Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Two weeks into a new administration, a majority of Americans say they have at least some confidence in President Joe Biden and his ability to manage the myriad crises facing the nation, including the raging coronavirus pandemic. Overall, 61% approve of Biden’s handling of his job in his first days in office, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Though the bulk of Biden’s support is from fellow Democrats, about a quarter of Republicans say they approve of his early days in office. Biden’s standing with the public will quickly face...

It's easy enough to overlook in a Capitol consumed by impeachment preparations, Senate organizational wrangling and the future of one new Republican member of Congress in particular.Those are important storylines. So is the slow but unmistakable progress President Joe Biden has been making in COVID-19 relief, with both partisan and bipartisan tracks still available to him.For all the political messiness, it remains remarkable how often the Biden team has managed to keep to its messaging over the first two weeks of the administration. But it's worth remembering how much practice they developed in tuning out Trump-driven noise.Biden's plans for the...

Experts say Trump's rhetoric helped galvanize right-wing elements. Nearly a month after a pro-Trump mob violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, a clearer picture is emerging of the individuals and groups involved as federal authorities arrest and charge people who allegedly participated in the riot. Former President Donald Trump’s supporters -- 74 million of whom voted to give him a second term in 2020 -- are diverse in background and ideology and come from all corners of the United States, and those who stormed the Capitol represent just a fraction. But to some experts, the hundreds who took part in the...

CHICAGO - As federal officials grapple with how to confront the national security threat from domestic extremists after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol, civil rights groups and communities of color are watching warily for any moves to expand law enforcement power or authority. They say their communities have felt the brunt of security scrutiny over the last two decades and fear new tools meant to target right-wing extremism or white nationalists risk harming Muslims, Black Americans and other groups, even if unintentionally. Their position underscores the complexity of the national debate surrounding how to balance First Amendment expression...

WASHINGTON - Less than two weeks in office, President Joe Biden is facing two critical tests of whether the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol has damaged America’s standing as a beacon for democracy. Protests in Russia and a military coup in Myanmar come as American credibility on the world stage has plummeted after last month’s storming of the Capitol by a pro-Donald Trump mob looking to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory. That adds to the weight on Biden as he seeks to fulfill a campaign pledge to dramatically reposition the U.S. as a global leader following four...

The Congressional Budget Office expects the U.S. economy will grow at a 4.6% annual rate this year, with employment returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2024. The 10-year outlook issued Monday said the economic recovery from the coronavirus has been boosted by an unprecedented wave of government spending to combat the outbreak, such that growth could pass its maximum sustainable level in early 2025 before returning to a long-run average of 1.7%. Based on the CBO’s projections, economic growth would be the strongest since 1999. While the growth estimates suggest a quick snapback in gross domestic product, the CBO shows that...

By Thursday the 12th of November, President Donald Trump’s election lawyers were concluding that the reality he faced was the inverse of the narrative he was promoting in his comments and on Twitter. There was no substantial evidence of election fraud and there were nowhere near enough “irregularities” to reverse the outcome in the courts. Thursday the 12th was the day Trump’s flimsy, long-shot legal effort to reverse his loss turned into something else entirely — an extralegal campaign to subvert the election, rooted in a lie so convincing to some of his most devoted followers that it made the...

WASHINGTON - The Florida law firm that employs President Joe Biden's brother Frank ran a newspaper ad on Inauguration Day touting the brothers' relationship and shared values, a move that is causing an ethics headache for the administration less than two weeks after Biden took office. Biden has promised to lead a highly ethical administration, which he has pitched as a contrast to his predecessor, and has adopted unusually strict rules for those serving in his administration, although they do not necessarily apply to family members. The two-page "advertorial" ran on Jan. 20 in the South Florida-based Daily Business Review...

A House Democrat introduced a resolution on Friday suggesting that President Trump undergo a physical and mental health exam to help determine whether he is fit for office. Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-Calif.) resolution specifically calls on Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet members to “quickly secure the services of medical and psychiatric professionals” to “assist in their deliberations” invoking the 25th Amendment, which outlines presidential removal procedures. It posits that such an examination by doctors would “determine whether the president suffers from mental disorder or other injury that impairs his abilities and prevents him from discharging his Constitutional duties.” Her...

The first major lawsuit hit President Joe Biden’s administration two days after he took office, providing an early test not only of how much conservative legal opposition his policies will draw but also of his strategy in fending off such challenges. Unlike his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, whose administration sought to rush cases to a U.S. Supreme Court it considered friendly territory, Biden’s team may not be able to count on a sympathetic audience among the conservative justices who hold sway on the nation’s top judicial body. The Jan. 22 lawsuit was filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a...

