Free Republic

Friday on FNC’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) dismissed the possibility of the so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill stalling out on Capitol Hill because of Tesla CEO and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk’s critique. “All right, Speaker,” host Jesse Watters said. “Is Elon going to derail the big, beautiful bill?” “Absolutely not,” Johnson replied. “Look, we are feeling the same energy that the President is. He’s leading. He’s delivering on his promises, and we all are. The big, beautiful bill is basically all those campaign speeches reduced to legislation. That’s what it is,...

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Friday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that he will never apologize, but President Donald Trump should apologize for the way the legal process has happened in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Host Anderson Cooper said, “I want to read what a part of a statement released by the White House. ‘The Democrat lawmakers, namely Democrat senator Chris Van Hollen, and every single so-called journalist who defended this illegal criminal abuser must immediately apologize to Garcia’s victims.’ Your response to that?” Van Hollen said, “I will never apologize for defending the Constitution. In fact,...

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s father Errol Musk said Friday on Al Arabiya English’s “Global News Today” that President Donald Trump will “prevail” in the public feud with his son. Musk said, “It seems a bit silly to me.” Host Tom Burges Watson said, “Do you think this is a bump in the road, or do you think this is the end of the road for the relationship between your son and Mr. Trump?” Musk said, “Just a bump in the road. It will fizzle out in a few days.” He continued, “I haven’t spoken to him, but I...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) is seemingly threatening to unmask Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, many of whom work undercover operations, saying Democrats will expose their identities “no matter what it takes.” During a press conference this week, Jeffries claimed that Democrats would seek out the identities of ICE agents who work to enforce federal immigration law by locating, arresting, and deporting illegal aliens — often violent, convicted criminals. “Every single ICE agent who is engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that,” Jeffries...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that President Donald Trump’s budget bill will not pass because it has a “grotesque” level of spending. Johnson said, “The president and Senate leadership has to understand that we’re serious. They all say, ‘Oh, we can pressure these guys.’ No, you can’t. Again we’re we’re being very respectful. You know, I ran 2010 as part of the Tea Party Movement. We were mortgaging children’s future. We were $14 trillion in debt then now we’re over $37 trillion. We’re serious about this. They need to take us seriously. Don’t insult us....

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) predicted Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Democrats would win the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffries said, “Let me make clear that the House is a separate and co-equal branch of government, the Congress. We don’t work for Donald Trump. We don’t work for the administration. We don’t work for Elon Musk. We work for the American people and we have a responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. That’s the constitutional blueprint that was given to us by...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) predicted Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that if the so-called “big, beautiful” spending bill becomes law, “people will literally die.” Jeffries said, “Trump’s one big ugly bill narrowly escaped the House of Representatives, and we’re going to continue to press our case across the country, partner with Senate Democrats in making clear to the American people the type of damage that this bill would do if it ever became law. This bill actually hurts everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires. It would strip away health care from approximately 14 million Americans...

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said Tuesday on CNN’s “News Central” that President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees could face holds until Attorney General Pam Bondi provides “answers” to Congress on the $400 million jet from Qatar. Shaheen said, “With respect to Qatar and the plane, I think there are serious constitutional questions about this, but there are also questions about national security. Sadly, the president doesn’t seem to be too concerned about national security. He’s been willing to allow his secretary of defense to engage in classified discussions over unclassified channels. He has, again, looking at accepting this plane without thinking...

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed hope Friday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that the newly elected pope will speak out against the Trump administration’s mass deportations. Jansing said, “His social media was busy prior to becoming pope and is getting attention. It includes a post he shared just last month from a Catholic commentator who called out Trump and the president of El Salvador for laughing about the deportation of Rodrigo Garcia. And then in February, he also reposted an article from the National Catholic Reporter that was titled JD Vance is wrong, Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our...

A report in Israel’s Israel Hayom says that President Donald Trump is “disappointed” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has decided to make his next moves in the Middle East without him. The report, published in Hebrew and citing two sources close to Trump, would seem to corroborate the observation that Trump has cut Netanyahu out of his decision-making process on major policy steps. Last month, Trump surprised Netanyahu by announcing that the U.S. would begin “direct” talks with the Iranian regime over a new nuclear deal. And this week, he surprised Israel again by announcing that the U.S....

