Free Republic

On Tuesday’s broadcast of SiriusXM’s “Megyn Kelly Show,” CNN host and “Original Sin” co-author Jake Tapper said that he apologized to Lara Trump for criticizing her during a 2020 interview for her statements about President Joe Biden’s cognitive ability and accusing her of mocking his stutter and said that the context for the interview was other outlets interpreting her comments as mocking Biden’s stutter and “the context of October 2020, a very intense time, people on the Biden side are saying crazy things about Trump, people on the Trump side are saying crazy things about Biden, including Don Jr. suggesting...

Megyn Kelly is urging Americans to have patience with President Trump as backlash over his far-reaching “reciprocal” tariffs continues to grow. “He’s asking everybody to be a little patient. I think given the guy’s success in the first term, economically, we should give it to him,” Kelly told the Daily Mail. “He’s earned the right to our patience, and I’m prepared to provide it,” the host of SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” declared. Trump’s sweeping tariffs on nearly all imports went into effect over the weekend, and even steeper levies began Wednesday, hitting US allies and adversaries alike, with China...

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Tuesday on CNN’s “News Central” that the percentage of Americans who believe the country is on the right track is “through the roof” in President Donald Trump’s second term. Enten said, “All we talk about is how unpopular Donald Trump is. But in reality, he’s basically more popular than he was at any point in term number one and more popular than he was when he won election back in November of 2024. What are we talking about? His net favorable rating right now comes in at minus four points. Compare that to...

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” host Lawrence O’Donnell stated that “Elon Musk himself, personally, could pay for the entire budget of USAID, the entire budget, by himself, without missing that money at all, and easily, easily pay for all of the life-saving work that USAID does.” And “He says USAID isn’t doing it right, but why doesn’t he just step forward and show us how to do it right with his own billions? That, of course, will never happen.” O’Donnell said, “So, one of the ugly truths of this is that, unlike anyone else in the history...

NBC News’ chief foreign affairs Andrea Mitchell said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that there was an international backlash developing against President Donald Trump’s agenda. Host Kristen Welker said, “We just talked to the Trump national security adviser amid questions about Gaza, whether he plans to try to make Canada the 51st state and of course, all of these cuts that we’re seeing. How do you see the Trump doctrine right now?” Mitchell said, “It appears to the world as might makes right in Panama, Canada. You can argue that this is an opening bid but we’ve seen in...

Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine. The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do suggest the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system, increasing the odds life could have formed on other planets and moons. “NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission already is...

A year before American voters’ anger over the cost of living helped Donald J. Trump win the presidency, similar sentiments in New Zealand thrust in the nation’s most conservative government in decades. Now, New Zealand bears little resemblance to the country recently led by Jacinda Ardern, whose brand of compassionate, progressive politics made her a global symbol of anti-Trump liberalism. The new government — a coalition of the main center-right party and two smaller, more populist ones — has reversed many of Ms. Ardern’s policies. It has rescinded a world-leading ban on smoking for future generations, repealed rules designed to...

Whoopi Goldberg told her co-hosts Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that it turned out former Secretary of State and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was right when she called supporters of Donald Trump “deplorables.” During the panel discussion on President Joe Biden calling Trump supporters “garbage,” Goldberg said, “So you know they’re working very hard to spin this to some crazy end, but this is my problem. let me explain to y’all. I don’t understand why all the pearl clutching over Biden’s statement. Why they all have a problem with what Biden said when what this other guy has said.” She...

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright will resign as soon as Friday, The Post has learned — the latest high-level exit from Mayor Eric Adams’ increasingly troubled administration. Wright’s anticipated departure, confirmed by several sources with knowledge of the situation, comes weeks after the feds raided the home she shares with her husband, outgoing Schools Chancellor David Banks. It’s not an amicable break — with sources saying Wright is unhappy with how Banks was shockingly pushed out of his job months earlier than planned. City Hall didn’t return a request for comment. Wright, who was spotted leaving her Harlem home Friday...

Casey Wright 🥖🎪 @503i7 BREAKING Joe Biden’s FBI just raided Scott Ritter’s residence. The video on the right explains the proximate reason for this. The State Department funds Ukraines “kill list” of “information terrorists” and Scott has topped that list many times.

