Tuesday Morning Minute: The First Full Day

Tuesday, January 21, 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. And if Tuesday is remotely like Monday, you'll need that kickstart just to keep up with it all. 

TOP O' THE MORNIN'

Red-Hot at RedState 

Trump Rips Security Clearances From the 51 Spies Who Lied, Then He Hit Them With Another Bombshell

Perhaps they'll have some regrets now that their security clearances have been revoked and their actions will be further investigated.

The New Look for the Trump Oval Office - What Stayed and What Is Gone

The table that once held apples and cookies now simply holds a bouquet of flowers and a paperweight emblazoned with the word "Trump." You can tell a whole lot by a person's office.

45 Becomes 47 – but It's Two Young Trumps Who Grab the Spotlight on Inauguration Eve

The Young Trump hasn’t given a lot of interviews or publicized his views, but if this is any indication, get ready.

He looks to me like he’s going to be a serious player.

Trending Across Townhall Media

Colorado Governor Says He's Open to Massive Semi-Auto Ban

Colorado gun owners definitely have their work cut out for them, and there's no time like the present to start contacting the governor's office and urging him to reject the semi-auto ban known as SB 3.

And the New Hoaxes Begin...

The Pravda Media will go down fighting, and we have to crush them utterly, burn down their buildings, and salt the earth on which those buildings stood (metaphorically).

The Trump and Vance Women WOW at Inaugural Festivities

Even some of our live blog commenters pointed out that Biden looked nice in her dress today (though let's face it: the fact that she was leaving Washington, DC probably made her look a little better).

The Purge of the Top Brass in the Military Has Begun

Another officer, a general named Charlie Brown, stated that his goal was to make fewer white people in the US Air Force vow to stay. I’m not sure how long that’s going to last.

What Did He SAY? Twitter Has Some Fun Captioning Barron Trump's Moment With Joe Biden

It almost doesn't matter what Barron said though.

Because of that stare.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

With Inauguration Day in the books, the Congress critters are back to work on the Hill on Tuesday. (Actually, the Senate got back to work Monday afternoon, sending several of President Donald Trump's nominees out of committee, confirming Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, and passing the Laken Riley Act, but today offers a full day for Congressing.)

There are a couple more confirmation hearings set for Tuesday:

• Doug Collins - Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Veterans Affairs - 10:00 AM Eastern
• Elise Stefanik - UN Ambassador - Foreign Relations - 10:00 AM Eastern

Other hearings/meetings set include:

• Senate Finance - Meeting to consider Scott Bessent's nomination for Treasury Secretary
• House Rules - Meeting to consider the Fix Our Forests Act and the Laken Riley Act

White House What's Up

I cannot tell you how phenomenal it feels to be writing this section about President Trump and not his predecessor. He and First Lady Melania, along with Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha, will attend the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral Tuesday morning. After that? Well, we're not sure yet — the comms and calendar aspects of the new administration are still getting up and running, but we can expect it to be an action-packed day. Trump has his Diet Coke button at the ready. 

Full Court Press...

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument Tuesday in two cases:

1. FDA v. R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. — Whether a manufacturer may file a petition for review in a circuit (other than the D.C.Circuit) where it neither resides nor has its principal place of business, if the petition is joined by a seller of the manufacturer's products that is located within that circuit.
2. McLaughlin Chiropractic Assoc. v. McKesson Corp. — Whether the Hobbs Act required the district court in this case to accept the FCC's legal interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

There's always a chance, one supposes, that the New York Appellate Division will render its ruling in the Trump civil fraud appeal. We'll keep monitoring that and certainly, report on it when/if that ruling ever gets handed down. 

Of course, the big legal news from Monday was pardons — Joe Biden's on his way out the door (for Fauci, Milley, the J6 Committee, and his own family members), and Trump's on his way in (for J6ers — and, hopefully soon, for pro-lifers). 

COMING ATTRACTIONS

On Wednesday, Senate committees will review the nominations of Russ Vought (OMB Director), Sean Duffy (Transportation Secretary), and Pam Bondi (Attorney General) and vote on whether to advance them to the full Senate. 

On Thursday, they'll do the same as to Doug Collins (Veterans Affairs Secretary), Lee Zeldin (EPA Administrator), Doug Burgum (Secretary of the Interior), Chris Wright (Secretary of Energy), and Eric Turner (HUD Secretary). They'll also hold a hearing on Sean Driscoll's nomination for Secretary of the Army and Brooke Rollins' nomination for Secretary of Agriculture. 

On Friday, President Trump is scheduled to head to California to survey the wildfire damage — but it's also sounding like he may have a stop in Western North Carolina, as well, as recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene continue.

MORNING MUSING

Okay, I'll admit it: Monday was exhausting. The longstanding joke is that it was "so much winning," but it really was. From a near-flawless inauguration ceremony (Chief Justice Roberts jumping the gun on the oath and the technical issues for Carrie Underwood's song notwithstanding), to watching the Bidens fly away, to watching Trump sign multiple executive orders (especially the ones that prompted him to "ooh" and "ahh" when presented to him by Staff Secretary Will Scharf), to watching him and Melania dance at the balls and him dance around with a sword as he prepared to cut the cake at the Commander in Chief Ball — it was a whirlwind. A fun whirlwind, but a whirlwind. And to think — he's just getting started. We'll do our best to keep up!

LIGHTER FARE 

It does, indeed, appear as though 47 had an absolute ball on Monday.