Free Republic

Though rarely honored these days exactly on Feb. 22, his actual birth date, “Presidents’ Day” is officially still Washington’s birthday. And that’s entirely right and proper, as our first chief executive deserves every American’s gratitude. Amid today’s bitter political discord, all should consider Washington’s example. Yes, he — and the entire generation of the Founders — achieved greatness that none of their successors could hope to match.

Look to the moral foundations formed from the beginning.“They are programmed…,” Soviet defector and ex-KGB man Yuri Bezmenov warned decades ago about the ideologues we call “leftists.” “You cannot change their mind…. You are stuck with them.” It’s common for people to say today when contrasting our two major ideological groups, “Conservatives think leftists are misguided; leftists think conservatives are evil.” I, though, am different. I know leftists are evil. That is, practically speaking. Theologically speaking, I’m not judging their souls or inborn nature. Putting it plainly, however, and alluding to the reality that leftists have embraced evil, I will...

A lazy, surface-level media habitually conflates the statutory duty of a private citizen to comply with a congressional subpoena with the constitutional duty of a senior White House adviser to resist one that implicates executive privilege.The latest example comes from National Review’s Rich Lowry, who lumps me together with Bill Clinton in a single moral bucket.That analogy gets the stakes exactly backward.Lowry’s free trade antipathy to the Trump tariff agenda I have championed in the White House is no secret. Fair enough. Policy disputes are part of democratic life.What is harder to accept is Lowry’s tariff animus spilling into applause...

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a larger-than-life figure. Which is why it’s hard to believe that Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, marks 10 years since his passing. Often viewed as a chief pioneer of the modern originalist movement, Scalia was instrumental in laying the groundwork necessary for restoring proper jurisprudence to an institution that had swayed from its intended purpose. With his crafty wit and skilled penmanship, the Reagan appointee authored some of the most thought-provoking and memorable legal opinions in the court’s recent history. Encapsulating the best moments from Scalia’s nearly 30-year Supreme Court career into one article is...

President Donald Trump wrote in Truth Social posts that there will be voter identification requirements for the 2026 midterm elections whether Congress approves them or not, explaining that he intends to present legal arguments in the form of an Executive Order.In a Friday post on Truth Social, Trump stated:“The Democrats refuse to vote for Voter I.D., or Citizenship. The reason is very simple — They want to continue to cheat in Elections. This was not what our Founders desired. I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an...

“Violent crime dropped sharply across America’s biggest cities in 2025,” Axios reports — yet another resounding validation of President Donald J. Trump’s unwavering commitment to restoring law and order. After years of chaos, skyrocketing crime, and soft-on-crime policies under Biden plunged the nation’s biggest cities into anarchy and disorder, President Trump took office on a promise to restore public safety — and he has delivered in historic fashion.The new data confirms steep declines across every major violent crime category in 2025 compared to the prior year: overall murders down 19%, robberies down 20%, and aggravated assaults down nearly 10%.These gains...

On Wednesday evening, I attended the third annual RealClearMedia Samizdat Prize Gala in Palm Beach, Florida. RealClear, whose brands include its flagship RealClearPolitics website, is best known as a content and polling aggregator, and as an advocate of political and ideological diversity. Pursuant to that mission, the Samizdat Prize recognizes and honors leading champions of free speech from across the ideological spectrum. This year, the prize was given to longtime Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, Irish-born comedy writer Graham Linehan, and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. (Kirk’s award was, of course, posthumous.) I am grateful to RealClear for their...

Kayleigh Bush, the 2024 winner of the Miss North Florida beauty contest, has revealed that she was stripped of her Miss America title because she reused to sign a contract that would have forced her to accept transgenderism. Bush was stripped of her title in November of 2024 despite winning her contest and signing a contract to confirm her position. The beauty queen, though, claims that she was asked to sign a replacement contract several months after she won. Bush says the contract contained new language affirming transgenderism. And it was something she refused to sign. “It was heartbreaking. It...

Two of the most hotly debated bills of the session — one targeting emissions policy and the other unconstitutional sweeping gun regulations — triggered marathon hearings, sharp partisan divides, and dueling victory statements this week at the Roundhouse.Clear Horizons Act Goes Down in the Senate On Wednesday, the Senate rejected Senate Bill 18, the so-called “Clear Horizons Act,” on a 19–23 vote, with seven Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition. The measure, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, would have placed into state statute emissions-reduction benchmarks first advanced under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration. According to reporting...

