Free Republic

But if Massie loses, it's not just the end of his career. (He told Mangu-Ward that if GOP primary voters send him packing, he's going back to his plow and "nobody will ever hear from me again"). It would also effectively be the end of what used to be called the Tea Party, a loose conglomeration of Republican representatives and senators who rode a wave of anti-Barack Obama and anti-George W. Bush sentiment to office in the early 2010s. Although some said that the tea in Tea Party stood for the "taxed-enough already," the rallying cry of the early Tea...

Donald Trump was for the Iran war before he was against it. His latest post on social media about the conflict indicated that he is once more calling off a sweeping military action, this time at the behest of his Gulf allies who are apparently quaking at the thought of a renewed conflict. Trump’s initial sentence was quite a mouthful: I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold...

Most voters think President Trump made the wrong decision to go to war with Iran, a New York Times/Siena poll found, leaving the Republican Party on rocky political footing heading into the midterm elections as his approval rating sinks and economic concerns rise.Majorities of voters said that the war was not worth the costs and held deeply pessimistic views about the economy.Mr. Trump’s approval rating — a key historical predictor of how a president’s party will fare in an election — has sunk to a second-term low in Times/Siena polls of 37 percent amid the deeply unpopular Middle East conflict....

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is calling off an attack on Iran planned for Tuesday because regional leaders had urged him to allow negotiations to continue and that a “very acceptable” deal for the U.S. was at hand.Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates asked him “to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal...

The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers are seeking to win over U.S. farmers, a core constituency for the president during his 2016 and 2024 White House wins that has been aggravated by rising prices caused by his trade policies and the Iran war. Ahead of a midterm election season where the GOP is working to win every vote it can, the White House and its allies in Congress are reaching out to farmers in red and blue states alike. On the way back from Beijing after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump assured farmers that they would...

The U.S.-brokered alliance designed to counter Iran in the Middle East is showing signs of strain amid tensions between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, an analyst says, as the possibility of a broader conflict with Tehran intensified Sunday. The friction first surfaced May 13 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held a "historic breakthrough" meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a "secret visit" to Al Ain near the Oman border. The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a swift denial following the announcement. Sachs, a senior fellow at the institute, said...

Catholic Trump voters are not a univocal group, and on many issues, they reflect the same concerns as other Americans. First, there are pro-life Catholics for whom abortion is the most important issue...Trump’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the overturning of Roe v. Wade... But in politics, it does not matter what you did for me yesterday, but rather, what are you doing for me today? He has abandoned the pro-life movement, removing the anti-abortion plank from the Republican Party’s 2024 national platform... The platform now supports IVF, which pro-life advocates oppose because it results in the...

Donald Trump has revealed that Xi Jinping offered to help the US break Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. 'President Xi would like to see a deal made,' Trump told Fox News. 'He said, 'If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help.' Anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of relationship, but he'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open.' Trump did not say what Xi would want in return for China's assistance, but there have been reports that Beijing is seeking tariff relief and access to...

Wholesale prices in April posted their highest annual increase in more than three years, signaling more nettlesome inflation as pipeline costs intensify.The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% for the month, much higher than the 0.5% Dow Jones consensus forecast and the upwardly revised 0.7% March increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. This was the largest monthly gain since March 2022.On an annual basis, the index was up 6%, the biggest increase since December 2022.

A stunning new poll by The Heartland Institute’s Glenn C. Haskins Emerging Issues Center and Rasmussen Reports reveals that 51% of young Americans who are likely to vote in the next presidential election would like to see a democratic socialist in the Oval Office. The survey found that nearly three-in-10 young Americans who voted for President Trump in 2024 would prefer a democratic socialist win the presidency in 2028. Those earning less than $100,000 per year and those earning $200,000 or more also voiced strong support for a democratic socialist in the White House whereas the only income cohort to...

