Free Republic

President Donald Trump’s failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak and his refusal to promote clear public-health guidelines have left many senior Republicans despairing that he will ever play a constructive role in addressing the crisis, with some concluding they must work around Trump and ignore or even contradict his pronouncements. In recent days, some of the most prominent figures in the GOP outside the White House have broken with Trump over issues like the value of wearing a mask in public and heeding the advice of health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, whom the president and other hard-right figures within...

PRESIDENT Trump is losing the women's vote to Joe Biden by a historic margin that has not been seen in more than 50 years, according to new research. Biden is leading Trump among female registered voters by 59 percent to 35 percent, polling compiled by The New York Times reveals.

WASHINGTON — When Republicans read the platform their party is using for the 2020 campaign, they may be surprised to see that it is full of condemnations of the sitting president. “The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk,” the platform reads. “Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.” The warning about speech online is one of more than three dozen unflattering references to either the “current president,” “current chief executive,” “current administration,” people...

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday pledged for the first time to cut the city’s police funding, following 10 nights of mass protests against police violence and mounting demands that he overhaul a department whose tactics have caused widespread consternation. The mayor on Sunday declined to say precisely how much funding he planned to divert to social services from the New York Police Department, which has an annual budget of $6 billion, representing more than 6 percent of Mr. de Blasio’s proposed $90 billion budget. de Blasio said the details would be worked out with the City Council in advance...

In Columbia, S.C., on Saturday, a young protester told a reporter that she just didn’t think voting is “how change happens.” “They’ve been telling us to do that for so long,” she added, “and we’ve done it — and look at everything that’s still going on.” Fury over the cruel death of George Floyd, a black man in police custody, combined with fear of a deadly virus and its painful economic impact, make this a dark, dizzying moment in our national life. But African-Americans shouldn’t feel hopeless, because the black vote does matter — it has never mattered more. It...

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer leveled scathing criticism at The New York Times on Friday over an article pointing out that the Israel Defense Forces’ research and development efforts, which have proven crucial in Israel’s battle against the coronavirus, are predominately dedicated to devising ways to counter the Jewish state’s enemies. The article, “Israeli Army’s Idea Lab Aims at a New Target: Saving Lives,” which was published on Thursday, states that “The Israeli Defense Ministry’s research-and-development arm is best known for pioneering cutting-edge ways to kill people and blow things up, with stealth tanks and sniper drones among its more...

It can be hard to recall, since so many members of President Trump’s inner circle have been indicted, convicted of federal crimes and sent to prison, but the first felon to emerge from this administration was Michael Flynn. Flynn, who served as national security adviser before resigning in disgrace, pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators. At the time, Trump said, “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the vice president and the FBI.” Flynn did lie, as he admitted to under oath in a court of law — twice. He told investigators, falsely, that he had...

Anil Subba, a Nepali Uber driver from Jackson Heights, Queens, died just hours after doctors at Elmhurst Hospital thought he might be strong enough to be removed from a ventilator. In the nearby Corona neighborhood, Edison Forero, 44, a restaurant worker from Colombia, was still burning with fever when his housemate demanded he leave his rented room, he said. Not far away in Jackson Heights, Raziah Begum, a widow and nanny from Bangladesh, worries she will be ill soon. Two of her three roommates already have the symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Everyone in the apartment...

IN THE END, the story told by the two articles of impeachment approved on Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee is short, simple and damning: President Donald Trump abused the power of his office by strong-arming Ukraine, a vulnerable ally, holding up hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid until it agreed to help him influence the 2020 election by digging up dirt on a political rival. When caught in the act, he rejected the very idea that a president could be required by Congress to explain and justify his actions, showing “unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance” in...