Free Republic

The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Service committees on Saturday expressed they are “very concerned” about the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid President Trump’s feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump on Wednesday had announced that he was reviewing a possible reduction of U.S. troops in Germany. “We are very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany,” the chairs, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a joint statement. “Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending...

The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II. As of March 31, the country’s publicly held debt was $31.265 trillion, while GDP over the preceding year was $31.216 trillion, according to data released Thursday. That puts the ratio at 100.2%, compared with 99.5% when the last fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That figure will likely climb for the foreseeable future because the federal government is running historically large annual deficits of nearly 6% of GDP, which add to...

Donald Trump's naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is unraveling after dozens of Iranian vessels secretly slipped past US surveillance, even as the regime tightened its grip on the critical oil passageway by attacking three tankers. Approximately 34 Iranian oil tankers have slipped through the blockade, with 19 vessels exiting the Persian Gulf past Trump's navy and another 15 ships entering from the Arabian Sea toward Iran, according to the Financial Times. Six of those tankers were smuggling Iranian crude oil totaling 10.7 million barrels, estimated to be worth approximately $910 million in revenue for the regime. The report...

Former Republican congressman Devin Nunes is out as the CEO of Trump Media — the company that owns Truth Social — after the firm recorded a $712 million net loss in 2025. In a press release, Donald Trump Jr. issued the following statement on behalf of the Board of Directors: I want to thank Devin Nunes for his dedicated service to the Company over the past four years, and congratulate Kevin McGurn on his appointment as Interim CEO. Kevin brings deep experience across media, technology, and capital markets, as well as a strong understanding of Trump Media’s operations and strategic...

Concern about the status of U.S. munitions inventories has intensified as reports emerge about high expenditures of Tomahawks, Patriots, and other missiles in the Iran war. As Operation Epic Fury remains paused in a shaky ceasefire, there is an opportunity to assess whether the U.S. military nears the point of going “Winchester”—or running out of ammunition. Analysis of seven key munitions shows that the United States has enough missiles to continue fighting this war under any plausible scenario. The risk—which will persist for many years—lies in future wars. In the 39 days of the air and missile campaign before the...

A group of conservatives aligned with President Donald Trump is pushing him to aggressively expand immigration enforcement as his administration signals a shift to less deportation rhetoric ahead of the midterm elections, Axios reported. The Mass Deportation Coalition, a group of immigration law and policy experts, former senior and rank-and-file law enforcement officials, advocates, and supporters that launched in February, last week released a playbook to fulfill the largest deportation push in U.S. history. “Our basic goal of the mass deportation coalition is to actually provide Trump with what we call kind of a right flank, saying, 'No, Mr. President,...

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday said Texas Republicans are “going to have a tough time” holding onto their majority in the state House this fall, the latest and perhaps most notable sign yet of GOP unease about the midterm elections. Speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual conference in Austin, Patrick said it is imperative for the loser of Republicans’ rancorous Senate primary runoff — whether it’s U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or Attorney General Ken Paxton — to support the winner against Democratic candidate James Talarico. The Austin state representative locked up his party’s nomination in March and...

A new report on the goings-on within President Donald Trump's close circle of advisors revealed that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has allegedly urged the group to be "more forthright with the boss" about the realities of his war with Israel against Iran. Wiles was concerned that the president's aides were offering him a rose-colored outlook on how the war was being perceived among Americans, too often telling Trump what he wanted to hear, according to TIME Magazine, which cited several White House sources and a senior administration official. According to the official, Trump has begun many recent...

Donald Trump has privately asked cabinet members in recent weeks whether he should replace his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran, according to two people briefed on the discussions. It is not clear that Trump will actually fire Gabbard over the episode. Currently, there is no standout candidate to take the job, and advisers have cautioned that creating a high-profile vacancy before a successor is ready could cause unhelpful political distractions. But Trump’s discussions mark an ominous development for Gabbard, given the president tends...

Oil surged 10% Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump warned of further military aggression against Iran in the next two to three weeks, dampening hopes for an imminent de-escalation in the conflict. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May were up 10% at $110.21 a barrel as of 8:13 a.m. ET. June futures for international benchmark Brent crude rose 8% to $109.25 per barrel. Trump in his speech attributed the increase in oil prices to the “Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.” He said...

