| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Eugene Daniels and Rachael Bade | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
|  President Joe Biden this morning left D.C. en route to Europe for NATO meetings this week. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | MARK YOUR CALENDAR — On Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, (1) Iowa Republicans will hold their presidential nominating caucuses, (2) DONALD TRUMP’s trial in E. JEAN CARROLL’s federal defamation lawsuit is set to begin and (3) America celebrates MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. Day. Said Iowa GOP chairman JEFF KAUFMANN on a call with reporters after the caucus date was announced: “We see this as honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King in terms of having a caucus here.” This means that the New Hampshire primary will likely be Tuesday, Jan. 23, the date officials there have been targeting. The Nevada contest’s timing remains under litigation, but a primary is currently set for Tuesday, Feb. 6. The GOP’s South Carolina primary is confirmed for Saturday, Feb. 24, with Super Tuesday 10 days later on March 5. This is a more forgiving schedule for Republicans than they had in 2016, when Iowa to Super Tuesday was compressed into 29 days (Feb. 1 to March 1). Next year, these contests will be spread across 50 days (Jan. 15 to March 5). More from the Des Moines Register BIDEN’S PRE-TRIP BRIEFING WITH FAREED — President JOE BIDEN is on his way to Europe, and on Friday he sat down with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for a newsy interview at the White House that aired today. The big headline from the chat was Biden’s blunt assessment of whether Ukraine should be offered NATO membership during the alliance’s two-day summit next week in Lithuania: “I don’t think it’s ready for membership in NATO,” he said, offering two reasons why:
- Russia’s strategic goal is to divide NATO, and “I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war.”
- It would escalate the risk of a wider war with Russia: “If the war is going on, then we’re all in a war. You know, we’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.”
Biden said instead “we have to lay out a path for … Ukraine to be able to qualify to get into NATO.” While that process plays out, Biden said, he wants the United States to “provide security a la the security we provide for Israel, providing the weaponry, the needs, the capacity to defend themselves — if there is an agreement, if there is a cease-fire, if there is a peace agreement.” The details of such an arrangement are the subject of “frantic, last-minute” negotiations among the U.S., U.K., France and Germany, our colleagues Hans von der Burchard, Paul McLeary and Laura Kayali report: “The idea is to create an ’umbrella’ for all countries willing to provide Ukraine with ongoing military aid, even if the details vary from country to country. The effort is part of broader negotiations at NATO and among several groups of nations over how Western allies should display long-term support for Ukraine.” What we’re watching: It will be interesting to see how Republicans react to Biden’s proposal to raise Ukraine’s partner status to that of Israel, which receives $4 billion a year in U.S. assistance. (Ukraine has received over $75 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine 16 months ago.) More from the interview … — Biden on his decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine: Conceding that it was “a very difficult decision” to send weapons that have been banned by over 100 countries, Biden said he was persuaded by the fact that (1) Russia is already using them and (2) Ukrainians are running out of ammunition: “They either have the weapons to stop the Russians … or they don’t. And I think they needed them.” — On securing Sweden’s accession to NATO: Biden said he is in the midst of putting together a multifaceted deal that could placate Turkish President RECEP TAYYIP ERDOĞAN, who has held up Sweden’s bid for various reasons, most recently over a spate of Koran-burnings: “What I’m trying to, quite frankly, [is] put together is a little bit of a consortium here where [we] strengthen NATO in terms of the military capacity of both Greece as well as Turkey and allow Sweden to come in. … It’s in play. It’s not done.” — On his conversations with Chinese President XI JINPING: Biden described several recent phone calls between the two leaders: One was initiated by Biden after Xi’s March visit to Moscow, where he warned Xi to “be careful,” noting the mass disinvestment Russia has seen since the Ukraine invasion. Another call, from Xi, dealt with U.S. efforts to beef up military alliances in Asia: “I said, “We’re not doing that to surround you. We’re doing that to maintain stability’” in the region, he said. On two other occasions, Biden said, Xi complained about his emphasis on human rights issues in China. “I said: Well, the United States is the most unique nation in the world. We are organized based on an idea: ’We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created equal, et cetera.’ We’ve never lived up to it, but we’ve never walked away from it. And, for me, for an American president to remain silent on slave labor would be totally inconsistent.” — On his assessment of Xi: “I don’t think he wants, he’s looking for war, conflict, expansion of territory. … I say to [my NATO and European colleagues], ’Do you know anybody, any world leader who would trade places with Xi Jinping? … I don’t know anybody would. Because it’s not that he — he’s a bad guy or a good guy. The circumstances are enormously complicated.” — On Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: When Zakaria asked “what will it take” for Netanyahu to get a White House invitation, Biden icily noted, “Well, first of all, the Israeli president [ISAAC HERZOG] is going to be coming. We have other contacts.” He went on to chide far-right members of the Israeli cabinet who favor unrestricted settlement in Palestinian territories. “Hopefully, Bibi will continue to move toward moderation,” he said. — On whether he should “step aside and let another generation of Democrats take the baton”: “I think there is one thing that comes with age, if you’re being honest about it your whole life, and that is some wisdom. … I just want to finish the job. And I think we can do that in the next six years.”
