Free Republic

In a divided America, JD Vance sees Christianity as a unifying force. His new memoir, “Communion,” blames secularism for social strife and proposes faith as the solution. The book is not just a conversion narrative; it is an argument that a more Christian America would also be a more peaceful and tolerant one. “I do think in a very foundational sense the country is a Christian nation,” Vance tells me in an interview. Religious decline hasn’t removed social divisions, he says, but instead has deepened them: “I see antisemitism spreading ... You’re seeing an elevation of anti-Christian bias. You’re seeing...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggests to a classroom full of youngsters that Donald Trump has been “humiliated” by his war in Iran – and the President cancels deployment of the long-range missile systems around which Germany had planned its defense strategy for the coming decades. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez observes a strict neutrality on Iran, declaring his country’s bases out of bounds – and Trump urges Spain be kicked out of NATO. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hesitates to sacrifice his country’s navy in a war on which he wasn’t consulted – and Trump mocks him in public for...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be staking out differing approaches to carrying out President Donald Trump’s national security agenda as the possible 2028 presidential rivals jostle for position in a divided Republican Party.With vastly different backgrounds and policy experience, they have moved along separate paths to stake out territory: Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants with a long history in the Senate and major interest in Latin America, and Vance, a child of the Midwest and Marine Corps veteran who served in the Senate for only two years before being...

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding tells Iran that Hezbollah survives and Israel leaves. The Trilateral Framework says that Hezbollah disarms and that, until it does, Israel stays in Lebanon. The negotiations with Iran were led by Vice President JD Vance, who never wanted this war and made no secret of his wish to end it cheaply. He produced the Islamabad MOU, the paper Iran's regime wanted to hear. The Trilateral Framework was created by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent his career treating Iran's proxy network as a threat to be dismantled rather than soothed. Iran negotiated the...

JD Vance has refused to stop claiming election fraud over the 2020 presidential election ... even after Bill Maher called him out to his face.Read the video transcriptTrump can't run again, and he'd be a little too exciting for me anyway. So it's either gonna be you or Rubio. Here's my deal breaker for your side, OK. Under Trump, you guys have two outcomes that an election can be either we win or they cheated. That has to stop. And the person who. And that means. The person who has to stop it would be you or Marco. Can you...

In a move likely to further raise tensions with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Pope Leo XIV will gather the world’s cardinals behind closed doors on Friday to hash out new guidelines on when war is justified. It’s a topic that has already fired a spat between the White House and the Vatican within the context of the Iran conflict. When Leo said the disciples of Christ were never on the side of those who “once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” Vice President JD Vance retorted that the pontiff needed to be “careful” about his theology,...

For those who cling to the insistence that President Trump is always playing 5D chess with his opponents, now would be a great time to explain to the rest of us what the strategy is behind his repeated recent moves to empower our existential Islamic enemies. First Trump prevented Israel from finishing the job with the savage terror group Hamas in Gaza, going so far as to promise to invest in developing the Palestinian territories into the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Then, after vowing to rescue the Iranian people from the oppressive fundamentalist regime, Trump stopped short of finishing...

Vance has taken a keen interest in Christians in Lebanon. To understand why Vance’s outreach matters, it’s worth looking at history. Historically the majority community, Christians in Lebanon have suffered setbacks in the last century. For instance, they lost out in the Lebanese civil war, and after the Taif Accords, they saw their traditional role running the presidency slightly weakened in favor of a Sunni-held prime minister’s office. The leader of the Lebanese Forces, [Samir] Geagea, sent a letter Monday to a US official, thanking him for his statements and urging him to completely separate the Lebanese issue from negotiations...

@EricLDaugh NOW: Mark Levin fumes and demands the Trump administration "stop trashing, smearing, bullying the little state of Israel!" "Stop cozying up to and telling us that the enemy regime in Iran is now more rational, more moderate, and a regime that we can deal with!" "I don't know what's going on. But if people think they can bully a little country and people who've existed 4,000 years...into surrendering their defense...they got another thing coming. I think it's outrageous!" "We used to see SecWar and Joint Chiefs Chairman tell of the fantastic marriage between our militaries in defeating the enemy....