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering firing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in recent days but publicly praised her performance after the report surfaced, as congressional scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein case files intensifies, according to The New York Times. Trump has floated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin as a possible replacement but has not made a final decision, the Times reports. The deliberations over Bondi’s future intersect with mounting bipartisan pressure on the Justice Department to fully release materials related to the sex offender Epstein, placing the attorney general at the center of an...

White House officials have privately discussed their concerns about recent internal and public polling on the economy and President Trump and have been trying to drum up new strategies to prevent GOP losses in the midterm elections, sources briefed on the conversations told CBS News. Senior aides, including chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff James Blair, regularly brief the president on the latest polling on voter sentiment. A central focus is the dissatisfaction of independent voters, whose economic angst has risen since the president's tariffs triggered global economic uncertainty and gas prices began to spike as...

The IDF could soon collapse if there is no solution to the shortage of manpower, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir warned in remarks during a security cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. “I am raising 10 red flags before the IDF collapses into itself,” Zamir said during the cabinet meeting, The Jerusalem Post confirmed. IDF sources also told the Post that there is tremendous concern due to the severe manpower shortage, especially amid the ongoing war. Even in peacetime, Israel would still need more soldiers – not fewer – on the border in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and the West...

Kristi Noem kept her lover Corey Lewandowski close at hand as she made her first appearance in her new job after she was booted from the Department of Homeland Security. Noem and Lewandowski sat side-by-side across from Guyanese President Irfaan Ali during a meeting in the South American country on Tuesday. She was all smiles during the meeting, which came just weeks after she was grilled over the supposed affair in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier in March. Noem dodged questions about the affair as her husband sat behind her at that hearing. That disastrous hearing resulted in her...

Netanyahu seeks to pass the Budget by March 31 to avoid snap elections, which polls suggest he would likely lose. The war in Iran has shifted focus from Gaza, but polls remain unchanged since Oct 7, showing weak support for Netanyahu. To secure the Budget, Netanyahu's coalition allocated funds to allies, like ultra-Orthodox parties, ensuring their support. Polls consistently show around 40 per cent of voters sticking with Mr Netanyahu’s coalition of nationalist and religious parties, 40 per cent backing opposition parties, and a swing vote so far not moving to Mr Netanyahu, said Professor Gideon Rahat, a political scientist...

In the nearly three weeks since President Donald Trump struck Iran, conventional wisdom has set in that his base is sticking with him on the war. It’s true that Trump’s base hasn’t ditched him in huge numbers — and an overwhelming number of MAGA supporters, especially, say they support the war. The opposition from the likes of Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Megyn Kelly and other influencers hasn’t translated to wide swaths of the GOP base itself. But Trump has alienated some significant portions of his base, and he’s risking alienating more. A fresh batch of polling in recent days...

Political analyst Dick Morris warned Saturday that escalating conflict with Iran could damage President Donald Trump politically if U.S. war aims expand beyond limiting Tehran's ability to threaten the global economy. Speaking on Newsmax's "Saturday Report," Morris said Trump's core supporters remain loyal but cautioned that the broader American public may not tolerate the economic pain that could accompany a prolonged confrontation. "I think the MAGA base has long patience with Donald Trump," Morris said. "But the American people are probably not willing to accept the level of pain economically in the world that is commensurate with what Iran is...

President Trump on Friday said he knows the U.S. military operation in Iran will come to an end when he can “feel it in my bones,” a remark that comes almost two weeks after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Middle Eastern country began. Trump spoke with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on his podcast “The Brian Kilmeade Show” and told him, “When it’s over –– and I don’t think it’s going to be long –– when it’s over, this is going to bounce back so fast.” “When are you going to know when it’s over?” Kilmeade asked. “When...

Some of the first polling of the general election race for U.S. Senate in Texas showed that the Democratic candidate has the lead over both Republicans vying for the seat. Texas state Rep. James Talarico won the Democratic Party’s nomination during last week’s primary. However, the Republicans running for the office – incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton – are preparing for a May runoff after neither of them cracked the 50% threshold during the primary. The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling between March 4 and 5 and asked respondents questions ranging from the...