Free Republic

Before handing Gavin Newsom the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, Democrats may want to pause and consider his long record of failure in California. From his mishandling of the January wildfires to his coddling of illegal immigrants, his poor governance has led to a collapse of public confidence and a mass exodus from the Golden State. But buried beneath the broader criticism is an often overlooked central failure: Newsom’s policy decisions have made California an increasingly hostile state in which to conduct business. And few industries have suffered more under California’s regulatory assault than fossil fuels, where relentless overreach...

The long march through the institutions: From Trotskyist entryism to civilizational conquest of Europe by the Muslim Brotherhood. The twentieth century taught the revolutionary Left a bitter lesson: frontal assaults on power fail when the state commands loyalty and firepower. Supposedly, the reason Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks triumphed in 1917 was that the Russian state had already collapsed; elsewhere, such as Hungary and Germany in 1919 and 1923, respectively, insurrection was crushed. From this defeat emerged a subtler doctrine—“entryism”. Instead of “storming the palace at once”, as it were, revolutionaries were advised to patiently infiltrate every institution shaping public opinion and...

Americans mostly trust the nation’s highest court to do what’s best, presumably by scrupulously following the laws enshrined in the 238-year-old U.S. Constitution. But that trust could be tested in coming months, as the Supreme Court decides whether President Donald Trump’s tariffs pass constitutional muster, the latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows. When U.S. Supreme Court Justices are sworn in to office, they vow to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” With this in mind, the I&I/TIPP Poll this month asked voters simply: “How much confidence do you have in the U.S. Supreme...

After decades of climate panic, the left quietly abandoned the weather—proof its causes shift not with science or facts, but with whatever outrage best sustains power, protest, and cultural revolt. “Stand with Ukraine! Free Palestine! No one is illegal!” Did I forget any other empty slogans? For the last eight years, the basement-dwelling interlocutors of the left have screamed and yelled for revolution, bearing their signs, blocking the streets, and bawling in front of politicians’ homes. Conservatives and the general public have endured these mantras blasted all over social media and the airwaves. These empty epithets have dominated college campuses,...

Civilizational erasure, as it relates to Europe, has been in the news lately, with the renewed and scaled up predations of Islam once again commanding center stage. Islam’s resurgence has been a full century in the making, enabled in large part by Western ignorance and enforced taboos against discussing Islam’s highly relevant 1,400-year history of mass bloodshed and conquest. Indeed, that history is whitewashed by Western academics, whether pseudo-historians like the late Edward Said or execrable and ahistorical oikophobes like Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky. Wikipedia, Google, and artificial intelligence also play outsized roles in the academic and historical whitewash....

It’s a tale of two investigations. In one version – based on past comments by former FBI Director Christopher Wray – the arrest last week of Brian Cole Jr. as the individual who allegedly placed pipe bombs near the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee on Jan. 5, 2021, was the culmination of a dogged, five-year effort by the bureau. In another version, suggested by Dan Bongino, the bureau’s deputy director, FBI agents revived a long-dormant case a few months ago, quickly tracking down Cole through an existing body of evidence, not from new...

Elon Musk recently asked a question that millions of Americans have been asking for years: “Who sends them their instructions!? Real question.” He was reacting to a familiar spectacle, within minutes or hours of an event, leading Democrats, left leaning pundits, and drive-by media outlets suddenly begin using the same phrase, the same framing, sometimes almost the same sentence, on TV, on 𝕏, and across the web. The pattern is so obvious that it has become a kind of dark joke on the right. We all see the copies, the question is whether there is in fact a script....

Reality is a constant reminder of – what is real. Democrats have lost the con, lost their way, and are just lost. We still hear wild, politically charged, wheel-spinning attacks on President Trump – as he restores individual liberties, shrinks government, deports illegals, hits drug traffickers, stops state-sponsored terror, and speaks up for faith, freedom, our Founders’ genius, and biology. He is right. John Adams, vice president to George Washington, was another president with spine, often disliked for his resolve, determination, outsized personality, and penchant for action – but he got things done. Our early presidents loved the Constitution; they...

During the oral argument over Trump v. Slaughter at the Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan got seriously exercised. “You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government!” Trump’s solicitor general, John Sauer, wisely declined to respond. She went on. “Where else have we so fundamentally altered the structure of government?” Indeed. The 1934 Humphrey’s Executor case did exactly that as the New Deal got into high gear during FDR’s reign. The Constitution defines three, not four, branches of government. Article I defines all the bits and pieces about the legislative branch. In particular, Section 8 lists the things that Congress...

You'd think the CIA would have a few ace operatives who could do this, but their record in that country is not great. The Wall Street Journal's longtime correspondent, Juan Forero, published two riveting pieces on how this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, managed to escape from the Venezuelan socialist hellhole, an arrest warrant with her name on it having driven her into hiding for more than a year. His first piece begins this way: Wearing a wig and a disguise, María Corina Machado began her escape from Venezuela on Monday afternoon. The Venezuelan opposition leader was...

