Free Republic

Glenn Fine, the Pentagon's principal deputy inspector general, submitted his resignation on Tuesday. Why it matters: President Trump removed Fine as the Pentagon's acting inspector general in April 7 after a group of independent federal watchdogs selected him to lead the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which was set up to oversee the rollout of the $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The move effectively sidelined Fine from serving as chair of the panel, since the law only allows sitting inspectors general to fill the role. The big picture: His ouster as the Defense Department's acting inspector general came amid Trump's continuing...

After White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus offered strongly-worded statements on Thursday afternoon at CPAC condemning the media as “the opposition party” to the Trump team, Vice President Mike Pence offered an evening address to a boisterous audience. Of course, he lobbed some jabs at the media of his own. Recapping the states the ticket won “that no Republican had carried in a generation,” Pence slammed the media for not foreseeing Trump’s victory: “The establishment never saw it coming. I mean, the media, the elites, the insiders, everybody else who profits off preserving the...

Critics of President Donald Trump saw in his Thursday news conference a combative, thin-skinned chief executive who continues to blame the media for the controversies roiling his administration. His supporters saw something else: A champion of Middle America who is taking on the establishment and making good on his campaign promises to put the country first. […] Richelle Kirk of Logan, West Virginia, watched some of Trump’s news conference on Thursday and didn’t see any head-scratching comments from the president. “I back him 100 percent,” said the 42-year-old stay-at-home mom. “You either love it or get out, is my opinion.”...

<p>Just days after President Trump spoke of a “running war’’ with the media, his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, ratcheted up the attacks, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the election outcome and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration.</p>

House Speaker Paul Ryan concedes the “five-point” Republican legislative agenda he’s pursuing in Congress could be construed as competing with policy points the GOP presidential candidates are pushing in the primary season. But he argues that the party shouldn’t wait until its nominating convention in July to tell the public its priorities, including lowering the national debt, strengthening the military and easing government regulation of business. […] … Ryan adds that the GOP needs “a transition from being an opposition party to being a proposition party.” …

Government Bashed for Nuke, Rights Stances by Hong Seok-jun (udo@chosun.com) Lawmakers from the Grand National Party blasted the government Thursday for agreeing to be left out of talks aimed at solving the nuclear crisis. They also decried Seoul's abstention from the United Nations vote to condemn North Korea for its human rights violations. The party's chairman, Park Hee-tae said that Korea’s exclusion from the multilateral talks was caused because the Roh Moo-hyun administration was dealing with the nuclear issues as an observer. “It is not too late to solve the North Korean problems on our own," Park said, "as it...

Still Looking for Signs of an Opposition Party, Blix Says A United Nations inspection team working in Washington, D.C. has requested more time to search for Democrats, having found “no signs of Democrats, a Democratic Party or a program to build a Democratic Party” in the nation’s capital. “We have found no evidence of Democrats at this time,” inspection chief Hans Blix told reporters today. “However, the inspections are going well and perhaps at a later juncture we will, in fact, find a Democrat.” According to information furnished to the inspection team, the Democrats began to dismantle themselves in the...