Free Republic

Sectarian fighting has highlighted just how combustible the country remains months after its authoritarian leader, Bashar al Assad, was toppled. Ahmad al Sharaa, who led Islamist rebels who overthrew the authoritarian leader, became the country's interim president in a transition that was initially mostly peaceful. He has pledged to protect Syria's diverse ethnic and religious groups since. However, a few months after the overthrow of Assad, government forces clashed with pro-Assad armed groups on Syria's coast, spurring sectarian attacks that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which the former president belongs. This left other minority groups,...

Trump’s political operation just dropped this ad against Thomas Massie in Kentucky:

@RepThomasMassie 🧵 Foreign aid in DOD approps bill: $300 mil Syria & Iraq military $118 mil overseas disasters $15 mil AIDS in Africa $500 mil Israel $350 mil Kuwait $1.27 bil foreign security $500 mil Taiwan $500 mil Jordan $267 mil reimburse countries

I honestly think to get the OBBB passed he's had to give up certain positions. How else do you explain it? The endorsement of Lindsey Graham, too? The resumption of aid to Ukraine? It's all very odd and timely. I think Trump has (had) a lot invested in getting OBBB done. Think about it. It was his signature bill. They held it hostage and now you see why... There is (was) a lot at stake.

Former Vice President Mike Pence praised President Donald Trump for his decision to resume military aid to Ukraine, saying “the time is now” to renew support. “I do believe the time has come for us to renew our military support for Ukraine, make it clear that we’re going to continue to provide that support, along with our European allies, until a just and lasting peace is achieved,” Pence said in an interview with CNN on Thursday. Pence has at times been a sharp critic of his onetime boss’ position on Ukraine during Trump’s second term. Trump has repeatedly reversed positions...

Republican senators aren’t happy about how President Trump treated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whom the president blasted last week on social media after Tillis said he wouldn’t vote for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Tillis is highly regarded among colleagues as a team player focused on getting results, and many Republicans thought he would have had the best chance of keeping the North Carolina Senate seat in GOP hands.

As Elon Musk moves to create a third party to upend America’s political system, he’s spoken with one-time Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang about the nascent effort. Yang, the 2020 White House contender and founder of the independent Forward Party, said in an interview that he has been “in touch” with Musk and his team. “I’m excited for anyone who wants to move on from the duopoly,” Yang said. “And I’m happy to help give someone a sense of what the path looks like.” He did not respond to follow-up questions about when they spoke and what else they discussed....

Elon Musk has dropped another bombshell amid his ongoing feud with the White House by claiming that Donald Trump ally and ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is named in the Epstein Files. Mr Musk claimed, without evidence, that Mr Bannon was in the Jeffrey Epstein files, in a reply shared on social media. His post on X/Twitter, was in response to Trump ally Roger Stone who questioned why former White House advisor Steve Bannon would meet with the notorious paedophile, Mr Musk said: "Bannon is in the Epstein files." Since being shared today, the post has been seen by...

President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday morning that he is open to deporting Elon Musk — amid his renewed battle with the Tesla boss. Speaking with reporters ahead of a flight to Florida on Tuesday, the president was asked about whether he would consider deporting the South African mogul. “We’ll have to take a look,” Trump said. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon! Wouldn’t that be terrible?” After a brief detente between the president and his former DOGE lieutenant, the war...

During debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) rose in opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and warned of its impact on the national deficit.

The Senate has advanced President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill to a full debate despite two GOP defections after hours of drama. The final tally was 51-49. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the two Republican nays. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin initially voted no but switched to yes. Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol earlier to potentially cast a tie-breaking vote. WATCH Vice President Vance enters the Capitol as he prepares to break a potential tie on the first procedural hurdle on the GOP reconciliation bill pic.twitter.com/d2ATm6dP6m — Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) June 29, 2025...

President Trump’s feud with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is showing no signs of abating as the president seeks to oust the GOP congressman for his history of regularly breaking with the administration. Massie recently opposed the administration by denouncing its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and refusing to support the president’s legislative agenda, leading Trump’s political operation to launch a targeted campaign against Massie. On Friday, a Trump-aligned super PAC, led by the president’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, rolled out its first ad as part of a $1 million ad buy targeting Massie. The 30-second ad — titled “What happened...

The Senate blocked an effort Friday to prevent President Trump from taking future military action against Iran without authorization from Congress, less than a week after he directed strikes aimed at the country’s nuclear capabilities. Senators voted 47-53 largely along party lines against the war powers resolution. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the lone GOP lawmaker to vote with Democrats. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), an ardent backer of Israel, voted with Republicans.

@RepMTG My thoughts on bombing Iran. I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs. Almost everyone in our country can relate to this fact. However America has not dropped bunker busters on the Cartel’s sophisticated drug tunnels, launched tomahawks on massive cartel poisonous drug operations, or gone to war against the cartels international terrorists networks. Neocon warmongers beat their drums of war and act like Billy badasses...

@RealCandaceO “A full payload of bombs was dropped” followed by “now is the time for peace”. Utterly deranged. If we had raised the 100 million Adelson gave him on Go Fund Me, maybe he would have kept his promises. Guess we’ll never know.

@gc22gc BANNON: Iraq wasn’t a failure of intelligence. It wasn’t an honest mistake. It was a bald-faced lie. You were lied to. President Trump told the world that. Told the Bushes that. That’s one of the reasons he’s President of the U.S. And we’re getting bald-faced lies right now.

US President Donald Trump will decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict within the next two weeks, the White House has said. In a White House press briefing, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message directly from Trump: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks." The press secretary has so far repeatedly declined to discuss "hypotheticals", including on whether Iranian officials could...

The US joining Israeli strikes would cause "hell for the whole region", Iran's deputy foreign minister has told the BBC. Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is "not America's war" and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as "a president who entered a war he doesn't belong in". He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a "quagmire", continue aggression and delay an end to the "brutal atrocities". His comments came after the Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack. Iranian state media reported that the strike targeted a...

@RandPaul Let me be totally clear: I will not vote to send one American soldier to Iran. Not one.