Tuesday, October 20, 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 

Reporter Reveals What He's Been Told About Michigan Polling in Latest Concerning Sign for El-Sayed

That somewhat matches up with what we've heard about in previous Trump-era election cycles where Republican voters were either reluctant to tell a pollster they supported Donald Trump or just flat out declined to take part in the poll at all. Except in this case, you've got Democrats who are undoubtedly conflicted over the choice they have to make in this particular race and who may want to admit only to themselves and no one else that they will support Rogers.

Grab the Popcorn: Now There's a Report Omar's Sister Talked to the Feds

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Omar herself has not been seen since the raid on her home on Oct. 12, although she has spoken out on X and claimed that President Donald Trump was targeting her.

COVID Was Just the Beginning: New Docs Reveal Biden's Bigger Censorship Plans

For an administration that spent so much time warning about threats to democracy, it certainly had an interesting approach to the First Amendment.

Trending Across Townhall Media

Bearing Arms — San Antonio Paper's Reason for Not Backing Herrera Hilarious

The editorial board here simply doesn't like Herrera's form of comedy, which is fine. He's not trying to appeal to the kind of people who might shoot an AR-15, then claim it gave them PTSD. No, he's going to make fun of those people.

HotAir — The Leftist Response to Woman Threatened With Migrants R@ping Her: 'Collateral Damage'

It's infuriating. The leftists are a tiny minority, and it is only the tolerance of the "moderate liberals" that gives them power. We warn them time and again, and for our troubles we get called fascists.

PJ Media — Did Ilhan Omar's Husband Sell Empty Barrels of Wine?

This would explain why the winery suddenly shut down. Omar and Mynett made a killing off a business that either didn’t have anything to sell or didn’t have as much to sell as it claimed, and then they just shuttered the business and cut their losses, expecting no consequences.

Townhall — Here's What Caused a Liberal Journalist to Suffer a Total Meltdown on Katie Pavlich's Show

We have footage, guys. We know what’s going on — this isn’t some education protest/riot. It’s migrants gone wild. If Macron can't see that, well, let's just say there's a reason why France missed German panzers coming out of the Ardennes.

Twitchy — Panic in Munchkinland: El-Sayed Reportedly Fires Staffer Who Dropped a HUGE Funding Bombshell

When your opponent is imploding ... let him. 

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

We're two weeks away from Election Day, so getting down to the nitty-gritty on the campaign front. 

Why Michigan's Senate Race Matters So Much to the GOP's Fight to Keep Its Majority

Texas Dems Fume Over Paxton's Church Visit, but They've Got a Super Awkward Problem of Their Own

White House What's Up

President Trump’s Tuesday schedule includes:

Keeping Up With the Cabinet

Sec. War - Pete Hegseth — Hegseth paid a visit to CENTCOM on Monday.

Full Court Press...

We didn't have all that many notable decisions on Monday, but we did have some fireworks in the ongoing Battle of the East Potomac:

Golf Course Grudge Match: Judge Reyes Rejects Recusal, Clashes With DOJ's No. 3

Then, too, there was this from SCOTUS' Monday order list.

The Answer Is No: SCOTUS Refuses to Hear Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Bid to Avoid Death Penalty

COMING ATTRACTIONS

As noted above, President Trump heads to North Carolina later today. He is set to travel to the Philippines and China in mid-November.

The next round of oral arguments at the Supreme Court starts the week of November 2. 

MORNING MUSING

We've been treated to two stories recently where candidates for office (albeit local office) have bucked the conventional wisdom of the consultant class and just more or less let their freak flag fly. 

We first learned about Jaime West, who's running for Fayette County Council, District 4, in Indiana, last week, after she made some pretty outlandish (and vaguely ominous) statements during a candidate forum. On Monday, she clarified that yes, she had, in fact, knocked back a Coors or eight three prior to the forum. (I don't think anyone was shocked to learn this.)

On Monday, we also learned of Brady Rogers, who won a council seat in Kelowna, British Columbia, after running with slogans like, "I barely want to do this" and having this on his website: “Do I enjoy politics? No. Do I know what I’m doing? No. But am I qualified? Also no.”

There's something oddly refreshing about that approach. And with West, I'm simultaneously repulsed and thinking she'd probably be fun to have a beer summit with. 

Either way, there's something to be said for truth in advertising — now if we could just introduce it to politics...

LIGHTER FARE 

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

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