Free Republic

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that if President Donald Trump’s administration can deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they can “disappear” you. Warren said, “The point is, why are they doing this? And the answer is they want to have the American people say it’s OK to just disappear people. And somehow they think if they can make up lies about him, if they can do whatever they want, then the answer will be the American people will settle for this. We do not disappear people in the United States. Because here’s the thing. If they can...

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg’s group, Leaders We Deserve, launched a $20 million initiative on Monday aimed at launching primary challenges against House Democrats in safe seats in the hopes of electing a new generation of leaders. “We’re not only focused on targeting Democratic incumbents when necessary,” Hogg told The Hill in a Wednesday interview. “We are here to elect young people who are running in open seats. We’re here to elect young people that are running open, competitive seats as well, and support them when they align with our values.” Hogg noted that his group is...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come a long way since 2018. When she first arrived on the political scene by beating out not just an incumbent, but a member of her party’s leadership in a Democratic primary contest, she was a rebel — an avatar of insurgent impulses within her coalition. And, among Republicans, something of a joke. Now, she’s the Democratic Party’s most popular elected official. A Yale University poll released this week found that among Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez boasts the single highest net favorability rating of all the party’s many potential 2028 presidential candidates — a sky-high 62%. In addition, 41%...

High level excerpt:Antisemitism on campus lawsuitsBacklash against Harvard’s initial response to antisemitism accusations Former President Claudine Gay’s ‘unacceptable’ testimony to Congress Former president Claudine Gay accused of plagiarism Harvard refuses to comply with Trump administration’s demands

So much crazy happens with the Trump administration every day that some downright weird but incredibly telling stuff gets lost in the noise. A recent example was the scene on April 8 at the White House where, in the middle of his raging trade war, our president decided it was the perfect time to sign an executive order to bolster coal mining. “We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” said President Trump, surrounded by coal miners in hard hats, members of a work force that has declined to about 40,000 from 70,000 over the last decade, according to Reuters....

It’s the latest setback to the president’s efforts to wield government power to punish the legal industry. A federal judge called it “a shocking abuse of power.”A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Trump from punishing the law firm Susman Godfrey, calling the retribution campaign he has waged from the White House against the nation’s top firms “a shocking abuse of power.”Ruling from the bench, Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said that the executive order Mr. Trump signed last week targeting the firm stemmed from a “personal vendetta.” Susman Godfrey represented...

Pete Buttigieg. Wes Moore. Gavin Newsom. Gretchen Whitmer. Stephen A. Smith!!!???!!??Since the November election, the ESPN commentator has been bashing Democratic leadership for losing to Donald Trump and floating himself as a potential 2028 candidate and savior for the party and the country. And Smith’s dalliance with politics isn’t one-sided. Pod Save America, Fox News, CNN, ABC News, the New Yorker and other major outlets have sought out Smith for his first takes on immigration, tariffs and other issues.President Stephen A. Smith? Has everyone gone crazy? Not completely. Many nonpartisan pundits and Democrats themselves think the party needs a leader...

Two weeks ago, the sharp-tongued comedian Bill Maher had dinner with Donald Trump. Maher emerged from the meeting thoroughly charmed. During the opening monologue on his show on Friday, he described Trump as engaged and even likable. Trump made him feel comfortable and listened to. In their conversation, which included “an amazing tour of the whole house,” Trump remained empathetic. “He didn’t get mad. He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public,” Maher recalled. “Why can’t we get the guy I met to be the public guy?” It’s unfortunate that Maher allowed himself to get played like this.In...

Thousands of federal employees who were forced to return to their offices in recent weeks have made some disgusting discoveries - including a lack of toilet paper and rodents. Donald Trump promptly ended work from home options for federal workers upon taking office, saying anyone who does not 'show up to the office on time and on schedule' will be fired. Ever since, federal employees across the country have found themselves in cramped offices where they have been forced to clean toilets and take out the trash, according to the New York Times. One Bureau of Land Management employee even...

The European Commission is issuing burner phones to officials traveling to the United States amid fears of espionage in Trump’s America. It’s the kind of security measure typically saved for trips to China or the Ukraine, where the fear of IT surveillance is high. But three European Commissioners will test out burner phones and basic laptops at International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington next week, sources told the Financial Times. The move from the European Commission, the primary executive arm of the European Union, marks a new era of American-European relations, which have all but dissipated since...

