Free Republic

Donald Trump’s rambling speeches and stream-of-consciousness press briefings could be symptoms of his “cognitive decline,” according to one of America’s top rhetoric experts. The warning comes as Trump and his aides are seeking a congressional probe into Joe Biden’s mental state during his one-term presidency. The extent to which Biden, now 82, hid his capability has led to major questions over whether he was fit to lead the country.

A veteran FBI agent who blew the whistle on what he saw as political meddling in the bureau’s work was arrested this week by federal authorities while attempting to board an international flight at New York City’s JFK Airport. Jonathan Buma, who had worked for the bureau for 15 years, stands accused of illegally disclosing classified records in his upcoming tell-all book about his career. He drew scrutiny during Trump’s first term for reportedly saying during a presentation that he believed Rudy Giuliani may have been compromised by a Russian counter-influence operation—concerns that were immediately shut down by his superiors....

President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have refashioned the United States into “Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots,” the VP’s cousin alleged in the wake of the Trump administration’s recent abandonment of military and intelligence support for Ukraine. Nate Vance, a Texan who said he volunteered for three years fighting on the front lines against Russia’s Putin-ordered invasion of its neighbor, told Le Figaro in an interview published Sunday that he is “disappointed” in his “good” and “intelligent” cousin over the administration’s sudden and abrasive turn away from supporting America’s war-torn ally. JD Vance was widely seen as the instigator...

Following in the footsteps of his Canada- and Greenland-coveting pal Donald Trump, MAGA billionaire Elon Musk is asking whether the United States should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government."The Tesla CEO posed the question in an early Monday morning tweet, the latest in a multi-day social media bender aimed at the U.K. that has seen him advocate for a jailed right-wing activist, call for the head of a right-wing party leader, and demand that a junior minister of the new Labour government be thrown in prison.Musk has, in recent days, lambasted the British government over its handling...

Harris is the future. Trump is the past. And on Election Day, American voters will embrace that change. Kamala Harris is going to be the next president of the United States. On January 20, 2025, she will become America’s first woman president, America’s first woman of color to be commander-in-chief and America’s first person of Asian heritage to become the country’s chief executive. Born in late 1964, she will bring the perspective of a new generation to the presidency. Whereas Joe Biden brought the experiences of growing up middle class in the industrial heartland of America, Harris will bring the...

News that Ben Sasse would likely be leaving the U.S. Senate to become president of the University of Florida has aroused varied commentary—most of it critical of Sasse. But one take has probably been underrated—Sasse’s exodus is merely the latest example of how Trump has vanquished an entire generation of once-promising young conservative stars from politics. Think about it. When Donald Trump came down that escalator in 2015, the Republican Party was about to field what was then seen as an impressive and diverse array of future young conservative stars. The names included Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Marco Rubio,...

THE BIG ONE? The warrant that allowed the FBI to search the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home reveals an unprecedented prosecution under the Espionage Act might lie ahead.

While America had been rocked by riots and assassinations when I was a kid, the first big political development in America that shocked me was the election of Ronald Reagan. He was a boob, a Hollywood actor, not even a very good one. At the time, just out of college, I did not really understand the darker forces that were behind his election—the racism and greed, the anti-government ideology that was really just a formula to enable the richest among us to make more and the most racist states to chart their own course.

ATLANTA—A Georgia man who professed a passion for guns and God was in custody on Tuesday night after a string of shootings that police said appeared to target Asian women at massage parlors and left eight people dead. Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, Georgia, was caught on video at the crime scenes and later nabbed on a highway two hours south of Atlanta following a police chase, authorities said. Police stressed that it was still much too early to announce a motive, but the horrific attacks come amid a wave of targeted violence against the Asian-American community. Details about the...

Moments before Wednesday’s impeachment hearings and right after U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland’s opening statement was released, Fox News contributor Ken Starr wondered aloud whether Sondland flipping on President Trump would cause GOP senators to push Trump to resign. “The real issue is the senators are watching,” Starr said. “Are senators going to now say in light of what we hear today, it’s going to be a long day even with the ambassador alone, in light of what we have heard, ‘We need to make a trip down to the White House’? That historic example set during the...

The president has given us ample signs that he will use the powers of the presidency in ways previously unimaginable. How come Democrats seem so relaxed about it? The power of an incumbent president to aid re-election by abusing the executive branch has in the past been limited by a few powerful forces: Presidential integrity; the fear of a scandal emerging in the media; and the prospect of aggressive congressional oversight. Due to forces outside their control, the Democratic nominee won’t be saved by the first two “norms based” options. And as a result of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strategy of...

The Indiana governor and culture warrior would balance the ticket with a twice-divorced, proud philanderer at the top -- except he legalized discrimination against LGBT people with a law so extreme other GOP states rejected it. In choosing Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump has shored up the GOP's religious base. But based on the Indiana governor's disastrous run-in with pro-business Republicans and moderates last year over gay rights, Trump may have just lost the election. [Snip] Unlike Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, Pence has been a right-wing culture warrior for his entire career. As Samantha Allen detailed...

Rafael Cruz, father of Ted Cruz, is a preacher of the far-right doctrine of dominionism, which holds that Christians should take over the government and save it from the wicked. When Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president, many assumed he would quietly distance himself from his father, Rafael Cruz, since the elder Cruz has long been extreme in his religious views, and outspoken in proclaiming them. But the opposite has been the case. Rafael Cruz has been the senator's primary surrogate on the campaign trail, particularly with the evangelical voters who are now Ted Cruz's base. The two have...

When the Left erupted in outrage over the Supreme Court decision on campaign financing in Citizens United, they didn’t their resistance to the result could be described as “treason.” But that’s not the way they’re playing on the new gay-pleasing decisions. At The Daily Beast, contributor Jay Michaelson asked “Did The Four Dissenting Justices In Gay Marriage Case Just Suggest Treason? The conservative justices’ incendiary dissents in Obergefell are a shocking betrayal of judicial responsibility.” Michaelson -- who announced "I'm queer, I'm Jewish, and I'm proud of it" -- suggested somehow that resistance to a Court decision isn’t democratic, it’s...