Free Republic

President Donald Trump said his preference is to “take the oil” from Iran — despite whatever gripes his critics would have about it — during an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday. “To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump told the outlet. The outlet noted “such a move would involve seizing Kharg Island through which most of Iran’s oil is exported.” Trump has been calling for the U.S. to take the island...

Republican politician and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has published an op-ed reiterating his stance that the state of Ohio has too many universities and they should be consolidated. Ramaswamy cited challenges facing some Ohio schools like enrollment declines and budget cuts, rather than celebrating the recent NCAA tournament appearances of programs like Miami University and Akron University. Why it matters Ramaswamy's comments come as a surprise, given the recent success of Ohio universities in the NCAA tournament. His proposal to consolidate schools could have major implications for thousands of jobs and students across the state, especially at smaller regional universities that...

A pivotal U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The attack injured more than 10 service members, two seriously. Among the other planes damaged are aerial refueling tankers. U.S. Central Command has declined to comment on the incident. Air & Space Forces Magazine has reviewed an image that shows significant damage to an E-3 at Prince Sultan Air Base. The image appears to show one...

Iran has launched missiles at Israel after it ominously warned Donald Trump that it has 'special plans' for him and the US's allies in the Gulf, following the American president's threat to attack the nation's power plants. A source told the state-run Fars News Agency: 'Tonight, special events are planned for Tel Aviv and some regional allies of the US and Israel that will completely remove the hope of negotiations from the minds of the aggressors.' Iran appears to have made good on the threat, firing missiles at Eilat area in southern Israel, as well as the cities of Dimona...

President Trump called on a host of other countries, including Britain, France, and China, to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to end a de facto Iranian blockade on the shipping of oil through the strategic waterway. It was far from clear, however, whether any countries would volunteer to patrol the strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil transits. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Telegram that the strait “is open to everyone, except American ships and those of its allies.” In practice, however, the oil shipped through the passage is coming from either Iran...

President Trump on Friday said he knows the U.S. military operation in Iran will come to an end when he can “feel it in my bones,” a remark that comes almost two weeks after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Middle Eastern country began. Trump spoke with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on his podcast “The Brian Kilmeade Show” and told him, “When it’s over –– and I don’t think it’s going to be long –– when it’s over, this is going to bounce back so fast.” “When are you going to know when it’s over?” Kilmeade asked. “When...

Advisory UKMTO #2026 11 March 2026 Total Incident Summary. Reporting period: 28 February 2026 - 11 March 2026. UKMTO has received 17 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz (SOH) and Gulf of Oman. Total attack reports: 13. Total suspicious activity reports: 4. Details of these incident reports are available below. Attack UKMTO #20 11 March 2026 UKMTO WARNING 020-26 - ATTACK Report Date: 11 Mar 2026 Report Time: 0205UTC Issue Date: 11 Mar 2026 Source: Master UKMTO has received a report of an incident 50NM northwest of Dubai, United Arab Emirates....

President Donald Trump is vowing to block all other legislation until the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act passes the Senate — his hardest push yet for a controversial bill which, among other things, would require strict voter ID in order to register to vote. In a Sunday morning post to Truth Social, Trump — while lauding pro-MAGA activist Scott Pressler’s appearance on Fox & Friends Weekend — threatened to use the talking filibuster (which would require Democrats to speak continuously on the floor in order to delay a vote) to push the legislation through. “Great Job by hard...

The secretary of Miami-Dade County’s Republican Party started a group chat primarily for conservative students last fall — and within three weeks it was filled with racist slurs, someone wrote dozens of ways of violently killing Black people and the chat was renamed after what one member described as “Nazi heaven.” In WhatsApp conversations leaked to the Miami Herald, participants used variations of the n-word more than 400 times, regularly described women as “whores,” used slurs to talk about Jewish and gay people and mused about Hitler’s politics. Interspersed throughout were discussions about events promoting the Republican Party at Florida...

