| | | |  | | By Ali Bianco | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
Republicans’ unity is already being tested once again as the bucket of to-do’s on the Hill spills back into full view. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS: As the swamp populates once again with the return of Congress after the August recess, not a moment has been wasted. Republicans’ unity is already being tested once again as the bucket of to-do’s on the Hill spills back into full view. And over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, President Donald Trump and his administration are beating back the swirling rumors about his deteriorating health with a step back into the spotlight. Today at 2 p.m.: Trump will announce the location of the U.S. Space Command headquarters, which will move from Colorado to Alabama, POLITICO’s Connor O'Brien reports. The decision quashes a long-running fight between the two states, which squabbled over the location and its economic impacts. It also reverses a decision that former President Joe Biden made to not relocate the HQ and reinstates a decision Trump made toward the end of his first term. Also at 2 p.m.: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) will file a discharge petition that he has been discussing to then start collecting signatures that could force a vote calling for the Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. It’s the latest illustration of the still-divided factions of the GOP as we dive into September, after months of the Trump administration’s attempts to divert the Epstein conversation have proven largely unsuccessful. The House Oversight Committee leadership and a bipartisan group of House members are meeting this afternoon with some of Epstein’s survivors. And House GOP leaders posted a separate vote that will direct Oversight to “continue its ongoing investigation,” a move Massie called “meaningless.” More on the Epstein moves from POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Hailey Fuchs It’s also far from the only thing on the agenda that’s splintering Congress. Hill Republicans are staring down a looming shutdown deadline just weeks away — and divisions that could lead to a stalemate are already materializing. The rescissions roil: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wrote on X today that the White House’s move to cancel billions in federal grants last week could threaten appropriations and “risk throwing the entire process into chaos.” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Murkowski have both argued that the White House’s pocket rescissions are illegal, POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus notes. What else: There’s still a push from some of the GOP’s hardliners for a second big tax and spending cuts bill, which is an uphill battle as Bloomberg’s Caitlin Reilly breaks down. And the backlog of Trump’s nominees and stock trading ban legislation also loom. But September is the big sprint to seal the deal on some of the GOP’s biggest selling points as attention turns to 2026. Coming off a month of on-the-ground and local drives to push messaging on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — or, the Working Family Tax Cuts as the GOP has branded it — this fall “the battle lines are being redrawn literally and figuratively,” NBC’s Sahil Kapur writes this morning. Next year’s midterms are already on track to be the most expensive on record with a total of $10.8 billion spent on ads, up 20 percent from 2022, and that’s including a surge of early spending tracked in the latest totals from AdImpact, per CNBC. The headwinds: Republicans’ deliverance of the no tax on overtime pay policy may not provide the kind of economic cushion that many voters will be looking for, CNN’s Tami Luhby writes. The importance of nailing that messaging for the GOP also comes as GOP insiders and lawmakers are seeing the midterms as a bigger litmus test on the economy, with more strategists pushing Republicans to focus on inflation and cost of living, Axios’ Alex Isenstadt reports. The wind in their sails: The demographics of the MAGA movement may also be evolving, as WaPo’s Jesus Rodriguez captures in this must read on the perspectives of young, Black conservatives “vying for status and influence in the aftermath of an election in which Trump, long seen as an avatar of the White working class, returned to power on the strength of a more diverse coalition. This has inspired a new and hopeful belief on the right: that Trumpism is now youthful, sexy, multiracial. And fun.” Good Tuesday afternoon. Playbook PM is back after our own short August break. Are you a strategist or Hill staffer preparing for September’s chaos? Reach out at abianco@politico.com.
