Free Republic

The head of the Democratic National Committee on Friday joined calls for President Trump to cancel a scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin following the indictment of 12 Russians for hacking. DNC Chairman Tom Perez said it “defies logic that Putin did not know of this” and said that Mr. Trump’s attempts to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the election — which led to the new charges announced Friday against Russian intelligence officers — has hurt the nation. “President Trump should absolutely cancel this meeting with Putin,” Mr. Perez said. “Putin is not...

Videos at link. President Trump claimed Friday ahead of his summit with Vladimir Putin that the Russian president would not have invaded Crimea had he been in office, calling the globally condemned annexation an “Obama disaster.” The comments marked Trump's latest attempt to set the stage for his meeting with Putin, with a combination of tough talk and suggestions of future improved ties. “I think we could have a very good relationship with President Putin,” Trump said, adding that he was not going into the meeting with “high expectations.” “We’ll see.” Trump tackled questions about Russia during a joint press...

Join Freepers throughout the world to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE-PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. —1 John 5:14 Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Please join us in prayer for our nation, and our President's diplomatic tour in the United Kingdom.

Comedian George Lopez was recently seen in a TMZ video emptying a small water bottle onto President Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, acting as though he was urinating. It was unclear when the footage was taken, but the celebrity website posted the video Wednesday.

In his NATO news conference today, President Trump held President Obama responsible for permitting Russia to encroach on Crimea, and said: “Long before I got here, President Obama allowed that to happen. That was on his watch, not on my watch. People like to say, oh, Crimea but the fact is they built bridges to Crimea; they just opened a big bridge that was started years ago, they built I think a submarine port, substantially added billions of dollars. “So, that was on Barack Obama’s watch. That was not on Trump’s watch. Would I have allowed it to happen? No,...

A global transportation company that handles incoming parts and finished goods for other businesses is expanding to the Charleston region to support the Mercedes-Benz Van plant. Logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel Inc. said it plans to create 180 jobs over the next three years at its new Palmetto Commerce Park operation in North Charleston. Hiring for the positions is already underway. The firm is setting up shop on the expanding Mercedes-Benz campus, between Ashley Phosphate and Ladson roads. Its services will include taking deliveries, managing inventory and transporting parts to the Sprinter plant assembly line as needed on a "just-in-time"...

NATO's secretary general agreed on Wednesday that President Trump's call for other members to boost their defense spending under the military alliance is having an effect, and promised that other NATO members would soon be chipping in more. Trump was in Belgium Wednesday to keep up his complaint that other NATO members are "not paying what they should," and said it's an "unfair burden" to the U.S. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed. "We all agree that we have to do more," he said in a joint appearance with Trump. "I agree with you that we have to do make...

"We're protecting Germany from Russia and Germany is giving Russia billions." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LSFrs1tP_g

Russia cut gas exports to Europe by 60 per cent today, plunging the continent into an energy crisis 'within hours' as a dispute with Ukraine escalated. This morning, gas companies in Ukraine said that Russia had completely cut off their supply. Six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas shipped via Ukraine today, in a sharp escalation of a struggle over energy that threatens Europe as winter sets in. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine. Croatia said it was temporarily reducing supplies to industrial customers while Bulgaria...

America is a nation obsessed with political approval ratings like no other. But the U.S. media seems ignorant to the fact that President Trump is currently one of the most popular leaders of a major Western nation in the world today. Guffaw if you like, but those who are both regarded and regard themselves as “better” leaders have lower numbers than the American president — and while his are trending up, some of theirs are in free fall. When Barack Obama left the world stage, having commanded a mid-40s average approval rating over the course of his presidency, the New...

Polish people love America Poland wouldn't mind seeing Trump as the advocate of Eastern European interests in Brussels. It's not just about a stronger NATO presence, but also about history and shared values. Many Poles see it as a given that the US should be responsible for their security, as the country suffered at the hands of neighboring Germany and Russia in the past and feels cheated by other European states. The PiS government agrees wholeheartedly with Trump's climate and migration policies, as well as criticism of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. And there are concrete economic...

