Wednesday, February 18, 2026
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
Obama Center Gets Even Uglier As Massive Mind-Numbing Text Display Goes Up
The Center is slated to open in June. In the meantime, every time you look at it, it gets uglier. Khrushchev would be proud.
It is still very early in the 2028 primary process, but if a longtime Democrat megadonor, who has distanced himself as of late is already throwing cold water on Newsom, it's going to be a long primary season for him, as the Democrat side is expected to have dozens of candidates lining up to try to convince voters as to why they should become the 48th President of the United States.
AOC Gets Big Mad at Press Coverage of Her Munich Disaster, and She's Never Been More Exposed
She might want to rethink that 2028 presidential run, because once the shine comes off a politician, it's hard to put it back on. If the failure of Kamala Harris proved anything, it's that voters see through facades rather easily, and they don't forget.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Florida Woman Shows What Not to Do with Ding-Dong Ditchers
Hall allegedly did, and now she's facing felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges, as well as non-violent resisting arrest charges. All of that because she couldn't handle kids knocking on her door, then running off.
Do Wes Moore's Lies Mean Anything?
In context, Wes Moore's lies are business as usual with Democrats these days. It's not that their image is carefully crafted—the best politicians craft their images—it's that they are entirely fake. Everything is a fraud. Abigail Spanberger was a moderate until she won. Now look at her. Tim Walz even ran as a moderate, and look at him.
So Another Blue State Just Lost Another Company to Guess Where
So Palantir succinctly announced today, "We have moved our headquarters to Miami, Florida," absent all the hand-wringing that preceded their exit from Silicon Valley.
Here's Another Lib Female Meltdown...and It's a Doozy
Of course, she’s a white leftist, and she’s all alone in that car, screaming at the top of her lungs. These are the folks we’re supposed to share a country with—I’ll take a hard pass on that one.
It's not difficult to deduce that the DNC conspired to ensure that Talarico got free publicity in a viral moment at the expense of Crockett. Let’s hope she does something dumb, drastic, and detrimental to her Democrat Party in response.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
We continue with the Critters on a bit of a break — no hearings or meetings set. That frees up House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) to head to Maryland to encourage that state to join in on the redistricting fun.
In Texas, early voting for the primaries has begun, and all eyes are on the GOP Senate race.
White House What's Up
On Wednesday, President Trump will participate in a Black History Month Reception in the East Room at 3:00 PM Eastern. At 4:00 PM, he'll participate in "Signing Time" in the Oval Office, and then at 4:30 PM Eastern, he'll participate in a policy meeting in the Oval Office.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing at 1:00 PM Eastern.
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. Treasury - Scott Bessent — Bessent recently emphasized Treasury's efforts to fight fraud and its launching of a webpage set up to receive whistleblower tips.
President Trump has been clear that Americans have a right to know that their tax dollars are not being diverted to fund acts of global terror or to fund luxury cars for fraudsters. At Treasury, we follow the money. We did it with the mafia, we have done it with the cartels, and… https://t.co/YRP9pzgJ3n
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) February 13, 2026
Full Court Press...
As noted previously, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down some decisions on Friday, so we'll be keeping an eye out for those — obviously, folks are particularly anxious to see whether those decisions include the tariffs case(s) and/or the Voting Rights Act case out of Louisiana.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SCOTUS will resume hearing oral arguments next week.
MORNING MUSING
I've been thinking about the Obama Presidential Center...and when I say "thinking," I largely mean recoiling in revulsion. Why would anyone want to have their name and legacy associated with such a gawdawful eyesore? The styles we choose — be they fashion, interior design, or architecture — reflect something of our nature.
Obama eviscerated after latest update to dour presidential center gives locals 'a headache' https://t.co/vOWXlRPnQh pic.twitter.com/vQTm8tjKEC
— New York Post (@nypost) February 18, 2026
I'm not sure what former President Obama thinks the aesthetic of his presidential center says about him, but I can tell you what it says to me: cold, gray, aloof, angular, ugly.
Not that I expect I'll ever get the warm fuzzies about our 44th president, but I'm not sure how much harder he could have worked at choosing a structure that's unwelcoming and foreboding. Yuck.
LIGHTER FARE
Corny cat!
He loves corn..🐈🐾🌽😍 pic.twitter.com/VcrzEcMLzJ
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) February 17, 2026
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