Free Republic

The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections. The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto...

President Trump likes his military and diplomatic victories quick, clean and decisive. (snip) But now, Mr. Trump has hit the stalemate phase of his presidency. The war with Iran is clearly at that stage. When he declared a cease-fire on April 7, Mr. Trump said on social media that the end of combat operations would be conditional on “the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.” It wasn’t. Even if commerce now resumes across the strait under a memorandum of understanding still under negotiation, it will still leave the future of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs exactly...

The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation. It’s unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email “there was never an investigation into her to shut down.” But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this...

The negotiations between the United States and Iran to end their war are following President Trump’s familiar playbook for resolving a Middle East crisis: agree to a cease-fire and deal with the toughest problems later. Analysts say the approach has had mixed results in the Gaza Strip, where Mr. Trump brokered a truce last year between Israel and Hamas, the Iranian-backed militant group. Plans for a so-called Phase 2 agreement — under which Hamas was to lay down its arms and Israel would allow Gaza to be rebuilt after a devastating war — have stalled. A similar approach in U.S....

The social media post by President Trump made it sound straightforward. The United States would orchestrate a deal to end the war with Iran and, in exchange, a slew of countries across the Middle East and South Asia would join an agreement, called the Abraham Accords, establishing relations with Israel. In fact, he said, that “should be mandatory.” But half of the countries he named — such as Egypt, Jordan and Turkey — already have relations with Israel. And the other half — including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan — have no interest in establishing them anytime soon. As a...

PARIS/OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought "purely of Peace" as the row over the Arctic island on Monday threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe. Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, threatening punitive tariffs on countries which stand in his way and prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures. The dispute is threatening to upend the NATO alliance that has...

BREAKING: President Trump announces successful strike against Venezuela, says Nicolas Maduro has been captured

No less than four threads on Free Republic allege that Governor DeSantis has received an endorsement from George Soros. Almost all reference a 0:47 video that has been making the rounds on social media.Here's the complete 2:41 video, transcribed by myself."Trump attracted a lot of non-educated, white followers but his biggest backers were the mega-rich, and he certainly delivered for them. First, he cut their taxes. Second, he nominated to the Supreme Court ideologues who embraced an extreme version of the Republican agenda. Third, he put the Republican Party under his control by threatening those who didn't swear loyalty to...

Former President Donald Trump spent part of his Monday disputing a report that he’s conjuring up nicknames for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s widely viewed as his strongest potential ​rival in the 2024 Republican primary. “All of the Fake News is reporting that I spend large amounts of my time coming up with a good ‘nickname’ for Ron DeSanctimonious, who is obviously going to give the presidential ‘thing’ a shot,” the 76-year-old Trump said Monday on his Truth Social platform. “They are all 100% wrong, I don’t even think about it — A very unimportant subject to me!!!” he added....

The day before President Trump is set to make a big announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, the 45th president reminded his supporters how monumental this could be for the country’s history. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote, “Hopefully, tomorrow will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” Republican support for the America First president continues to soar, clearly designating him as the leader of the GOP.Under Trump, the nation prospered with record-low unemployment, the most comprehensive tax reform policy in American history, energy independence,...