Free Republic

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is leading Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the race for her seat by 7 points, according to a new poll. In the Pan Atlantic Research poll, 48 percent of likely voters said they back Platner in a hypothetical matchup, while 41 percent said they support Collins. Eleven percent were undecided. When broken down by gender, 53 percent of women respondents backed Platner and 34 percent supported Collins. Men surveyed, meanwhile, said they support Collins over Platner, with 47 percent backing the incumbent and 44 percent supporting her potential challenger. The Democratic Party establishment was...

Democrats have spent nearly a decade in fight mode against President Trump. And some in the party worry that they may remain trapped there. An autopsy released by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday underscored the point, saying that Democrats relied too heavily on negative partisanship and became too dependent on attacks on Trump in their messaging to voters.The report also stated that “anti-Trump sentiment” has its limitations in terms of achieving electoral success. As they were hammering Trump in their anger, Democrats did not provide a vision to lure voters to their side or an argument for what...

Key Senate Republicans are raising concerns about a reported peace deal being negotiated with Iran, arguing it would be a disaster for the United States that would make meaningless the war launched by President Trump nearly three months ago. “The rumored 60-day ceasefire — with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith — would be a disaster,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a post on social platform X. He said the effects of the joint military operation between the U.S. and Israel titled “Operation Epic Fury” would “be...

Senate Republicans on Tuesday vented their frustration and disappointment over President Trump’s decision to endorse state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Texas Senate Republican primary, a move that deals a crushing blow to Cornyn’s hopes of winning the May 26 runoff. “I don’t understand. He is an ethically challenged individual,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said of Paxton, who was charged with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup before he completed a pretrial diversion program. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “supremely disappointed” in Trump’s endorsement of Paxton over Cornyn. “I don’t understand...

The Trump administration and GOP lawmakers are seeking to win over U.S. farmers, a core constituency for the president during his 2016 and 2024 White House wins that has been aggravated by rising prices caused by his trade policies and the Iran war. Ahead of a midterm election season where the GOP is working to win every vote it can, the White House and its allies in Congress are reaching out to farmers in red and blue states alike. On the way back from Beijing after his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Trump assured farmers that they would...

“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” [ snip ] Trump did not point to a specific comment made by Xi. But the post comes after his Chinese counterpart, in opening remarks at a U.S.-China bilateral meeting, questioned if the two nations could overcome the “Thucydides Trap” — a theory suggesting that when a rising power threatens to displace an established one,...

President Trump ripped The New York Times on Tuesday morning over a report detailing the ballooning cost of his project to repair and renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post. “Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday warned Democrats against forming alliances with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), accusing the former lawmaker of being a “proven bigot.” A student at an event hosted by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics asked Ocasio-Cortez about working across the aisle with Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), and if she stood by comments she made in 2021 about “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers at the core of the House of Representatives caucus.” Ocasio-Cortez said she stood by the comments, and that her work with Republican colleagues has been “about where we trust...

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said the Supreme Court system is “working” in a Sunday interview where he reflected on the country’s founding principles. .... “Americans file about 50 million lawsuits a year, and you give us the 70 hardest ones, where lower court judges have disagreed about what the law means about a statute or a provision of the Constitution dictates in a particular case — there are nine of us. Can you get nine people to agree on where to go to lunch?” he asked Bream. “All right, we’ve been appointed by five different presidents over 30 years,...

The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Service committees on Saturday expressed they are “very concerned” about the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid President Trump’s feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump on Wednesday had announced that he was reviewing a possible reduction of U.S. troops in Germany. “We are very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany,” the chairs, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a joint statement. “Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending...

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on Friday warned that the growing national debt is “a ticking time bomb” and he called on his fellow lawmakers to do “much more.” The U.S. national debt crossed 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of the first quarter, the first time the debt crossed that line since 1946. The debt surpassed $39 trillion in March, a mere five months after it reached $38 trillion. Roy told Fox Business’s Cheryl Casone that the debt is “a ticking time bomb and that some of us have been talking about for a long time.”...

