Free Republic

Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of talks on a two-state solution but Berlin would respond to any unilateral actions, after citing "annexation threats" by some Israeli ministers. Johann Wadephul issued the statement before heading off to Israel and the Palestinian territories on a trip Berlin has billed as a fact-finding mission amid heightened alarm over starvation in Gaza. His remarks marked Germany’s strongest warning yet to Israel as Western nations intensify efforts to exert pressure. In recent weeks, Britain, Canada and France have all signaled their readiness to recognise...

As a trade deadline with the U.S. hangs over Canada (new window), we have been hearing about Canadians taking the ongoing trade war into their own hands. So we asked you to email ask@cbc.ca (new window) to tell us how and why you have been boycotting U.S. goods and travel. Dozens of you answered the call and told us what you're doing. Unsurprisingly, most mentioned searching out more Canadian products and adopting an anything but American mentality when Canadian alternatives aren't available. You also told us about skipping out on travel to the U.S. and becoming more mindful about where...

Keir Starmer addresses the nation as he announces the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September

The first rule of understanding Donald Trump is to never write him off. It’s no exaggeration to say he’s the most remarkable comeback kid of my lifetime: every time his political fate seems to be sealed, he always pulls back from disaster in the 11th hour. I say this to add some context to what looks to be a genuinely dangerous situation for the Republican Party and the Maga project more generally. The Trump-Epstein scandal, now rolling on to week three, has proven itself seriously sticky for the administration. Figures across the Right-wing spectrum – from Karl Rove to Steve...

NBC News National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki analyzes what Republicans are up against as they seek to protect their majority in both chambers of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

Meta head honcho Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly asked to leave a meeting at the Oval Office after he 'walked in unexpectedly' while President Trump met with high-ranking military leaders. Sources familiar with the recent meeting told NBC News that military leaders were shocked when Zuckerberg waltzed into the Oval Office during a discussion on the Air Force's next-generation fighter jet platform. The exact date of the reported incident was not divulged. Officials were reportedly concerned about Zuckerberg's presence, citing that he didn't have the security clearance to be a part of the conversation. He was then asked to leave the...

A feud between Donald Trump and Elon Musk exploded into public view again, as the US president took to Truth Social to attack the billionaire entrepreneur, telling him to “head back home to South Africa” and accusing him of surviving on government handouts. The outburst followed a string of fiery posts by Musk on X (formerly Twitter), in which he condemned Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, known among critics as the "big beautiful bill." Musk, who has clashed with Trump in recent weeks, accused politicians who backed the legislation of hypocrisy and pledged to help unseat them. “Those who...

PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump is reportedly becoming fed up with his new pal Elon Musk with the tech mogul being too "clingy". Musk has spent the past few days going on fiery online tirades against the British government with UK politicians now even said to be urging Trump to ditch the Tesla chief. Billionaire Musk has been Trump's biggest fan over the past few months and even helped propel him into the White House. The pair have been inseparable since the Republicans swept to a landslide election win in November. Musk reportedly joined the future president on an important phone call...

Top advisers to Donald Trump are plotting an overhaul of the Republican Party platform that will dramatically slash its size and refocus the GOP around the former president’s agenda for a second term. A memo from Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles dated Thursday criticized past platforms as too long and too heavily influenced by special interests and outside groups. A “clear, concise and easily digestible” platform will be easier for voters to understand and harder for political opponents to attack, they wrote. “Publishing an unnecessarily verbose treatise will provide more fuel for our opponent’s fire of misinformation...

With seven months to go until November's presidential election and the majority of polls showing the presumptive presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden are basically neck-and-neck, the pair both need every vote they can to secure the keys to the White House. But Trump, the Republican former president, may be hampering his chances at success because of his standing with one key demographic in the adult voting population: women. Polls show that the proportion of women who plan to vote for Trump in November is less than the proportion who voted for him in the 2020 election. Meanwhile, experts...

**SNIP** Democrats and the liberal media have a ready distraction. Every day is Trump, Trump, Trump. And, of course, The Don is happy to oblige their monomania. Trump’s followers may think they’re sticking it to this consortium by continuing to back him. But Trump is only in it for himself, both as retribution for the election he lost and a get-out-of-jail free card for the prosecutions he faces. January 6 was a national travesty, and he is to blame for it. Some of the prosecutions may be unfair, but Trump is no victim. He did try to overturn an election....

A new survey from the Texas Republican Party has Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) defeating former President Trump by 11 points in a hypothetical match-up. Among voters likely to participate in a 2024 presidential primary in Texas, 43 percent said they would support DeSantis and 32 percent said they back Trump, according to the survey results. DeSantis, a rising star in the Republican Party who has flirted with a 2024 White House bid, continues to gain ground in hypothetical match-ups against the former president. Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi tweeted his support for DeSantis after the Florida governor cruised to...

Though the conservative Supreme Court appears poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, Democrats control slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, and they have a president in the White House supportive of abortion rights. They also have public opinion on their side. But one thing stops them from passing a federal law protecting abortion rights and codifying Roe into law: the filibuster. The filibuster is a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. Most controversial legislation is passed on party-line votes these days, and it’s very rare for parties to have 60 senators. Democrats only have...

Republicans thought they had learned a lesson after 2012: Turning off Latino voters ensures defeat in the general election. But as the disruptive presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump continues to gain support, his hard line on immigration has driven rivals to match his biting anti-immigrant language and positions long considered extreme. It risks another general election cycle in which Hispanics view the party as unfriendly no matter who the nominee is, Republican strategists warned. This week, several of Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals, including Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, echoed his call to end automatic citizenship for the American-born children...