Morning Minute: That Thing That Never Happens, Happened Again

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Wednesday, July 22, 2026

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. 

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TOP O' THE MORNIN'

Red-Hot at RedState 

Non-Citizen Voting Scandal Gets Worse: Software Giant Blames Election Officials, CA Gets Dragged In

What began as Sherrill’s public admission that more than 6,600 non-citizens ended up on the voter rolls—with nearly 400 casting ballots between June 2023 and June 2024—has quickly devolved into classic bureaucratic finger-pointing. And now the controversy is rippling into California, where the same vendor at the center of New Jersey’s “glitch” has long handled DMV operations.

Priceless: Gavin Newsom Throws a Tantrum at Joe Rogan Over JD Vance Interview

Newsom's response to Rogan should have been, "Hey, Joe, have me on to talk about how I'm working to fix things." Of course, he can't really say that because he isn't. Plus, Rogan already has his number, previously calling Newsom a "conman" and a "cardboard cutout of a person." But Newsom really went over the slide, instead, with an unhinged post. 

Watch: Brandon Gill Shows Museum Director No Mercy During Hearing on Wokeification of the Smithsonian

During the hearing, Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26) grilled Dr. Anthea Hartig, the director of the museum, on issues including a "Mass Action Tool Kit" that had been promoted by the museum under her leadership. As my RedState colleague Bob Hoge might say, it wasn't even a fair fight, as Hartig froze at various points during the questioning, feigned ignorance at other points, and seemed more keen on writing down notes on a notepad instead of directly answering Gill's questions.

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Trending Across Townhall Media

Bearing Arms - The Trace Warns That Third Circuit Ruling on Assault Weapons a Likely Signal

Anti-gunners will, undoubtedly, go on and on about things like mass killings even though such incidents are actually pretty rare and most of them involve a handgun in the first place, but since they also said we'd see more violence following Bruen and it didn't happen, I think we can safely dismiss anything they say as being unserious.

HotAir — They Call It 'Labour,' But the Entire Cabinet Has Barely Had a Job Outside NGOs or Government

If you add up the private sector experience embodied by the 27 top officials that Burnham has chosen to help lead the United Kingdom government, between them they must have at least 5-10 years working in jobs such as journalism (Burnham spent 3 years as a journalist), Labor union activism, or research for think tanks outside government. 

PJ Media — Smithsonian Director Humiliates Herself During House Hearing

Hartig didn't just fail to answer questions on Tuesday. She sat in front of Congress and watched her own institution's ideology get read back to her, line by line, until she had nowhere left to hide. She couldn't defend the toolkit. She couldn't defend the exhibit. She'd essentially confirmed everything the White House accused her museum of, one dodge at a time.

Townhall — Is This Exchange What Led to This ESPN Analyst Getting Fired?

Besides cost-saving cuts, [Ryan] Clark’s bush-league reaction to colleague Peter Schrager’s point on Get Up months ago also played a role in his termination. Though he apologized for the on-air spat, the damage was done:

On "Get Up" last September, after Schrager defended Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb's performance in a season-opening loss, Clark said, "That's the non-player in you."

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Twitchy — DSA Brain Trust Confuses Two Jewish Joshes, Then Ilhan Decries Bombs She Voted For All Along

One thing about the DSA wing of the Democrats, they're stupid. All of that Jew hate takes up so much space in their tiny brains, there isn't room for much more. This one was a real doozy.

WHAT'S ON TAP?

Today on Capitol Hill...

