Free Republic

For many Americans, spirituality is now something to consume rather than commune around. An individual brand rather than a shared discipline, a playlist rather than a practice. Belief remains, but it has been deinstitutionalized, downloaded, and personalized. No priest, sermon, or parking lot scramble required. This is where the revival narrative falls apart. What we are seeing is not a return to shared worship, shared discipline, or shared belief, but Christianity detached from its roots and repackaged for mass consumption. The data confirm this. A recent report from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found that the share...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he does not support President Trump’s proposal for Republicans to “take over” voting procedures in more than a dozen states and “nationalize” the midterm elections, declaring Trump’s call to action as blatantly unconstitutional.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he “saw no evidence” to back the claims of senior Trump administration officials that Alex Pretti was attempting to assault law enforcement officers and instead “saw a man that was retreating” when he was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. “I saw no evidence — I saw a man that was retreating. He went to the middle of the street, he didn’t even obstruct traffic, he let a car go through. As the agents advanced on him, he retreated to the side of the street. A woman is violently...

Minnesota’s standoff with the Trump administration amid its immigration crackdown in the state has made a political tinderbox of the Twin Cities, as devolving clashes between protesters and federal agents stoke fears of a bigger brewing conflict. Local officials have deemed the surge of immigration enforcement officers a “federal invasion,” doubling down in the courts and in public remarks as federal confrontations with Minnesota residents turned violent, then deadly. The fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti brought the standoff to a cliff edge — and both President Trump and the state seem to have changed course.But as...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) compared Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to fictional villains on Friday, calling them both a “sycophant” as tensions rise over the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. “A sycophant is more than just a ‘yes-man,’” Tillis wrote in a lengthy post on social platform X. “It refers to someone who acts excessively servile toward someone important in order to gain an advantage.” He added, “They aren’t just being nice, they are using excessive flattery, often insincerely, to get what they want, whether that’s a promotion, social status or favor.”...

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday slammed President Trump over comments he made about wanting to “drive housing prices up” for people who own their homes, with one congresswoman telling followers that he “doesn’t care about making your life more affordable.”During a Cabinet meeting earlier Thursday, the president said he wants to keep homeowners “wealthy.”“We’re not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn’t work very hard can buy a home,” he said. “I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people who own their homes. And they can...

Former President Bill Clinton accused the Trump administration of lying to the American people about the shootings that have taken place in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration officers. In a statement Sunday, the Democratic former president fiercely condemned the “horrible scenes” in Minneapolis “that I never thought would take place in America.”

A second high-profile killing by a federal agent in Minneapolis has jeopardized the chances of Congress averting a partial government shutdown as Democrats come out en masse against the funding measure for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Lawmakers had been on the verge of completing their funding work for fiscal 2026 this week after the House last week passed its final four appropriations bills. However, the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, 37, a nurse at the city’s Veterans Affairs hospital, by a Border Patrol agent has seemingly torpedoed the chances of those bills passing the Senate, with one key...

President Trump appeared on Saturday to walk back comments he made earlier in the week, suggesting non-U.S. troops in NATO avoided the front lines in Afghanistan, following widespread anger from British political leaders and military families. “The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America! In Afghanistan, 457 died, many were badly injured, and they were among the greatest of all warriors. It’s a bond too strong to ever be broken. The U.K. Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the U.S.A.!). We love you...

More than half of Americans in a survey released Friday rated President Trump’s first year back in office as a “failure.” The CNN/SSRS survey found that 58 percent of U.S. adults said 2025 was a failure for the president on a number of issues. Another 42 percent said the year was a “success,” and about 1 percent had no opinion. Overall, 61 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job. Of that number, 35 percent cited personal behavior — including putting self-interests above the nation, bullying and being disrespectful, erratic behavior, allegations of racism,...

