Free Republic

Republicans are falling into a familiar trap. From President Trump to Vice President JD Vance to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a growing number of party leaders have come to believe that coercive labor unions are a permanent part of American politics, so the Republicans might as well forge an uneasy truce if not an outright alliance with them. To build that bridge, Hawley released his first of several promised pro-union bills in early March. The thinking seems to be: If labor unions are here to stay, why not put political expediency ahead of deeply held Republican principles like worker freedom...

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that if Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s spending bill as is, they would “get smoked” in the 2026 midterm elections. Host Chris Hayes said, “Josh Hawley, Republican, Missouri, wrote a big op-ed in The New York Times saying Medicaid cuts are a bad idea. Does that end up mattering in the Senate?” Murphy said, “I think it’s a great question, Chris because the Republican Party still does essentially operate like a cult. And that’s not fundamentally different in the Senate than it is in the House. I mean, yes, you’ve...

They burned Elon’s businesses to the ground. They vandalized Teslas across the country. They assaulted Tesla employees and Tesla drivers… …all because Elon found waste and fraud in government …and the GOP won’t even vote on the cuts I can’t wrap my head around this.

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there were “enough” Republican senators who would not vote for the so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill without significant changes. Host Jake Tapper said, “How determined are you to be that guy if it actually means telling President Trump you are going to vote against the bill and you’re going to try to get other Republican senators to join you, unless there are major, major changes?” Johnson said, “Well, in 2010, I sprang out of the Tea Party movement and as I did parades I would shout, this...

During an interview with Telemundo 47 on Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) argued that the state is going to lose money under the Republican tax and spending bill and people will lose health care and responded to if she’ll have to cut services to some immigrants by saying, “I don’t want to go there.” And “This is something we have to look at very seriously for how we can not leave these people without essential care.” Hochul said that “no state will be able to make up those kind of cuts. We just don’t have enough money. And...

President Trump on Tuesday named Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead his “Golden Dome” project to improve and integrate America’s missile defense technology — as House Republicans included $25 billion for the plan in the latest version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Trump said the plan would make good on Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” project in the 1980s to protect America from incoming nuclear missiles. “We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “The success rate...

Republican deficit hawks allowed President Trump’s bill of legislative priorities to advance out of the House Budget Committee in an unusual late-night vote on Sunday, marking a key hurdle cleared for House GOP leaders and a sign of progress for warring Republican factions After gaveling in after 10 p.m. on Sunday, the committee voted 17-16-4 to advance the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which would extend Trump’s tax cuts and boost his border funding priorities while reforming Medicaid and food assistance programs. The vote comes after four hardline conservatives on the committee tanked a vote on the legislation Friday, saying...

WASHINGTON — A key House Republican holdout on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” to provide tax cuts, border security, defense spending and green energy clawbacks is still calling for deeper spending cuts to chip away at the national debt — as the legislation heads for a critical vote Sunday. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of several GOPers who tanked the bill in the House Budget Committee on Friday, says he and other fiscal hawks are still hoping for hundreds of billions dollars more in savings to help reduce the nation’s $36 trillion debt. The Texas Republican huddled with White House...

Vivek Ramaswamy is cruising toward the Ohio GOP gubernatorial nomination after the Ohio attorney general dropped out of the race. "Columbus needs re-engineering, not demolition," Dave Yost wrote in a letter to supporters on Friday. "Sherrod Brown and the risky progressive ideas of his party will unwind all of the good that the last 15 years of Republican leadership has brought. This is a time to protect Ohio, not a time for a family squabble." Ramaswamy released a statement about Yost dropping out. "Congratulations to Dave on running a thoughtful campaign," Ramaswamy said in a statement. "He has served Ohio...

Whoever had control of the “AUTOPEN” is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment. It is a major part of the real crime, THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN! Millions and millions of people knew that, but the Radical Left Democrats waged a campaign of inoculation and innocence like none that had ever been waged before. THIS IS WHY THE UNSELECT COMMITTEE OF POLITICAL THUGS, WHO WERE GIVEN A FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON BY THE PERSON WHO WIELDED THE NOW ILLEGALLY USED AUTOPEN, DELETED AND DESTROYED ALL EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION FROM THEIR...

