNN once again left the realm of news coverage for the magical land of make-believe. This time waving their wands over a terror attack, shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” and two suspects who said they did it to impress the goat-bangers at ISIS.Enough details for the story of the year, you would think, but not for Cincinnati. They decided the terror and mayhem wasn't the real story, and this was their tweet:“Two PA teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could have been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm...

CNN deleted a social media post Tuesday after outraged critics flamed it for trivializing the self-radicalized ISIS fanatics accused of hurling bombs at Gracie Mansion — calling them two “teenagers” who entered New York City for “what could’ve been a normal day.” “Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather,” said the tweet from the lefty news outlet, which was also the since-removed summary accompanying the full article, according to screenshots. “But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the...

....major disagreements between the different polls. Why do I say that? Take a look here. Okay, this is the net approval rating. That's the approval rating minus the disapproval rating. And this is the net approval rating for US military action in Iran. Look at this. CNN, our own CNN poll shows that the net approval rating is minus 18 points. Very similar to the Ipsos polling at -6 points. But then all of a sudden, you see the NBC News polling and look at this. You see it at - 11 points, getting a little bit more popular. And...

At least four U.S. service members have died. ... Respondents who identified as MAGA Republicans are 30 points more likely than non-MAGA Republicans to say they strongly approve of the military action and 34 points more likely to say it will reduce the threat Iran poses to the United States, CNN reported. They were also 50 points more likely to say they have a “great deal of trust” in Trump to make the right decisions regarding Iran... Among Republicans, 77 percent said they approve of the decision to take military action in Iran, while 23 percent disapproved. Fifty-eight percent said...

CNN was accused of pushing out “pro-Iran regime propaganda” by the Trump administration on Thursday after a reporter for the network said it appeared daily life was continuing despite the ongoing war. Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen said during a segment that all the shelves in shops are stocked, “even with fresh things,” as he casually held a cup of coffee. “Fuel seems readily available, and you just don’t see any degree of panic anywhere,” he said.