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Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. COMING ATTRACTIONS — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER previewed the chamber’s July work session in a Dear Colleague letter this morning, saying Democrats would prioritize (1) appropriations, (2) NDAA, (3) artificial intelligence briefings and (4) judicial confirmations before the August recess. The Senate will also be “making progress,” he wrote, on bipartisan bills dealing with prescription drug pricing, permitting reform, rail safety, marijuana industry banking, FAA reauthorization and more, but he stopped short of saying any would definitely come to the floor. “Passing these bills will not be easy, and we will depend on cooperation of our Republican colleagues to get any of them done,” Schumer writes. Read the letter SUNDAY BEST … — Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS responding to yesterday’s Playbook, on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: “The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I will beat Biden. … I would just also point out my reelection in Florida, we had the greatest victory that any Republican governor candidate in the history of the state had. And yet, a few months before the election, I had media saying that somehow my reelection campaign was stalling, that we weren’t doing anything. And so we’re doing what it takes to win. It’s not a national primary. That’s not how these things are going. It’s really on the ground in those key states.” — Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) on whether Ukraine should join NATO, on “Fox News Sunday”: “Let’s focus on helping Ukraine win this war and then we can talk about matters like NATO’s accession and other important matters about Ukrainian alliance with Western democracies.” — Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.) on Ukraine joining NATO, on “Fox News Sunday”: “Every time I visit with President [VOLODYMYR] ZELENSKYY, he brings up this issue. I think he may want to come out and should come out of this meeting seeing a pathway to joining NATO and what steps they need to take only after this conflict with Russia is over.” — Rep. MICHAEL McCAUL (R-Texas) on Ukraine joining NATO, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think, first, they have to win the counteroffensive, secondly, have a cease-fire, and then negotiate a peace settlement. … I think they have earned it. But we have to put it on the right path forward, not an immediate ascension into NATO.” — Rep. BARBARA LEE (D-Calif.) on the U.S. supplying cluster bombs to Ukraine, on “State of the Union”: “That’s crossing a line. … We would risk losing our moral leadership, because, when you look at the fact that over 120 countries have signed the convention on cluster munitions, saying they should never be used, they should never be used. And, in fact, many of us have urged the administration to sign onto this convention.” — Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN on the prospects of a recession, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “It’s not completely off the table. But we would expect, with the job market as strong as it is now, to see a slower pace of ongoing job gains.” — North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM on the culture wars, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “We need a president that’s focused on the challenges that we’re being faced as a nation, not a president that’s going to decide whether a book is in the right section or not in a library in a small town somewhere in America.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “Parents aren’t as conservative as the right likes to think,” by WaPo’s Philip Bump
- “How to Deal With the Coming Social Security Shortfall,” by NYT’s Peter Coy
- “The All-Volunteer Force Is in Crisis,” by Jason Dempsey and Gil Barndollar in The Atlantic
- “Anthony Fauci on Larry Kramer and Loving Difficult People,” by Anthony Fauci for NYT Opinion
- “What I Learned Retracing the Footsteps of the Capitol Rioters,” by Tyler McBrien for The Atlantic
- “Climate change is worsening the world’s refugee crisis. Here’s one way leaders can help,” by Rwaida Gharib for L.A. Times
- “The Price of Admissions,” by The American Conservative’s Helen Andrews
- “The Rich Are Crazier Than You and Me,” by NYT’s Paul Krugman
- “Why my pyromaniac neighbor lives outside the law,” by Daniel Polansky for L.A. Times
- “Reasons for ambivalence about the ruling on web design and same-sex marriage,” by WaPo’s George Will
| | BIDEN’S SUNDAY — The president left Rehoboth Beach, Del., at 9:30 a.m. and is traveling to London, where he’s scheduled to arrive this evening.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SUNDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule. | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
| 
Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 8. | John Locher/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. THE BACK HALLS OF JUSTICE: Supreme Court Justice CLARENCE THOMAS’ membership in the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is the latest example of the type of ethical concerns that have plagued the court. “At Horatio Alger, he moved into the inner circle, a cluster of extraordinarily wealthy, largely conservative members who lionized him and all that he had achieved. While he has never held an official leadership position, in some ways he has become the association’s leading light,” NYT’s Abbie VanSickle and Steve Eder write. Thomas’ touch: “He has granted it unusual access to the Supreme Court, where every year he presides over the group’s signature event: a ceremony in the courtroom at which he places Horatio Alger medals around the necks of new lifetime members. One entrepreneur called it ’the closest thing to being knighted in the United States.’” Another access point: “His friendships forged through Horatio Alger have brought him proximity to a lifestyle of unimaginable material privilege. Over the years, his Horatio Alger friends have welcomed him at their vacation retreats, arranged V.I.P. access to sporting events and invited him to their lavish parties.” Related read: “How Supreme Court decisions are activating a generation of young voters,” by WaPo’s Tamia Fowlkes 2. ’24 IS THE NEW ’84: As Biden embarks on his reelection campaign, he might do well to call up the blueprint of former President RONALD REAGAN, The Boston Globe’s Jim Puzzanghera writes. “Four decades ago, Reagan went on to win a second term by running on a theme of economic renewal that his campaign famously branded as ’Morning in America.’ Now, noting the similarities to President Biden’s situation, some political experts said Reagan’s legendary turnaround offers a potential template for victory for the Democrat in 2024.” And while there are a handful of significant caveats that separate the two, strategists are noting that Biden’s tactics already recall some of those that Reagan deployed. 3. PUTTING NO LABELS ON IT: The effort to stop No Labels’ third-party presidential scheme has reached Capitol Hill now as officials from Third Way and MoveOn blitz offices to preach their anti-No Labels gospel. Leaders from the two groups are planning to hold a briefing for Senate Democratic chiefs of staff on July 27 as they try to head off any support from the Hill, especially if Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) decides to run under the third-party banner, Burgess Everett reports. “MATT BENNETT, executive vice president for public affairs at Third Way, and RAHNA EPTING, the executive director of MoveOn, will speak to Democratic senators’ top aides, according to the invitation. The invite tells chiefs of staff dryly that the two ’want to share some information that they have on No Labels.’ Third Way has put together research showing that a third-party campaign would hurt Biden, an argument that No Labels has dismissed.” 4. QUITTER’S REMORSE: Eight Republican-led states in the past year-and-a-half have quit the Electronic Registration Information Center, a nationwide tool designed to keep voter rolls accurate and up to date. Republican election officials in those states claimed the program was mismanaged. “Now, those Republican-led states who left — and other states who lost access to their data — are scrambling to police so-called ’double voters’ ahead of the presidential election in 2024,” Zach Montellaro reports. “In recent months, elections officials in Ohio — one of the states that led the flight from ERIC — and elsewhere have been quietly convening leaders from dozens of states to talk about ways they can still work together to try to catch double-voters.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | 5. CHURCH MEETS STATE: “Vivek Ramaswamy Leans Into His Hindu Faith to Court Christian Voters,” by NYT’s Ruth Graham: “The Republican candidate for president makes a pitch that the faiths have much in common, but for many religious conservatives, the difference is a hurdle.” 6. CHANGING THEIR TUNES: “They opposed the infrastructure law. Now, some in the GOP court its cash,” by WaPo’s Tony Romm: “Nearly two years after Congress finalized the first in a series of measures to improve the nation’s aging infrastructure and combat climate change, some of the GOP lawmakers who originally tried to scuttle the spending are now welcoming it. “They have privately courted newly available federal money to improve their local roads, bridges, pipes, ports and internet connections, and publicly celebrated when their cities and states have secured a portion of the aid. The dynamic has created some uncomfortable contrasts, since those same GOP lawmakers still maintain that President Biden’s legislative agenda has served as a drag on the nation’s economy, worsening inflation.” 7. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “China and the U.S., Still Adversaries, Are Talking. That’s a Start,” by NYT’s Alan Rappeport and Keith Bradsher in Beijing: “A meaningful easing of the economic tension may not be likely. Ms. Yellen headed back to Washington on Sunday with no announcements of breakthroughs or agreements to mend the persistent fissures between the two nations. And Ms. Yellen made clear that the Biden administration has serious concerns about many of China’s commercial practices, including its treatment of foreign companies, and policies that the United States views as efforts at economic coercion.” 8. BEYOND THE BELTWAY: “America Is Wrapped In Miles Of Toxic Lead Cables,” by WSJ’s Susan Pulliam, Shalini Ramachandran, John West, Coulter Jones and Thomas Gryta: “AT&T, Verizon and other telecom giants have left behind a sprawling network of cables covered in toxic lead that stretches across the U.S., under the water, in the soil and on poles overhead, a Wall Street Journal investigation found. As the lead degrades, it is ending up in places where Americans live, work and play.” 9. GUARDING THE GRAY LADY: “He Pushed the New York Times to Buy Wordle. Now He Has to Make Sports Work,” by WSJ’s Alexandra Bruell: “Will becoming a big player in sports-media, through the $550 million acquisition of the Athletic last year, pay off? [DAVID] PERPICH has become the publisher of the Athletic, and its fortunes could have a major bearing on his legacy as a proponent of innovation within the Times.”
