Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Good morning, and welcome to RedState's "Morning Minute" — a brief glimpse at which stories are trending at the moment and a look ahead at what the day may bring. Consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.
TOP O' THE MORNIN'
Red-Hot at RedState
The Atlantic’s Kash Patel Hit Piece Is Backfiring - Badly
It is unclear how she can say the White House did not refute things when, in her piece, she quotes Karoline Leavitt responding to her questions. And again, there were the complete blanket denials from Patel and his lawyer.
Anyone posting someone's personal information publicly or online with a clear and unequivocal intent to have that person harassed or attacked is in the wrong. But there's a big difference between that and what Bonta and CHIRLA are pushing, and there's no reason people working for "immigrant services" providers should have more protection than anyone else.
Turning Off the Lights on Lake Tahoe in the Name of Data Centers and Renewable Energy
To ensure prosperity for a state, community, or town, and for their ratepayers, utility companies such as Liberty Utilities and state utility regulators should consider affordability, reliability, and full-spectrum cleanliness in order to move into an energy renaissance, which always results in economic and population prosperity.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Bearing Arms — How Spanberger Just Screwed Over Domestic Abuse Survivors
Maybe they should spend more time looking to disarm their fellow Democrats instead of disarming everyone else.
HotAir — BREAKING: Islamabad II Back On(?) As Trump Issues Warning; UPDATE: Trump Won't Extend
Trump just went on CNBC and warned that he will not extend the ceasefire without a full deal that meets his terms
PJ Media — Justice Jackson Takes Aim at Fellow Justices — and the Results Aren’t Pretty
In other words, Jackson appears to see herself less as a justice who decides cases based on the law and the U.S. Constitution, and more as someone who gets to share her opinions on issues.
Townhall — Justice Jackson Was the Lone Dissenter in This Case, and She Was Not Happy About It
Jackson’s dissent accused her seven colleagues of ‘wordsmithing,’ which law professor Jonathan Turley took some exception to, while exposing that Justice Brown might not know what that means, or at least using the phrase improperly.
Twitchy — Venezuelan Family Who ‘Followed the Rules’ Leaving the US After Being Detained
They didn't follow federal immigration rules; they flew in on one of Joe Biden's "parole flights" after making arrangements with his bogus CBP One app. We're not making up rules now — we're enforcing immigration law.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
It's a busy, busy Tuesday on Capitol Hill, with multiple hearings/meetings set, including:
- Senate Armed Services — Closed hearings to examine the posture of United States Indo-Pacific Command and United States Forces Korea in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2027 and the Future Years Defense Program; to be immediately followed by an open session at 9:30 a.m.
- House Homeland Security, Border Security and Enforcement Subcommittee — “Online Scams, Crypto Fraud, and Digital Extortion: An Examination of How Transnational Criminal Networks Target Americans”
- House Science, Space, and Technology, Research and Technology Subcommittee — Robots Made in America: Advancing U.S. Leadership in Manufacturing and Automation
- House Small Business — "Independent Work, Real Opportunity: The Gig Economy and the Future of Entrepreneurship."
- House Judiciary, Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee — “Protecting U.S. Leadership in Codes Development and Enhancing Public Access”
- House Ways and Means — Full Committee Hearing on Protecting Patients and Taxpayers: Cracking Down on Medicare Fraud
- Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — Hearings to examine the nominations of Kevin Warsh, of Florida, to be a Member and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Senate Judiciary, Constitution Subcommittee — Hearings to examine Arctic Frost, focusing on conspiracy and coordination
- House Ethics — Ethics Committee Sanctions Hearing
- Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) — Hearings to examine Iran's support for Russia and lessons learned from Ukraine
- Senate Foreign Relations, Africa and Global Health Policy Subcommittee — Hearings to examine the U.S. approach to counterterrorism in Africa
- House Armed Services, Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation Subcommittee — Cyber Posture of the Department of Defense
White House What's Up
Not to be outdone, President Trump will be busy on Tuesday, as well:
- 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
8:30 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Live Phone Interview with Joe Kernen, Squawk Box, CNBC — The White House
1:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
3:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
4:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT delivers Remarks to NCAA Collegiate National Champions — State Dining Room
5:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. Interior - Doug Burgum — Burgum continues to tout the successes of the administration's energy policies.
.@POTUS is putting energy reality over climate fantasy.
— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) April 20, 2026
Under his leadership, we are investing in infrastructure to provide an energy future that is more affordable, more reliable and more secure. pic.twitter.com/cqj5LKlB8M
Full Court Press...
We had a couple court decisions of note on Monday, including:
- ↔️ In Comens v. EOP (removal of independent agency leaders), Judge Michael Nachmanoff (Eastern District of Virginia) partially GRANTS and partially DENIES admin's motion to dismiss. (Dismissed APA claims; backpay/damages claims; challenge to executive order. Due process claims survive.)
- ✅ In State of Illinois v. Trump (National Guard deployment), Judge April Perry (Northern District of Illinois) DISMISSES case with prejudice (as moot).
Oral argument resumes before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with two consolidated cases regarding the Communications Act:
- Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T — Whether the Communications Act provisions that govern the FCC's assessment and enforcement of monetary forfeitures are consistent with the Seventh Amendment and Article III.
- Verizon Communications Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission — Whether the Communications Act violates the Seventh Amendment and Article III by authorizing the FCC to order the payment of monetary penalties for failing to reasonably safeguard customer data, without guaranteeing the defendant carrier a right to a jury trial.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down more decisions on Wednesday.
Keep an eye on Islamabad.
MORNING MUSING
We're all human — we're prone to mistakes. But there's being human, and then there's just being dumb. Or incompetent. Over and over again, we're treated to examples of elected/appointed officials being either corrupt or incompetent — or both.
Again, I understand making mistakes — I make them on the regular. What I don't understand is people who know they're going to be in the public eye, know they're going to be highly scrutinized, and yet blithely go about either abusing their position or botching it right and left, and expect they aren't going to be held to account for it.
Maybe it's because so many aren't held to account? Maybe that needs to change.
LIGHTER FARE
Yes — this is meant to tug at your heartstrings. It sure did mine. 🥺 (H/t to the Handsome Beau for this one.)
When your special needs dog struggles to make friends, and a little dog comes over to invite her to play.. pic.twitter.com/NGNo9YqS7x
— Puppies 🐶 (@Puppieslover) April 19, 2026
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