Free Republic

No one would claim that the Iran War has been a political godsend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But some Israel-First conservatives are willing to say—and lately have been incessantly saying—that the Iran War hasn’t been a political scourge. Those Israel-First conservatives are wrong, even if the devil is, at least partly, hidden in the details. The Iran War has damaged Trump’s approval ratings, consumed his presidency, and darkened the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. A chief proponent of the argument that Trump hasn’t suffered all that much from the Iran War is Ben Shapiro...

The Trump administration is proposing investing $5 billion in a fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild their energy infrastructure following the Iran War, the Wall Street Journal reported.The goal would be to have the countries reduce their reliance on the Strait of Hormuz for transporting oil and gas, the Journal reported. The U.S. would seek matching contributions from eight Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan, hoping to establish a $10 billion investment fund. The investment would be called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction, or Pact. Officials told...

US President Donald Trump said he did not regret going to war against Iran despite the impact the conflict may have on the November US midterm elections. "I don't believe in the word 'regret.' You can always question yourself a little bit," Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham when asked if he regretted the Iran war due to the impact it may have on the elections. "If I had it do again, I would do exactly as I did," Trump said in the interview broadcast on Thursday on The Ingraham Angle show. Trump dismissed suggestions...

Republicans attempting to oust Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in a bitter primary are deploying his opposition to the war in Iran. The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund on Thursday released an ad supporting Ed Gallrein, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, that focuses on Massie’s opposition to the war. “America is at war with a fanatical regime that seeks nuclear weapons. American hero Ed Gallrein stands with President Trump, our country and our military,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. “Thomas Massie, he stands with Iran and radical leftists in Congress,” the narrator says, “opposing Trump just like...

President Trump said Sunday that increasing prices of oil are “a very small price to pay” for “safety and peace” amid the U.S. conflict with Iran. “Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace,” Trump said in a Sunday evening Truth Social post. “ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” he added. The U.S. conflict in Iran caused a recent surge in domestic oil and gas prices, with the U.S. national average for a gallon of regular gasoline...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rated the US performance in the war with Iran as a 15 on a scale of 10, saying the Islamic republic’s leaders were rapidly being killed, and vowing to push on.Trump’s comments came as the conflict expanded on its fifth day, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka and fresh blasts across the Middle East. “We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15,” Trump told a gathering of...

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that an increase in President Donald Trump's new temporary global import tariff to 15% from 10% was likely to be implemented sometime this week. The new tariff rate was announced by Trump in late February after the Supreme Court struck down his previous global tariffs under a national emergencies law. He initially imposed the 150-day tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 at a lower 10% rate. "That's likely sometime this week," Bessent said on CNBC of the 15% rate order from Trump. During the 150 days, we will see...

The United Nations chief condemned the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on Saturday and called for an immediate return to negotiations “to pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.” Secretary-General António Guterres told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that everything must be done to prevent further escalation. “The alternative,” he warned, “is a potential wider conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.” Guterres said the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes violated international law, including the U.N. Charter. He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan,...

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...

A federal grand jury refused to hand up an indictment Tuesday against six Democratic lawmakers accused by President Trump of “seditious behavior” this past fall. DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro led the failed effort to indict Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzi (D-Pa.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) over a video posted on social media this past November urging members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.” *** Slotkin, who previously accused Trump of “directing the FBI to target us” and “weaponizing the federal government” against...

A notable number of Republican lawmakers broke sharply with the White House on Friday after President Trump posted — and later deleted — a video on social media that included a clip of former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes. Republicans have generally been careful about voicing criticisms of Trump, and Friday’s episode began with a more typical partisan line, with Democrats quick to condemn the video as racist. But then Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) — a close Trump ally and the only Black Republican in the Senate — soon joined them, paving the way...

The White House deleted a meme video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes — after a prominent GOP senator called the clip the “most racist thing I’ve seen” and demanded it be taken down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the post and accused critics of fomenting “fake outrage” — but the video was taken down a little before noon Friday. A White House official added that a staffer had “erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the highest-ranking black...

@RepThomasMassie The President of the United States called me a moron at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning because I’m still fighting for what he promised the American people: Reduce big spending, DOGE, no new wars, end foreign aid, defend 1A 2A 4A, prolife, and expose sex traffickers.

Donald Trump has sparked fresh outrage in the UK after saying Nato troops stayed "a little off the front lines" during the war in Afghanistan. Labour MP Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, called it an "absolute insult" to the 457 British service personnel killed in the conflict, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "How dare he question their sacrifice?" Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, said it was "sad to see our nation's sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply". The UK was among several allies to join the...

Donald Trump was "wrong to diminish the role of troops, including British forces" in Afghanistan, Downing Street has said. The prime minister's official spokesperson told political lobby journalists: "Trump was wrong in diminishing sacrifice as part of NATO in Afghanistan." "The president was wrong to diminish the role of troops, including British forces". "457 British personnel were killed in Afghanistan, more wounded. Many suffered life changing injuries, their sacrifice and others were made in service of security and in response to an attack on an ally," they said. The spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer was very proud of service personnel...

Summary UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Donald Trump's remarks about British troops in Afghanistan are "insulting and frankly appalling" "If I had misspoken in that way - or said those words - I would certainly apologise," he says. The US president's comments have sparked outrage among UK veterans and politicians. The UK was among several allies to join the US in Afghanistan from 2001, after it invoked Nato's collective security clause following the 9/11 terror attacks - 457 British service personnel were killed in the conflict Corporal Andy Reid, who served in Afghanistan, tells the BBC Trump's claim is...

@RepThomasMassie Ouch, I thought Switzerland was neutral territory !

@ShadowofEzra Lindsey Graham is going viral after appearing drained and miserable, looking deeply disappointed as reports spread that President Trump refused to bomb Iran. Graham is considered one of the most corrupt politicians in Congress today.

Summary President Donald Trump insists the US needs Greenland for "national security", adding that anything less than American control of the territory is "unacceptable" It comes as US Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio meet the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers in the White House Trump's demands to take control of the island have been rejected by Greenland's leaders and Nato member Denmark, of which the island is a semi-autonomous territory European powers have thrown their support behind Danish sovereignty over Greenland The Danish military says it's boosting its presence in Greenland in "close cooperation with Nato...

Denmark and the US are stuck in a 'fundamental disagreement' over Greenland after leaders from both countries met for talks in Washington earlier today. Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the meeting with vice president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio was 'frank but also constructive' but admitted work was needed to 'find a common way forward'. 'The discussions focused on how to ensure the long-term security in Greenland, and here our perspectives continue to differ,' Mr Rasmussen told reporters after joining Greenland's foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, for the talks. 'I must say the president has made...