| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine, Ali Bianco and Rachel Umansky-Castro Today on the Playbook Podcast: Jack and Megan Messerly pick through President Donald Trump’s address to the nation last night.
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| Good Thursday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. FOR YOUR RADAR: There’s lots of potentially meaty policy stuff coming out of the administration today, which looks certain to drive news. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a news conference at 11 a.m. to "announce actions to protect children from harmful medical interventions," which sounds like it could be a BFD … Trump is signing an executive order at 1:30 p.m., which may well be the reclassification of marijauna, per CNN’s reporting earlier this week … And at 6 p.m., he’s signing the annual defense spending bill in the Oval Office, which should be a good chance for him to discuss matters of war and peace. BUT FIRST — A FOND FAREWELL: After nearly two decades as a staple of Beltway life, today we bid adieu to the POLITICO print newspaper. It’s a bittersweet moment for us all. Your Playbook author is old enough to be steeped in newspaper lore; from a paperboy gig at the age of 12 through more than a decade writing for treasured newspapers at local and national level around the U.K. Much as I love this wonderful newsletter, there is still few journalistic thrills greater than seeing your byline on a freshly printed front page, and literally lifting it hot off the press. This morning we pay homage to the great Bill Kuchman, who has helmed the POLITICO newspaper for more than a decade. Big props, too, to the rest of the team on the final edition, including Sushant Sagar, Andy Goodwin, Claudine Hellmuth and Fernando Rodas. The legendary Matt Wuerker even sketched a special cartoon. Thank you all. See the final front page … Flip through the digital edition … Read Bill’s send-off to the paper on Bluesky In today’s Playbook … — Did you watch? Trump gatecrashes “Survivor” with 20-minute political nothingburger. — More missile strikes in the Caribbean as Trump touts Venezuelan oil to energy firms. — And MAGA world descends on Phoenix for AmericaFest … with the Epstein files looming.
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President Donald Trump speaks during his primetime address from the White House on Wednesday. | Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool | TRUMP ADDRESSES THE NATION: Well, now we know what the White House wants him to say. The televised address Trump delivered to the nation last night was as good as it’s going to get for Susie Wiles and the other White House aides who’ve been pleading with the president to lead a Republican charge on the cost of living. This was essentially the scripted speech Trump is meant to be giving on his so-called affordability tour, which kicked off in Pennsylvania last week and moves on to North Carolina tomorrow. We heard the same stats last night about rising wages that we heard last week at Mount Pocono. We saw the same White House charts comparing prices with the Biden era. (Though only if you were watching on Fox News. The other channels refused to run them, per CNN’s Brian Stelter). We heard the same lines about the price of a Thanksgiving turkey. But this speech was barely 19 minutes long, not the 97 minutes he delivered in Pennsylvania. There were no oddball diversions about Karoline Leavitt’s lips or Rep. Ilhan Omar’s brother. There was no mention of affordability being a hoax. And there was no advice for Americans to just suck it up and buy fewer gifts for their kids. Instead, Trump gave us the greatest hits of his first year back in office — his “Spotify Wrapped for 2025,” as POLITICO’s Megan Messerly puts it neatly on this morning’s Playbook Podcast. Trump laid out just how disastrous things had been, in his telling, under President Joe Biden. And he explained how much better things have gotten after 11 months of Trump 2.0. The risk of seizing a primetime TV slot for such basic political messaging is obvious. With no big policy to announce — beyond a holiday bonus for the military — the whole thing might come across to some as a nothingburger; especially given Tucker Carlson had just told everyone Trump was about to declare war on Venezuela. “Survivor” fans weren’t happy at the interruption. And networks may be inclined to refuse the next one, as they did on occasions when Biden or Barack Obama got too political. But the White House went ahead anyway. Susie told me I had to address the nation, Trump told those watching in-person in the Diplomatic Room, per a White House pool report that paraphrased his exact words. And we all know why. The Democrats’ message on the cost of living is cutting through. You only have to look at the election results of the past couple months. You only have to look at the panicking GOP moderates siding with Hakeem Jeffries on Obamacare yesterday. (That subsidies vote is now set for next month, per Inside Congress.) Wiles was mainly pleased Trump didn't veer off course. “I told you 20 minutes,” she told the president afterward, per the pool report. “And you were 20 minutes on the dot.” You can see why the White House likes this format. This speech was the opposite of Trump unleashed. The time constraints of a primetime address — every major network paused their programming to show it — meant even Trump knew he couldn’t go off-script. This was as on-message as the president is ever going to get. But was it enough to change the narrative? Probably not. It wasn’t his best performance, the ticking clock seeming to play on the president’s mind. He rushed through it. As a result, he came across a little shouty, and the whole thing lacked the humor and the charm Trump can offer up at his best. More importantly, this was still just a concise version of the half-angry, half-triumphant message Trump has given us through the second half of this year. “The price of eggs is down 82 percent since March, and everything else is falling rapidly,” Trump bragged. “It's not done yet, but boy are we making progress. Nobody can believe what’s going on!” There was little empathy that things are really hard right now for millions of Americans and no plea to stick with him through the tough times while he finishes the job. If this is the best Trump can muster, he’d better hope the economy picks up fast in 2026.
