Free Republic

Half of President Donald Trump’s MAGA base thought the Iran war was worth its economic costs in May. Now, just a little more than a third do.That precipitous, 13-point drop in just two months, according to a new POLITICO Poll, reveals how the president’s most die-hard supporters are starting to agree with the majority of Americans who have long opposed the U.S.’ involvement in the war. ............... The White House is “at a maximum level of frustration right now, and I was told by very senior people that the president is now fully aware that the only way to the...

Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.) has announced he will not seek reelection, choosing instead to run for state Senate in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act. In a statement late Tuesday afternoon, Fields said he came to the decision after “a great deal of prayer and reflection.” “I feel my calling to serve the people is better put to use back home than here in D.C., and I intend to answer that call,” said Fields, whose majority-Black district encompasses parts of Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Fields’ announcement comes after the Louisiana state legislature in...

FBI Director Kash Patel is planning to visit Russia later this year, likely in mid-October, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the situation. It would be an unusual and sensitive trip for an FBI chief to one of America’s top adversaries. The plans come as Washington and Moscow continue to be at odds over the war in Ukraine, with U.S. lawmakers demanding the imposition of heavy new sanctions on Russia. Patel has a history of involvement in controversial Russia-related matters dating to President Donald Trump’s first term, including trying to cast doubt on investigations into whether...

The Democratic establishment is alarmed that a top candidate’s collapse and the surge from a democratic socialist could cost them the governorship.Sara Rodriguez had a prime opportunity this past Saturday to show voters gathered for a gubernatorial candidate forum in Wisconsin’s rural Northwoods that she was the person who could unite Democrats, thwart a democratic socialist insurgency and deliver the party unified control of state government for the first time in a generation. Except the lieutenant governor didn’t show up. Her reserved table sat empty, save for a lone campaign sign. She blamed the last-minute cancellation on a family emergency....

Lindsey Graham's death will kick off a breakneck campaign for his Senate seat Republicans face a sudden August primary to fill a full six-year term. By Alec Hernandez 07/12/2026 Lindsey Graham’s sudden, unexpected death will kick off a rapid campaign to pick the next likely senator from South Carolina — with a full six-year term on the line to replace the longtime senator. Graham was up for reelection in November, having just dispatched primary challenger Mark Lynch just over a month ago. He was set to face Democrat Annie Andrews, a doctor who fairly comfortably won the Democratic primary. Republicans...

The many donors out there to the Graham Platner Senate campaign who might be upset about the incredibly poor vetting that was performed on their candidate might be interested to know about evidence of malfeasance and corruption by one of the primary vetters that has just been revealed by an interesting source.And that source is someone familiar to longtime readers of NewsBusters. None other than Mike Elk (pictured) who earned the reputation as perhaps the most lethargic labor reporter in the world but definitely at Politico where he briefly worked about ten years ago.However, despite his reputation for lethargy, on...

If you want to know why Politico risked the inevitable mockery that will ensue by whining absurdly about the supposed dangers posed to the environment by the America 250 fireworks the answer is easily supplied by simply reading the first word of the title of their Friday KvetchFest, "Trump plans record fireworks show, internal docs warn of smoky skies."Substitute the name of any Democrat president such as Clinton or Obama or Autopen and the silly story by the Politico troika of Alex Guillen, Miranda Willson, and Ariel Wittenberg would have been nonexistent. Yes, they just can't allow President Donald Trump...

Ooops! What we predicted about higher gas prices a couple of months ago... Never mind! On April 28, Politico White House reporter Scott Waldman along with his sidekick, Eli Stokols, were confidently citing experts who predicted a big surge in gasoline prices due to the Iran war as you can see in "‘There’s a day of reckoning coming’: Energy experts expect another spike at the pump."

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,...

When American and Israeli warplanes struck Iran on Feb. 28, Israeli officials let themselves believe the alliance was entering a golden age. Four months later, they are bracing for a future where Israel stands more alone than ever. The vice president of the United States set the stage last week, telling Israel it has almost no friends left in the world, and that it should think hard before turning on the one it has. But the problem for Israel is much bigger than JD Vance, according to seven people, including U.S. and Israeli officials and others familiar with the relationship....

