Free Republic

Incoming first lady Melania Trump said Friday her son, Barron Trump, was “very vocal” in giving advice to his father, President-elect Trump, during the 2024 presidential election, particularly on how to connect with younger audiences. Melania Trump credited the 18-year-old with convincing the president-elect to sit down with streamers and podcasters in order to reach younger voters. “He is a grown young man. I’m very proud of him about his knowledge, even about politics and giving an advice to his father — he brought in so many young people. He knows his generation, because nowadays the young generation, they don’t...

With only a little over 40 days left of his disastrous presidency, Joe Biden will stumble out of office ranked by voters as our worst modern president. His obscene pardon of his criminal son Hunter did not help his standing. J.L. Partners polled 1,006 registered voters and asked them to rank Biden and every other president reaching back to Richard M. Nixon. Biden scored lower than Nixon. “Some 44 percent placed [Biden] as one of the worst two, while only 14 percent placed him in the top two, giving him a net score of 30 points underwater,” reports the Daily...

President Joe Biden toured the National Museum of Slavery in Angola’s capital of Luanda on Tuesday, delivering a speech in which he described slavery as America’s “original sin” and claiming it still taints American public discourse. “The United States is founded on an idea, one embedded in our Declaration of Independence, that all men and women are created equal. It is abundantly clear today we have not lived up to that idea, but we have not fully walked away from it either,” Biden said.

On Thursday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that he has told members of President Joe Biden’s staff that the President ought to preemptively pardon President-Elect Donald Trump and Liz Cheney, Jack Smith, and Dr. Anthony Fauci because “we are trying to run a government on behalf of all the people of this country, and if we spend all of our time going forward pursuing Trump or Trump pursuing” those people, it would be detrimental and the air needs to be cleared. Host Mike Viqueira asked, “Have you specifically urged President Biden to pardon — preemptively...

Elon Musk, the co-head of President-elect Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) Thursday morning ahead of meetings later in the day with Senate and House Republicans. Musk walked into Thune’s office with one of his children perched atop his shoulders. “I think we should be spending the public’s money wisely,” he told reporters while walking through the Capitol’s hallways. Musk has said he wants to cut at least $2 trillion from the federal budget, which now exceeds $6 trillion a year. But any proposed cuts would likely face substantial opposition in...

Thursday on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) declined to support former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary. The Iowa Republican said that the vetting process needed to continue. “I did have a very long, lengthy discussion with Pete yesterday,” she said. “I appreciate his service to the nation. I, too, am also a combat veteran. So we talked about a number of those issues and will continue with the vetting process. I think that is incredibly important. So again, all I’m saying is we had a very frank and productive discussion. And...

Kentucky Bishop John Stowe has expressed his “dismay” over the overwhelming Catholic voter support for Donald Trump, insisting the U.S. Bishops should have warned Americans about the “danger” of the election. Stowe, a well-known liberal prelate, said the bishops should have issued a public statement of disagreement with Trump’s policies following the election, the way they did in the case of Joe Biden four years ago. There is the issue of Trump’s character, Stowe told Crux, an online Catholic news service, “and when somebody has such a flawed character that has been manifestly obvious throughout his previous presidency and the...

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out in public support of President Joe Biden on Wednesday, backing the octogenarian’s controversial rush to grant his son, Hunter Biden, a “full and unconditional pardon.” Pelosi told The Hill when asked for her thoughts about the surprise backflip by a man whose defenestration she helped orchestrate: “I support the president.” When pushed for a response as to whether she supports the pardon specifically, Pelosi added: “The pardon, yes.” Her comments mark a return to public life after she was reportedly doing “terrible” after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and Republicans taking the Senate and...

Liberal-leaning Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor compared the risks of puberty blockers and sex-mutilating surgeries for minors to the risks of taking Aspirin on Wednesday. Sotomayor made the shocking comparison during oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a case brought by the Biden administration challenging Tennessee’s law banning sex change drugs and procedures for minors who believe they are transgender.

