Thursday, May 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 

DoW Axes Canada Defense Board Over Carney’s Antics As PM Downplays the Hit

A stronger, U.S.-aligned Canada deters adversaries more effectively than Ottawa’s autonomy play ever could. The day Carney realizes that is the day the North American allies can resume the key bilateral forum, or else the fireside accord that lit North America’s defense for nearly a century could go dark.

Nebraska Just Took a Sledgehammer to the ESG Machine Behind Corporate America

Recommended
He Is Not OK: MAGA Unlikely to Forgive Jelly Roll — but Politics Isn’t the Issue Ben Sellers Six 4-Star Generals Disagree on Iran. That's Duty. Leaking It to The Washington Post Isn't. streiff

ISS's own employees apparently had doubts. Internal emails quoted in the complaint show staff questioning whether the firm's climate and diversity analysis was worth anything.

Chris Murphy Spins a Fairy Tale About Thomas Massie’s Loss — Here’s a Reality Check

Relatedly, Chris Murphy knows we'll take lectures from Democrats on the Epstein files on like the 4th of Never, right?

Trending Across Townhall Media

Bearing Arms — Texas Democrat Prime Example of Why We're Never Giving Up Our Guns

You want me to give up my guns and trust my government? That's never going to happen, because there are people in this country who support some truly awful people who want to hurt me and mine, and they're not going away anytime soon.

HotAir — Weaponized Lawfare: Finally Somebody Might Pay a Price

Forget for the moment how ham-handed the criminal attempt was; she committed this crime well after the case evaporated, and long after these documents were sealed.

PJ Media — Cuba Falling: Today Is 'the Beginning of the end' — and Rubio's Powerful Message

Folks, I think we've officially reached the tipping point when it comes to the fall of communist Cuba. If anyone else was president, I wouldn't buy it myself, but Donald Trump is, and I do.  

Townhall — Owner of the San Diego 'Trump House' Hospitalized in Critical Condition Following Attack

We would have wall-to-wall coverage if there were a wave of right-wing violence. Left-wing violence is swept under the rug.

Twitchy — Dr. Oz Has the PERFECT Prescription for Joy Behar and the Harpies on The View

Joy Behar threw a hissy fit, going so far as to try to encourage Americans not to take any drugs that were offered by Trump Rx. (We're old enough to remember when Democrats did a similar 'scientific' 180 related to the COVID vaccine.)

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

Thursday also looks to be a busy day on the Hill, with multiple hearings/meetings set, including:

On Wednesday, the House passed the 21st Century Road to Housing Act — by a vote of 396-13.

READ MORE: Trump Scores Big New Win: House Approves Revised Housing Bill

White House What's Up

Here's how President Trump's Thursday schedule is shaping up:

Keeping Up With the Cabinet

Sec. Interior - Doug Burgum — We're not used to hearing all that much about the Department of the Interior, but Burgum is really getting a chance to help his department shine as the nation gears up to celebrate its 250th birthday.

Full Court Press...

One recent court decision of note I want to mention:

And, of course, on Wednesday, the big news was the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

READ MORE: 'America Does Not Forget': Raul Castro Indicted in Murder of Four Cuban-American Flyers

Also, the Supreme Court is expected to issue opinions today (Thursday) at 10:00 AM Eastern.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Speaking of Cuba...probably bears watching. 👀

Vice President JD Vance is slated to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 28. 

President Trump will be in Suffern, New York, on Friday to deliver remarks at Rockland Community College and throw his support behind Republican Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17) in his bid for reelection.

And he's set to attend the G7 Summit in Évian-Les-Bains, France, in mid-June.

MORNING MUSING

I'm old enough to remember when George Michael and Andrew Ridgley of Wham! proudly sported "Choose Life" t-shirts as they bee-bopped around the stage. Now, theirs might not have been a message directed at the abortion issue (believe it had more to do with suicide prevention), but either way, it was a message I'll gladly get behind. We all should.

I was reminded of it last night when I had the privilege of attending the Make Missouri Pro-Life Again banquet. Riley Gaines was the keynote speaker, and I have to say, having attended countless events such as this over the years, she may well be one of the best public speakers I've ever encountered. Gaines spoke directly to the importance of embracing truth and life. Hers was truly an inspirational speech. The entire event was inspirational — frankly, more so than I had anticipated. 

This year in Missouri, we're fighting a critical battle on the issue of life as we push to pass Amendment 3 to our state constitution in order to protect the lives and well-being of women, children, and our future. I expect I'll be writing on that quite a bit in the coming weeks and months. 

As I said, Wednesday night's event was inspirational and gave me much to think about, but the simplest, clearest takeaway that resonated for me was this: Choose life. 

LIGHTER FARE 

As one does...

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