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency said Tuesday that Russia remains open to removing highly enriched uranium, a critical component of nuclear weapon development, from Iran. Rafael Grossi stressed the importance of ensuring Iran loses this supply or that its enrichment is diluted during an interview with The Associated Press… On Wednesday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help with “enrichment” during a phone call between the two leaders, presumably in reference to this proposed enriched uranium removal process. “He told me he’d like to be involved with the enrichment — if he can help us get...

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) on Wednesday said he is not interested in launching a presidential campaign for 2028. “I have zero interest in running for president in 2028. I love serving the state of Georgia. I’ve got two young daughters,” Ossoff said during a Wednesday appearance on MS NOW’s “The Briefing.” The Georgia lawmaker warned against playing “fantasy football” with the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, arguing it “risks distracting us from the urgent task at hand.” … In addition to Ossoff, strategists have floated Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as potential...

The United States has burned through thousands of missiles since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, diminishing the armaments needed in a potential future conflict with China tied to its tensions with Taiwan.The U.S. military has used 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles — nearly all of the total number left in Washington’s stockpile — and fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, The New York Times reported. The U.S. only produces roughly 100 Tomahawks a year, meaning under current production, it could take 10 years to replace.In addition, in less than eight weeks American forces have spent more...

California gubernatorial candidates struggled to break through on the debate stage Tuesday, as Democrats look to capitalize on former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) dramatic exit from the crowded field. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and five other rivals, including Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton, fought for standout moments in the 90-minute program at Pomona College in the unique, nonpartisan contest. Faced with questions about affordability, housing and other crises facing the Golden State, the candidates clashed in crosstalk, interruptions and squabbles with moderators just a week after a more muted showdown. Becerra jabbed...

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said on Thursday that he was appalled by a report about the death of 31 slots who died under the care of Sloth World, a tourist attraction in Orlando that wasn’t yet opened to the public. The slots were from South American rainforests, and perished in storage warehouses between December 2024 and February 2025, according to an incident report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “These sloths — naturally solitary animals — were put in the worst conditions possible,” Frost said in a Thursday post on X. “They were taken from their natural habitats...

A simmering feud between Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has roared back up to a boil, escalating to tit-for-tat threats of expulsion as each lawmaker publicly lobs attacks on the other’s character. Mace on Monday filed a resolution to expel Mills, citing allegations of dating violence and campaign finance laws — a move that comes amid renewed scrutiny of sexual misconduct by House members after Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) resigned last week. “Cory, your days are numbered. Start packing,” Mace said in a statement announcing the expulsion resolution.But Mills is pointing the finger...

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Monday announced the death of his 36-year-old daughter, who had suffered from juvenile diabetes. “We are heartbroken beyond words by the passing of our beloved daughter, Madison, 36, after a decades-long battle with juvenile diabetes and other health issues. She filled our lives with love and laughter, and her absence leaves an immeasurable void,” Warner and his wife, Lisa Collins, posted in a statement on X. “We are grateful for the loving support of friends and family during this difficult time and ask for privacy as we navigate this profound loss,” he added. Madison is...

The battle between Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and the GOP’s right flank is heating up, with hard-line House conservatives throwing their support behind his primary opponent after the moderate Republican called two of them “scumbags” on national television. Gonzales kicked the hornet’s nest over the weekend when, during an interview on CNN, he went after Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) — “it’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags” — launching personal attacks on the conservative duo. “Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties....

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) suggested Wednesday that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) should have less access to President Trump as the conflict with Iran persists. “I absolutely think he should have his Oval Office credentials revoked,” Cammack told Migrant Insider’s Pablo Manríquez as she departed the Capitol. Graham, a staunch foreign policy hawk who has openly supported the U.S. military operation in the Middle East, is a frequent guest at the White House and often travels with Trump. On Monday, he and Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) met with the president and newly minted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — before the...