Wednesday, March 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
Watch: Democrats Are Now Being Called Out by the Liberal Media for Wasteful Government Spending
The good news is that Republican candidate Steve Hilton is polling in first place as the June primary approaches. If the field stays the same way, and nobody else drops out, Hilton and Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco (R) could advance to the general election as the top two candidates. The chances that the Democrat machine allows that to happen are slim, but right now, there is a chance.
Newsom continues to be an utter embarrassment to the state; indeed, to the entire country.
The man has a point. This is one AWFL who has truly lived up to the name, in my opinion.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Bearing Arms — NRA Foundation Changed Bylaws to Cut NRA BOD Out of Governance
In National Rifle Association v. NRA Foundation, the NRA alleges that Foundation trustees cut them out of the trustee selection process. That’s now been confirmed through documents the Foundation filed.
Hot Air — NEW: Israel Takes Out Iranian Intel Chief
The only way this effort works is by establishing the superiority of Israel's operations and demonstrating the incompetence of regime leadership. Killing them one at a time, deliberately and specifically, makes this point land even harder. It may take a while for the IRGC to collapse, but this decapitation strategy has set a potential collapse in motion from the top down and from the bottom up.
PJ Media — Something Just Happened in Minnesota That Completely Altered My View of Reality
They're killing a government program.
It's probably safe to assume that the real motivation is to forestall any investigation into who got what out of all those defrauded millions.
Townhall — Here's That Ex-CIA Spook Who Thought Iran Could Sink Our Aircraft Carriers
And the Strait of Hormuz will reopen. It’s a matter of if not when—Iran has no navy that can match ours. It’s simply laughable to suggest that. In less than a month, we’ve ended Iran’s nuclear ambitions, severed the head of its terroristic government, and finally laid the groundwork to end the war they started in 1979.
Twitchy — Governor Newsom's Press Office Gets Ratioed INTO THE SUN by Nick Shirley (and Many Others)
All Newsom and Gardon did with this post was bring MORE attention to the rampant fraud happening under the governor's watch (and likely with his tacit approval).
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
VERY busy day on the Hill on Wednesday. There are multiple hearings/meetings set, including:
- House Appropriations, Legislative Branch Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office
- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — Hearings to examine the nomination of Markwayne Mullin, of Oklahoma, to be Secretary of Homeland Security — Markwayne Mullin to testify
- House Foreign Affairs — Restoring Mission Focus at the State Department: Authority, Accountability, and the Role of the Foreign Service
- House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party — Hearing: From the Science Lab to the Medicine Cabinet: How China is Cornering the Market on Our Medicines
- House Judiciary, Constitution and Limited Government Subcommittee — “Immigration Policy by Court Order: The Adverse Effects of Plyler v. Doe”
- House Armed Services — U.S. Military Posture and National Security Challenges in Europe
- House Financial Services, National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions Subcommittee — Oversight of the Export-Import Bank
- Senate Intelligence (Select) — Hearings to examine worldwide threats; to be immediately followed by a closed session — DNI Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel to testify
- Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation — Hearings to examine platform power as section 230 turns 30.
- Senate Foreign Relations — To receive a closed briefing on the current situation in the Middle East.
- House Energy and Commerce, Health Subcommittee — Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the U.S. Provider Landscape
- House Judiciary, Oversight Subcommittee — “The Legal Basis for Action Against Venezuelan Drug Traffickers”
The Senate will also continue to debate the SAVE America Act.
READ MORE: 51-48: Senate Now Kicking Off Week-Long Debate on SAVE America Act
White House What's Up
Wednesday is another busy day for President Trump:
- 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
- 10:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT receives his Intelligence Briefing — The White House
- THE PRESIDENT departs Washington, D.C. en route Dover, Delaware — The White House
- 1:25 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Dignified Transfer Ceremony — Dover, Delaware
- THE PRESIDENT departs Dover, Delaware, en route to Washington, D.C. — Dover, Delaware
Vice President JD Vance will visit a manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan, today, where he will deliver remarks.
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. Treasury - Scott Bessent — Bessent has been in Paris, along with U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer, conducting significant trade talks with China's Vice Premier.
On behalf of @POTUS, @USTradeRep and I have held a very productive two days of talks in Paris, France with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss trade and economic relations between our countries.
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) March 17, 2026
We will be issuing a statement in the next few days reaffirming the stability… pic.twitter.com/SzICQJfZZe
Full Court Press...
Tuesday marked another busy day in the courts, with notable decisions including:
- ❌ In Widakuswara v. Lake (reduction of federal workforce - USAGM/VOA), Judge Royce Lamberth (D.C.) GRANTS in part/DENIES in part plaintiffs' and defendants' motions for summary judgment. (Ps win on APA; Ds win on personal service contractors.)
- ❌ In Trump v. CNN (defamation), 11th Circuit Court of Appeals DENIES Trump's petition for rehearing en banc.
- ❌ In State of New York v. Trump (OMB memo re: temp. pause on grants, loans, assistance), 1st Circuit Court of Appeals AFFIRMS (in large part) lower court injunction; vacates a portion of it; and remands.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
The Supreme Court is expected to issue additional opinions on Friday.
MORNING MUSING
I don't have a crystal ball. I'm not omniscient. Sometimes, I get things wrong. But I've found, over the years, that trusting my gut more often bears out than not.
I happened across this tweet yesterday, and it caught my attention:
The biggest “What If” of my/our lifetime. https://t.co/0XtnmFy8pT
— Susie Moore ⚾️🌻🐶 (@SmoosieQ) March 17, 2026
What if -- sorry if I'm spoiling the party -- what if America's tyrannical enemies all feel themselves on the run? What if it's working?
What if Trump's basic foreign policy strategy -- not every element, and you may reasonably argue that some significant mistakes are being made -- is overall turning into a massively successful surge in American influence? What if the radical regimes, whether outright Marxists like Venezuela and Cuba or hybrid Marxist-Islamists like Iran, are either in retreat or desperately trying to reform from within to avoid that fate?
I try not to comment on America's domestic politics. It isn't my place and I frankly don't know enough. But on the world stage, it's starting to look like Trump may have cut through the dumbest, oldest assumptions of the foreign policy brahmins and delivered through sheer grim determination a serious new direction for American policy.
Yes, it may all go to the dogs. From Iran to Venezuela, it could all still fail. We're going through history for the first time, as it were. We don't know how the story ends.
But the data points are piling up that suggest it's possible this could all succeed. What if China's alliance system breaks down, the Middle East emerges in a year or two (or perhaps ten) more stable and less radical than it is now, Venezuela begins to rebuild from the ruins of Chavezism, and even resilient little Cuba begins to reconsider its commitment to eternal poverty and dictatorship?
What then?
I don't know Haviv Rettig Gur. But his "what ifs" and "what then" resonate with where my gut sits on this presidency. I'm trusting it.
LIGHTER FARE
So sweet.
Touching paws in the sunlight.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/KJN8Y2CK0G
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) March 18, 2026
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