| | | PLAYBOOKERS | | | SPOTTED: Donald Trump ringside with Dana White at UFC 290 in Las Vegas on Saturday night. IN MEMORIAM — “James F. Dobbins, Leading Authority on Nation Building, Dies at 81,” by NYT’s Clay Risen: “James F. Dobbins, an American diplomat whose career took him to Haiti, Afghanistan and many points in between, and who was both respected as a peace negotiator and widely regarded as the world’s leading authority on nation building, died on Monday in Washington. He was 81.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a celebration hosted by the Institute for Education Diplomatic Stewards in honor of IFE AI Steward and EU Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis at the Congressional Country Club yesterday: Swiss Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud, Belgian Ambassador Jean-Arthur Régibeau, Luxembourg Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian and Doug Bakshian, Latvian Ambassador Māris Selga, USTR Katherine Tai and Robert Skidmore, Steve and Amy Blanch Ricchetti, R. David and Jo Ke Edelman, Phoebe Kapouano, Matt Kaminski, Kathy “Coach” Kemper, Shaun and Laura Modi, Kelsey Kemper Valentine and Max Dickinson and Christina Kemper Valentine and Wyatt Meldman-Floch. — SPOTTED at Juleanna Glover’s Kalorama house for a book party yesterday evening celebrating Felix Salmon’s “The Phoenix Economy: Work, Life, and Money in the New Not Normal” ($26.49): Sara Fischer, Eric Lipton, Michael Schaffer, Cathy Merrill, Heather Podesta, Maryam Mujica, Byron Tau, Ryan Grim, Rachel Horn, Denise Couture, Kevin Chaffee, Maralee Schwartz, Ephrat Livni, Kathy O’Hearn, Nina Rees and Indira Lakshmanan. — SPOTTED at a birthday party for Eli Yokley at Garden District last night: Jeff Zeleny, Josh Dawsey, Caitlin Legacki, Guy Cecil, Evan Hollander, James Adams, Jeff Solnet, T.W. Arrighi, Michael Ahrens, Lauren Weber, Richard Walters, Evan Gillissie and Alex Tureman. — SPOTTED at a joint 40th birthday celebration for Tim Persico and Fiona Conroy at Dacha last night: Muthoni Wambu Kraal, Julie Merz, Adnaan Muslim, Courtney Fry, Leslie Martes, Garrett Arwa, Karen Defilippi, Marifer Zacarias, Alex Ball, Chelsea Brossard, Danny Kazin, Kory Kozloski, Kim Rogers, Daniel Barash and Bailey Childers. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … White House’s Jaclyn Gelfond and Jeff Wexler … DOT’s Mohsin Syed … David Wertime … Drew Hammill … Lauren Nunnally of the House Appropriations GOP … Alexa Vance of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s (R-Pa.) office … DNC’s Patrick Stevenson … Mollie Timmons of Rep. Morgan Griffith’s (R-Va.) office ... POLITICO’s Tracey Loos and Manuel Quinones … ABC’s Luke Barr … Patrick Steel … ACLU’s Anthony Romero … NBC’s Amanda Terkel … Sara Durr of the U.S. Conference of Mayors … Randi Reid of Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid … Brian Blase of Paragon Health Institute … AP’s Tom Beaumont … Danny Diaz of FP1 Strategies … Megan Ortiz of The Cohen Group (4-0) … former Reps. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) and Dave Camp (R-Mich.) (7-0) ... NYT’s Amy Fiscus … Caroline Scullin ... CNN’s Jeff Simon … Maria Lohmeyer … Emma Doyle … Floyd Abrams … Donna Imperato of BCW … Breaking Defense’s Jaspreet Gill Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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Augmented reality will help electrical lineworkers spot and repair problems in the power grid more quickly, helping communities get their lights back on faster after power outages.
The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real.
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