The right-leaning media and pundits are excited: Marine Le Pen’s party gained twice as many seats in recent French elections. The left-leaning media and commentariat are thrilled, too: Le Pen’s right-wing party won the popular vote but landed only third place in the French National Assembly. If both sides of the political spectrum are so enthusiastic, it could mean only one thing: something is missing here. The answer lies most likely in conflating two different political spectra: absolute and relative. Since Stalin proposed the modern relative political spectrum, it garnered popularity, and members of the Frankfurt School of socialism brought...

The recent French election illustrated that elites will happily ally with left-wing radicals just to prevent the right from winning.After a promising first-round lead, France’s right-wing National Rally party came up short in the second round of the country’s legislative election. It ultimately came in third for seats in the National Assembly, France’s lower house, behind left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP) and French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble.More than 300 contests in the first round proceeded to a three-way runoff involving National Rally, the NFP, and Ensemble. If those three-way races had gone ahead, National Rally had a...

Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar believes that “[W]e have the Israelis right where we want them,” despite massive losses to the terror organization, because of growing international pressure on Israel to stop short of victory. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Sinwar, who is likely hiding in a tunnel in southern Gaza, possibly surrounded by Israeli hostages as human shields, is happy with how the war is going — civilian casualties and all. The Journal noted: For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel. Behind his decision, messages the Hamas military leader in...

(Screenshot: Channel 12) US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew insisted Sunday evening that “fundamentally, nothing has changed in the basic relationship” between Israel and the US — despite the decision last week by US President Joe Biden’s administration to delay a shipment of high-payload bombs to Israel, and Biden’s declaration that he would not supply offensive weapons to Israel for a major IDF offensive affecting population centers in southern Gaza’s Rafah. Noting that military aid from Washington to Jerusalem has increased since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Lew stressed in a Channel 12 interview that only...

The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. Several of the recent cases have been in infants too young to be fully vaccinated. Officials said the cases indicate “community spread” of pertussis on Hawaii Island. Because of that, the state Health Department is strongly recommending that parents stay up...

Fiscal conservatives are winning in — of all places — the state of Washington. Members of the Democratic-dominated state Legislature have passed three initiatives that are part of a six-part strategy developed by conservatives in that state. Leaders of the conservative group Let’s Go Washington announced late last year that they had collected enough signatures to force six referendum questions on the November 2024 ballot. In the past, some might have argued that conservatives were on life support in the state of Washington. The state has the nation’s longest streak of Democratic governors. The last Republican elected governor was John...

Millions of Americans, depressed by the ideological divide in America, harbor a wish that something or someone can bridge this divide. This wish is understandable. But it is fantasy. The divide is unbridgeable. One might as well wish that daily consumption of a hot fudge sundae will lead to weight loss. To cite a few samples: How are we to bridge the gap between those who believe men can become women and women can become men and those who don't believe this? Between those who believe men menstruate and those who believe only women menstruate? How are we to bridge...

The Western world is experiencing the most dramatic political realignment since the rise of socialism over a century ago. The driving force then was the rise of the working class, created by the Industrial Revolution. Today, it is the shift to an economy dominated by information industries, technology, finance and media. This new economic order, just like that which arose a century ago, is creating a highly disruptive political dynamic and a shift in historic class allegiances. The wealthiest people today are no longer fans of the free market. Instead, they and their businesses are deeply tied to the progressive...

Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom won big in Dutch parliamentary elections last month. One of the keys to the nationalist’s party success was its large share of the youth vote. Young people in the Anglosphere tend to be more left-wing than their elders. Seeing the reverse in continental Europe always surprises outside observers. The Guardian tried to solve this mystery. It asked young Dutchmen why they voted for the Party for Freedom. The Dutch youth said they did so because it was the one party that addressed their concerns. Other European parties, such as AfD in Germany and National Rally...

The world had just emerged from World War II when 20th century author and armchair theologian C.S. Lewis penned what he called “A Christmas Sermon for Pagans,” a message to British readers about the dangers of a world yielded no longer to objective truth but one lost in a sea of relativism. Lewis’ words in December 1946 — which first appeared in the erstwhile Strand Magazine — warned that “post-Christian” thought, a way of thinking that rejects absolute rights and wrongs, leads to nihilism. He wrote, in part: As for the ideologies, the new invented Wrongs and Rights, does no...