Friday Morning Minute

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'

WATCH: John Kennedy Has Tom Cotton Cracking Up While Questioning Pronoun-Obsessed Judicial Nominee

Democrats will be busy these next several weeks trying to push these leftist judges onto the bench, and you can be sure there will be more epic John Kennedy moments coming up.

Charles Barkley Gives Dems a Much-Needed TED Talk on the Election: ‘You Guys Lost Because Y’all Stupid’

Charles is right. They had zero solutions. They didn't care about the price of milk and eggs. They didn't care that illegals were being charged left and right with murders and sexual assaults. They didn't care about the American people, period. And it showed.

Pentagon Generals Freak Out, Scramble to Hide Evidence of DEI Advocacy

The DEI flunkies can go; maybe CNN will hire some of them to whine about President Trump's actions while the real fighters are training to take care of the nation's business.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

It's Friday, so there are no hearings or meetings formally set on the Hill today. Much of the activity involves the buzz around President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks thus far, and the degree of difficulty that will be involved in getting them confirmed once 47 takes office. For his part, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has indicated that all options are on the table, including recess appointments — if necessary. Perhaps the prospect of such will be enough to allow for confirmation hearings to proceed in the normal order. The Democrats likely would prefer that, as it will give them an opportunity to exact a pound of flesh from the nominees they oppose.

This week also saw GOP leaders putting Biden-Harris administration officials on notice that they'd best not be destroying records of their operations on their way out the door.

White House What's Up

President Joe Biden is in Peru for the APEC Summit. Friday morning, he'll participate in an "informal dialogue" with other guests. Later, he'll hold "a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea," followed by a meeting with President Dina Boluarte Zegarra of the Republic of Peru.

Transition Team

President-elect Trump continues to turn heads with his announced cabinet/staffing picks. The latest include:

Secretary of the Interior — North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (to be formally announced today)
Secretary of Health & Human Services — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs — former Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA)
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — Jay Clayton
Deputy Attorney General — Todd Blanche
Principle Associate Deputy Attorney General — Emil Bove
Solicitor General — John Sauer

Full Court Press...

Friday begins the (bench) trial of Jose Ibarra in the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February.

Meanwhile, the Daniel Penny trial continues in New York.

MORNING MUSING

I was so focused (for so long) on getting through the election (and Trump hopefully getting across the finish line), that I didn't really give a ton of thought to what comes next. I assumed (I believe fairly) I'd like more of it than not, but I didn't really stop to envision what Trump 2.0 would really look like. We're still two months-plus out from the new administration, but his cabinet and staffing picks are giving us lots to chew on — and I'm finding it all rather tasty. I think my favorite thing about it is that he's going big and bold. There's the sense of vision — aspiration. I am more hopeful than I've been in a long time, even while I recognize it won't all be smooth sailing (not by a long shot). I'll take it, though.