Thursday, April 10, 2025
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 network chose not to renew Cross's weekend program just days before the 2022 midterms, with Mediaite reporting at the time that "comments and coverage from Cross did not adhere to MSNBC’s standards."
Walz has faced accusations of "stolen valor" by critics who claim he misrepresented his military service by stating he carried weapons "in war" despite never serving in a combat zone.
The Chinese Embassy Lashes Out With Insane Video, and It's Time to Drop the Hammer
China needs to tread lightly because the longer this goes on, the more it has to lose.
Trending Across Townhall Media
Donald Trump Makes Big Change at ATF as Patel Exits Agency
What this means for the ATF in the long or even medium term remains to be seen, but let's hope that the NSSF is right that with Driscoll at the helm, the agency will be focused on going after violent crime and illegal gun trafficking instead of trying to turn lawful gun owners into criminals.
MN AG Keith Ellison Ran Interference for Fraudsters Who Stole $250 Million From Minnesota Kids
Nice department you have there. Wouldn't it be a shame if the chief law enforcement and your own lawyer were angry at you?
Rubio Exposes Leftist Agenda and Corruption of USAID Programs
In the end, Rubio pointed out the most important thing: The goal of foreign aid should be that it ends once it serves its purpose. It shouldn't be ongoing.
You Gotta Admit That Trump Is Packing Some Major Cajones
Trump is risking everything. We know because they’ve already tried to kill him, twice, and about half of them think killing him would be a great idea.
Schaden-FAFO: Man Who Urged Assassinations of ICE Agents Weeps As the 'Find Out' Part Arrives
The revolutionary cosplayers are always cowards deep down, though, so if we can get a few more arrests like this one, followed by convictions with harsh sentences, we're guessing those 'street commies' will probably start shutting up pretty soon.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
In contrast with Wednesday, there are only a handful of committee hearings/meetings set for Thursday on the Hill, all of which are on the Senate side:
- Senate Armed Services — Closed hearings to examine the posture of United States Indo-Pacific Command and United States Forces Korea in review of the Defense Authorization Request for fiscal year 2026 and the Future Years Defense Program; to be immediately followed by an open hearing at 9:30 a.m. in SD-G50.
- Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation — Hearings to examine turning back time, focusing on locking the clock.
- Senate Energy and Natural Resources — Hearings to examine the nominations of Preston Griffith, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary, and Dario Gil, of New York, to be Under Secretary for Science, both of the Department of Energy, and Kathleen Sgamma, of Colorado, to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.
- Senate Finance — Hearings to examine the nominations of William Kimmitt, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and Kenneth Kies, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
- Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs — Hearings to examine the nominations of Andrew Hughes, of Texas, to be Deputy Secretary, David Woll, of Virginia, to be General Counsel, both of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Michelle Bowman, of Kansas, to be Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, John Hurley, of California, to be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes, Department of the Treasury, and David Fogel, of Connecticut, to be Assistant Secretary, and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, and Landon Heid, of Missouri, to be an Assistant Secretary, both of the Department of Commerce.
- Senate Judiciary — Business meeting to consider the nominations of Patrick David Davis, of Maryland, John Andrew Eisenberg, of Virginia, and Brett Shumate, of Virginia, all to be an Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice.
And in case you missed Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism Subcommittee hearing on Meta's troubling relationship with China, well, let's just say it did not go well for Mark Zuckerberg (who wasn't physically present but was metaphorically taken to the woodshed, raked over the coals, and backed up over by a bus).
So, it's always been about profit and power for Zuckerberg & Facebook
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 9, 2025
They were happy to censor on behalf of China AND shut down dissidents
Their censorship cartel's alive and well pic.twitter.com/bllzO3zT3F
As for the compromise budget resolution, House leaders pressed pause on it Wednesday evening as they attempted to round up the requisite votes. But they look to be back at it this morning, and, as of this morning, the plan appears to be to move the package forward without changes. Can House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pull another rabbit out of a hat? Stay tuned.