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Learn more. | | | | So how did it land? Obviously, the Trump cheerleaders loved it, and obviously, the Trump-haters hated it. What about the Trump-critical right? “That was perhaps the most pointless primetime presidential address ever delivered in American history,” wrote the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. “What the hell did we just watch? I'm flummoxed,” asked conservative Christian talk show host Erick Erickson. You’ve no doubt already made up your own mind. A quick note on the stats: We’ve all been watching Trump make speeches for a decade now, so we’re all well used to his … quirks. But when the U.S. president addresses the nation on primetime TV and delivers a barrage of wildly exaggerated stats, it’s still incumbent on the media to point it out. And of course, that’s what happened. Trump has not brought in “$18 trillion” of investment. Crime was not at “record levels” under Biden. Inflation was not “the worst in 48 years” when he took office. There are extensive fact checks on all of the above and more from NYT, CNN and AP. REALITY CHECK: Helpfully, November’s Consumer Price Index will be released at 8:30 a.m this morning, giving us some real-world insight into Trump’s “rapidly falling” prices. It will likely show inflation remains stuck around 3 percent — just as it was in January, when Trump came to power. It may be a little more, it may be a little less; but we’re roughly ending the year where we started. This fundamental truth was not conveyed in last night’s address. POLL POSITION: The good news for Trump is he’s not alone in this fix. Our international POLITICO Poll out this morning shows leaders across the Western world facing the same battle, with disenchanted voters struggling to make ends meet. In the U.S., nearly two-thirds of voters — 65 percent — say the cost of living in the country has gotten worse over the last year. But in the U.K., the figure is 77 percent. In Germany, 78 percent. In Canada, 79 percent. And in France, 82 percent. Suddenly, America doesn’t look so bad. The truth is that the post-pandemic spike in prices — combined, for some countries, with a Ukraine-fueled spike in energy costs — has made millions of people everywhere feel permanently poorer. Inflation has long since returned to normal, but those sky-high prices for the most part never came down. And the political repercussions of that will continue to play out all over the world, for some years yet to come. This is only the start. Read the full report, via POLITICO’s Erin Doherty
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| | | | WAR AND PEACE ROCKING THE BOAT: Trump did not declare war on Venezuela last night — but the brinksmanship is growing, with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro announcing yesterday the country’s navy will be escorting oil tankers in the Caribbean following Trump’s “blockade” declaration. These latest steps appear to set Trump and Maduro on an even deeper collision course, NYT’s Edward Wong and colleagues write. It’s all about the oil: The White House is asking oil companies if they’re open to returning to Venezuela if Maduro is successfully ousted, POLITICO’s Ben Lefebvre, Sophia Cai and James Bikales scoop. The answer so far? Hard pass. Companies are finding more attractive opportunities elsewhere. But it’s one of the clearest signs yet that the administration is laying the groundwork for a post-Maduro future, and that oil is part of the broader calculation. The strikes continue: Southern Command announced four more dead after yet another missile strike on alleged drug smugglers was conducted yesterday in the Pacific Ocean. The total body count for U.S. strikes is now nearing 100 people. The end game: Trump’s plan is to isolate Maduro through incremental pressure tactics rather than embark on a major operation inside the country — though the ultimate goal remains the same: toppling Maduro from power, POLITICO’s Eli Stokols, Diana Nerozzi and Nahal Toosi report in a must-read look at the moving parts of Trump’s pressure campaign. “The regime survives on three things: oil trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal gold trafficking. They’ve hit all three,” one person close to the administration said. “I don’t see how they survive.” Coming attractions? Trump’s allies are pushing for Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado to make a pit stop at the White House, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Burgess Everett report. Machado seems to know the way to Trump’s heart: she wants to “present” Trump with her Nobel medal, per Semafor. UKRAINE ON THE BRAIN: There’s a big moment looming today in the other major conflict occupying Trump’s mind. Ukraine’s top allies are locked in an EU leaders summit in Brussels this morning to determine whether the war-torn country gets a crucial — if highly controversial — financial lifeline the EU has been dangling for months. Europe’s biggest players are arguing over whether to seize vast Russian assets held by financial institutions in Belgium and deploy them as financial aid to Ukraine. The plan is highly contentious, given the unclear legalities, and there are deep splits over whether to proceed. POLITICO’s Gregorio Sorgi and Zoya Sheftalovich write how the contours of a potential compromise plan started to form overnight — though skepticism remains on whether the opposing sides can come together. But it’s a crucial opportunity for Europe to bring itself back into the diplomatic game, having been repeatedly bashed by Trump for its indecision. Next steps: U.S. and Russian officials are slated to meet in Miami over the weekend to discuss the latest peace terms agreed with Ukraine, POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz and Paul McLeary scooped. The talks will come after Russian President Vladimir Putin — who continues to threaten taking Ukraine by force — holds his annual end-of-year marathon news conference tomorrow. Keep a close eye on that.
