Thursday, April 9, 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
America's European 'Allies' Just Executed Yet Another Betrayal, and It's Time to Finally Act
It's well past time to let Europe live with the consequences of the world it so desperately seeks.
Trump Administration Kills the Most Annoying Car Feature Obama Forced on Drivers
Good riddance.
NATO Secretary General Drops Hints on Conversation With Trump About Organization, Iran
It is perhaps of note that there was no mutual photo op with Trump and Rutte to answer questions from the press.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Bearing Arms — Prosecutor Says Armed Citizen Shot College Professor in Self-Defense
Todd Stanton didn't set out for work that morning intending or expecting to shoot someone in self-defense, but when McKinzie pointed her pistol at him it was entirely reasonable to believe that she posed a deadly threat to his life.
HotAir — The Humiliation of Great Britain Is Complete
But geez. Britain is pathetic and has been slowly committing societal suicide. It needs tough love, and Trump is right to give it.
PJ Media — This Is What a World Superpower Looks Like
Whether it is sending human beings farther into space than any civilization ever has, or confronting regimes that spread violence across continents, the United States continues to occupy a role no other country can fill.
Rutte described the discussions as honest, though they were between friends. On CNN, he probably angered liberals by saying the world is safer, thanks to Trump.
Twitchy — Whoa: Hacker Allegedly Steals Vast Amounts of Classified Data From Chinese Supercomputer
While the story will raise concerns about US cybersecurity, the China hack is more than a little gratifying in that the plunderers become the plundered.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
The critters — they're still on break. But Katy bar the door next week. They'll be back. And something tells me things are about to get chippy.
White House What's Up
Thursday will be no quieter for President Trump. His schedule includes:
- 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
- 11:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT receives his Intelligence Briefing — The White House
- 1:30 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
- 2:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
- 4:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Roundtable on MAHA — Roosevelt Room
- 5:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
- 6:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Policy Meeting — Oval Office
Also on Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump is scheduled to deliver a statement at 2:30 PM Eastern in the White House Grand Foyer — topic, as yet, unknown, but hinted to have international implications.
Vice President JD Vance just returned from his visit to Hungary and is expected to be part of the negotiation team heading to Islamabad, Pakistan, to hammer out a potential peace deal with Iran.
SEE: VP Vance Lays Out the Bottom Line on Iran Before In-Person Peace Talks Start This Weekend
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Dir. Federal Bureau of Investigations - Kash Patel — on Wednesday, Patel announced the arrest of a former SOCOM employee for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.
🚨🚨 FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 8, 2026
Outstanding work by @FBICharlotte and the FBI Counterintelligence & Espionage Division…
SEE ALSO: FBI: Former Special Ops Employee Arrested for Passing Classified Files to Media and Others
Full Court Press...
We have another set of notable case rulings:
- ✅ In Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Dept. of War, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals DENIES plaintiffs' motion for stay pending appeal.
- ✅ In National TPS Alliance v. Noem (TPS revocation - Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua), 9th Circuit Court of Appeals GRANTS admin's motion to stay appeal pending outcome of SCOTUS case(s) and DENIES plaintiffs' petition for rehearing en banc [of stay pending appeal].
ALSO SEE: Pentagon Blacklists US AI Firm Anthropic and Court Refuses to Stop It
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SCOTUS resumes oral arguments on April 20. (Think I said April 23 yesterday — sorry about that!) I do expect we'll see some more opinions handed down before then.
Artemis II is on its way back to Earth and scheduled to splash down on Friday evening.
MORNING MUSING
I forgot about Lawrence O'Donnell. Like...genuinely forgot about him. Until I happened upon a Twitchy article yesterday informing that Lawrence's feathers got ruffled because SecWar had the nerve — the nerve! — to say (in reference to the mission to rescue our downed airmen in Iran): "We leave no man behind."
Because...what if one of them had been a woman?!?!?! Well, what if, Larry? She wouldn't have been left behind either. And I highly suspect she'd not have cared one whit about the Secretary's phraseology. No one with an ounce of common sense does.
But...I guess that excludes good ol' Lawrence.
We had a stunning rescue operation and have great reason to celebrate its success. But Lawrence O'Donnell has his knickers in a knot over whether the term "man" is sufficiently inclusive. 🙄
I think I'm going to go back to forgetting about him.
LIGHTER FARE
Learn something new every day.
Yes, peacocks can fly..🦚😍 pic.twitter.com/c743xHYvgR
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) April 9, 2026
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