Wednesday (Mid) Morning Minute

Good morning, and welcome to RedState's "Morning Minute" (mid-morning today because yours truly was up late with Super Tuesday writing and editing duties) — 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'

Katie Porter Gave Up a Swing Seat in Congress to Lose to the Establishment

But the important thing to note is this: Katie Porter lost and she is going to be out of a job in D.C. I... don't think we have to hear from her in that capacity anymore.
America prevails.

Why Did Elon Musk Meet With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago?

Yet as the Times notes, even if Musk does not end up donating to Trump's campaign, the megaphone provided by his 175 million followers on X gives him the freedom to shape the political narrative in a way that few others can.

Psaki and Maddow Mock Concerns About Illegal Immigration, and Democrats Should Be Terrified

I'll be honest. I figured that in the face of the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history, Democrats would at least pretend to care in a gambit to fool voters. They aren't even bothering, though, and the saying "pride goes before the fall" is going to become very relevant soon.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

LOTS of hearings and what-not today, so I'll list just a few here:

Senate-House Veterans Affairs - Joint hearing to examine the legislative presentation of Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and multiple veterans service organizations: PVA, WWP, NASDVA, MRC, BSF, IAVA, BVA, SWAN, SVA, and AMVETS.
House Judiciary - A Voice for the Voiceless - CSAM (child sexual abuse material) Identification
House Financial Services - The Federal Reserve’s Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report (Witness - Jerome Powell)
House Oversight and Accountability - “Examining the White House’s Role in Pandemic Preparedness and Response”
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation - Hearings to examine the National Transportation Safety Board Investigations Report
Senate Foreign Relations - Hearings to examine global food security
House Education and the Workforce - "Proven Results: Highlighting the Benefits of Charter Schools for Students and Families"
House Foreign Affairs - The Chinese Communist Party’s Malign Influence at the United Nations — It’s Getting Worse

Additionally, the House will vote on Wednesday on the first batch of appropriations bills.

The House on Wednesday is slated to vote on a package of six fiscal year 2024 spending bills, the first full-year bills to come up for a vote more than five months into the fiscal year.
The measure is expected to come up under a suspension of the rules, denying conservatives the chance to sink it on a procedural vote, and looks likely to pass.

White House What's Up

Light schedule for President Joe Biden today as he gears up for Thursday's State of the Union address. He'll receive his daily briefing Wednesday morning. Later in the day, Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre will hold a press briefing.

Full Court Press...

No oral arguments before the Supreme Court today and no opinions are expected to be handed down. However, of historical note, on this date in 1857, the Court issued its (in)famous decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford.

This isn't technically a court proceeding, but in Georgia, a state Senate committee will be hearing from the attorney who uncovered the Fani Willis/Nathan Wade relationship, which helped prompt the motions to disqualify them from the election interference case involving former President Donald Trump and 18 others.

The committee will hear from Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney representing one of Trump’s co-defendants in the historic racketeering case who first brought to light Willis’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Merchant is aiming to have the district attorney’s office booted from the case as a result, and her motion sparked the state senate committee’s formation earlier this year. Willis has acknowledged the relationship but has portrayed the calls for her to step aside as baseless.

Of Primary Concern

As noted above, we're still recuperating from Super Tuesday. There were a number of congressional primary races decided — we'll have an overview of those outcomes later today.

MORNING MUSING

With Donald Trump's decisive victory Tuesday night and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announcing the suspension of her campaign Wednesday morning, the table is pretty well set for the presidential race. Trump will be the GOP nominee. Like many, though, I'm skeptical as to whether Joe Biden will, in fact, be at the top of the ticket for the Dems come November.

One thought that occurred to me Tuesday night in the haze of monitoring all the primary results: If Biden goes (whether of his own accord or with the "help" of the DNC Powers That Be™), one of the key reasons — if not the reason — will be his age/mental acuity. While Trump is in an entirely different universe than Biden on that front, I suspect this is why we're seeing this latest shift in attacks on him — so that the Dems can turn around and field a younger, fitter candidate (we see you, Gavin), and then squawk endlessly about how if Biden was too old for the gig, so's Trump.