Thursday, April 16, 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
The liberal wing of SCOTUS is widely derided by conservatives because of antics like this. In this episode, Sotomayor tried to strike a blow to the reputation of the top court in the land, but what she really did was disgrace herself. If she’s not utterly humiliated, she should be.
The Essex Files: NFL Reporter's Resignation Highlights Persistent Questions About Liberal Media
As the focus now turns to where the veteran insider lands next, the scandal serves as a stark reminder of the fragile line between professional access and personal conduct in the modern mainstream media age
A New Civil Suit and Text Messages Could Signal the End for Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer
All of this is more soap opera than scandal, but it still points to a lack of professionalism and gross malfeasance from yet another government official tasked with the public trust.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Bearing Arms — High School Student Faces Felony Charges Over ‘Senior Assassin’ Game
This incident feels like something got left out in the report, and whatever it was is some key detail that will change anything.
HotAir — Washington Post Asks the Dumbest Question Ever
It's simple: the moral posturing is all a show, and the media is willing to go along until they get their marching orders to destroy a Democrat for the benefit of the Party.
PJ Media — The Mystery Sweeping DC: Who Executed the Political Hit Job That Destroyed Eric Swalwell?
But with a reliable, dependable California Democrat in an ultra-safe congressional district, no one in his party — and thus, none of the DNC’s coconspirators in the mainstream media — had a motive to assassinate Swalwell’s character. Killing his career didn’t benefit any of the kingmakers on the radical left.
Until he ran for governor.
Townhall — Scott Jennings Teaches David Hogg Some Foreign Policy Lessons
What Hogg lacks in foreign policy chops he makes up for in unearned self-confidence.
It is simply incredible to watch the media try to ice skate uphill on this one.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
We're set for another busy day on Capitol Hill, with multiple hearings/meetings teed up, including:
- House Ways and Means — Full Committee Hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
- House Appropriations, Department of Homeland Security Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – Department of Homeland Security: CBP, ICE, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, and U.S. CIS Director Joseph Edlow to testify
- House Appropriations, Defense Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – The United States Army — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Vice Chief of the Army and Acting Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve to testify
- Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions — Hearings to examine making medicines more affordable, focusing on how competition can lower drug prices.
- House Science, Space, and Technology, Energy Subcommittee — Subsurface Science and Technology: American Energy and Mineral Dominance
- House Appropriations, Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – The Office of the United States Trade Representative — U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer to testify
- House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party — Hearing: China’s Campaign to Steal America’s AI Edge
- House Foreign Affairs, Western Hemisphere Subcommittee — Latin America After the Fall of Maduro
- House Appropriations, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee — Department of Health and Human Services — HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to testify
- House Appropriations, Department of Homeland Security Subcommittee — Budget Hearing – Department of Homeland Security: CISA, TSA, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Secret Service, and FEMA
- House Veterans' Affairs, Economic Opportunity Subcommittee — Bounce Houses, Drones, and Massage Chairs: A Review of VA’s Purchase History in the Veteran Readiness and Employment Program
- House Judiciary, Oversight Subcommittee — “The Human Toll of Sanctuary Policies: Stories from Victims and Families”
White House What's Up
President Trump is off to the Southwest on Thursday:
- 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
- 11:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT receives his Intelligence Briefing — The White House
- 11:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT departs The White House en route Las Vegas, Nevada — The White House
- 4:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT participates in a Roundtable and Remarks on Tax Day — AC Hotel Las Vegas Symphony Park
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. Treasury - Scott Bessent — Bessent is touting Operation Economic Fury as the next phase of action against Iran.
Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people.
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 15, 2026
Under @POTUS’ leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks.… https://t.co/YvdaXGJIHA
He joined White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at the podium on Wednesday for the press briefing.
READ MORE: Bessent Delivers Another Powerful Blow to Iran - Reveals What May Be Their 'Fatal Mistake'
Full Court Press...
Wednesday was a quiet-ish day in the courts, but there was a superseding indictment handed down in the case against Brian Cole Jr., the suspected J5 pipebomber.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SCOTUS is set to hand down some more opinions on Friday. They'll take up the next round of oral arguments next week.
President Trump heads to Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday.
MORNING MUSING
You've likely seen the kerfuffle kicked up by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's casual character assassination of her SCOTUS colleague, Brett Kavanaugh.
That Sotomayor disagrees with many of Kavanaugh's positions on matters before the Court is hardly surprising. And the justices aren't necessarily all that shy about airing their differences of opinion — whether that be in the written decisions (and concurrences and dissents) themselves or even in a public forum.
But for supposedly being a "wise Latina," Sotomayor sure didn't show it with her snide remarks about Kavanaugh last week. Not sure who she hoped to impress by deriding his "privilege," but now, she's had to formally and publicly apologize for them.
Not so wise after all, Sonia.
LIGHTER FARE
Awwwwww....
A baby goat practicing it’s charge but cat thought it was asking for cuddles.. 😅 pic.twitter.com/WqbYOBUhgy
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) April 16, 2026
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