Free Republic

The GOP infighting on Capitol Hill has expanded to an unusual place: Israel. For years, GOP leaders have used U.S. support for Israel as a wedge to highlight the stark divisions among Democrats, pitting Israel’s staunchest allies against pro-Palestinian liberals and challenging Democratic leaders to ease the tensions. Republicans, through it all, were virtually united on the issue. Yet Israel’s long-running war against Hamas in Gaza, where the Palestinian death toll has topped 60,000 and recent images of starving children have prompted a global outcry, is now creating headaches for GOP leaders, as well. While a vast majority of congressional...

Republican senators were appalled by President Trump’s rough treatment of 91-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the Senate’s most senior Republican, on social media and are pushing back on Trump’s attempts to squeeze the senator into abolishing an arcane procedure known as the Senate blue slip. GOP senators were not pleased that Trump piled so much pressure on Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to get rid of a long-established Senate tradition. Trump piled on by reposting on Truth Social posts accusing Grassley of being a “RINO” and “sneaky” and standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. Sen. Thom...

Unconditional American support for Israel — once the bedrock of conservative foreign policy — is crumbling in real time. From Congress to right-wing media and Trump-aligned grassroots organizations, a new tone is taking shape towards Israel: one of skepticism, impatience and in some cases outright hostility. The Republican Party’s old covenant with Israel is no longer sacred — and the cracks are widening fast. In the mid-20th century, Republicans were generally skeptical of Israel, instead favoring Arab ties. Support grew later, driven by Cold War strategy, evangelical Zionism, neoconservatism and post-9/11 alliances — ultimately transforming the GOP into Israel’s most...

Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy, is blasting a measure from House Republicans that would rename the Kennedy Center’s famed Opera House in honor of Melania Trump. “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces — but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,” Schlossberg, quoting his grandfather, wrote in a Tuesday post on Instagram. “JFK believed the arts made our country great and could be our most effective weapon in the fight for civil rights and against authoritarian governments around the world,” Schlossberg, a vocal critic of President Trump,...

Financial markets finished the week on a high note after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stood his ground against President Trump in a rare joint appearance by the two men Thursday. The S&P 500 finished 0.4 percent up, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 208 points or 0.47 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained about a quarter of percent to close above 21,108. ... Friday’s gains followed a confrontation between Trump and Powell on Thursday in which Powell repelled an attack from Trump — this time not on social media but on television. The exchange took place at...

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld cheered Hunter Biden after the former president’s son went on a profanity-laced tirade, tearing into members of the Democratic establishment who he says undermined and mistreated his father toward the end of his presidency. “But Democrats, if you listen to him … what have Democrats been trying to do? All six months. Try to be authentic. They try to fake swear, do a lot of theater. That’s real swearing,” Gutfeld said after watching the interview Biden gave to YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan. “You gotta give it to him. That guy is authentic, he’s the real...

The battle over the Jeffrey Epstein files that’s severed the MAGA faithful is also surfacing on Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are torn over President Trump’s refusal to release government records related to the deceased financier and sex offender. The debate is fracturing the House GOP conference, with hardline conservatives — ardent MAGA allies — echoing the base’s demands to make the documents public, while other Republicans are joining Trump’s calls to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stunned Washington on Tuesday when — after initially deferring to the...

For a while now, I’ve been trying to figure out who Zohran Mamdani reminds me of. Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, just won the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City, running on a platform that would make Karl Marx beam with pride Was it Fidel Castro he brought to mind — the socialist-turned-communist who transformed Cuba’s once-bustling economy into a cautionary tale? Or maybe Hugo Chávez — the man whose brand of socialism sent Venezuela’s economy off a cliff? SNIP And then it hit me: Zohran Mamdani reminds me of President Trump. Yes, that Trump — the same one...

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday he believes a client list associated with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein once existed but was “destroyed” by the Biden administration. “I think the files existed at one time,” Burchett said in an interview on NewsNation’s “On Balance” with host Leland Vittert. “I think they were destroyed in the previous administration.” The Justice Department (DOJ) released a memo earlier this week concluding that Epstein did not keep such a list that was allegedly used to blackmail high-profile individuals — contradicting conspiracy theories circulating for years that suggested otherwise.

Republican senators aren’t happy about how President Trump treated Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), whom the president blasted last week on social media after Tillis said he wouldn’t vote for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Tillis is highly regarded among colleagues as a team player focused on getting results, and many Republicans thought he would have had the best chance of keeping the North Carolina Senate seat in GOP hands.

