Free Republic

The tariff doomsday machine is roaring again. This time, it’s over talk of a 50% tariff on certain imports. Predictably, the panic-peddlers are out in force, warning that such a tariff means retail prices will skyrocket 50%. It’s an easy line to chant, but it’s wrong — flat wrong — and anyone with a basic grasp of economics should know better.Let’s make one thing clear: a tariff applies to the transaction value, not the final retail price. The transaction value is what the importer pays the exporter, plus freight and insurance. That cost is just the first step in a...

WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick slammed European Union policies after President Trump announced a 20% tariff on the 27-nation trading bloc — saying that “they hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.” Lutnick, a former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, defended Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs, which will start taking effect April 5, by pointing to the allegedly unfair treatment of US goods in global trade. “The European Union won’t take chicken from America. They won’t take lobsters from America. They hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak. It’s...

Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said Friday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that President Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was an “utter mess” that “makes us look weak.” Kelly said, “What a complete and utter mess. And this is a gift to Putin. And make no mistake, and I hope the American people get this, that this makes us look weak and it’s not normal behavior.” He continued, “The United States. Chris we are a superpower. Our power is our military, our economy, our diplomatic corps, our professionalism. This was not professional. We don’t gain anything...

France’s President Emmanuel Macron intends to tell U.S. President Donald Trump to toughen up and not “be weak” in the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression when the two leaders meet in Washington, DC, next week. The pair will talk as U.S.-led negotiations to end the almost three-year war in Ukraine move forward. AP reports Macron used a one-hour question and answer session on his social media Thursday to declare he’ll tell Trump: “You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible...

The daughter of Colombia’s president has waded into the short-lived standoff between her father and President Trump over deportations — suggesting the Latin American nation should send back an American sex tourist for every Colombian deported from the US. “For every Colombian deported we will return a gringo from the Poblado,” wrote Andrea Petro, the daughter of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a post on X Monday. She accompanied the cheeky message with a meme of dolphins jumping from the sea under a rainbow-crested sky.

Two days after President Biden called former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage,” a top campaign surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris implied women around the Republican presidential nominee were weak and dumb — though he later walked back his statement after it sparked widespread fury.

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump campaign is blasting Mark Cuban, a top surrogate for Kamala Harris, for "extremely insulting" comments against women who support former President Donald Trump, demanding the vice president "immediately condemn" his remarks. "Joe Biden called Trump supporters garbage, and now Kamala’s top surrogate Mark Cuban insinuated female Trump supporters are ‘weak and dumb,’" Leavitt told Fox News Digital. "This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him," Leavitt said. "These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed,...

A former Target executive and retail expert is warning of a not-so-jolly holiday shopping season as Americans struggle in President Joe Biden (D) and Vice President Kamala Harris’s (D) economy. Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch said during an interview on Fox Business Thursday, “It’s very clear that consumers are running out of money.” “They’re increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer’s still spending. They might be, but they’re spending less than the growth of...

Retail expert Gerald Storch says the 2024 election will weigh on an already weak holiday shopping season.. Former Target Vice Chairman Gerald Storch painted a sobering picture of consumer sentiment while speaking to FOX Business on Thursday, anticipating a subdued holiday shopping season weighed down by economic and political uncertainties. "It's very clear that consumers are running out of money. They're increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer's still spending. They might be, but they're...

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that she believed former President Donald Trump was “weak” and a “charlatan.” Whitmer said, “He’s a charlatan. He’s convinced people he is strong when he’s actually very weak. He told Michiganders no plants would close. Six closed. He just came into Detroit and denigrated the city of Detroit. He shows his ignorance. He doesn’t appreciate what the renaissance actually is in the city of Detroit. He denigrated autoworkers, saying children could do their jobs. He likes to pretend he’s tough, but in the reality, he’s weak.”

Vice President Kamala Harris scolded former President Donald Trump as “weak” on Thursday for refusing a second debate match-up. The Hill reports Harris made public her disdain as she claimed the moral high ground at a rally in Chandler, Arizona: I think it’s a disservice to the voters. I also think, it’s a pretty weak move. But even if he will not debate, the contrast in this election is already clear. This election is about two very different visions… for our nation. One, his, focused on the past. The other, ours, focused on the future. Trump said Wednesday there would...

When Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier this month that Western approval for Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia would mean Moscow was at war with NATO, Russian propagandists rushed to rattle the nuclear saber. Alexander Mikhailov, director of the Bureau of Military Political Analysis, called for bombing plywood mock-ups of London and Washington — complete with reproductions of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the White House — to simulate nuclear strikes, so that they would “burn so beautifully that it will horrify the world.” The speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned that strikes on Russia would lead...

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) an “exceptionally strong” running mate for Vice President Harris on Tuesday after he lost the battle to become his party’s vice presidential candidate. “Vice President Kamala Harris has my enthusiastic support – and I know that Governor Tim Walz is an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward,” Shapiro said in a statement following Harris’s decision. Walz, Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly (D) were widely seen as the top three candidates to join Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket. The governor...

An air unit formed in the days when pilots were considered knights and gentlemanly combat ruled the sky has been stripped of its historical nickname after fears it could be offensive to Muslim communities. The Royal Air Force’s 14 Squadron was forced to drop the “Crusader” title after an official complaint was filed against the unit. According to a news report, a single complaint sparked a campaign against the nickname. Aviators and crewmen were told to remove all instances of the name around their hangars. “We have to take down every mention of Crusaders from our base,” one aviator told...

President Biden told a gathering of nearly two dozen Democratic governors at the White House Wednesday night that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours — and even avoid events held after 8 p.m. — despite indications he can only handle the rigors of the job between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Biden’s acknowledgment was reported by the New York Times, citing two people who took part in the high-stakes meeting and others who were briefed on the comment. During the same gathering, the outlet reported, Biden responded to a question from Hawaii Gov. Josh Green about...

Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump are “profoundly and pathetically weak people.” Shapiro said, “When Donald Trump sued us to try to first stop people from voting then had their votes count, he and his allies sued us 42 times. We went 43-0. We had a free and fair, safe and secure election. Then look at the ballot box while Donald Trump squeaked out a victory in 2016 in Pennsylvania by just over 40,000 votes, in every subsequent election, either Donald Trump or his hand picked candidate lost. They...

A new investigation by CNN’s KFile team reveals that Trump VP hopeful and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance liked tweets calling the man he hopes to serve under “douchey,” accusing him of “serial sexual assault,” and even expressing an interest in working under his then-rival, Hillary Clinton. Senator Vance is one of Donald Trump’s most effusive allies in Congress now, even earning himself a spot on Trump’s shortlist to be his running mate. But this alliance is still a relatively new one. Back in 2016, he called himself a “Never Trump guy” and called Trump “reprehensible” and an “idiot.” In text...

In the past couple of years I have noticed there is a complete lake of regard for other posters on this site. Not only that but swearing seems to be tolerated. In the past day I have been called gay, a lair, that I am talking out of my *** and I am full of ****. Do we even have to go into the fighting on any thread about Ukraine or Russia. Even hard facts from multiple sources no longer seem to matter. Instead it is whoever can come up with the snarkiest reply.

Biden’s legacy will be unique in American history, for no president will ever have left America in such terrible shape. Never before has an American president been so physically unstable that he needs an accompanying entourage wherever he walks. That shakiness is a visual metaphor of Biden’s presidency. He represents a departure from previous presidents in being the only president who leaves voters doubting whether he is actually in charge and wondering why a frail 81-year-old, broadly despised man is being pushed to run again, even as most don’t believe he’s capable of completing that term if elected. Biden came...

Electric vehicle makers Rivian and Lucid both suffered plummeting share prices after disappointing fourth-quarter earnings reports revealed stagnant production numbers. CNBC reports that shares of electric vehicle makers Rivian and Lucid plunged on Thursday following disappointing fourth-quarter earnings reports released after markets closed on Wednesday. Rivian stock sank around 25 percent, while Lucid shares dropped nearly 17 percent. Both companies cited stagnant production numbers and “existing economic and geopolitical uncertainties” as factors impacting results. Rivian forecasts production of 57,000 vehicles in 2024 — about the same as the 57,232 vehicles manufactured in 2023. Meanwhile, Lucid predicts production of 9,000 vehicles...