In addition to Howard Lutnick, Peter Navarro and Kevin Hassett explaining the nuances of Section 232 tariff exemptions, White House Senior Policy Advisor, Stephen Miller, appears on Fox News to deliver the same message.Steel, Aluminum, Automobiles, Pharmaceuticals and components for semiconductor manufacturing all fall under the Section 232 “National Security” tariff umbrella. Meaning, the products within each of those sectors of manufacturing are handled ¹differently from all other tariffs as executed. WATCH:[¹NOTE: This approach could present a problem in future lawsuits, because the administration is now beginning to define what is classified as a ‘national security’ product. Lawfare operatives will...

President Trump is taking exception to the idea that his Administration is offering exceptions to his punishing tariffs. That’s the story after a confusing weekend that offers more lessons in the arbitrary nature of Trump trade policy. Late Friday his own Customs and Border Protection (CBP) department issued a notice listing products that will be exempt from Mr. Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs that can run as high as 145% on goods from China. The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives, computer processors, servers, memory chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and other electronics. The CBP notice takes the tariff rate...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., told a crowd of thousands at a rally in Los Angeles on Saturday that the U.S. was facing a moment of "extraordinary danger" as he criticized the political, economic and social policies of President Donald Trump.Sanders, who also dropped by the music festival Coachella over the weekend, has been criss-crossing the U.S. to speak out against the new Republican administration."We are living in a moment of extraordinary danger," he said, "and how we respond to this moment will not only impact our lives but will impact the lives of our kids and future generations."On the latest...

The edict could hurl elections into tumult, though lawsuits challenging the order mean it probably won’t be implemented anytime soon.President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul elections could hurl 2026 into turmoil by forcing states to hand-count ballots or scramble to spend millions of dollars on voting systems that aren’t yet on the market, according to election officials and voting experts.If put into effect, his recent executive order attempting to transform elections could make it impossible for some states to use voting machines, election experts said. No voting systems are commercially available that meet the standards the president put forward in...

When his camera stopped working on his iPhone recently, New Yorker Richard Medina didn't waste any time. With the threat of tariff-fuelled price hikes on smartphones bearing down, he quickly called his phone company for a new one. "I said, 'We've got to switch this out now,'" the 43-year-old recalled. "Let's take care of it." The move was a sign of the pressure rising across the US, where households are being buffeted by what could be staggering price rises, and even possible shortages triggered by the sweeping tariffs that US President Donald Trump announced this month. Some are trying to...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) assured attendees at one of his “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies Saturday they are “making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous” as he laid out a string of grievances with the current Washington administration. The 83-year-old senator spoke to his supporters as they gathered in the Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles alongside guests including politicians, union representatives and musical acts.

Tesla’s sales in the United States fell almost 9 percent in the first three months of the year even as the overall market for electric vehicles grew, according to data compiled by a research firm. Car buyers are moving away from Teslas and toward models like General Motors’ Chevrolet Equinox electric vehicle, which starts at around $35,000 and can travel more than 300 miles on a charge, Cox Automotive, the research firm, said in a report. Sales of all-electric vehicles in the United States rose 11 percent during the first quarter to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, Cox said,...

President Donald Trump is having one of the best weeks of his presidency. The stock market surged on Wednesday after Trump declared victory against unfair trade practices. He also ended the Obama-Biden "war on water pressure" and "make America's showers great again" by signing an executive order to reverse years of unpopular Democratic policies designed to promote "efficiency and conservation." On Thursday, Trump succeeded again in making the world a better place by securing the release of Ksenia Karelina, the hot ballerina and U.S.-Russian national unjustly imprisoned in Russia for treason. To our knowledge, Karelina is the most attractive American...

Thrifty Big Apple shoppers were rushing to stock up on the basics Wednesday after President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs briefly went into effect — before he then announced a 90-day pause. “Pray to God that we all survive,” said Angelia Gonzalez, a 48-year-old mother who was filling her cart at the East Harlem Costco. “I feel some kind of way. I mean, I have a family.” Gonzalez travelled across town from her longtime home in West Harlem to stock up at the wholesaler over fears that prices will soon skyrocket from Trump’s massive “reciprocal” tariffs, which went into effect at...

Kaile Shilling, a writer and former theology student, says she moved from Los Angeles to Canada during the first Trump administration to escape America’s toxic politics. She never saw herself as the kind of person to hang a giant flag on the front of her house. But after Donald Trump was reelected last fall and started threatening to turn America’s famously polite and peaceful northern neighbor into the “51st state,” Shilling’s dual-citizenship husband unfurled an enormous red and white maple leaf banner on their home in Vancouver for all the world to see. “When he did it, I went, ‘F—...