The sweet and fluffy coverage can't last forever. Before President Joe Biden was sworn in to the Oval Office, the American people received a glimpse of what hard-hitting journalism would look like for the next four years. From staying mum on the Hunter Biden story to having “chills” over watching Biden’s plane land at Joint Base Andrews, the pro-Biden “why are you so wonderful” reportage has been embarrassing. But the Fourth Estate suspending its pearl-clutching journalism and hanging a “gone fishin’” sign on the front door was as expected as a newsroom wishing everything was worse than Watergate – at...

... Trump would like to be remembered for his handling of the economy, including instituting a massive tax cut for corporations and the country's wealthiest citizens and lifting regulations that had held many corporations back. But while Trump has been a master at controlling the narrative in his time, history runs its own course. Presidents facing major crises, for instance, are invariably judged by how they rose to the challenge of resolving them. Given the patterns of history, it is likely that Trump will be remembered primarily for the central crises of his administration. The first is the COVID-19 pandemic,...

... Hours after Joe Biden took the oath of office as president, the White House dedicated last Thursday to the signing of an executive order to take steps to "strengthen Medicaid and initiate an open enrollment period under the ACA," also known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. The White House declined multiple requests to provide more specifics about the order and how it would strengthen Medicaid, but many policy experts say it will address the numerous waivers provided by the Trump administration. During the Trump administration, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, provided a series...

With demand for COVID-19 vaccines outpacing the world’s supplies, a frustrated public and policymakers want to know: How can we get more? A lot more. Right away. The problem: “It’s not like adding more water to the soup,” said vaccine specialist Maria Elena Bottazzi of Baylor College of Medicine. Makers of COVID-19 vaccines need everything to go right as they scale up production to hundreds of millions of doses — and any little hiccup could cause a delay. Some of their ingredients have never before been produced at the sheer volume needed. HOW MUCH IS ON THE WAY? That varies...

What were Senate Republicans voting on Tuesday when they opposed the impeachment trial of Donald Trump? Not whether Trump stays in office — he's already left. Not how he's remembered by history — 400,000 dead from the coronavirus have already decided that question. Instead, the fate they were deciding was their own. Sadly, most showed they still aren't ready to begin reclaiming the party from the conspiracists. Just five GOP senators joined Democrats to vote down Republican Sen. Rand Paul's motion that the impeachment proceedings were unconstitutional because Trump's term has finished. At least 17 Republicans will have to join...

WASHINGTON - The patter of paws is being heard in the White House again following the arrival of President Joe Biden’s dogs Champ and Major. The two German shepherds are the first pets to live at the executive mansion since the Obama administration. Major burst onto the national scene late last year after Biden, then president-elect, broke his right foot while playing with the dog at their home in Wilmington, Delaware. The Bidens adopted Major in 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association. Champ joined the family after the 2008 presidential election that made Joe Biden vice president. The Bidens had...

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden heralded the restoration of respectful republican governance Wednesday, simultaneously paying tribute to the power of American democracy and warning that its survival is tenuous. In an inaugural address short on specifics and long on calls for solidarity, the newly sworn-in 46th commander-in-chief promised, as presidents do, to be a leader for all Americans - those who voted for him and those who did not. Two aspects of Biden's appeal made it uniquely authentic to him: context and consistency. The speech was elegantly humble in delivering a single, inoffensive thought into the collective conscience of the...

WASHINGTON - There was no discussion of the inauguration’s crowd size. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, arrived in the briefing room on Wednesday night for the first time, wearing two masks, promising to bring “truth and transparency” to her exchanges with the news media, and taking questions from almost every reporter - even a correspondent from Fox News. “I have deep respect for the role of a free and independent press,” Psaki said, flipping through a heavy briefing book marked up with notes. “We have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.” Her...

President Joe Biden revoked a recent Trump administration report that aimed to promote “patriotic education” in schools but that historians mocked and rejected as political propaganda. In an executive order signed on Wednesday in his first day in office, Biden disbanded Donald Trump’s presidential 1776 Commission and withdrew a report it released Monday. Trump established the group in September to rally support from white voters and as a response to The New York Times’ “1619 Project,” which highlights the lasting consequences of slavery in America. In its report, which Trump hoped would be used in classrooms across the nation, the...

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden will launch an array of initiatives on Thursday to rein in the raging coronavirus pandemic, tackling his top priority on his first full day in the White House as he tries to turn the page on Donald Trump’s tumultuous leadership. Biden will sign 10 executive orders to fight the pandemic, including ordering the use of disaster funds to help re-open schools and mandating the wearing of protective masks on planes and buses, officials said. The new Democratic president has put the pandemic at the top of a daunting list of challenges he faces in his...