An Idaho beauty salon owner said she is seeing customers “dropping like flies” after calling supporters of President-elect Donald Trump “racist, homophobic, and misogynistic.” Tiffney Prickett of Voiage Salon in Coeur d’Alene said she is “suffering the consequences of my own action” in a TikTok video posted days after the November election, saying that one of her longtime clients demanded a refund after she went on an anti-Trump tirade: @beautybytiffney It is the right thing to do. Period. #sorrynotsorry #humanrights ♬ original sound – Tiffney

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is ceding his position as top Democrat on the powerful Judiciary Committee amid a tough challenge from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), — a stunning shift on a powerful committee that’s sure to play a considerable role in the oversight of the second Trump administration. In a letter to colleagues, Nadler said he’s endorsing Raskin for the spot. The move marks a stunning fall for Nadler, a fiery Manhattan liberal and 34 year veteran of Congress, who rose to the top of the Judiciary panel in 2017 and helped to guide the two impeachments of President Trump....

President Joe Biden refused to consult the DOJ’s Office of the Pardon Attorney before pardoning Hunter Biden. Presidents typically consult the office when making pardon decisions. The refusal ignored standard procedure and disregarded institutional norms, leaving the pardon office stunned by the tactic, a source told Politico. The Office of the Pardon Attorney is usually tasked with recommending complete pardons for felons who completed prison sentences, the New York Times reported.

Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill has finally made her pronouncement about the 2024 election, and it might surprise you to discover that she thinks Kamala Harris lost because of “racism” and “sexism.” Well, maybe “surprise” isn’t the word since it was predictable that she would ascribe Harris’s loss to racism and sexism because she describes everything that ails America to racism and sexism. Immediately after the election, Hill refrained from commenting on the outcome of the 2024 election. But she is now speaking up, and what she has to say is not just predictable but arrogant, as well, because she...

Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning — amid rumors that President-elect Donald Trump would replace him with Governor Ron DeSantis — that he spoke directly to Trump and has his support. “I spoke to the President-elect this morning. He said, ‘Keep going. keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way,'” Hegseth said. Asked by CBS News if he was in this “all the way,” he responded, “Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the fighters. This is personal & passionate.”

A German military helicopter was fired upon by a Russian ship in the Baltic Sea, the latest escalation in tensions between Moscow and the West, a report in German media states. A Bundeswehr (Federal German armed forces) helicopter was shot at by a Russian ship in the Baltic Sea with a signalling flare, the German Press Agency (DPA) has said. When this event is alleged to have taken place has not been made clear, but Deutsche Welle states the Russian ship responsible for the dangerous act was a “tanker”. A signal flare launcher is generally a gun in the conventional...

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has taken a break from giving career advice to NFL coaches and NBA players and decided to give some advice to the Democrat Party. His advice? “Shut up.” Speaking on the most recent edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show podcast, the multi-million dollar hot-take artist blamed Democrats for proving the voters’ lack of trust in the Democrat Party to be accurate.

President Joe Biden should issue preemptive pardons to his political allies and those deemed to be on President-elect Donald Trump’s alleged “enemies list,” Democrats and their media allies believe. Delivering a preemptive pardon indicates an admission of guilt, although Democrats claim a preemptive pardon would only be intended to block Trump from targeting his political foes. Democrats and media elites list those deserving a preemptive pardon as Christopher Wray, Justice Department lawyers, Joe Biden (himself), the whole Biden family, Liz Cheney, Mark Milley, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Adam Kinzinger, among others.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vented his displeasure Monday after two Democratic-appointed federal judges reversed their decisions to retire in what appear to be efforts to stop President-elect Trump from nominating their successors. McConnell called the unusual decisions to forgo retirement following Trump’s sweeping victory last month a “partisan” gambit that would undermine the integrity of federal courts. “They rolled the dice that a Democrat could replace them and now that he won’t, they’re changing their plans to keep a Republican from doing it,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “It’s a brazen admission. And the incoming administration would...

Chicago police chief Jon Hein indicated officers are trying to identify “individuals” behind a shooting that killed three people and wounded five in a Chicago Lawn home Monday afternoon, according to CBS News. Hein said, “We have eight victims…We’re going to solve this crime and find the individuals that are responsible for the heinous, terrible incident.” WGN-TV noted that police were called to the scene at 2 p.m. Monday. Investigators indicated to WGN-TV there appeared to a “social gathering” at the home before the shooting began. Neighbors near the home indicated “there was a party going on before shots were...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday indicated that bipartisan negotiations to avert the threat of a government shutdown this month are “on the right track,” but he warned against “divisive” provisions. Schumer said from the Senate floor that both parties are “making progress negotiating on a bill that can pass the House and Senate with bipartisan support.” “We need to keep divisive and unnecessary provisions out of any government funding extension, or else it will get harder to pass a [continuing resolution] in time,” he said. “For now, I’m pleased negotiations are on the right track, and I...