Tuesday, June 17, 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 

New: Trump Gives Bombshell 1 AM Presser, Slams Emmanuel Macron, Slaps Down 'Ceasefire' Reports

The time to finish the job is now. Half-measures would be a disaster. Trump clearly understands that, even if some of his "supporters" don't.

Unintentionally Funny Hot Takes on 'No Kings' Protest, Featuring Hillary Clinton

Perhaps the saddest, unintentionally funny post is from Hillary Clinton. It's going on nine years, and she still can't get over losing to Trump. She's still rage-posting against him. 

Trump Absolutely Levels 'Kooky' Tucker Carlson After Podcaster Predicts Early End to Presidency

Trump has been firm on his stance that the state of Iran must not be allowed nuclear weapons, something that clearly irks Carlson.

Trending Across Townhall Media

Federal Judge Rejects Scheme to Enact New Gun Law Through Litigation

Gottschall should have put an end to this lawfare by dismissing the case with prejudice. I doubt the fifth time will be charm for this lawsuit, but I also won't be surprised if another complaint pops up in the Northern District of Illinois here before long.

Trump's New Offer to Iran: 'Giving It Up Entirely' ... Or Else

The Iranians had better take this offer from Trump both seriously and literally. They can either have a regime (for a while), or they can have nukes and ballistic missiles, but they can't have both. 

Kash Patel Drops 2020 Election Interference Evidence Bombshell

While Democrats and the media were screaming about “foreign interference” in 2016, they had no interest in stopping it in 2020—because it worked in their favor. 

A Dem Senator's Unhinged Twitter Thread About the MN Dem Shootings Just Imploded

Senator, the political violence is your problem, committed by your people, and threads like this are the reason why it continues.

Eerily Familiar! Report of Khamenei Being 'Removed From Decision-Making' Strikes a Chord on X

The Iranian government equivalent of the 25th Amendment usually involves a rooftop, a bunch of rocks, a sword, or a firing squad. 

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

As noted in yesterday's Minute, the House is out this week, so it's just the Senate conducting hearings/meetings. There are a handful on Tuesday: 

• Senate Appropriations, Department of Defense Subcommittee — Closed hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the intelligence community [DNI Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe to testify - but note, this one is closed]
• Senate Appropriations, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for military construction and family housing
• Senate Judiciary — Hearings to examine scammers exposed, focusing on protecting older Americans from transnational crime networks
• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security — Hearings to examine the World Anti Doping Agency, focusing on swimming in denial over Chinese doping 
• Senate Intelligence (Select) — Closed hearings to examine certain intelligence matters

White House What's Up

They called an audible on us — President Donald Trump was, of course, at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada, on Monday, but left early to return to Washington, D.C. overnight and meet with his National Security Council early this morning. 

After departing the G7 Summit in Canada, @POTUS arrived back at the White House this morning around 5:30 a.m. pic.twitter.com/6h8OW6MygG

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 17, 2025

The White House has not updated Trump's schedule since then, so we're in wait-and-see mode in terms of what the rest of Tuesday will hold. 

Vice President JD Vance, on Tuesday, retweeted the video of Trump affirming he's not interested in a ceasefire but an end. 

Full Court Press...

The Supreme Court is expected to issue additional opinions on Wednesday. There are roughly 17 cases still to be decided before the end of the term (in addition to several emergency docket decisions before them), so we can expect at least three or four more to be handed down tomorrow. 

COMING ATTRACTIONS

There are some interesting hearings set on the Hill for Wednesday, including one before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Biden presidency, which is sure to involve some fireworks.

In addition to the SCOTUS decisions on Wednesday, there will be Juneteenth observations/celebrations on Thursday, but all (or most) eyes will be rightly focused on Israel and Iran as things appear to be coming to a head.

MORNING MUSING

One of the key character traits of President Trump is his love for deal-making. "The Art of the Deal" looms large over virtually everything he does. (Why that's been so confounding for some all of these years remains a mystery.) The man loves to negotiate — loves to employ unorthodox methods to keep the opposition off balance and improve his leverage — and he loves to strike a deal. 

So when he says, "I'm not too much in a mood to negotiate now," that's saying something. No doubt, he's tired (that was a 1:00 AM press gaggle) and got a lot on his mind. But when Donald Trump, of all people, says he's in no mood to negotiate, that's a pretty clear sign that the time for dealmaking has passed. He's over it. 

.@POTUS on Iran: "I told them to do the deal. They should've done the deal. Their cities have been blown to pieces and they've lost a lot of people. They should've done the deal." pic.twitter.com/QSf2ZYbwDM

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 17, 2025

LIGHTER FARE 

Nesting doll cats!

Surprise..🐈🐈🐾😅 pic.twitter.com/zllpGCawil

— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) June 16, 2025

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