| | | | A message from Booz Allen: Booz Allen tech keeps America's military ahead of our adversaries. We're bringing the power of AI to the battlefield so our nation's warfighters can get the job done smarter and faster. It's in our code. Learn more. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN: A federal judge in D.C. ruled today that Trump’s use of National Guard troops to perform police functions in Los Angeles is illegal, halting the Defense Department from using military officers to act as police by performing arrests and conducting crowd control. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said in his ruling that Trump appears intent on “creating a national police force with the President as its chief,” POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein write. It’s a decision that could ripple out as Trump considers sending troops into other major cities, like Chicago (which Trump has been posting about on Truth Social this morning). Read the 52-page ruling On the move: Illinois officials received notice that ICE will start its enforcement operations in Chicago “later this week,” per the state’s Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, via CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez. And down in Texas, ICE has started requiring parents looking to be reunited with their children in the U.S. to show up for in-person interviews with immigration officers, a move that advocates fear may become a “built-in opportunity” to arrest them, AP’s Valerie Gonzalez reports. The hiring frenzy: An ICE career expo in Texas brought together descendents of Mexican immigrants, former MMA fighters and college students as they vied for a chance to join the agency during its recruitment drive. WaPo’s Robert Klemko captures the scene and how the agency has drawn in hundreds of thousands of applications from people looking to “defend the homeland.” How it’s all playing: “These Trump voters back his immigration crackdown, but some worry about his methods,” by Reuters’ Julia Harte 2. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — All eyes on 2025: Tomorrow at 3 p.m., Rahm Emanuel, the former ambassador and Chicago mayor, will stump for Democratic nominee James Walkinshaw at an affordable housing roundtable in Fairfax, along with other state officials ahead of the special election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District next Tuesday. It’s part of Walkinshaw’s push in the final stretch before Sept. 9 to represent the seat held by the late Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly. Redistricting rodeo: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a flurry of new ads selling the proposal to redraw the state’s map — which goes to a vote this November, POLITICO’s Melanie Mason reports. “This is a shock and awe approach,” Sean Clegg, a senior Newsom strategist, told Melanie. Over in the Keystone State: Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti officially launched a campaign today to unseat Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) in the House next year, per POLITICO’s Greg Svirnovskiy. Watch the launch video 3. THE NEW WORLD ORDER: The deepening of ties between Russia and China is growing as the two countries signaled today that they’re closer to a deal on a natural gas pipeline that will funnel Russian oil into China, though core terms remain undetermined, WSJ’s Georgi Kantchev reports. The restrictions on Russian exports over the war in Ukraine have “pushed Moscow and Beijing into each other’s arms.” Though China remains with the upper hand, it’s a massive diplomatic win for Putin, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing today and lauded him as an “old friend,” per Bloomberg. Looking to Asia: China is set to host its extravagant military parade tomorrow, where Xi will no doubt look to flex his diplomatic muscle and flaunt China’s superpower status in front of 20 world leaders including Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. More from Reuters’ Laurie Chen Mood music: “Eighty years after WWII’s end, the consensus it forged is crumbling,” by WaPo’s Naftali Bendavid: “On Sept. 2, 1945, Japanese envoys surrendered aboard the USS Missouri, launching an era of alliances and free trade. Now memories of the war are fading — and so is the consensus on how to avoid a repeat.” 4. JUSTICE WATCH: As the Trump administration continues to face several high stakes legal challenges amid sweeping moves pushing the limits of Trump’s presidential power, NYT’s Maggie Haberman and colleagues explore how these legal punches are shaped by White House counsel David Warrington. “In an interview, the White House counsel described his role as informing the president about the legal landscape and providing guidance about potential consequences, including ways to reduce risks — but not making decisions for Mr. Trump.” Said Chris LaCivita: “Dave’s very straight to the point. But Dave also doesn’t lead with the answer, ‘No.’ Instead, it’s, ‘Let’s figure out what is in the art of the possible.’” Rise of the resistance: Though much of the pushback to Trump’s moves since he retook the Oval Office have fallen flat, “One exception has stood out: A legal resistance led by a patchwork coalition of lawyers, public-interest groups, Democratic state attorneys general, and unions has frustrated Trump’s ambitions,” The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer writes. Meanwhile on the DOJ: “A DOJ lawyer accused Harvard of ‘indifference to antisemitism.’ As a Harvard undergrad he wrote a paper from Hitler’s perspective,” by The Boston Globe’s Hilary Burns and Tal Kopan