A Russian cargo vessel suspected of carrying components for two nuclear submarine reactors, possibly destined for North Korea, sank in the Mediterranean Sea under mysterious circumstances in December 2024, according to a CNN investigation published today. The Ursa Major (also known as Sparta 3), a heavy-lift ship linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet” and previously used in military operations in Syria, went down approximately 60 miles (about 100 km) off the coast of Spain near Cartagena on December 23, 2024. The sinking followed a series of explosions that killed two crew members and left 14 others rescued by Spanish authorities. Spanish...

A decorated FBI official who is suing the agency for wrongful dismissal said he was asked to pledge loyalty to Donald Trump during his vetting for the role. In his first interview since leaving the FBI in 2025, Brian Driscoll, who served as the interim director of the agency under the US president, told CNN he was repeatedly asked about his personal political views while being interviewed for the role. Mr Driscoll and two other senior FBI officials are suing Kash Patel, the head of the agency, and the FBI over allegations of wrongful termination. The lawsuit accuses Mr Patel...

President Donald Trump will not control the Republican Party forever. No political figure does... History is littered with figures who seemed immovable — until they moved. The question is never whether change will come. The question is whether honorable people are ready when it does. We intend to be ready. What does that mean in practice? It means identifying and supporting candidates, at every level of government, but most importantly a candidate for President in 2028, who hold genuine conservative values rather than merely pay lip service to them. It means building a coalition of Republicans who understand that winning...

Washington — As inflation rose to its highest rate in years and CBS News polling shows high prices at the pump are causing financial strain for many Americans, President Trump told reporters Tuesday, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" as a motivation for negotiations with Iran, and said he is only concerned with preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. When asked by a reporter how much Americans' finances are "motivating you to make a deal," Mr. Trump responded: "Not even a little bit."

U.S. gasoline inventories are on pace to drop to historical seasonal lows by late summer, further straining a tight fuel market upended by the war in Iran. Stockpiles are expected to fall below 200 million barrels by the end of August, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a May 4 note. The projections for record seasonal low fuel inventories are the latest indication that the global energy supply crunch appears set to continue for months to come. “The U.S. gasoline market is genuinely tight and tightening further into summer,” Morgan Stanley analyst Martijn Rats and strategists Charlotte Firkins and Amy Gower...

President Trump ripped The New York Times on Tuesday morning over a report detailing the ballooning cost of his project to repair and renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post. “Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify...

Donald Trump mocked 'little boy' JD Vance last night as he recalled Secret Service agents yanking the Vice President out of his chair and hoisting him to safety during the recent assassination attempt. The President did not spare Vance's blushes as he spoke in the White House Rose Garden, even polling guests on whether they preferred Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his 2028 successor. Trump, addressing the Secret Service, said: 'I thought you did a great job two weeks ago. You know why? Because I’m here.' 'But I will be the one to find fault if I think there...

Prices that consumers pay for a wide range of goods and services increased at a faster-than-expected pace in April, as another burst in energy prices raised further concerns about inflation’s impact on the U.S. economy. The consumer price index rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.6% for the month, putting the one-year pace at 3.8%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. The monthly rate was as forecast, but the annual rate was 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus.

OK. I have been doing my best to read the Trump tea leaves, figure out the Art of the Deal, and parse all the information out there so that I can figure out Donald Trump's strategy in the Iran War. I thought I had a good handle on it, and until the past few days, Trump's behavior accorded pretty well with my overall theory. Trump's strategy appeared to have been to pressure Iran into full and complete capitulation on the issues of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles (which exist to make attacking Iran nearly impossible), and to get the Strait of...

Border Czar Tom Homan told CBS News that President Donald Trump is talking to his advisors about offering some form of “legal status” to many illegal migrants. A pro-migration reporter at CBS asked Homan on Wednesday: “Would you support a compromise, sir, that involves giving legal status [amnesty] to the millions of people who are here illegally but are otherwise law-abiding?” “I’m not gonna get ahead of the President on that,” Homan cautiously responded. “I work for the President,” Homan added, as the Colombian-born migrant reporter interrupted him to insist that “Something has to be done to address that [illegal...