Their revolution could soon be coming to an end. January 3, 2026. Caracas. 2:47 AM. The helicopters had come in low over the Caribbean, running dark. The Delta Force operators on board were well-rehearsed. By 3:29 AM, it was over. Thirty-two Cuban bodyguards lay dead in the compound. Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were in flex cuffs, hustled onto a transport aircraft bound for New York. At Mar-a-Lago, President Trump watched the operation unfold in real time with his national security team. It was January 3—exactly 36 years to the day since American forces had extracted military dictator Manuel...

New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. For years, I hoped to retire to either there or Arizona and just soak up the beauty. I didn't even realize how much I'd love the area until I visited. But now, I wouldn't live there for all the money in the world. After all, who would want to live in a state that elected a governor who thought she could just suspend the Second Amendment in a city, basically? That was smacked down, thankfully, but that doesn't mean lawmakers there aren't still engaging in...

President Donald Trump’s administration fired a U.S. attorney on Wednesday, hours after he was appointed by federal judges. Donald Kinsella was appointed the U.S. attorney in New York’s Northern District in place of John A. Sarcone III, who left his post as the acting U.S. attorney after a judge blocked Sarcone from any further involvement in the investigation of New York Attorney General Letitia James, claiming he was not lawfully serving in the office at the time the subpoenas were issued in the case. Within hours of Kinsella’s appointment, the new U.S attorney recived an email from a White House...

STRENGTHENING NATIONAL DEFENSE WITH RELIABLE COAL POWER: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Department of War to prioritize long-term Power Purchase Agreements with America’s beautiful, clean coal fleet to ensure military installations and critical defense facilities have uninterrupted, on-demand baseload power.The Order directs the Secretary of War, in coordination with the Secretary of Energy, to approve long-term Power Purchase Agreements or similar contracts with coal-fired energy production facilities to serve Department of War installations and other mission-critical facilities.Priority will be given to projects that enhance grid reliability and blackout prevention, on-site fuel security, and mission...

UNLEASHING OPPORTUNITY IN THE ATLANTIC: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a proclamation to unleash commercial fishing in the Atlantic, advancing the America First Fishing Policy.The proclamation restores commercial fishing access to all 4,913 square miles of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, located off the coast of New England.EMPOWERING AMERICAN COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN: President Trump is committed to removing unnecessary restrictions on American fishermen in order to strengthen the U.S. economy, support coastal communities, and restore fairness to an industry disadvantaged by overregulation and unfair foreign competition.The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, established by President Obama...

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House voted Wednesday to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election bill that President Donald Trump is pushing Congress to enact. The vote was 218-213, with Republicans unanimously voting in favor and all but one Democrat voting against it. The one Democrat voting yes was Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas. The 32-page legislation would require states to obtain documentary proof-of-citizenship “in person,” such as an American passport or birth certificate, from someone in order to register them to vote in a federal election. The bill, which was revised from an earlier version to include new demands...

House Democrats are facing increasingly frustrated demands from their left flank not to give the Trump administration another inch on ICE funding.

A grand jury has refused to indict several former military and intelligence lawmakers who made a video urging military members to disobey illegal orders, according to multiple reports. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, under Jeanine Pirro, sought an indictment related to a video featuring six U.S. lawmakers, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). It was not immediately clear which of the lawmakers were targeted in the failed indictment, according to the New York Times and NBC News.

On October 8, 2020, the FBI announced what sounded like the plot of a Hollywood thriller. Thirteen men arrested in a supposed evil plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Cable news went into full panic mode. The phrase “right-wing domestic terrorism” was stamped across every screen in America.And just like that, the narrative was set.But as the years have passed, that fake news storyline has crumbled. Court docs have exposed a stunning level of federal involvement in the alleged plot.Sounds familiar, right? We saw the same “fedsurrection” unfold on January 6th. The FBI certainly has a “style,” don’t they?Court...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican senator to speak out against the SAVE Act, a sweeping election bill backed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of citizenship to vote nationwide.

Texas Senator John Cornyn has provided financial support to the campaigns of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and former Utah Senator Mitt Romney, both known for their votes to convict former President Donald Trump during his impeachment trials. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reveal contributions from Cornyn’s Victory Committee to both senators’ campaigns after their high-profile votes to convict President Trump. According to FEC filings, the Cornyn Victory Committee donated $367,763.46 to Lisa Murkowski’s campaign for U.S. Senate. These contributions followed Murkowski’s 2021 vote to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial, led by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, related to the...