Free Republic

U.S. Senate and House negotiators on Sunday night jointly released the overdue text for the fiscal 2026 foreign aid and diplomacy spending bill. And, somewhat surprisingly, it largely rejects the draconian cuts sought by U.S. President Donald Trump and even provides funding for several journalism organizations and democracy-promotion efforts that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency tried to shutter. House Republicans highlighted the $9.3 billion (or 16 percent) in spending cuts that the compromise legislation would make to top-line funding levels compared to fiscal 2025 enacted levels. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, touted that the spending measure is still $3.8 billion...

For him, extreme volatility and risk are not a problem but an opportunity.Is Iran next? That was the question the world was asking this weekend. As both protests and repression escalated, President Trump repeatedly warned that the U.S. would not stand idly by if the theo-thugocracy in Tehran fired on protesters. The mullahs’ response came from their usual playbook. They carried out a bloodbath and threatened to attack American bases and assets across the region if Mr. Trump raised a hand against them. As in Venezuela, Russia and China aren’t doing much either way. Joint exercises involving the Chinese, Russian,...

After this weekend’s stunning raid to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, many analysts are asking, what comes next? Most charge that the Trump administration lacks a clear plan for the future of Venezuela. Some have expressed worries that U.S. military action in Venezuela will become a costly quagmire, like Iraq or Afghanistan. Others are puzzled and exasperated that the Trump administration has not provided a full-throated endorsement of Venezuela’s democratically elected opposition. In fact, a clearer plan is coming into place. It relies on Washington using carrots and sticks to coax Venezuela’s leadership to change policies in a way that...

President Trump IS the new world order now.Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Colombia is very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he is not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.”He also said, “Mexico has to get their act together because they’re pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something.”He also said, “Cuba looks like it is ready to fall.”But the best thing he said was “You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security on Greenland?...

As the U.S. military escalates its posture around Venezuela—with naval deployments in the Caribbean, B-52 overflights, lethal strikes on alleged drug boats, and confirmed CIA covert operations—advocates of regime change are reviving a dangerous analogy. Many have pointed to the United States’ 1989 invasion of Panama and toppling of dictator Manuel Noriega as proof that swift, surgical operations can get the job done. In private conversations with several current and former U.S. officials, they have nodded toward this parallel. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who just last month was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has appealed to the United...

When describing U.S. President Donald Trump’s governing style, and particularly his relationships with other countries, two words tend to come up frequently: “mercurial” and “transactional.” The latter suits several U.S. allies, partners, and even adversaries just fine, while the former has buffeted even some of Washington’s closest and most enduring partnerships over the past year. In examining which countries have benefited the most and least from the second Trump administration, we intentionally excluded the parties to the two biggest conflicts that it is trying to mediate—one between Israel and Hamas, the other between Russia and Ukraine. Both of those conflicts...

The difficult decision that Ukraine’s government now faces is between enduring continued bombing by Russia and relinquishing sovereign land to Russia that is a part of its own cultural identity. There are indications that Ukraine may consider ceding territory currently under Russian control if it received ironclad security guarantees in the event of a renewed Russian attack. But Ukraine is still trying to hold onto the part of the Donbas region that it has painstakingly fortified—or, at least, it is trying to avoid recognizing it as Russian and giving it up altogether. Ukraine still holds between 10 to 15 percent...

🚨 BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms he is ENDING the NGO foreign aid industrial complex 🔥 "Foreign aid should be used for the purpose of furthering the national interest. That doesn't mean we don't care about human rights. That doesn't mean we don't care about starvation. That doesn't mean we don't care about hunger. That doesn't mean we don't care about humanitarian need." "What it does mean, however, is that even foreign aid, which is NOT charity - it is an act of the US taxpayer." "The United States' and the taxpayer money should be spent in furtherance...

The United States, according to the New York Times, has a Maginot Line problem. In the first in a series of articles castigating the 21st century U.S. military for allegedly failing to adapt to modern military technology, the editorial board raises the specter of Monsieur Maginot’s infamous namesake fortification. “It is an ancient and familiar pattern,” the editorial board laments. The French in 1940, ensconced safely—so they thought—behind their elaborate frontier wall, utterly failed, unlike the Germans, to pay attention to the new verities of armored warfare and airpower and paid the penalty in a catastrophic six-week defeat. The image...