| | | | Playbook goes beyond the newsletter — with powerhouse co-hosts at the mic. Join Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns every weekday on The Playbook Podcast for exclusive intel and sharp analysis on Trump’s Washington. Start listening now. | | | | | 5. WAR AND PEACE: Ukraine is pushing for a weapons stockpile of several billion dollars funded by Europe as an end to the war with Russia appears further out of reach, NYT’s Constant Méheut reports from Kyiv. With NATO buying U.S. weapons for Ukraine and Kyiv doubling down on defense production, it's still not clear how much ammo will be enough. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance is working on preventing a repeat of this weekend’s Russian flight jamming, per AP. Middle East latest: The number of countries gearing up to recognize Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly meeting this month is expanding, with Belgium becoming the latest to join the effort, per NYT’s Jeanna Smialek. … Emergency aid teams have been searching for survivors today after the deadly earthquake in Afghanistan killed over 1,400 people and destroyed 8,000 homes, NYT’s Elian Peltier reports. 6. FEELING THE HEAT: Over 85 climate scientists criticized the Trump administration’s recent report that downplays the threat of climate change, stating the report is full of errors and misrepresentation of facts and rejects to scientific consensus, ahead of the closure of the public comment period on the report, NYT’s Lisa Friedman and Sachi Kitajima Mulkey report. The report’s researchers, selected by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, acknowledged that Earth is getting hotter but said the threat is “less damaging economically than commonly believed.” 7. A TRIAL TRUMP IS WATCHING: “How Jair Bolsonaro Tried, and Failed, to Stage a Coup in Brazil,” by NYT’s Ana Ionova: “Bolsonaro, who denies plotting to kill [Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva], will stand trial on Tuesday before Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges that he oversaw a sweeping plan to cling to power in a case many see as a crucial test of the country’s young democracy. With a vast trove of prosecutorial evidence, most analysts say he is almost certain to be found guilty and could face decades in prison. To piece together the case against Mr. Bolsonaro, The New York Times reviewed dozens of hours of testimony and hundreds of pages of police and prosecution documents from an investigation spanning nearly two years.” 8. MUSK READ: Elon Musk has touted his AI chatbot, Grok, as a tool that will be “politically neutral” and “maximally truth seeking” — but Musk and his xAI team “have tweaked the chatbot to make its answers more conservative on many issues, according to an analysis of thousands of its responses by The New York Times.” The answers at times reflect Musk’s personal political views. NYT’s Stuart Thompson and colleagues tested Grok and found that its answers shifted to the right for more than half the questions from May to early July. However, some answers did shift left, “exposing the potential limits Mr. Musk faces in altering Grok’s behavior.”
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| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Stephen A. Smith is launching a “live politics-focused radio show on the SiriusXM POTUS channel called ‘Straight Shooter with Stephen A. Smith,’” per WaPo. Donald Trump’s portrait is now the profile picture for The White House on LinkedIn. Cory Gardner announced today he’s stepping down as chair of the Senate Leadership Fund. MEDIA MOVES — Jimmy Jenkins is now a legal reporter at Bloomberg News. He previously was a criminal justice reporter at The Arizona Republic. … Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, and his research partner Zach Rausch are joining The Free Press as contributors. TRANSITIONS — Helen Dwight is joining the Picard Group as senior director of health policy. She previously was senior director of federal government affairs at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. and is an AstraZeneca alum. … Kate Steel is now SVP of NRECA International. She most recently served as co-founder and CEO of Nithio. … Rees Empey is joining the Pacific Legal Foundation as state policy manager. He joins from the Libertas Institute, where he directed government affairs. … Vianovo is bringing on John Wittman as partner and Sam Taylor as SVP in the firm’s office in Austin. Wittman most recently was a partner at Plus Communications and Taylor was Plus Communications’ managing director of public affairs. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Corrections: The Aug. 22 Playbook PM misstated the timeline for E.J. Antoni’s nomination as director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also misstated Vladimir Putin’s title. He is president of Russia. | | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts — set the pace. POLITICO Pro’s Policy Intelligence Assistant combines unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver sharper insights, faster answers, and two powerful report builders that turn intelligence into impact. Try it free for 30 days. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
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