  • House Foreign Affairs—United Nations Accountability and Reform: Advancing an America First Foreign Policy Through Strategic Diplomacy and Burden Sharing
  • House Ways & Means—H.R. 9772 (Foreign Funding Transparency Act), H.R. 9771 (Stopping Foreign Influence in Elections Act of 2026), H.R. 9721 (Fiscal Sponsorship Transparency Act of 2026), and H.R. 9722 (Fair Treatment of Religious Organizations Act of 2026)
  • House Small Business—Oversight of SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development
  • House Appropriations—Funding Lapses: Analyzing Shutdown Reform
  • House Agriculture—For the Purpose of Receiving Testimony from Chief Tom Schultz, U.S. Forest Service
  • House Natural Resources—Mark-up of: • H.R. 309 (Rep. Nehls), “National Law Enforcement Officers Remembrance, Support and Community Outreach Act” • H.R. 1693 (Rep. Hageman), To redesignate the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming, as the “Barbara L. Cubin National Historic Trails Interpretive Center”. • H.R. 4219 (Rep. Case), “National Wildlife Refuge System Invasive Species Strike Team Act of 2025” • H.R. 4931 (Rep. Murphy of NC), “National Park System Long-Term Lease Investment Act” • H.R. 5063 (Rep. Kiggans), “Safe Beaches, Safe Swimmers Act” • H.R. 6021 (Rep. Begich), “Archie Cavanaugh Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act” • H.R. 8121 (Rep. Plaskett), To designate the Christiansted Bandstand at the Christiansted National Historic Site, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, as the “Peter G. Thurland, Sr., Bandstand”. • H.R. 8454 (Rep. McClintock), To provide for the transfer of administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land in the State of California, and for other purposes.
  • Senate Foreign Relations—Business meeting to consider the nominations of Juan Segura, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation, and Brendan Hanrahan, of New York, to be an Assistant Secretary (European and Eurasian Affairs), Kari Lake, of Arizona, to be Ambassador to Jamaica, Rudolph Bauer, of South Carolina, to be Ambassador to Belize, Barbera Thornhill, of North Carolina, to be Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, with the rank of Ambassador at Large, John Hurley, of California, to be Representative of the United States of America to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with the rank of Ambassador, Keith Noreika, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania, Joseph Burkhalter, of Georgia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Stanley Brown, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, and Katherine Bowles, of Alabama, to be an Assistant Secretary (Legislative Affairs), all of the Department of State.
  • Senate Energy & Natural Resources — An oversight hearing to examine the Federal Regulatory Commission
  • Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs — Business meeting to consider the nominations of Hal Duncan, of Texas, to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Brian Cavanaugh, of Maryland, to be Under Secretary for Management, and Cameron Hamilton, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of the Department of Homeland Security, Charles Baldis, of Virginia, to be Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel, Bradford Pentony Wilson, of New Jersey, to be Archivist of the United States, Jeffrey Brodsky, and William Gallo, of Florida, both to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service, James Woodruff, of Florida, to be Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, Charlton Allen, of North Carolina, to be General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, James Andrew Crowell IV, and Stuart Gordon Nash, both to be an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, and Christopher Michael De Bono, Michael Christopher DiLorenzo, Sharon E. Goodie, Craig Edward Leen, Christine Michelle Macey, and John Barlow Timmer, each to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia

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    White House What's Up

    Tuesday was a busy day for President Trump, who hosted the President of Lebanon in the Oval Office and held a wide-ranging press conference, then worked with House Republicans to get a continuing resolution passed to fund the government through the midterms (the Senate still has to do its part, though). Today, Trump will attend the Dignified Transfer of four U.S. service members recently killed in the war with Iran.

  • 8:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT participates in Executive Time — The White House
  • 10:00 AM — THE PRESIDENT attends a Dignified Transfer — Dover, DE
  • 3:00 PM — THE PRESIDENT delivers Remarks — Wheeler High School 
    • MORNING MUSING

    In yesterday's morning musing, I gave our VIP members an opportunity to, "Ask me anything." I received some great observations and suggestions in the comments and a few questions, so here goes!

    The first question was:

    The safe answer, obviously, is, "What do you mean? An African or a European swallow?" And, for what it's worth, Google claims that the average airspeed velocity of either is 24 miles per hour.

    I was also asked, "Why doesn't Red State talk more about USA debt? Congress is borrowing too much and we will certainly go under in 10 years (Not just Social Security). Yet you all are silent." In searching our archives, I found that while it's not a daily topic because of the sheer volume and diversity of topics we've got to cover on any given day, we do regularly reference the national debt and the federal government's unsustainable bar tab.

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    On June 23, we published this piece from Ben Smith: America's Interest Bill Is Now Bigger Than the Pentagon's Budget

    And on June 9, Jennifer O'Connell wrote about Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to address entitlement spending: Mike Johnson Teases a Long-Overdue Fight Over Entitlement Spending

    LIGHTER FARE 

    As our regular readers might know, I have three (grown) sons, and two granddaughters. One of my greatest joys is watching how those little girls look up at their daddy. Nothing compares to the bond between a father and daughter.

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    Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

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