Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, American consumers and businesses have been hearing that President Trump’s massive import taxes – tariffs – would drive up prices and hurt the U.S. economy. But the latest economic reports don’t match the doom and gloom: Inflation actually eased last month, and hiring was solid in April. For now, the disconnect has businesses and consumers struggling to reconcile what they were told to expect, what the numbers say and what they are seeing on the ground. Trump and his supporters are quick to point out that the trade wars of his first term didn’t translate...

The administration is not only allowing more greenhouse gases. It is undermining the nation’s ability to understand and respond to a hotter planet.When the Trump administration declared two weeks ago that it would largely disregard the economic cost of climate change as it sets policies and regulations, it was just the latest step in a multipronged effort to erase global warming from the American agenda.But President Trump is doing more than just turning a blind eye to the fact that the planet is growing hotter. He is weakening the country’s capacity to understand global warming and to prepare for its...

Administration officials and members of billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service — aided by local and federal law enforcement agencies — seized the institute’s privately owned headquarters in March and summarily removed its leaders.“The President’s efforts here to take over an organization outside of those bounds, contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers, represented a gross usurpation of power and a way of conducting government affairs that unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better,” Howell wrote in her 102-page opinion.The judge said...

he Trump administration’s campaign against higher education has proceeded on so many fronts, and at such breathtaking speed, that it is hard for individual elements of it to capture the news cycle for long. But one especially notable development occurred in the first week of May, when Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote a letter to the president of Harvard, Alan Garber, announcing that his institution would be cut off from future government grants. This followed the extraordinary list of demands that the administration issued (by mistake?) to Harvard a month earlier. The more recent McLetter is worth reading for...

A federal judge in Texas struck down guidance from a government agency establishing protections against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday determined that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission exceeded its statutory authority when the agency issued guidance to employers against deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, and barring employees from wearing dress code-compliant clothing according to their gender identity because they may constitute forms of workplace harassment....

With their party facing record low approval ratings, many top Democrats are trying to reposition themselves from Biden boosters to truth-tellers of what really happened in 2024.In February 2024, when quizzed on President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s ability to communicate his re-election message, Senator Chris Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, quickly vouched for him.“I know that he is ready for this campaign,” he told CBS News. “I have seen how effective he has been up close and personal.”But five months into 2025, Mr. Murphy is on the leading edge of top Democrats aiming to Etch A Sketch away their past endorsements...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin is the only way to end the war in Ukraine. Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, said Trump has grown impatient and wants the three-year war to end, according to The Hill. "The only way to have a breakthrough between President Trump and Putin," Rubio told reporters, adding that nothing productive will happen until the two sides engage. Trump said he wasn't surprised Putin did not want to attend the talks, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushing him to...

He has a new, carefully groomed beard. He bantered with bros for hours on an irreverent comedy podcast. And on Tuesday, he criticized the Trump administration through an appeal to patriotism in a state early on the presidential nominating calendar. Pete Buttigieg is inching back into the Democrats’ spotlight this spring with a series of appearances that have prompted speculation about how one of the party’s most evidently ambitious politicians might spend the lead-up to 2028. With Democrats still searching for a direction and a standard-bearer after November’s loss to President Trump, supporters of Mr. Buttigieg, a smooth-talking former mayor...

Trump’s presidential blitz is realizing the dreams of conservative intellectuals in the Reagan-Bush era.Imagine a populist president who set out to create, “in the first weeks of his administration, a radically different perception of the presidency.” He could use “far-reaching executive orders” to “give various constituencies throughout the country the immediate conviction that this president, for a change, looks out for them.” The burst of presidential edicts would serve visceral as much as practical purposes: “The nation as a whole needs to be jarred by this newcomer’s determination to protect the country’s vital interests, perhaps by ordering, on national security...

Representative LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead” that “everything” President Donald Trump says is a lie. When discussing Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest at the Delaney Hall Detention Center last week, McIver said, “Along with Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Congressman Rob Menendez from New Jersey, we decided to show up at this facility to conduct an oversight visit.” Host Jake Tapper said, “What do you say to the DHS spokesman’s claim of body slamming?”

Minnesota’s Democrat Governor Tim Walz is pushing a bizarre new claim about President Donald Trump. During an appearance on MSNBC, Walz claimed that Trump will soon start wearing a “military uniform.” He made the bizarre claim while promoting the Democrat narrative that Trump is moving the United States toward authoritarian rule. Of course, his suggestion was lapped up by MSNBC host Jen Psaki, who offered no pushback. Walz made the comments on MSNBC’s “The Briefing,” the doomed new show hosted by the former Biden White House press secretary. Psaki opened the segment by referencing a comment Walz made in The...