In “Communion,” Vance weaves his faith journey, beginning in his childhood, through his recent life changes and with his own policy and cultural views... His account of his faith journey, at times, seems to focus on his return to Christianity more broadly, with Catholicism presented as the variety he chose. “I’m not a particularly sectarian person, and this is not a particularly sectarian book,” Vance said in the book’s opening chapter. Although he said he became Catholic for “what I believe are good reasons,” he credited his Protestant spiritual foundation as a key factor in his journey back to God...

Khomeini advised that to maintain victory, Iranians “must stay away from pointless disputes, disputes that are the product of ego and self-centeredness.” Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of the first Iranian supreme leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, has hailed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran as a major “victory” for Tehran. The “greater jihad” would now begin, he promised, according to a speech aired by Iranian state media earlier this week.

President Trump has made a deal with Iran. On Friday, Vice President JD Vance will attend the official signing in Geneva of a 14-point US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding that covers the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's nuclear ambitions, the lifting of sanctions, a $300bn reconstruction fund for Iran and a ceasefire. The deal has gone down badly in the US, and with good reason. Gerry argues that it's a calamity for America and a betrayal of the Iranian people. Could it also be the undoing of JD Vance? It looks like he's been set up as the...

Khamenei said that he eventually approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) based only on a series of promises from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the negotiating team. Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that Iran will not submit to the "excessive demands" of the United States in future negotiations with the US in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Thursday. Khamenei said that he eventually approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) based only on a series of promises from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the negotiating team.

It's entirely possible that Trump, the "Art of the Deal" master, never saw the details of the MoU --brokered by fake "friends" Qatar/Pakistan-- before blindly placing his confidence in JD Vance. Yet virtually no one argues that this deal is good for America. There is broad consensus across Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, and many others that the sole beneficiary would be Iran's oppressive regime and its jihadist proxies. No one believes that the $300 billion would simply be spent on "reconstruction." Just like the regime has been doing with Obama's cash release for its annihilation nuclear program, ballistic missiles, shahed drones...

NEW YORK, NY — According to sources, Vice President JD Vance stumbled upon an incredible discovery on Tuesday when he made contact with a tribe of illiterate, feral women. The all-female tribe was discovered in a television studio where anthropologists believe they ate garbage and pretended to put on a show for their pantheon of primitive gods. Their clothing was allegedly a mixture of rags and what appeared to be remnants of the JC Penney Spring Collection. Vance took copious notes while in their presence, hoping to get his findings to a local university so the tribe could be further...

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth all have voiced doubts about Iran’s commitment not to build a nuclear weapon. Rubio and Hegseth speak to press. Malcolm Ferguson. June 16, 2026 CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others within the Trump administration don’t think Iran is being serious about its promise not to develop or attain nuclear weapons, according to anonymous sources from Axios.

Almost all media commentators seem convinced that Donald Trump’s foreign policy in his second term is a disaster. He is bogged down in Iran, snookered in Ukraine, his tariff agenda has failed and he has alienated his NATO allies. But this consensus has been too hastily formed. Looking at the bigger global picture, Trump’s foreign policy has been a spectacular success. Take the western hemisphere. We have the so-called “Donroe Doctrine,” the updated version of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine. In 1822, president James Monroe, having welcomed South America’s overthrow of Spanish and Portuguese imperial rule, stated that Latin American nations...

Vice President J.D. Vance went on The View Tuesday morning in the vain hope of talking about his new faith-focused book, Communion. Instead, he found himself locked in a debate with a group of ladies who subjected the VP to a show trial.Vance was questioned on topics including immigration and deportation, President Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the release of the files. The most eye-catching exchange was with the show’s moderator, Whoopi Goldberg, concerning race.“What did black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color?” she asked. “And you know how hard...

Vice President JD Vance will appear on "The View" next week, marking his first appearance on the reliably liberal ABC News program, Fox News Digital has learned. Vance, who is set to join the show on June 16, will be the third sitting vice president to appear on "The View." All six co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro, are expected to be in studio for the rare interview with an elected Republican. "The View" had a total of 341 guests in 2025, but only two of them were conservative, while 128...

British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has said that not all ethnic groups should be treated the same by police in the wake of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who died in police handcuffs after officers refused to believe he had been stabbed by a Sikh man. Lammy, who also serves as the left-wing Labour Party government’s Justice Secretary, said that while the “starting point” should be equality before the law, it is not always appropriate to be treated “the same”, noting the disproportionate arrest rates of certain ethnic minority groups, such as Roma travelers [Gypsies] and black Britons....