SNIP The truth is that our foreign aid had become a joke — a way to line pockets and spread wacko leftist ideology more than anything. Rubio told ABC's George Stephanopoulos — who tried to do that whole "Trump is killing people by cutting aid" thing — back in September that "We're gonna do more than anyone in the world, again, this year, but we're gonna do it the right way. We're gonna do it holistically. We're gonna do it as part of an integrated foreign policy." During that interview, Rubio pointed out that the reason why people die is...

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco. He gets it solved,” Donald Trump boasts about his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. This week, Marco Rubio is putting that reputation to the test. He is the key man on the two major international fronts the United States is currently engaged in, and with two very different roles: in the negotiations over the war in Ukraine, he took the reins to balance out what was initially a clearly pro-Russian proposal and try to push through a peace plan acceptable to Kyiv; in the standoff with Venezuela, he is...

Countries enforcing race or gender diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies will now be at risk of the Trump administration deeming them as infringing on human rights. The State Department is issuing the new rules to all US embassies and consulates involved in compiling its annual report on global human rights abuses. The new instructions also deem countries that subsidise abortion or facilitate mass migration as infringing on human rights.... The changes reflect a major shift in Washington's established focus on global human rights protection, and signal the expansion into foreign policy...

Trump spent all year on the Middle East, his big donors loved this, the voters did not. Virginia is going to be under a Democrat super majority now. Keep listening to Mark Levin, Mr President, and you’ll be back to impeachment trials in 2026.

Conservative law professor William Jacobson of Cornell University, publisher of the Legal Insurrection blog, appeared on the Jesse Kelly show this week and outlined an upcoming Supreme Court case for Trump that he describes as ‘very high stakes.’ The case has to do with the Trump tariffs, and depending on how the court rules, it could have a significant effect on Trump’s economic policy. Jacobson suggests that it could be a very close call. Transcript via Legal Insurrection: Kelly (00:05): The Supreme Court is about to begin another term. I don’t understand these terms. I don’t understand what they’re doing...

President Donald Trump had South Korea’s new leftist President Lee Jae-myung panicking after his Truth Social post a few hours before meeting in late August. Here’s what Trump wrote: "WHAT IS GOING ON IN SOUTH KOREA? Seems like a Purge or Revolution. We can’t have that and do business there. I am seeing the new President today at the White House. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!" Trump was referring to the Lee administration’s aggressive efforts to punish former President Yoon Suk Yeol and to intimidate conservative opponents, including religious groups. A South Korean government investigative raid on...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking the Supreme Court to lift a district court injunction that currently blocks the administration from withholding $12 billion in foreign aid funds appropriated by Congress. The move has sparked criticism from foreign-aid organizations and Democratic lawmakers, who argued that it threatens to undermine Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending. Solicitor General D. John Sauer warned the government could be forced to obligate expiring funds without relief. Sauer said, “will effectively force the government to rapidly obligate some $12 billion in foreign-aid funds that would expire September 30 and to continue obligating tens of...

US District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, blocked President Trump from cutting billions of dollars in USAID and foreign aid that Congress authorized. Trump will immediately appeal Judge Ali’s ruling. “President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Reuters. Reuters reported:

Full statement from Pam Bondi: President Trump found there was a national emergency and took action under the law by imposing tariffs. The judges of the Federal Circuit are interfering with the President’s vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy. This decision is wrong and undermines the United States on the world stage. The Justice Department will appeal this decision and continue to fight to restore the president’s lawful authority.

Michael O’Hanlon — an appointee to the Central Intelligence Agency External Advisory Board under the Obama-Biden administration — visited a Chinese Communist Party-run think tank identified by the U.S. government as conducting “undercover intelligence gathering” operations and seeking to coerce foreign actors into backing the Chinese Communist Party’s “preferred policies.” Also at the Director of the Brooking Institute’s Foreign Policy Research Team and adjunct professor at Georgetown and Columbia Universities, O’Hanlon visited the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) on August 23rd, 2012 – the same year his Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) External Advisory Board stint ended. Under President...

Hold on to your vikingahjälmar, because Sweden’s Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, has sparked a national debate after casually admitting that he often consults artificial intelligence tools – including ChatGPT and the French chatbot LeChat – to get a “second opinion” on political questions. Speaking to the business newspaper Dagens Industri on August 5, Kristersson said: “I use it myself quite often. If for nothing else than for a second opinion. What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite? Those types of questions.” He also revealed that his colleagues in the centre-right coalition government make use of AI...