Free Republic

As the US Navy remains primed for action in the Southern Caribbean, Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro prepares for what could be an American attempt to remove him. And as President Trump alternates between calling Maduro on the phone and authorizing air strikes, a bevy of misinformation is being peddled by public figures with an agenda. There are so many claims and counter-claims on the air waves right now that it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction. A sizable chunk of this disinformation is of course being sold by Maduro himself, a man who has learned from his predecessor and mentor,...

Summary For a serving president, Trump is unusually engaged in midterm strategy Trump tries to pivot to affordability, urging Republicans to highlight tax cuts Democratic control of the House could re-open risk of impeachment proceedings WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump isn't on the ballot in next November's midterm elections, but he’s plunging into them with his own presidency at stake. He's calling candidates, making early endorsements, shaping strategy and pushing economic messaging to try to keep Congress in Republican hands, according to nine Republicans involved in election strategy. As early as this summer, 18 months before Election...

President Donald Trump is delaying a planned announcement of a proposal to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, according to two White House officials, after congressional Republicans pushed back against the president’s sudden embrace of the expiring subsidies. Trump was expected to unveil a plan aimed at halting ACA premium spikes on Monday, as first reported by MS NOW. But the reveal has been postponed — though not canceled — said the White House officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the internal strategy. Both White House officials noted that Trump’s announcement — which was never officially on the schedule —...

This is a excerpt “More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower,” the anonymous representative continued. “Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.”

Infighting. Bad polls. Party divisions. Midterm fears. It’s all back. President Donald Trump’s administration has been embroiled in scandal and sloppiness. His own party has defied his political pressure. His senior staff has been beset by infighting. He has sparred with reporters and offered over-the-top praise to an authoritarian with a dire human-rights record. A signature hard-line immigration policy has polled poorly. And Republicans have begun to brace themselves for a disastrous midterm election. That was 2017. But it’s also 2025. Ten months into the president’s second term, Trump 2.0 is for the first time starting to resemble the chaotic...

As Trump’s downward spiral starts producing harsher media coverage, a writer who regularly dissects MAGA and political media explains why he’s entering a tailspin that will be very hard to reverse. Suddenly, media outlets seem to have figured out that President Donald Trump is really, really unpopular. There’s been a palpable shift in the discourse: The New York Times reports that Republicans are quietly looking beyond Trump, suggesting he’s losing his grip on the party. Axios claims that it’s “red alert” time for Trump and the GOP. Politico describes how Republicans are getting routed in school board races, a sign...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) warned that President Trump calling Democratic lawmakers “traitors” is “reckless, inappropriate, irresponsible” “But if you take it at face value, the idea that calling your opponents traitors — and then specifically saying that it warrants the death penalty — is reckless, inappropriate, irresponsible.” “It’s not something that is helping the country heal wounds. I think it stirs things up,” he added. The president vented his fury after the Democrats posted the video in which they urged members of the military to refuse unlawful orders. “It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these...

Across party lines, big majorities say the administration needs to explain what the U.S. intends regarding any action, and that it has not done so clearly yet.

President Donald Trump made a passionate post claiming that the Republican Party is "so UNITED" on Sunday night, amid internal divisions in the party over leadership, tariffs, and legislative priorities. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the GOP has "never been so UNITED AS IT iS RIGHT NOW!" "Other than Rand Paul, Rand Paul Jr.(Massie!), Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown, and a couple of other ‘lowlifes,’ and other than the fact that many want the Election threatening Filibuster TERMINATED (the Dems will do it in the first minute of their first chance!), and some don’t, there is great spirit and...

MARGARET BRENNAN: ... Is the President holding himself to the same standard that he is asking of others when it comes to dialing back dangerous rhetoric? PAUL: You know, everybody knows that the President is famous for his unfiltered social media. But if you take at face value the idea that calling your opponents traitors and then specifically saying that it warrants the death penalty is reckless, inappropriate, irresponsible, there are a number of other ways to describe it, but it’s not something that is helping the country heal wounds. I think it stirs things up and- and really, I...

Republican senators are warning Attorney General Pam Bondi not to slow-walk the public release of records and documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following votes by the House and Senate demanding the documents. The calls come amid speculation that the Justice Department may cite ongoing investigations or other reasons to hold back material. Bondi said Wednesday that “new information” obtained by investigators had spurred the Justice Department to reverse its earlier decision to close investigations related to Epstein. Democrats are warning that new investigations into high-profile associates of Epstein, such as former President Clinton and former Treasury...

President Donald Trump’s call for House Republicans to support releasing Jeffrey Epstein-related documents was a stunning capitulation after a months-long campaign to block the vote. It was also a specific defeat for Trump at the hands of a despised GOP opponent: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. “He got tired of me winning,” Massie said of Trump’s U-turn in an interview Monday morning. Insisting “I DON’T CARE!” in a late-night Truth Social post, Trump was bowing to the inevitable — a broad House Republican mutiny on a vote that was only scheduled because Massie forced it. It was the result of...

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky went against the most powerful leaders of his party to push forward with a vote to release more Jeffrey Epstein investigation files. That vote is expected to happen this week. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who for months has sought to avoid the politically charged issue, only agreed to schedule the vote after Massie helped lead a bipartisan coalition of House members to force his hand. The vote will be the culmination of months of growing demands from the public and within Congress demanding transparency about the disgraced financier’s ties to powerful figures. Trump himself...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican who broke with his party and voted no on the test vote to break a filibuster on the deal to reopen the government. Paul voted nay because he wanted a guarantee of a change in the bill regarding hemp.

The killer came by night – a masked man on a motorbike who struck without warning and then sped away. It's become a familiar pattern in some corners of the new Syria in recent months, as the country's fragile unity is eroded by revenge attacks and sectarian killings. The main targets are Alawites, the sect of the ousted Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. But this time, on 1 October, the victims were Christians – Wissam and Shafiq Mansour, cousins who were both 39, and were as close as brothers. As they chatted with a friend over coffee and cigarettes, they were...

@RandPaul Tonight the process of opening the govt begins, less chaos is a good thing but hidden deep in the swamp speak of the Republican bill will be a waiver of PAYGO the long-standing law requiring new spending to be offset with cuts. And so it goes, a trillion here a trillion there. $38 trillion in debt and counting. A depressing outcome

Senate Majority Leader John Thune finally got the eight Democrats/Independents he needed to vote in favor of a Continuing Resolution that will allow the government to reopen. Tonight’s vote was just one step — though a critically important one — in a process that could take several days to play out. Among other things, the CR is different from the one that passed the House on September 19 so the House will have to vote on it again.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., gives a mixed review of President Donald Trump, even as the president seeks to oust him from Congress. (Credit: Fox News Digital)

The Trump administration’s military airstrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky. Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them. US forces in recent weeks have carried out at least eight strikes against boats in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, killing...

Senator Rand Paul is tired of being the only Republican senator willing to stand up to President Trump. The libertarian spoke with Politico’s Dasha Burns just days after being deliberately left out of Trump’s gathering of GOP senators in the Rose Garden. “We have everybody but one person here,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’re just missing one person. You’ll never guess who that is. Let me give you—he automatically votes no on everything. He thinks it’s good politics. It’s really not good politics.”