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said Tuesday that lawmakers are considering whether the Pentagon may need additional funding as questions grow over U.S. munitions supplies and the strain of ongoing U.S. strikes on Iran. The cost of the operations are likely to surface at the Trump administration’s briefing later in the day for both chambers of Congress. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine are expected to brief lawmakers amid widespread Democratic opposition. “Well, we’re talking about that, and that will undoubtedly be discussed at...

With the threat of a U.S. strike on Iran looming, the United States embassy in Jerusalem has told its workers that they may leave Israel and warned them that if they want to, it is vital that they do so immediately, according to an email from Ambassador Mike Huckabee sent to the U.S. mission Friday. The move followed meetings and phone calls through the night, Mr. Huckabee told embassy workers in the email, and resulted from “an abundance of caution” and conversations with the State Department in which officials agreed that the safety of embassy staff was a priority. Those...

Many Americans were skeptical of Elon Musk’s grandiose claims that DOGE would take a “chainsaw” to federal spending. One “tax nerd” was so skeptical he decided to “bet his life savings” on Musk’s promises being a flop — and it paid off big time, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Musk has seen his approval rating descend as he has taken a more publicly active role politically, plus ongoing criticism and litigation over his management of his social media platform X and support for far-right politics in Europe. He jumped into his work with the Department of...

Candace Owens announced on Monday that her show would be back on the air beginning Wednesday with a new “investigative series” targeting Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, eliciting an abundance of horrified reactions. The teaser trailer for the series shared by Owens on X begins with news coverage about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, but quickly transitions to clips of its subject, as well as critical commentary about her, “Zionists,” and Israel. There’s even a implication that the Turning Point USA CEO is implicated in a Romanian human trafficking scandal. The series is titled “Bride of Charlie,”...

"The South Carolina GOP senator is using golf, good humor and frequent White House visits to try to influence foreign policy and keep Trump close as he faces a primary challenge.I’m his north star,” Graham told NBC News in an interview this week, a bold remark few in his party would dare make. “We disagree, but he knows where I am coming from. He sees me helping him as much as anybody in the Senate.” ADVERTISING Late last month, Graham temporarily blocked a $1.2 trillion deal to avert a government shutdown. Asked by reporters why he would block something that...

Acting ICE director Todd Lyons says newly reviewed video evidence contradicts officers' sworn testimony about January confrontation.

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries. The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran. U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump amassed military forces in the...

The Pentagon has reportedly ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to prepare to deploy to the Middle East in support of potential military action against Iran. President Trump has not yet given the carrier group the greenlight to deploy, but an order could be issued “in a matter of hours,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night, citing US officials. The deployment would likely come from the US East Coast, and one carrier is being prepped to head out to sea in two weeks, an official told the publication. The USS George H.W. Bush is currently conducting training exercises...

Jeannine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on Monday threatened jail time for anyone who enters the capital with a gun. In remarks on Fox News that could deepen a growing rift between gun owners and the Trump administration, Ms. Pirro declared that if anyone brings “a gun into the District, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.” Her remarks prompted swift pushback from the Republican Party’s pro-Second Amendment wing, which was thrown...

The value of the U.S. dollar plunged Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said he was not concerned about the currency's recent drop. "I think it’s great," Trump said, speaking to reporters in Iowa, when asked if the dollar's value had declined too much. “The dollar’s doing great.” Before Trump's comments, the benchmark ICE U.S. Dollar Index was already on pace to record its worst three-day drop since Trump's April 2025 "Liberation Day" tariff rollout. After Trump’s comments, the value of the dollar as measured by the index sharply extended its slide to as much as 1.5%, putting it on track...

President Trump has warned America’s European allies “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace” after he missed out on last year’s Nobel Prize amid a new round of threats to annex Greenland.Trump’s message, initially sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, was forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in DC, according to PBS. “Dear Jonas,” the message reads. “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now...