Friday, May 16, 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
“What the media isn't telling you and what no one's talking to you about is this same 747 has been in negotiations for a year,” Mullin revealed. “The Biden administration is the one that started these conversations.”
Judge Who Ordered Admin to Process 12,000 Refugees Tucks Tail After 9th Circuit Corrects Him...Again
I probably shouldn't find this as amusing as I do, but the volleying between a district court judge in the Western District of Washington and the 9th Circuit has become highly entertaining.
Looks like we were right again!
Trending Across Townhall Media
Even Courts Can't Stop Fort Devens' Hostility Toward Gun Club
As an Army Reserve Facility, then, this is most definitely something Hegseth should step in and address.
Establishment Thinks They Own the Government
Brennan thinks he still runs our intelligence community, and so do many others still inside. It is theirs to do with as they please.
The left worships the former FBI man as a pillar of moral rectitude. He's a pillar of something, alright.
Why Tulsi Gabbard Fired These Top DNI Staffers
Gabbard is cleaning house, and if former CIA Director John Brennan was mad, it was the right decision.
Jennings and others can only keep trying to reason with gay, queer, and trans individuals who support Hamas and the pro-Palestine movement but it appears they are driven purely by emotion and not logic and common sense.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
It's Friday, so the critters have a lighter meeting/hearing schedule. Here are the two set:
- House Armed Services, Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation Subcommittee — Fiscal Year 2026 Review of the Department of Defense’s Cyber Posture
- House Budget Markup — A bill to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025, H. Con. Res. 14
Reports are that House Republicans have hit the bumpy road part of their journey toward reconciliation:
Speaker Mike Johnson’s House Republican Conference is in the midst of a low-grade rebellion against the GOP’s reconciliation proposal.
And since Johnson fought to put the entirety of President Donald Trump’s agenda into “one big, beautiful bill,” the competing factions within the GOP conference are fighting like hell to extract every concession they can.
Think of this situation a bit like squeezing a balloon. If you push too hard on one side, the other side bulges out. Johnson faces a similar dynamic.
If the Louisiana Republican gives in too much to the hardline conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, moderates will bolt. If Johnson tacks too much toward moderates on an issue like SALT, the HFC and the rest of the GOP conference will bolt.
It all sounds very dire — and perhaps it is. But...I've learned not to count Mike Johnson out.
White House What's Up
President Donald Trump is leaving the Middle East to return home. By all accounts — okay, by all non-TDS-riddled accounts — his trip was a rousing success. But he needs to get back home and meet his new grandson. (And, of course, there's more work to be done.)
.@POTUS in Abu Dhabi: "It's been a tremendous time and now it's time to go back home. My daughter had a baby — I'm going to go back home and see that little baby." ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ATwbJQPiRp
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 16, 2025
READ MORE: Grandpa Trump! Tiffany Trump Shares Exciting News and Sweet Photo
Vice President JD Vance will head to Rome to attend the Inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday.
Full Court Press...
The Supreme Court, heard oral argument on Thursday in the birthright citizenship cases (only on the nationwide/universal injunction issue, not the merits of Trump's executive order). I shared my takeaways from the argument — including the one thing I can say definitively about how the court will rule.
The court also issued an opinion in Barnes v. Felix, a case regarding a police stop and alleged excessive force. I'll give a full rundown of that in the next Skinny on SCOTUS installment, though I'll probably wait for another decision or three to be handed down.
We also had a somewhat amusing update in the 9th Circuit case regarding the Refugee Admission Program.
READ MORE: My One Definitive Takeaway From SCOTUS Argument on Birthright Citizenship
Judge Who Ordered Admin to Process 12,000 Refugees Tucks Tail After 9th Circuit Corrects Him...Again
COMING ATTRACTIONS
While we don't know if there will be progress on the Russia-Ukraine front, particularly given the cancellation of the Putin-Zelensky meeting, Trump is hinting at progress on a deal with Iran. Color me apprehensive, given it's Iran, but we'll see.
We'll get more Supreme Court decisions handed down next week — we're starting to move into the prickly ones, so they could get interesting.
MORNING MUSING
I have an odd relationship with the number "86." As someone who was born in '68, I graduated from high school in '86. (Love that symmetry.) I also loved — absolutely loved — the television show "Get Smart" as a kid. Thus, Don Adams, as "Agent 86" (a/k/a Maxwell Smart), is a much-beloved actor/character for me. And, like most people, I'm also well aware that "86" has an added connotation: Ditch it; get rid of it; end it.
James Comey is an interesting figure. I remember having insomnia one night in 2016 or possibly early 2017 and running down a rabbit hole learning about the unusually tall then-FBI Director. Like many, I initially gave Comey the benefit of the doubt. I assumed he was operating in good faith, even as he seemingly bumbled his way through "handling" the Hillary Clinton email investigation and 2016 presidential campaign. I soon arrived at a much different conclusion, realizing that "Saint Comey" was not, though he's been eager to portray himself as above it all.
He's made some dumb moves over the past decade. His latest attempt at social-media-edgy, however, might top them all. It's so fascinating that Jim Comey keeps finding shell formations with political messages — and feeling the urge to share them on social media. Of course, after raising all manner of alarm bells with his sharing of the "86 47" post on Instagram, Comey attempted to feign ignorance. "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence." Really, Jim? Mr. JD From the University of Chicago and Former FBI Director? You had no idea? Perhaps it's time for you to Get Smart.
Oh...and get a good lawyer.
READ MORE: FBI, Secret Service Get Involved; James Comey Tries to Explain Away His Post Threatening Trump
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Demands Comey Be Put Behind Bars for '86 47' Threat
LIGHTER FARE
Oh...to be that relaxed...
— Posts Of Cats (@PostsOfCats) May 14, 2025
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