Friday Morning Minute: Life Is Good

Friday, January 24, 2025

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. What a week it's been. As we celebrate life on this fine Friday, consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.

TOP O' THE MORNIN'

Red-Hot at RedState

WATCH: Tom Homan's Awesome Response When Asked About Angry Illegal Alien

Trump has now been given the leverage from the American people and he has a team intent on getting the job done.

Rubio Hits the Ground Running and Has Bureaucrats Looking for a Place to Hide

Rubio will face massive pushback from the entrenched leftists who have dominated the place for at least a half-century. It will take diligence and ruthlessness to make these policies stick.

Trump's New CIA Director Ratcliffe Torches John Brennan As 'One of the Worst Things' Ever to Stain Agency

The new director added that he wanted to get the Agency back to its “core mission”—protecting the nation”—and move away from the "politicization of intelligence …[which] really started under the tenure of John Brennan.”

Trending Across Townhall Media

ATF Reportedly Ignoring Trump's DEI Executive Order

We saw no tolerance for good-faith mistakes made by FFL holders by the ATF, so I see no reason to automatically try to extend them any grace.

Going Into a Dogfight Over Hegseth

I like it.
This is how we were supposed to play the game all along.

COVID Death Coverup: Trump-Hating Lawyers at DOJ Strike Again

The pages of PJ Media have been filed with example after example of leftist lawyers trying to reshape the nation in their own image.

Oh, So That's Why Bank of America Issued That Tweet About Conservative Customers Yesterday

You know there’s a real president behind that seal. Biden could never have pulled this off.

What a Lovely Crowd ... For Him to POOP ON! Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Roasts D.C. Protesters

We're sure most of The Daily Show's programming will go back to being humorless leftist scolds soon enough, but for one brief, shining moment, Comedy Central made comedy great again.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

There may not be hearings or meetings set Friday on the Hill, but there will be some action: Following a 51-49 vote to invoke cloture (with two Republicans — Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) — voting with the Democrats) on Thursday, the Senate is set to vote on Pete Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense Friday night. Here's the expected timeline (if the Dems drag everything out as long as they can):

If all time is used, final confirmation vote on Hegseth nomination would BEGIN at 8:57 pm et tomorrow night
***
After the Senate broke a filibuster on the nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Defense Secretary, opponents of the nomination have up to 30 hours of clock to burn before…
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 23, 2025

On a brighter note, John Ratcliffe was confirmed and sworn in as CIA Director Thursday. And the House passed two bills: the Fix Our Forests Act and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

White House What's Up

President Donald Trump is set to travel to Western North Carolina and then Los Angeles, California, on Friday to survey damage from the hurricanes and wildfires. The latest news is that California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to be there to greet Trump when he arrives in L.A. That...could be interesting. Trump is set to visit Nevada, as well.

Friday also happens to be the March for Life in D.C. While Trump won't be there, he did pardon 23 pro-life protesters on Thursday.

Full Court Press...

On Thursday, a federal judge in Seattle, Washington, issued a temporary restraining order regarding Trump's executive order addressing birthright citizenship. There are similar cases pending in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Once the Hegseth vote is completed, the clock will start ticking on Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security Secretary. A confirmation vote on her is expected sometime this weekend.

The hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr's nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services is set before the Senate Finance Committee on January 29. Then he'll go before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on January 30.

Also on the 29th: Howard Lutnick (Commerce Secretary) and Kelly Loeffler (SBA Administrator). And Kash Patel's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is now set for January 30.

One more thing to look forward to: Hamas is due to disclose the list of the four female hostages to be released this weekend, as well as a list of the remaining 26 (and whether they are dead or alive) from Phase 1 of the deal. Pray.

MORNING MUSING

Like many, as excited as I was for the many executive actions Trump took upon his return to the Oval Office, I was disappointed and a bit concerned when I learned that pardons for pro-lifers like Bevelyn Williams were not among the initial batch of orders signed. And I am beyond happy that on this, the day of the March for Life, we can celebrate that those pardons have been signed and Bevelyn (and others) are now reunited with their families. God is good.