Friday, June 20, 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
Latest Leaks on Iran Are Absurd Beyond Belief and Point to a Nefarious Agenda
What I do know is it presents as a telegraphed attempt to publicly undermine President Donald Trump's hard line against Iran and nudge him toward a preferred outcome that saves the regime and its nuclear program. Whoever is behind this needs to be rooted out and fired.
DeJoria explains the secrets to his success: hard work, a steely determination, and a refusal to give up. All things that will continue to serve him well in Texas and apparently should have been honored more in California.
Report: Here's What Gavin Newsom Was Doing in the Early Days of the Riots As LA Burned
Here's hoping that in 2028, voters will be politically sober enough to see through Newsom's BS, which I'm sure Vice President Vance undoubtedly will be happy to remind people of as well.
Trending Across Townhall Media
North Dakota Man a Case Study in How Not to be a Gun Owner
But the balls on this dude to just waltz into the sheriff's office and try to get a confiscated gun back is kind of impressive. The dude clearly isn't lacking in guts, that's for sure.
Democrats' Gender Ideology Bind
Democrats face the same problem the Labour Party in Great Britain faced in the late 70s. They are so far outside the mainstream--for similar reasons--that it may take well over a decade to recalibrate and a new generation of politicians to do it.
When Baseball Picks a Side and Shuts Out Half the Country
What the Dodgers did this week wasn’t civil disobedience.
It wasn’t principle.
It was a privilege.
Watch Pete Hegseth Slap Down Mazie Hirono Over Her Mind-Numbingly Stupid Question About the LA Riots
The good news is that Hegseth, like during his confirmation hearings, knows the enemy in the room and acts accordingly.
YA THINK?! T. Becket Adams Has a Humble Suggestion for Transgender Activists
She has described herself as a constitutional lawyer who 'fundamentally does not believe in the constitution.' Which raises so many more questions, but we digress.
WHAT'S ON TAP?
Today on Capitol Hill...
Ziltch. Zip. Nada. They're on a mini-break — though they will be back next week, when there are numerous hearings and meetings set, and when the Senate is really going to have to buckle down on the One Big Beautiful Bill.
In the meantime, we can expect the Dem critters to continue with their usual hijinks.
White House What's Up
President Donald Trump will attend a National Security Meeting in the Oval Office late Friday morning. After that, he heads to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he'll attend a "MAGA Dinner" at his golf club this evening.
Full Court Press...
The big news on Thursday, of course, was the 9th Circuit's ruling on the Trump administration's motion to stay Judge Charles Breyer's temporary restraining order in the California National Guard case.
READ MORE: Breaking: 9th Circuit Issues Stay Pending Appeal in CA National Guard Case, Handing Trump a Big Win
The three-judge panel issued a stay of the TRO pending appeal...but that's not the end of the inquiry (though it is, without question, a BIG WIN for the administration — and if you doubt my calling it such, see what DJT did himself):
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.19.25 11:49 PM EST pic.twitter.com/ixWrJOFS6c
— MAGA Resource (@MAGAResource) June 20, 2025
Friday, there's a hearing set before Judge Breyer on Newsom's motion for a preliminary injunction. Breyer could determine, based on additional facts presented to him today, that a preliminary injunction is nevertheless warranted. That's risky, given the 9th Circuit's ruling Thursday evening — they were pretty explicit in their rationale, and they didn't give him much room to wiggle. My instinct is that he will (reluctantly) acknowledge that he is pretty well bound by their ruling and give a "My hands are tied"-type decision. But...you never know.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will be handing down more decisions beginning at 10:00 AM Eastern on Friday. We'll be monitoring those, of course, and report on any of note. The rest will follow along in my Skinny on SCOTUS installment — the next one (on the June 12 decisions) should be ready to go later today.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
As noted above, we've got SCOTUS decisions on the way, and possibly an interesting ruling from Judge Breyer in Newsom v. Trump following today's hearing.
President Trump will head to the NATO Summit in the Netherlands next week.
And, of course, we'll be keeping an eye on the situation with Iran and Israel.
MORNING MUSING
It's galling, I'm quite certain, to those in the Oppose-Trump-at-Any-Cost Camp to even contemplate the notion of affording him any deference. The Orange Man is bad, you see, and thus any action he takes — no matter if it's consistent with the Constitution or statutes regarding executive authority — must not only be viewed with significant skepticism but outright opposed. In their view, if it's Trump taking the action, it's automatically unconstitutional, illegal, ultra vires, and, well, icky.
So they won't much enjoy the 9th Circuit's opinion regarding Trump's federalizing of the National Guard in California — in which the appellate court references the deference due Trump (seeing as how he is, you know, the president) throughout:
- Nonetheless, we are persuaded that, under longstanding precedent interpreting the statutory predecessor to § 12406, our review of that decision must be highly deferential.
- Affording the President that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority under § 12406(3), which authorizes federalization of the National Guard when “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
- The history of Congress’s statutory delegations of its calling forth power, and a line of cases beginning with Martin v.Mott, 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 19 (1827), interpreting those delegations, strongly suggest that our review of the President’s determinations in this context is especially deferential.
- Still, for the following reasons, we conclude that, under Martin and its progeny, we must give a great level of deference to the President’s determination that a predicate condition exists.
- Given the closely related nature of the statutes, Martin requires that the President’s determination that an exigency exists be given significant deference.
- We see no reason that Congress would have intended for the President to receive significant deference when he invokes the first precondition in § 12406, but not when he invokes the other two.
- Under a highly deferential standard of review, Defendants have presented facts to allow us to conclude that the President had a colorable basis for invoking § 12406(3).
- Affording appropriate deference to the President’s determination, we conclude that he likely acted within his authority in federalizing the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3).
In the immortal words of one of the Left's favorite sons, "Elections have consequences." The one held on November 5, 2024, determined that Donald J. Trump gets to be — and act as — the President of the United States, which means that he is — and should be — given the due deference afforded that office.
LIGHTER FARE
Maybe they need to get this little feller a banjo...
itches 😂 pic.twitter.com/GqiAwSrST2
— Beauty Of Nature 🌳 (@ShouldHaveAnima) June 19, 2025
Bonus content to acknowledge this, my favorite day of the year:
Happy #SummerSolstice! Today in Yellowstone, we experience just shy of 7 hours more daylight than on the winter solstice in December. How are you commemorating the longest day of year? pic.twitter.com/La5MswBuHU
— Yellowstone National Park (@YellowstoneNPS) June 20, 2025
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