Monday, January 27, 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. Consider this your one-stop shop for news to kickstart your day.
TOP O' THE MORNIN'
Red-Hot at RedState
Pete Hegseth Stamps Out One USAF DEI Mutiny but Others Await
What we are seeing is coordinated resistance. Pete Hegseth has stomped out this fire, but unless he starts making an example of people, this will become a sport among leftists in the Pentagon.
Costco may just end up wishing he didn't show up to give out free samples of his alienating rhetoric.
And the answer to all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Left is pretty simple: When you show you cannot be trusted with operational details about federal actions just to spite Donald Trump and without a care about the sovereignty of the U.S., what exactly did you expect to happen?
Trending Across Townhall Media
New Bill Targets ATF's 'Zero Tolerance' Policy for Gun Dealers
The RIFLE Act, however, would erect a barrier of protection for federally licensed firearm dealers all around the country and ensure that hard working men and women don't lose their livelihoods because of an inadvertent and minor clerical error.
Trump has a lot of runway to work with. His political capital is substantial, if not unlimited, and he is spending it to get things done.
Florida Democrat Official Arrested for the Most Disgusting Reasons
According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Middle District of Florida, a 39-year-old Orlando man named Matthew A. Inman has been arrested and charged with "transportation of child sex abuse material."
This Is Exactly How I Want These DOJ Prosecutors to Feel After Trump's Pardons
All your shoddy, politically motivated work got burned to ash. Meanwhile, you throw a tantrum over these pardons but not the ones issued by Joe Biden, where he pardoned his son Hunter and his entire crime family before he got wheeled out of Washington?
With the U.K. Calling for His Head, Elon Musk Offers HILARIOUS New Name for the English Channel
We don't expect Trump to issue an executive order about The George Washington Channel anytime soon, but for everyone who can't take a joke, including the British government, we've got some bad news.
It's going to be a long four years for you.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
There are no set hearings or meetings this fine Monday of Trump 2.0, Week 2, but there's an expected vote on Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent teed up. The Senate will convene at 12:00 p.m. Eastern, and the vote is expected to happen at 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are at their annual retreat in Doral, Florida, where President Trump is expected to speak late afternoon/early evening.
White House What's Up
As noted above, Trump is in Florida to headline the House GOP retreat Monday evening. He'll return to D.C. after delivering his remarks. Will he get in a round of golf while conducting diplomacy earlier in the day? He does seem to excel at that...
I keep wanting to put together a running tally of all his executive actions, but it's nigh impossible to keep up with. Instead, I invite anyone interested in doing so, to take a gander at the White House website, where they're doing a fairly nice job of keeping up with DJT.
Full Court Press...
No oral arguments before the Supreme Court now until late February, but the court did grant certiorari in a handful of cases on Friday, including one involving a "Catholic school’s effort to become the nation’s first religious charter school after the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected the move on the grounds that it would violate the Constitution by using public money to fund a religious institution."
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral argument Monday on the still-undecided North Carolina Supreme Court race.
In the "Even Judges Need Copy Editors" file today, we find that Judge Sidney Stein, on Friday, issued an order in the case involving former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) noting that the word "despise" in his previous order of January 22, should be replaced with the word "despite."
COMING ATTRACTIONS
A vote in the Senate on Sean Duffy as Transportation secretary is expected on Tuesday, with Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) likely to file cloture Monday evening on one or more of the remaining nominees who've made it out of committee.
It's a BIG week for confirmation hearings, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, set to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Thursday.
And both Kash Patel, the FBI director nominee, and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, have their confirmation hearings on Thursday morning before the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, respectively.
Also expect a vote this week in the Senate on the ICC sanctions bill.
MORNING MUSING
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. As we reflect on the horrors of 80 years ago, it's unfathomable to me that we are still awaiting the return of hostages from Hamas. The latest reports are that six more will be released this week (three on Thursday, three on Saturday), leaving 20 from the first phase of the deal still in captivity, eight of whom are thought to be deceased — still no word on the Bibas family. And keep in mind there remain roughly 90 hostages overall as we approach 500 days since they were taken. But it isn't just the hostage situation that weighs on me. The vicious face of antisemitism continues to bear its teeth in Europe and here in the U.S. as well. It's heartbreaking. If you're ever in D.C., make a point to visit the Holocaust Museum. It's well worth the visit.
LIGHTER FARE
The unbearable cuteness of being...
— out of context dogs (@contextdogs) January 26, 2025
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