Welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing  — where we take a quick look at the week’s most viewed stories in case you missed any of them. Grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this 21st Century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication!

#1 – Bombshell in Newly Released Testimony of Ray Epps Is Going to Raise Even More Questions — by Nick Arama 

But now, the testimony of Ray Epps has been released–and it’s raising more questions.

The Committee asked him about texts he sent to his nephew on Jan. 6 saying, “I was in the front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.” Yikes. You would think that would have raised the eyebrows of the Committee and made them go after him. How is it that we were not told about this before, while the Committee was trying to spin all kinds of other things?

Yet, instead of going after him on what would seem to be concerning texts, the Committee members’ questioning not only lobbed up softballs, but they asked him leading questions to help explain what he was saying. They suggested that he meant he had “turned away” from the Capitol because of things he didn’t agree with, and was moving back toward his hotel.

#2 – Elon Musk’s Beautiful Dunk on a Leftist Shows Just How Hypocritical They Can Be — by Nick Arama 

He was still the same guy, still the guy behind the electric cars. Yet now he was the guy they were supposed to hate. Now you have crazy folks like former magazine editor John Blumenthal who wrote an op-ed about in the Los Angeles Times that he was worried about driving a Tesla and what people might think of him for it. He seemingly bought the car to virtue signal, but now he’s worried people might think he’s embraced far-right thought.

Karma is a hard mistress.

Never mind that Musk doesn’t embrace far-right thought and no one but Blumenthal’s leftist buddies would care what the heck he drives, but we’re not talking logic here.

#3 – Kira Davis: My Sponsors Dropped Me for the Sin of Recognizing Biological Reality — by Kira Davis 

The one thing I’ve been treading lightly on is transgender issues. In my writing, I’m very forward with my opinions. My opinions are my own, and this is a news and opinion website. But when it comes to the podcast, I belong to a network. My income is directly tied to the income of many others on my network. We rise and fall as a team, so I have the livelihood of others to think about when I’m addressing sticky, political topics. The one topic that will get an influencer or broadcaster canceled in the mainstream is the trans topic. I’ve kept all that in mind over the years of doing this show.

Except this week, I didn’t. This week, I posted an episode dedicated to words I’m sick of hearing and hope to do away with in 2023. It was meant to be a light-hearted, end-of-year episode, but I couldn’t help it — I stepped on the third rail…hard.

Two hours after the episode was posted, my biggest sponsor – Indeed.com – dropped me, citing “brand safety” issues. They didn’t get much more specific than that, but they didn’t need to. After 200 shows on some of the most controversial topics in the nation, the statement that tipped the cart for me was that men can’t be women and women cannot be men. Biology and science are where sponsors draw the line, apparently.

#4 – AOC Flips out on Elise Stefanik as Dems Lose Their Minds Over Losing Power — by Nick Arama

But what I do know is that many moved toward Trump when they had not supported him in the past, particularly after seeing the radical nature of the left over the past few years and seeing more sharply the dangers the left posed. The article fails to grasp that, and so misses out on understanding a good part of the electorate.

The article also claimed that she was pushing racist conspiracy theories because of ads she ran against illegal immigration and that said Democrats wanted to gain a liberal majority. Democrats ridiculously tried to blame Stefanik for the Buffalo mass shooting because of those ads. Stefanik denied that she had ever said anything racist, called the Democrats low for their take, and said that she was against mass amnesty.

But this is where Democrats and their liberal media sycophants are at now — that if you’re against illegal immigration, somehow that’s racist when the problem is the Democrats’ failure to properly apply the law.

#5 – Hakeem Jeffries Makes a Very Insurrection-Like Call to Retake the House ‘Immediately’ — by Bonchie 

There’s a lot to comment on here, not the least of which is the idea that Jeffries or anyone else should interfere in the seating of a man who was duly elected by his constituents. Should there be an ethics investigation into George Santos? Sure, that sounds like the right thing to do, but stopping the wheels of democracy from turning because he pulled a Joe Biden in fibbing about his past? That’s going too far at this point in time, and it’s not a standard the Democrats hold themselves to. Otherwise, Richard Blumenthal wouldn’t be in the US Senate. The right move is to seat Santos and go from there.

Regardless, Jeffries goes on to say Democrats must take back the House “immediately.” How does he plan to do that exactly? By what power structure could Democrats become the majority again before the next election? Bill Kristol, neoconservative turned left-wing cheerleader, has a theory that’s slightly less inflammatory, but contrary to the will of the people all the same.