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 

Biden and Harris Hold a Wildfire Briefing, and It Turns Into a Total Disaster

The good news is that all this ends in a week. Biden and Harris will leave Washington, and a new presidential term will begin. Hopefully, it'll be one that exhibits far more competence than the last.

Things Are Getting Nasty in Florida As Republican Leaders Stand in the Way of Trump and DeSantis

Florida Republicans like Albritton and Perez should likewise make it clear that they are on board with that plan by convening DeSantis's special session on January 27. MAGA will be watching.

Big Announcement About Who Will Be Playing at Inaugural Events Has People Grinning

We can finally say goodbye to the horrible Biden-Harris and that freedom is certainly is worthy of music and many Trump dances.

Trending Across TownHall Media

SCOTUS Turns Away a Pair of Second Amendment Cases

Though the law is ostensibly "shall issue" in design, the built-in delays and licensing mandates to merely keep a gun in the home arguably constitute an outright infringement on our Second Amendment rights, and it's both puzzling and concerning that the Court decided to keep the law in place without even a written dissent by justices like Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, or Neil Gorsuch.

Minnesota Democrats: Constitution? What Constitution?

Democrats. There is no depth of depravity to which they will not stoop if it suits them.

Gavin Newsom Has Found the L.A. Fires' Biggest Victim: Himself

But it was Newsom's hey, it's not me response, no-show Mayor Karen Bass's failure to answer questions, and no water to put out the flames that made people apoplectic.

Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report Reveals He Was Supremely Confident About One Thing

This report is the only crutch liberals have right now. It doesn’t negate the 2024 election. Trump still won.

The HELL You Will! Texas Governor Greg Abbott RAINS FIRE on Texas A&M's Illegal DEI Conference

We'll see who backs down, but we have a pretty good guess about this one.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

There are only a handful of committee hearings set on the Hill for Tuesday, but all eyes will be on the one in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern — the committee will be questioning President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth. Fireworks are virtually guaranteed. We'll be live-blogging it here at RedState, so come join us for that. 

The hearings originally set for Doug Collins (Veterans Affairs) and Doug Burgum (Secretary of the Interior) on Tuesday have been postponed — Burgum until Thursday and Collins until next week. (Something about the name Doug?)

The other hearings set: 

• House Ways and Means — Committee Organizational Meeting
• House Ways and Means — The Need to Make Permanent the Trump Tax Cuts for Working Families
• House Oversight and Government Reform — Full Committee Organizational Meeting of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

White House What's Up

President Joe Biden (six more days!) will receive the Daily Brief in the morning. Then, in the evening, he'll deliver remarks "celebrating the Administration’s historic conservation legacy and sign proclamations to establish the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in California." (These were remarks he was originally set to deliver in California last Tuesday but had to scuttle due to the wildfires.)

Full Court Press...

The ongoing wrangling over the release of (former) Special Counsel Jack Smith's "Final Report" regarding his investigation and prosecution of Trump came to a head on Monday when Judge Aileen Cannon allowed for the release of Volume 1 of the report, with a hearing to be held Friday as to Volume 2. The first volume is now out. 

The State of New York filed its appellant's brief in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday. This has flown under the radar, particularly in light of Trump's sentencing by Judge Juan Mercan last week, but there remains a live appeal on the issue of whether or not Trump should have been able to remove that case from state court (in New York) to federal court. From a practical standpoint, the horse is out of the barn on that obviously, but it's still an interesting legal conundrum — which we'll likely learn the answer to six months to a year from now. 

COMING ATTRACTIONS

There's been a bit of a reshuffling of the hearings for Trump's nominees, but here's the latest:

• Pete Hegseth - Secretary of Defense (Jan. 14)
• Kristi Noem - Secretary of Homeland Security (Jan. 15)
• Pam Bondi - Attorney General (Jan. 15)
• Chris Wright - Secretary of Energy (Jan. 15)
• Marco Rubio - Secretary of State (Jan. 15)
• John Ratcliffe - Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Jan. 15)
• Sean Duffy - Secretary of Transportation (Jan. 15)
• Russ Vought - Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Jan. 15)
• Pam Bondi - Attorney General (Jan. 16 - second round)
• Scott Turner - Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Jan. 16)
• Lee Zeldin - EPA Administrator (Jan. 16)
• Scott Bessent - Secretary of the Treasury (Jan. 16)
• Doug Burgum - Secretary of the Interior (Jan. 16)
• Doug Collins - Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Jan. 21)

Expect some more pardons to be issued by Biden in the next couple of days. And prepare to have your eyebrows raised.

It's sounding more and more likely that a ceasefire/hostage deal will be struck between Israel and Hamas. Keep praying. 

MORNING MUSING

I've been thinking a lot about competence lately — largely because we've seen the opposite of it emanating from government officials and leaders of late. The wildfires in California are simply the latest example of this, albeit an egregious one. I've held multiple jobs in my life, but essentially just two as an adult. Certainly, I've made mistakes and encountered failures along the way. But I'm not sure I understand the mentality of just being bad at your job, continually failing, and shrugging over it — particularly if it's one where other people's lives or livelihoods are directly impacted. I guess there's some hubris involved. And maybe, if you're never held accountable, you just plod along. But you have to wonder...do these folks look in the mirror and think, "I'm doing great!"? Do they really not see their incompetence? Or are they just hanging on until they can fail up? 

LIGHTER FARE 

H/t to my friend and colleague Jennifer Oliver O'Connell for finding this gem...

Since I work primarily from home, minus the wine, this is my everyday. pic.twitter.com/df1F6IDrCA

— Jennifer Oliver O'Connell (@asthegirlturns) January 13, 2025