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters responded to recent reports that Israel may be left out of a wide regional initiative which has the potential to secure the release of hostages. "The government must adopt a comprehensive regional agreement that will transform the Middle East, end the war, and secure the return of all 59 hostages," the Forum responded. "This represents an unprecedented historic missed opportunity. Every citizen should understand tonight that Israel is heading toward 'the missed opportunity of the century.'" The Forum alleged that "the government is acting contrary to President Trump's policy," as well as in...

Long before she was a Fox News host who pushed pro-Trump election conspiracy theories, Jeanine Pirro was an ambitious New York politician whose career stalled after she was recorded plotting to bug her then-husband’s boat to catch him in an affair. The revelation rocked Pirro’s campaign for New York attorney general nearly 20 years ago, resulting in days of front-page headlines in the city’s tabloids (“BUG THIS LOVE BOAT!” blared the Daily News cover). The conversation took place in 2005 between Pirro and the former commissioner of the New York Police Department, Bernard Kerik, a close ally of Rudy Giuliani’s....

President Donald Trump announced this week that he would end the Digital Equity Act, which provided $2.5 billion in grants to ensure everyone had equal access to the digital economy. "I have spoken with my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and we agree that the Biden/Harris so-called 'Digital Equity Act' is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL," Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. "No more woke handouts based on race!" "The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!" he added. The act, signed into law by former...

Ford Motor has hiked prices on three of its Mexico-produced models effective May 2, becoming one of the first major automakers to adjust sticker prices following U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Prices on the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, Maverick pickup and Bronco Sport will increase by as much as $2,000 on some models, according to a notice sent to dealers, which was reviewed by Reuters. Ford earlier this week said Trump's trade war would add about $2.5 billion in costs for 2025, but it expects to reduce that exposure by around $1 billion. Rival General Motors said last week that...

He’s got jokes. Michelle Obama said her husband, Barack Obama, joked she was “next up” after her mom, Marian Robinson, passed away at age 86 in May 2024. During Wednesday’s episode of the former first lady and her brother Craig Robinson’s “IMO” podcast, Michelle recalled a conversation she had with the 44th president of the US. “I guess if anything, with mom’s loss, I think that — thank God you’re my big brother and I have a husband who’s older,” she told Craig, 63. “Barack was saying, you know, ‘Well, you’re next up.’ I was like, ‘I’m not really ready...

Former President Joe Biden claimed Thursday on ABC’s “The View” that then-Vice President Kamala Harris had “six full months” to run for president after he dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024 just over three months before Election Day. Co-host Sonny Hostin said, “Well, Mr. President, some have even argued that leaving the race and endorsing your vice president, Vice President Harris, a hundred, over a hundred days before the election hampered her campaign. What do you say to those critics? Biden said, “I say, number one, that there were still six full months. She was in every...

The FBI and US Attorney’s Office in Albany have launched a criminal investigation into mortgage fraud claims against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a source familiar with the probe told The Post. The investigation, first reported by the Times Union, follows a federal criminal referral sent by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte to the Justice Department earlier this month. Pulte’s letter alleges James “falsified records” to obtain favorable loans on a home she purchased in 2023 in Virginia and a Brooklyn brownstone she’s owned since 2001.

The United States has reportedly encouraged intelligence agencies to ramp up spying efforts in Greenland amid President Donald Trump repeatedly floating the idea of taking over the Arctic island.... The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources, that high-ranking officials working under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Habbard sent a "collection of emphasis message" to the heads of various intelligence agencies last week. Intelligence agencies have been directed to learn more about the independence movement on the island and the general attitude of the Greenlanders towards American resource extraction, the Journal added. The agencies have been asked to use tools...

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he asked President Trump during their meeting Tuesday to stop calling his neighbors to the north the 51st state, insisting the president will not get his “wish.” In a press conference at the Canadian Embassy following his meeting at the White House, a reporter asked Carney if he pushed Trump to stop calling Canada the 51st state because it offends Canadians, and the new prime minister responded “yes.” “Today,” he said of when he pushed back on Trump’s 51st state remark, and added “exactly what you just said” when pressed for specifics on the...