“We’re saying Merry Christmas again!” President Trump declared recently, referring to the politically correct social pressure Christians sometimes feel to downplay the holiday greeting in order to be more “inclusive” of non-Christians. For decades now, as the culture has become more secular, references to Christ have been gradually drained from the season celebrating His birth: schools have changed “Christmas break” to “winter break”; Christmas tree lighting ceremonies have become “Winter” or “Holiday” tree lightings; and most notoriously, “Happy Holidays” has replaced “Merry Christmas” in many chain stores, advertisements, and corporate settings. Some claim that the idea of a “war...

America warns Europe that only one of them is truly fighting to reverse the West’s decline—and the clock is running out for the other to follow suit. Nothing bothers the European elite as much as American conservatives praising the European foundations of their shared, but threatened, Western civilization. Europeans especially resent having their social-welfare state system critiqued by upstart, crass Americans. Their pique only increases as they push back against the condescending American idea that the U.S. could possibly offer any constructive advice, much less help a more civilized Europe follow the “American model.” Americans, in turn, are worried that...

In an interview on "The Katie Miller Pod," Elon Musk said DOGE, the Department of Governmental Efficiency, was a "somewhat successful" venture, but he wouldn't do it again. KATIE MILLER: You are in the Roosevelt Room, if you remember this, getting sworn in, and they hand you a computer and a phone. I want to go back to what happened next. I think the story of DOGE, from your perspective, has never been told. What was your first thought on how DOGE was going to proceed? ELON MUSK: Well, I guess I couldn't believe I was there, for the most...

As the old aphorism goes: “Don’t tax you; don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.” Nobody likes paying taxes, but most Americans accept them as a necessary evil and are willing to pay their fair share, unless politicians waste those tax dollars in extraordinarily—well—wasteful ways, or steal them outright. I refer, of course, to California, where, as the classic Eagle’s song Hotel California goes: “You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.” California, it’s no secret, is in deep financial trouble. In 2022, Gavin Newsom bragged about a $97.5 billion dollar surplus. By the...

The ever-ditzy Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) was a guest on the "Grounded" podcast, when she was asked by host Jon Tester about the presence of military personnel in cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois. Though the podcast aired this past September, a couple of her comments have recently re-surfaced and gone viral. When Tester asked the congresswoman her thoughts on the military presence in those cities, Crockett replied, “I think it’s terrible.” That opinion can legitimately be debated by people of good faith. However, she went on to say: "I want to be clear that, like, law enforcement isn't...

For a brief, shining moment in 1945, the United States stood astride the world like a colossus. In four years, we had built the greatest military machine in human history, liberated half the planet, and dropped the sun itself on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prove the point. Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial Japan (three empires that had terrorized the globe) lay in smoking ruins. The message was unmistakable: try America on the battlefield and you will be annihilated. Our enemies learned the lesson. They have not seriously attempted a direct military confrontation since. Instead, they (and the ideological heirs...

Either Americans win, or the criminals do. Pithy social critic David Burge said it best: “Journalism is about covering important stories — with a pillow, until they stop moving.” One of the important stories that “journalists” are covering up today is the Trump administration’s increasingly successful efforts to combat violent crime. At the end of July, the Department of Homeland Security released a report showing that violent crime rates had dropped significantly during the first six months of President Trump’s second term. Homicides were down 17%; gun assaults were down 21%; aggravated assaults were down 10%; sexual assaults were down...

"Imagine if the US and EU were still aligned on the censorship-by-proxy strategy. Few people realize how close we were to global totalitarianism." —Michael Shellenberger. Norm Eisen, Lawfare Ninja Supreme Western Civ is choking itself to death with lawfare in the name of “democracy.” If you think just a little bit past the sale, you will realize that few will say what they mean by “democracy,” including the most ardent “democracy” cultists. What it supposedly means is legal outcomes that the political left wants, not what the law, or the truth, or justice requires. On the surface, the left pretends...

The US has released a new National Security Strategy which re-envisions the Monroe Doctrine for a new century. Bernhard at MoA covered it in full here for those interested in the thorough details. I’ll instead look at the bigger picture, as well as one specific, fascinating aspect of this major rethink of US foreign policy. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/06/world/europe/trump-europe-strategy-document.htmlNYT’s subheading reframes the new vision as a hatred for Europe: A new White House policy document formalizes President Trump’s long-held contempt for Europe’s leaders. It made clear that the continent now stands at a strategic crossroads. Well, why wouldn’t Trump hate the new Europe?...

In the history of American governance, few chapters will stain the pages as darkly as the utter failure of the Biden-Harris administration to safeguard unaccompanied migrant children. I must ask this question: If their goal was to intentionally traffic children into sexual slavery and forced labor, how would their actions have been any different? For four catastrophic years, vulnerable minors poured across the Rio Grande and were funneled into a system riddled with incompetence, willful blindness, and flat-out negligence. A report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) landed like a bomb and exposed the...