"Make Peace Great Again" organizers were expecting a few thousand protestors to for President Trump's visit, but only a couple dozen showed up. Euro News’ Damon Embling reported that organizers were expecting a few thousand people to attend the protest, but just a few dozen turned out. The protesters were rallying around the slogan “Make Peace Great Again,” a play on Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Embling asked one of the organizers why only a couple dozen demonstrators showed up at the protest. “I think it’s, what went wrong is not the good question to ask,” the...

These remarks are remarkably straightforward. Again the Emporor's lack of clothes is revealed against all custom and the prevailing fictions of the World Order. Very uplifting, we have a lion fighting for America, at home & abroad. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good morning, everybody. Good morning to the media — the legitimate media and the fake-news media. Good morning to them. A lot of good people here. Surprising. Q Mr. President, which countries did you want to spend more on NATO in particular? PRESIDENT TRUMP: Just look at the chart. Take a look at the chart. It’s public. And many countries are...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) More fireworks than the 4th of July. – So, NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison has her work cut out for her today, as President Donald Trump (I never tire of typing those three words) meets with his counterparts at the fellow NATO member nations and follows that with a one-on-one settee with the execrable German Prime Minister Angela Merkel. The President already lit off the first volley of bottle rockets upon landing in Brussels, where the conference is being held, telling the assembled bunch of fake international journalists that… “Germany is a...

One of the interesting aspects of the hysteria is that NATO’s supporters never seem to think it is necessary to explain why it would be a bad idea to end the alliance. *snip NATO’s ineffectiveness ought to be the key issue of discussion when considering its future. But to date, that weakness has been largely overlooked in the rush to blame Trump for allegedly destroying America’s alliances. *snip* In an interview with Bloomberg last week, German Defense Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen insisted that the most important goal of Thursday’s summit would be “unity.” *snip* Notably, Von Der Leyen failed...

President Donald Trump exposed in a spectacular way, in front of millions of home viewers, how the Europeans milk money from the United States for “protection against Russia,” while they give millions of dollars for getting supplied with oil and gas from the same, supposedly “enemy,” country. Trump is not the first U.S. president who brings this up to the European allies. But he will be the first U.S. president who will definitely do something to fix this decade-long anomaly. Thomas Lifson adds: Trump's critics that contend he is in Putin's pocket have some explaining to do how this fits...

President Donald Trump waited for primetime to unveil his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Trump picked U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy, 81, setting up a fight with a divided Senate. Kennedy was often a swing vote in the Supreme Court, joining liberal justices to legalize gay marriage and voting with conservatives to throw out campaign-finance restrictions. While Kavanaugh, 53, was framed as the more "establishment" conservative pick of the other candidates, various Republicans had phoned Trump last week to voice their objections over his potential nomination, including about a 2011 opinion where he...

This is getting creepy. Michael Avenatti isn’t just your garden-variety guy on an ego trip. He’s starting to sound like some sort of cult leader with delusions of grandeur. Asked by Ari Melber on MSNBC this evening about his possible presidential ambitions, Avenatti answered: “If you’re going to go climb a mountain that you’ve never climbed before, or a mountain that’s really important for you to summit, do you want a guy, a guide, who says to you, you know, I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get up the face of that mountain? “Or do you...

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is going to be a weeks-long torment for some on the Hill—and I’m talking about red state Democrats. Senate Republican moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have been very receptive to Kavanaugh’s nomination, easing pressure from the right that they could sink this SCOTUS nominee if they defect. That could be the case, but for now, pressure has ramped up on Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and maybe Bill Nelson (D-FL). Nelson needs help. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is outworking him on Hispanic outreach, and he’s beating Nelson...

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh amassed tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt in part by purchasing baseball tickets to Washington Nationals games, according to a Washington Post review of Kavanaugh’s financial disclosures and information provided by the White House. Kavanaugh has reported having up to $200,000 in credit card debt during the past 10 years, according to the Post's report. In 2006 — the year he was confirmed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — he reported having between $60,000 to $200,000 in debt.