White House What's Up
President Donald Trump is set to receive his intelligence briefing in the AM, followed by a Cabinet meeting. Then, he'll participate in a swearing-in ceremony for Solicitor General D. John Sauer. Later in the afternoon, he'll hold a bill signing — yes, an actual bill, not an executive order.
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance met with a group of hostages released by Hamas terrorists, along with the families of hostages still held captive, and affirmed Trump's commitment to reuniting the remaining hostages with their families.
Keeping Up With the Cabinet
Sec. State - Marco Rubio — Rubio announced that American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States after being wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year.
Sec. Treasury - Scott Bessent — Our own Teri Christoph has suggested a Scott Bessent Appreciation Society — I think she may be onto something.
Sec. Defense - Pete Hegseth — In case you didn't know, SecDef does a mean Trump impersonation.
Sec. Interior - Doug Burgum — Burgum helped President Trump welcome the North Dakota State University, 2025 Division 1 Football Champions, to the White House.
Sec. Agriculture - Brooke Rollins — Rollins and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released an OpEd in USA Today focused on making families healthier.
Sec. Commerce - Howard Lutnick — Lutnick got a right good chuckle out of watching President Trump sign the executive order reversing low-flow shower head energy regulations on Wednesday.
Sec. Labor - Lori Chavez-DeRemer — Chavez-DeRemer highlighted a startling DOGE finding regarding unemployment payments.
Sec. Transportation - Sean Duffy — Duffy lauded Trump's executive order on American shipbuilding.
Sec. Energy - Chris Wright — Wright affirmed the administration's commitment to "coal done right."
Sec. Education - Linda McMahon — McMahon discussed the administration's goals for education at the ASU+GSV Summit in California.
Dir. Federal Bureau of Investigations - Kash Patel — Patel touted the FBI's efforts to break the drug cartels.
Dir. National Intelligence - Tulsi Gabbard — Gabbard is establishing a new intel community task force "to restore trust and transparency."
U.S. Trade Rep. - Jamieson Greer — Greer testified before both the House and the Senate this week.
Full Court Press...
The Supreme Court issued another significant ruling on Wednesday, granting a stay of a lower court injunction that prevented Trump from firing two Biden appointees.
And the fate of several Venezuelans who the Trump administration sought to remove pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act remains a bit up in the air as both a Texas and a New York district court judge have pressed pause on their removal to consider their petitions for habeas relief. (I wouldn't read too terribly much into that just yet. The Supreme Court ruling on Monday as to removal under the AEA affirmed the would-be deportees are entitled to minimal due process of notice and a chance to be heard before removal — that's what we're watching play out now, just not in Judge Boasberg's court.)
COMING ATTRACTIONS
We'll, of course, be keeping an eye on the House as it wrestles with the budget resolution, the markets as they wrestle with tariffs, and China as it throws awkward memes and icy glares our way.
MORNING MUSING
I'll never claim to have any special insight into the mind of Trump. The man has a knack for keeping everyone guessing and a wee bit off balance. Over the past decade, I've slowly adjusted to that and learned not to just knee-jerk at every little thing he says and does. Over that time, he's proven to have some pretty good instincts and the ability to beat odds heavily stacked against him.
Something that occurred to me Wednesday as he paused the tariffs for all but China and the markets came roaring back loudly was this: During the campaign, he was asked frequently about his plans for "revenge," and his response was that "success" would be his best revenge. I think most people assumed — rightly so — that he was speaking in terms of his domestic opposition. But what if it wasn't just his domestic foes he meant? I get the sense he may have an eye to serving that cold dish up to one Xi Jinping, who I believe he blames, at least on some level, for COVID and his 2020 election defeat. (And, to be fair, personal vendettas aside, boxing China in is likely to be beneficial to the U.S. in multiple ways.) Maybe that's just me with a melodramatic read on things. But maybe not.
LIGHTER FARE
Somehow, I never pictured him on horseback, but...if Santa gets a sleigh, why not?
The Easter Bunny is on his way.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/5eOt60O0CZ
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) April 9, 2025
Update: A horse is a horse, of course, of course. However, I'm reliably told that the beast of burden in the clip above is a mule. I never pictured the Easter Bunny on a mule either, so we're good there.
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