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| | | | HOT ON THE RIGHT PHOENIX RISING: Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest kicks off today in Arizona, with a who’s who of MAGA world descending on Phoenix to fill out the high-profile lineup. Top names include VP JD Vance, Erika Kirk, Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Jr. The four-day event, which comes months after the killing of Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk, should offer a fascinating snapshot of the state of the modern right. Despite Republican dominance of Washington, the deep fractures within the MAGA movement are sure to show up through the weekend. Carlson and Fuentes: White nationalist Nick Fuentes’ interview with Carlson earlier this year is still causing upheaval in the conservative world. Two more Heritage Foundation board members resigned this week, with one warning that “no institution that hesitates to condemn antisemitism and hatred” can claim moral authority, per The Hill. The debate has shifted from the initial scope of the interview to a broader argument over whether the right draws limits at all. Carlson is set to speak at AmFest tonight; Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts is listed among the sponsors of the event. Kirk vs. Owens: Erika Kirk and Candace Owens finally sat down for talks this week after a monthslong public spat over Owens’ wild conspiracy claims surrounding Charlie Kirk’s killing. Both called the meeting “productive.” But Owens has since doubled down, telling Piers Morgan she will keep asking questions about Kirk’s killing because “we should investigate everything strange that happened on that day.” Kirk has called the speculation “sick” and urged Owens to stop. EPSTEIN UNSEALED: All of this unfolds as the clock ticks down to the congressionally mandated release of the Epstein files, which the Department of Justice is due to release tomorrow. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who pushed the law over the finish line along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), warned that DOJ officials could face legal consequences or congressional scrutiny if they fail to comply, NBC’s Ryan Nobles and Dareh Gregorian report. THE NEW MAGA MEDIA STARS: Fox News Media and OutKick signed a multiyear deal with former college swimmer turned conservative activist Riley Gaines to relaunch her show as “The Riley Gaines Show” in January, expanding beyond sports into broader politics and culture, per The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin. And Salem Radio Network will split the noon-3 p.m. slot previously held by Charlie Kirk’s show between Breitbart News' editor-in-chief Alex Marlow and CNN commentator Scott Jennings, starting Jan. 5, a move that vaults both into one of conservative media’s most powerful hours, Axios’ Tal Axelrod scooped.
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Explore our ongoing work. | | | | BEST OF THE REST FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — How the left responds to Bondi Beach: Following the mass shooting that targeted Jews in Sydney last week, Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are introducing the “Antisemitism Response and Prevention Act.” The lawmakers say their bill “upholds and celebrates progressive values” while declaring that “those aligned with the current Israeli government do not enjoy a monopoly over the fight against antisemitism.” Read the bill IMMIGRATION FILES: “Trump Administration Aims to Strip More Foreign-Born Americans of Citizenship,” by NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz: “The Trump administration plans to ramp up efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their citizenship,” the NYT reports. “Guidance, issued on Tuesday to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices, asks that they ‘supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month’ in the 2026 fiscal year.” M4A RIDES AGAIN: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is set on bringing the Medicare For All push back into the health care debate, with plans to present polling to Democratic colleagues in the House on how the policy could help flip key battleground districts next year, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider scoops this morning. The research found that “one in five Republicans support a ‘government-provided system,’ as do most independents. Democrats back Medicare for All by 90 percent.” EYES ON THE SKIES: The government is admitting responsibility for the Jan. 29 midair collision over Reagan National Airport, acknowledging in late-night court filings that the Army helicopter crew “failed to see and avoid the American Airlines regional jet” and that air traffic controllers failed to “alert the jet of the approaching helicopter,” WaPo’s Tara Copp and colleagues report. The filing opens the door to settlements for the families of the 67 people killed. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ad it up: The Interfaith Alliance is launching a six-figure TV and digital holiday ad campaign, titled “Choose Love Not ICE,” targeting markets that have seen increased immigration enforcement. The $300,000 campaign also includes targeted buys on Fox News in the West Palm Beach market, intending to reach the Mar-a-Lago airwaves. Watch the ad ISSACMAN IS IN: “Second-time NASA nominee confirmed to lead space agency,” by POLITICO’s Audrey Decker: “The Senate on Wednesday approved Jared Isaacman for the top job at NASA — an unprecedented comeback after President Donald Trump yanked his nomination this spring.”