President Donald Trump is calling on Republican lawmakers to support “The One Big Beautiful Bill” that would cut taxes and stop illegal aliens from receiving Medicaid. Trump took to Truth Social to urge Republicans to galvanize behind the bill. “Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’ Not only does it cut Taxes for ALL Americans, but it will kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid to PROTECT it for those who are the ones in real need,” he wrote. “The Country will suffer greatly without this Legislation, with their Taxes going up 65%. It will be blamed...

GOP senators have raised concerns about the deficit impact of the emerging package, as well as the cuts to Medicaid and clean energy funding. WASHINGTON — As House Republicans scramble to corral the votes to pass a massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda, their Senate counterparts are making clear the emerging package won’t fly as written when it reaches them.Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., was categorical that the product coming out of various House committees cannot pass the Senate as it currently stands.“No. We’ll make changes,” Hoeven said. “We’ve been talking with the House and there’s a lot of things...

The Republican candidate for North Carolina’s state Supreme Court conceded the race Wednesday, ending his six-month crusade to overturn the election results in the perennial battleground state. “While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Judge Jefferson Griffin said in a statement. “I will not appeal the court’s decision,” he added. Griffin’s concession to Democratic Justice Allison Riggs came two days after a judge appointed by Republican President Donald Trump rejected Griffin’s legal challenges to the election. The...

Term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) is reportedly moving to block the Ohio Republican Party from endorsing Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid to succeed him. DeWine and his advisers hope to prevent the state party from endorsing Ramaswamy to replace DeWine in the governor’s mansion in Columbus. President Donald Trump endorsed Ramaswamy on the night he announced his campaign to govern the Buckeye State. The move pits DeWine sharply against Trump and Vice President JD Vance, NBC noted: The moves place DeWine sharply at odds with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohioan who has directed his political team to steer Ramaswamy’s...

So, you be the judge of the best reason to vote “no…” ... [Graph at URL]

The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter despite underlying strength in consumer and business spending. Gross domestic product contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3 percent, the Department of Commerce said on Wednesday. The decline in U.S. gross domestic product marks a sharp reversal from the 2.4 percent growth rate recorded at the end of last year. This was the lowest rate of growth since 2022, when the economy avoided an official recession but contracted for two consecutive quarters. Final sales to private domestic purchasers, a closely watched measure of business and consumer health, expanded at a healthy pace...

A poll suggests that if Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) were to enter the race to be the next governor of New York, she would not only have a commanding lead in the Republican primary, but she would also close in on defeating Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY). The GrayHouse poll conducted between April 22-24, 2025, which surveyed 826 registered voters in New York, found that if the next Republican primary for governor of New York were held today, 44 percent of voters would support Stefanik, while seven percent would support Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman received five...

This week, Silicon Valley heavyweights mingled with top Trump administration officials at a conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Miami. The event was hosted by the Rockbridge Network, a secretive yet increasingly powerful organization at the center of business, technology, and Republican politics. Those in attendance included venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya and Keith Rabois, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and real estate developer-turned-United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. The Rockbridge Network was founded in 2019 by now-Vice President J.D. Vance and financier Chris...

Grammy-nominated musician and former OneRepublic bassist Tim Myers is making the leap from the stage to the political arena with a high-profile challenge to long-serving Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in California’s 41st Congressional District. Myers, a Corona native turned music industry entrepreneur, announced his candidacy Thursday in a video posted on Instagram, setting the stage for one of the most closely watched House races in the 2026 election cycle. “Ken Calvert has been in Washington for 30 years, and all he’s done is make himself millions,” Myers says in the campaign video, filmed in a recording studio. “The status quo...

Federal authorities have charged 40-year-old Jamison Wagner of Albuquerque with two counts of arson tied to politically charged firebombing attacks on both a Tesla showroom and the Republican Party of New Mexico headquarters, labeling the incidents as acts of domestic terrorism. Wagner, a self-styled radical, was arrested on April 12 following an extensive federal investigation involving the FBI, ATF, Albuquerque Police, and other law enforcement agencies. According to a profile he has on “500 Queer Scientists,” he describes himself as “queer and I am an electrical engineer.” It has been independently verified through voter registration records that Wagner is a...