President Donald Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Friday that he will “very willingly” lead the U.S. into attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities if the regime does not make a deal to stop its program. Trump was, as usual, bullish about the prospects of making a deal and avoiding war, especially given the economic pressure he has restored on the regime. He added that he had not stopped Israel from attacking Iran on its own, but had not made it “comfortable” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make that choice. Asked if Netanyahu would “drag” the U.S. into...

President Donald Trump said that the United States is in the midst of an “economic revolution” and urged Americans to “hang tough” for a “historic” result. Trump’s comments came in a Truth Social post on Saturday, just days after he announced his worldwide reciprocal tariffs aimed at offsetting trade imbalances the United States has with other nations. “China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly. We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer,” Trump wrote. Notable tariffs Trump announced on Wednesday...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that if President Donald Trump removes tariffs, Canada will drop all of their tariffs. Host Andrew Ross Sorkin said, “Do you expect this to be a negotiation? meaning there has been a sense, implied or otherwise, that we’re going to hear a number, whether it’s 20% or something else, as a sort of top, and that if folks like yourself come forward and say, you know what, we’re going to take some tariffs off of this and we’re going to do this, perhaps that those tariff numbers come down?” Ford...

Jimmy Carter’s melancholy fate was to be a largely derivative figure: He was a reaction against his elected predecessor and the precursor of his successor. Richard Nixon made Carter tempting; Carter made Ronald Reagan necessary.The deceits and crimes of Nixon’s imperial presidency bred Carter’s pompous crusade against pomp. Carter proclaimed “I’ll never lie to you” while claiming that he was a “nuclear physicist.” He denied saying what a tape proved he said about Lyndon Johnson’s “lying, cheating and distorting the truth.”Carter’s signature achievement, peace between Israel and Egypt, diminished the threat of another conventional Middle East war. In his post-presidency...

A real-life "Succession" battle for Rupert Murdoch's media empire has ended with a Nevada court commissioner denying the billionaire's bid to change a family trust and give control to his eldest son. The case pitted the 93-year-old against three of his children over who would gain the power to control News Corp and Fox News when he dies. It has been reported that Mr Murdoch wanted to amend a family trust created in 1999 to allow his son Lachlan to take control without "interference" from his siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James. A Nevada commissioner ruled Mr Murdoch and Lachlan had...

A breakthrough in one of the most intriguing, historic who-dunnit cases by Professor Tim Thornton, discovered buried deep in a Register of Wills held at The National Archives.It's Summer 1483, and one of the most infamous and shocking crimes in English history is about to take place. Two young princes are brought to the Tower of London under the protection of their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. A few weeks later they vanish without a trace. The mystery of what happened to the Princes in the Tower has obsessed us for centuries. Why did these boys, aged just nine and...

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the term “deep State” refers to President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Kash Patel to head the FBI because his objective is reforming the institution. Guest host Kasie Hunt said, “Do you think there are any issues inside the FBI around politicization, as many who voted for Donald Trump seem to say?” Raskin said, “Well, undoubtedly, if you look at it historically, for example, during the COINTELPRO period the FBI really was weaponized against Doctor King and the Civil Rights Movement and the Peace Movement. There was, you...

"Holy smokes! Literally nothing? Literally not one county?" Jake Tapper is absolutely SHOCKED by the map showing that Kamala didn't outperform Biden in a single county. She's a total loser! https://x.com/i/status/1854064784351678941

George Will, a conservative columnist for The Washington Post, went after House Republicans who recently voted against more aid to Ukraine in a Wednesday opinion piece in the Post. In the opinion, highlighted by Mediaite, Will said the 112 Republicans House Republicans who voted against Ukraine aid “voted last Saturday to endanger civilization,” calling them “ignoble.” “Hoping to enhance their political security in their mostly safe seats, and for the infantile satisfaction of populist naughtiness (insulting a mostly fictitious ‘establishment’), they voted to assure [Russian President Vladimir Putin’s] attempt to erase a European nation,” Will wrote in his column. Opponents...

In the Post, George Will predicts that neither Donald Trump nor Ron DeSantis will be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. Inter alia, Will bases this on what he considers to be voters’ inevitable “rebellion against inevitability”: Voters, however, become contrary when told that the game’s outcome is known in the top of the first inning. Hence what G.K. Chesterton called the game of “Cheat the Prophet”: People listen politely to explanations of what is inevitable, then make something else happen. As a rule, there’s a lot to this. Americans did not like being told in 2007 that the next...