Wednesday Morning Minute: A Gulf by Any Other Name

Wednesday, May 7, 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

Should the President Suspend Habeas Corpus for Illegal Aliens?

So when Trump says he might suspend habeas corpus to combat the activism of the bench, he might just do it. And because there is a substantial precedent for it, maybe he should.

An Alcatraz Alternative: Former FBI Agent Has a Better Idea

The idea of an island prison has the benefit, at least, of being able to warehouse these utterly evil people safely - and far away from the general population.

Guilty Plea in Ballot Theft Case: Ex-Postal Worker Admits Fraudulently Casting Stolen 2024 Election Votes

Colorado seems to have failed what was described as a "test" of the system. According to CPR, she told authorities that they wanted "to see whether they would get caught if the signatures didn’t match."

Trending Across Townhall Media

FBI Covered Up Alexandria GOP Baseball Shooter's Political Motives

If we can't trust the FBI to tell the truth about a would-be assassin, how can we trust them on literally anything else?

In Berkeley, Union Members Try to Seize the Means of Production and Nearly Kill Off a Business

"You’ve played chicken with everybody’s livelihoods. Do you really think everyone is just going to go back to be co-workers and friends again?"

Canada's War on... Canada

Canada is now foolishly engaged in a costly, surreptitious, self-harming skirmish with the U.S, which it could have avoided with a soupçon of maturity.

Media Critic Nails What NY Mag's Hit Piece on John Fetterman Is Really About

My God. This was an exercise in character assassination, concern trolling, and backstabbing. And everyone can see it.

Sit Down, Stolen Valor: Tim Walz Weighs In on Trans Military Ban and Whew ... That Was a BAD IDEA

To Democrats, the party of perpetual, professional victimhood, everything is an attack.
But we don't really care anymore, Margaret.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

Budget and fiscal policy are front and center Wednesday on the Hill, as several of the scheduled hearings/meetings in the House focus on them.

House Appropriations, Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Budget Hearing - U.S. Department of Energy [Energy Secretary Chris Wright to testify]
House Appropriations, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Budget Hearing - U.S. Department of Agriculture [Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to testify]
House Appropriations, Defense Subcommittee — Oversight Hearing – The United States Army
House Science, Space, and Technology — From Policy to Progress: How the National Quantum Initiative Shapes U.S. Quantum Technology Leadership
House Budget — The Fiscal State of the Nation
House Financial Services — The Annual Testimony of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the International Financial System [Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to testify]
House Judiciary, Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee — “Protecting Our Edge: Trade Secrets and the Global AI Arms Race”
House Education and Workforce — "Beyond the Ivy League: Stopping the Spread of Antisemitism on American Campuses"
House Appropriations, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – Fiscal Year 2026 Request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI Director Kash Patel to testify]
House Appropriations, Department of Homeland Security Subcommittee — Oversight Hearing – The Federal Emergency Management Agency [Acting FEMA Administrator Cam Hamilton to testify]
House Oversight and Government Reform, Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee — “Unfair Play: Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports”

White House What's Up

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump will receive his intelligence briefing in the late morning. After that, he'll participate in the swearing-in ceremony for his Ambassador to China, David Perdue, followed by lunch with Vice President JD Vance.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will host a press briefing at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Full Court Press...

The big court news on Tuesday was the Supreme Court's order placing a stay on the district court's injunction on the Trump administration's ban on transgender individuals in the military. (It's not a ruling on the merits, but a stay of a stay, allowing the executive order to take effect.)

COMING ATTRACTIONS

President Trump hinted on Tuesday at an "earth-shattering" announcement to come in the next few days — noting it's not about trade but a positive development for the country.

He'll be heading to the Middle East next week. Ahead of that trip, he's teased plans to begin referring to the Persian Gulf as the "Arabian Gulf."

And China has now announced it will come to the tariff negotiating table this weekend. Chinese negotiators plan to sit down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Switzerland.

MORNING MUSING

I awoke this morning to see that President Trump plans to begin referring to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf, as noted above. Of course, this mirrors his decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, a move that so upset the apple cart it landed the administration and the Associated Press in court over it. (That one's still being sorted out on appeal.)

The instinctive reaction of some to Trump's unconventional moves is to recoil and then oppose, but I've learned over the years to give it a moment. Often, he comes up with outside-the-box ideas that may appear wild at first blush but have a method to their (seeming) madness. In my view, he's earned that benefit of the doubt, and referring to that body of water in the Middle East as the Arabian Gulf — an idea that isn't exactly brand new or unheard of, by the way — may well carry some diplomatic and strategic advantages.

We can bank on the crowd that opposes his every move and breath to shriek about this, as well. Which, in the end, will have them lining up alongside Iran, the leading sponsor of state terrorism. It will be another savvy 80/20 move on Trump's part. I give him props for it.