| | | | Sponsored Survey WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Please take a 1-minute survey about one of our advertising partners. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER: WHITE HOUSE EDITION — Trump’s trolling of presidents past got a fresh update yesterday with new decorative plaques added to his “Presidential Walk of Fame” written in the stylings of his own Truth Social posts. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Bowser names Jeffery Carroll new D.C. interim police chief,” by WaPo’s Emma Uber: “Carroll, a 23-year veteran of the department, is one of two executive assistant chiefs. He was tasked with leading the relationship between D.C. police and their federal partners during the law enforcement surge first ordered in August by President Donald Trump.” IN MEMORIAM — “Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Peter Arnett, who reported on the Vietnam and Gulf wars, has died,” by AP: “Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq, has died at 91. Arnett, who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his Vietnam War coverage for The Associated Press, died Wednesday in Newport Beach and was surrounded by friends and family. … He became something of a household name in 1991 … after he broadcast live updates for CNN from Iraq during the first Gulf War.” OUT AND ABOUT — Semafor hosted a media holiday party at its NYC HQ on Tuesday night with light bites and cocktails by Purslane. SPOTTED: Justin Smith, Ben Smith, Max Tani, Liz Hoffman, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Michael Barbaro, Cesar Conde, Joe Weisenthal, Jonathan Lemire, Andrew Epstein, David Haskell, Katie Drummond, Jodi Kantor, Hillary Frey, Jim Rutenberg, Felix Salmon, Whitney Snyder, Katie Robertson, Foster Kamer, Lydia Polgreen, Mohammed Hadi, Josh Billinson, Rohan Goswami, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Nayeema Raza, Kyle Margolis and Myles Udland. — Qorvis toasted the season last night with a Swiss-American soirée at Stable on H Street, where media, diplomats, and insiders gathered for raclette and holiday cheer, an homage to Qorvis’ deep ties to Switzerland. SPOTTED: Matt Lauer, Samantha Sault, Brad Klapper, Grace Fenstermaker, Dan Rene, Maria Jose Abad, Peter Pham, Robert Wood, Alana Austin, Amanda Head, John Willding, Pablo Manriquez, Victor Shiblie and Marie Smeallie. — The Congressional Musicians Caucus hosted its “Off the Record” reception Tuesday evening in the Ways & Means Committee room, bringing together lawmakers and leaders from across the music community. Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) took the spotlight, playing guitar and singing for attendees. SPOTTED: Reps. Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Mark Messmer (R-Ind.), Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Don Davis (D-N.C.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Brandon Gill (R-Texas), George Whitesides (D-Calif.), Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) and Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.). TRANSITIONS — Sam Nienow, Alex Joyner and Steve Allbrooks are joining Rep. Matt Van Epps’ (R-Tenn.) office. Nienow, who worked for former Rep. Mark Green, will be chief of staff. Joyner, who was Van Epps’ campaign manager, is now a senior adviser. Allbrooks, a Green and Marsha Blackburn alum, joins as district director. … Laura Lott is now executive director of the National Art Education Association. She previously worked at the National Gallery of Art. ENGAGED — Powers Trigg, external affairs manager in the Office of the Vice President, and Katherine Kaye, an associate director in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, got engaged in Georgetown on Dec. 6. They met in Des Moines while working the Iowa caucus in 2023. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — David Pasch of Narrative Strategies and Danielle Pasch welcomed Carly Shoshana Pasch on Dec. 11. She joins big sister Hannah and big brother Wolf. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) … Randi Weingarten … Brookings’ Cecilia Rouse … Matt Schlapp … Jennifer Scoggins Hanks … Jeanne Cummings … WSJ’s Andrew Restuccia … Robb Watters of the Madison Group … CNN’s Rachel Streitfeld and Ali Main … Liz Halloran … 515 Group’s Mike Thom … Paul Windsor of Windsor Digital Media … Rich Luchette … Philip Bennett of Rep. Summer Lee’s (D-Pa.) office … Danielle Moon … Naomi Lake of Rep. Chuy García’s (D-Ill.) office … WilmerHale’s Alyssa DaCunha … Noelle Britton of Rep. Lloyd Smucker’s (R-Pa.) office … Jim Carter of Navigators Global … Morning Consult’s John Leer … Wes Coulam … Frank Coleman … Elissa Dodge of Sable Strategy … Noam Neusner … former Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.) … Dov Zakheim … Matthew Ceja … POLITICO’s Eric Millinder, Grace Strmecki and Edward Klump … Aamra Ahmad … Adam Wilczewski … Nick Geale … Sean Themea of Young Americans for Liberty … MS NOW’s Katherine Santoro … Bridget Visconti … Miguel Arreola … Ryan Radford 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 deputy editor Garrett Ross. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook misstated the state Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford represents. It is Nevada. | | | | 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 | Canada Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
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