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) faces accusations of using campaign funds for several lavish expenditures, including Disneyland, Disney World, and the Super Bowl. “Sen. Ruben Gallego repeatedly used campaign cash to fund luxury outings with his wife and to care for his children since launching his campaign for Senate in 2023, including attending the Super Bowl using a joint campaign account with Eric Swalwell,” POLITICO reporter Irie Sentner writes. More from The Daily Beast: The Arizona lawmaker used political action committee funds to pay for trips and more than $18,000 in child care since 2019, Politico reported Sunday. “He just spends...

Republicans on Capitol Hill are seething that Donald Trump is not more focused on the economy as this year's midterm elections approach, warning it could obliterate the narrow GOP congressional majority. Polling indicates that voters are souring on Trump and his Republican allies in Congress ahead of his November's elections that will prove fateful for the President's agenda. In addition to the lack of attention to fixing the economy, senior aides also identified the nomination of Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte, a close ally of the President, to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as an...

Voters in perhaps the most consequential special election ever held in Britain are angry, and they really want someone to feel their pain. That’s the clear verdict from a special focus group by Public First for POLITICO of voters in Makerfield, the former mining area in northwest England whose June 18 vote could determine the next prime minister. Some in the group said Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate who is hot favorite to succeed party leader Keir Starmer as PM if he can get himself back into Parliament, might make a difference. But the overwhelming mood during the 90-minute conversation...

‘Hey, you promised lower gas prices. You promised the economy would be better.” Christian conservative influencer Savanna Faith Stone...is one of a flurry of influencers who flocked to San Antonio to gather under a bevy of bright pink lights at Turning Point USA’s Women’s Leadership Summit. “It’s harder than ever for a young couple to be able to buy a home." “I cannot express to you the level of alarm bells that should be ringing for the GOP,” conservative influencer Alex Clark told POLITICO. "Young women are looking at everything from the ongoing war in Iran to the persistence of...

Candidate Nithya Raman in the Los Angeles mayoral race came in third place on election night, June 2, so far behind second place finisher Spencer Platt that she essentially conceded the election in a tearful farewell. And then, miracle of miracle, over the next few days as more and more mail-in ballots kept rolling in, Raman suddenly surged in the votes, often exceeding first place Karen Bass in some counts and doubling the percentage of her election day returns to the extent that by Sunday she surpassed Pratt in the vote, thus apparently landing a spot in the November runoff...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that, despite the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel, a deal to end the war in the Middle East could be reached “in two or three days.” “They were going back and forth [with strikes], and now they both agreed, through me, to stop, and now we’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal,” Trump told reporters in New York, where he was attending the NBA finals in Madison Square Garden. Trump said the deal would stop Iran from having nuclear weapons and result in the...

The oil industry is warning the Trump administration that a Hormuz-sized hole in the world’s petroleum market is steadily draining inventories to levels that are likely to send global energy prices surging in the next several weeks, according to four executives. Industry executives have flagged the issue to senior White House officials and Cabinet members in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing dialogue with the U.S. energy industry, the people said. The warnings came as recently as late last month as data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other sources began showing that fuel makers were...

“You need Chevron, I need Chevron.” That’s the message from Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier Becerra, who’s making waves by breaking with the left on one of California’s most ambitious climate policies — as he refuses to fully back the state’s plan to phase out new gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035. The former Health and Human Services secretary, who leads polling ahead of the June 2 primary to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, stopped short of endorsing the state’s target to ban new gas and hybrid vehicle purchases starting in 2035. “California should transition from gas-powered vehicles when it makes sense —...

Graham Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women while married to his wife, Amy Gertner, his campaign confirmed to POLITICO on Saturday, the latest scandal he has faced since launching his Maine Senate campaign last year.In a statement, Gertner slammed a former friend for spreading “malicious gossip” in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report that she had informed her husband’s campaign of the texts in late August.“I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said. “In the months since, I have had to watch as she spread malicious gossip to...

Federal income tax experts tell POLITICO money from the DOJ's Judgment Fund, which the new $1.8 billion program is drawing on, is generally taxable.President Donald Trump isn’t supposed to directly profit from the dismissal of his lawsuit against the IRS.And yet, he could still owe taxes on the money going to set up a central feature of that deal — the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”Some tax practitioners say the way that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced May 18, is structured likely makes it an income tax liability for the president, potentially costing hundreds of millions of...