Elon Musk is threatening to primary Republicans who voted for President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” posing a challenge for the president and his allies as they look to defy midterm headwinds. Musk vowed earlier this week that Republicans who supported Trump’s megabill “will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth” as the Tesla CEO has reignited his feud with Trump in recent days. Republicans see the comments as unhelpful, with some saying if the threats come to fruition, it could risk diverting resources away in an election environment that historically hasn’t...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has reportedly apologized to New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over saying he had referred to “global jihad” in the past. A readout that Politico obtained said Mamdani and Gillibrand talked Monday night on a call amid voting on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” “Gillibrand apologized for mischaracterizing Mamdani’s record and for her tone on the call,” stated the readout, according to Politico. When reached for comment, Gillibrand’s office directed The Hill to a post on the social platform X by CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere that seemed to feature a screenshot of the readout. During...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said Zohran Mamdani, the winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, must prepare to “aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York.” During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Jeffries criticized Mamdani’s use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which fueled his detractors’ accusations of antisemitism. “Globalizing the intifada by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing,” Jeffries said. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) questioned first lady Melania Trump’s reported “Einstein visa” at a House hearing Wednesday. “Let me remind y’all that Melania, the first lady, a model — and when I say model, I’m not talking about Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford or Naomi Campbell level — applied for and was given an EB-1 visa, and what that stands for is an Einstein visa. Now y’all that don’t know, let me tell you how you receive an Einstein visa,” Crockett said “You’re supposed to have some sort of significant achievement, like being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize or a Pulitzer,...

Right-wing influencers have reacted to New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani’s apparent win in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary with anti-Islam attacks. “.@ZohranKMamdani hasn’t even been a US citizen for 10 years. He is literally supported by terrorists. NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0,” right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who has a history of anti-Muslim comments, said on the social platform X late Tuesday. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, shocked American political observers Tuesday as he seemed to be on the path to winning the Democratic nomination for the Big Apple’s mayor over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo....

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has unveiled a plan to override Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) proposal to fund border security and immigration enforcement activities at roughly half the amount favored by Senate and House Republican leaders. Paul created an uproar two weeks ago when he unveiled his portion of the Trump agenda megabill that would spend $6.5 billion on completing President Trump’s border wall and $22.5 billion on expanding detention facilities for migrants. Now Graham has answered with a move of his own, unveiling a proposal to restore funding for the border wall and Immigration...

Former White House aide and commentator Steve Bannon ripped into Fox News host Mark Levin this week as the two continue to trade barbs over the U.S. military’s involvement in the war between Israel and Iran. “Boy, Tel Aviv Levin’s big mad,” Bannon said during an episode of his popular “War Room” podcast. “He’s big mad as a spokesmodel for a foreign nation that didn’t get them what they want.” The MAGA firebrand was referring to a social media post by Levin earlier this week that called Bannon “a disgusting fraud” over his time serving as a top aide to...

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. left a liberal Democratic congressman who was trying to smear him during a hearing red-faced by exposing a damning flip-flop on his part.As The Hill reported, RFK Jr. testified before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday morning regarding the department’s fiscal 2026 budget request and the Trump administration’s determination to “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.During the hearing, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) tried to slander Kennedy as a conspiracy theorist. He accused the HHS Secretary of advancing a “dangerous pseudoscience” and putting American lives in danger by firing civil servants and eliminating...

The Senate parliamentarian has rejected several more provisions in the Republican megabill to enact President Trump’s agenda, including language authorizing states to conduct border security and immigration enforcement, which traditionally have been duties of the federal government. Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough also ruled against language in the bill that would increase the Federal Employees Retirement Systems contribution rate for new civil servants if they do not agree to give up civil service protections to become at-will employees. Additionally, the parliamentarian advised against a section of the bill that would allow the executive branch to reorganize federal government agencies — or eliminate...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a Sunday morning interview pushed back on claims that President Trump acted outside his Constitutional authority by ordering strikes on Iran. “No, he was within his Article II authority,” Graham said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” when asked if Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by “acting unilaterally.” “Congress can declare war or cut off funding,” Graham continued. “We can’t be the commander in chief. You can’t have 535 commander in chiefs.” “If you don’t like what the president does, in terms of war, you can cut off the funding. But declaring...