The move by the five GOP senators to curtail Trump’s powers as commander in chief represents one of the biggest schisms between the Senate Republican Conference and the White House during the president’s first year of his second term. The votes enraged Trump, who lashed out at Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), one of the five Republicans, in a “profanity-laced” phone call after she supported the measure, reading her the riot act, according to one source. The Senate will vote this week on a motion to proceed to the war powers resolution and spend a chunk of the week debating it....

President Trump’s call for Sen. Susan Collins (R) to be ousted in November tossed a monkey wrench into the high-stakes Maine Senate race, raising further questions about the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent and whether she will be able to pull off another high-wire act in the blue-leaning state this year. Frustrations at the White House boiled over on Thursday after Collins and four other Republicans sided with Democrats on a war powers resolution that would block further military action in Venezuela. While Republicans were miffed at the attack on the handful of members, it’s Collins they are most concerned with...

Recent polling has shown young voters overwhelmingly disapproving of Trump and the GOP amid increasing anxiety over the state of the economy, while young people played a big role in helping Democrats win in 2025’s off-year races. “If you’re 29 and you’re paying out the nose for health care, and you can’t own your own home and groceries are killing you, you don’t really care about the conversations about tariffs. That’s not where you’re living. You’re living at, ‘Hey, I need the price of eggs to drop,’” said Brett Loyd, a longtime Republican pollster who now works with an independent...

Political strategists say Democrats running in competitive races in this year’s midterm elections for the House and Senate should steer clear of making President Trump the centerpiece of their campaigns. While Trump’s approval ratings are low and Americans have been frustrated by his job performance in the first year of his second term, the strategists say the key to winning is to home in on economic issues — particularly affordability. “The fight to win 2026 will be on the economy and affordability. It’s not going to be on the Epstein files,” said Susan Del Percio, a veteran Republican strategist who...

Hilton said Tuesday it is dissolving its relationship with a Minnesota hotel that sparked backlash from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for denying federal immigration agents from booking accommodations. “The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this. A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values,” the company wrote in a statement on the social platform X. “As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is — and has always been — a welcoming place...

At the end of World War II, the U.S. and its allies made a compelling case that protecting and promoting human rights is not only the right thing to do; it lays the foundation for a stable international order. Although often honored in the breach, that proposition has stood the test of time. It is now being eviscerated. In a May 2025 speech in Riyadh, President Trump signaled a tectonic shift in the U.S. approach to international human rights. After lavishing praise on his host, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who U.S. intelligence believes ordered the murder and dismemberment...

GOP lawmakers are fleeing for the exit in droves, with many pointing to a Congress they argue has grown too dysfunctional and a demanding schedule that leaves little time for their families. More than 50 lawmakers in both parties have announced decisions to leave their seats, scrambling the calculus on both sides of the aisle ahead of next year’s high-stakes midterms. The wave of exits could be particularly ominous for Republicans in charge of the House and Senate. The number exiting is nearly on par with 2018, a dismal midterm year for the GOP. Some lawmakers frustrated with inaction on...

<p>Democrats’ fear-mongering about the Trump economy is looking more and more like sour grapes.</p><p>Yesterday’s CPI report, showing inflation of 2.7 percent — well below the expected 3.1 percent — was bad political news for Democrats. Since “Liberation Day” in April, when President Trump rolled out tariffs aimed at resetting global trade in favor of U.S. companies, the left and their media allies have warned voters that the White House’s actions would clobber our economy and set inflation soaring.</p>

Yesterday’s CPI report, showing inflation of 2.7 percent — well below the expected 3.1 percent — was bad political news for Democrats. Since “Liberation Day” in April, when President Trump rolled out tariffs aimed at resetting global trade in favor of U.S. companies, the left and their media allies have warned voters that the White House’s actions would clobber our economy and set inflation soaring.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) slammed President Trump on Monday over the president’s remarks about the killings of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele. Reiner, a well-known Democratic donor and activist who had criticized Trump, and his wife were found dead in their home on Sunday in a suspected homicide. “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid,” Massie wrote on the social platform X. “I...