Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Vance touts an “A+++” economy

Vance touts an “A+++” economy

Dec 16, 2025

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THE CATCH-UP

BULLETIN: President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that he’ll be giving an address to the nation tomorrow night at 9 p.m. live from the White House. “I look forward to ‘seeing’ you then. It has been a great year for our Country, and THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”

Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at Uline Inc. in Allentown, Pa., Dec. 16, 2025.

Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at Uline Inc. in Allentown, Pa., Dec. 16, 2025. | Tom Brenner/The New York Times via AP

A TALE OF TWO SPEECHES: Where Trump delivered a rambling affordability address — which spanned 97 minutes — in Pennsylvania last week, VP JD Vance’s speech in the Lehigh Valley today was succinct, personal and on message. And it came at a pivotal moment where twin crises are playing out for the GOP on cost-of-living concerns: a perceived pocketbook problem for the White House and a health care cliff in Congress.

Capturing it best, POLITICO’s Irie Sentner asked Vance what grade he would give the U.S. economy. “A-plus-plus-plus,” Vance said, echoing Trump’s assessment from last week (though leaving off a few pluses). His comment drew applause and “USA” chants from the crowd.

Just Vance: The vice president delivered Trump’s message more punctually than Trump himself, laying out what he outlined as a series of economic wins this year while trying to turn the tables on Democrats for their outcry over the affordability crisis. “And you know what? They’re right — and it was because of them,” Vance said.

Despite the touting of the administration’s “incredible progress” on the economy, Vance acknowledged “that there's a lot more work to do.” He told the supporters in the working-class region that he was asking the American people for “a little bit of patience,” while promising that 2026 will be “the best tax season” for Pennsylvanians. “I’m telling you it’s gonna be true.”

Vance took to the stage just hours after a slate of long-awaited data on the economy was finally released — which exhibited a somewhat more complicated picture than the one Vance was trying to paint.

Data drop: New Labor Department numbers showed that the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent in November — the highest level in nearly four years — and the economy gained 64,000 jobs after losing 105,000 in October, mostly from federal government workers taking buyouts, POLITICO’s Sam Sutton and Victoria Guida report.

The asterisk: “The Bureau of Labor Statistics cautioned that ‘labor force estimates will have slightly higher variances than usual’ in November because of missing data. The government did not collect the real-time data necessary to calculate joblessness for October. Due to delays from the lengthy government shutdown, both the November jobs report and partial October data were not released until Tuesday.”

But any signs of further softening of the labor market are unlikely to be welcome news for the White House — especially in the middle of an all-important affordability tour as Republicans seek to solidify their gains with working-class swing voters. Responding to the jobs numbers, Vance remained positive, saying more people are looking for work.

Beyond the job market, spending also complicates the bigger picture of how voters are feeling. An NBC News poll shows a majority of U.S. adults (55 percent) said they’re preparing to spend less on holiday gifts this year. The administration is sticking by its message for voters to hold tight until 2026. “It’s gonna take a little bit of time before they really feel like that money’s been put back in their pockets,” Vance told the crowd.

The subsidy standoff: With Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, Vance kept to the White House’s standard line today, punting the responsibility to lawmakers: “Congress has got to step up here.” But he was also quick to blast the ACA as any kind of health care solution. “You know who hasn’t done well under the Obamacare system?” Vance said, “All of you.”

How it’s playing on the Hill: The party’s moderates — who yesterday signaled they are largely prepared to fall in line with Speaker Mike Johnson’s health care bill that does not extend the subsidies — issued their most passionate public disavowals of the GOP’s path forward yet.

“This is absolute bullshit,” Rep. Mike Lawler, a vulnerable incumbent Republican in New York, said after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans this morning, POLITICO’s Benjamin Guggenheim and Meredith Lee Hill report. “Failure of leadership,” Rep. Kevin Kiley, a vulnerable California Republican, told CNN’s Manu Raju.

What comes next: Johnson officially closed the door on a vote to extend the ACA subsidies, Meredith reports, citing divisions within the caucus. “We looked for a way to try to allow for that pressure release valve, and it just was not to be,” Johnson said at his presser. He told House Republicans tomorrow’s health care bill vote will go forward. Looking ahead to 2026, Johnson is previewing an “aggressive affordability agenda” for the GOP, per CNN’s Sarah Ferris, and he’s leaving the door open to a second sweeping reconciliation plan.

“There is nobody more impatient to solve the affordability crisis than President Donald J. Trump,” Vance declared back in Pennsylvania this morning.

Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Send us your thoughts at abianco@politico.com and rumansky-castro@politico.com.

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6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. VANITY AFFAIR: Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple is up with a must-read look at the inner circle of White House operators that revolve around Trump — complete with a spread of glossy photos featuring Wiles, Vance, Marco Rubio, Karoline Leavitt and others — focusing over two installments on chief of staff Susie Wiles, who granted 11 interviews with Whipple, the foremost chronicler of White House chiefs of staff. “Most senior White House officials parse their words and speak only on background,” Whipple writes. “But over many on-the-record conversations, Wiles answered almost every question I put to her.” Read part one … and part two

Over the course of the interviews, Wiles left nearly no topic untouched. She directly contradicted Trump’s efforts to tie former President Bill Clinton to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activity, saying the president “was wrong about that.” She said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until [Venezuelan leader Nicolas] Maduro cries uncle,” despite the administration’s official position that the strikes are focused on halting alleged drug-trafficking vessels. And she told Whipple that she doesn’t think Trump is “on a retribution tour” — though she said the case against New York AG Letitia James “might be the one retribution” and said “when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.”

And she had plenty to say about the most notable White House figures. She said Trump “has an alcoholic’s personality.” Of Vance, she said his conversion to Trump’s side was “sort of political” and that the VP has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade.” In a notable exchange, Whipple asked Wiles “what she thought of [Elon] Musk reposting a tweet about public sector workers killing millions under Hitler, Stalin, and Mao,” to which she replied: “I think that’s when he’s microdosing.”

The response: Wiles in an extremely rare post on X called Whipple’s reporting a “disingenuously framed hit piece.” In the post, she did not claim any of the quotes were false, saying only: “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.” However, in comments to NYT’s Peter Baker, Wiles was asked about her quote alleging that Musk was using drugs. “That’s ridiculous,” she told NYT. “I wouldn’t have said it and I wouldn’t know.” But Baker notes that “Whipple played a tape for The Times in which she could be heard saying it.”

Vance responds: Asked by WaPo’s Jacob Bogage to react to Whipple’s reporting and Wiles’ comments about him, Vance played them down: “Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true. And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that.” He defended Wiles, saying she is the same person in public as in private. “I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States,” he said.

Post-script: “Vanity Fair Goes to the White House: Trump 2.0 Edition,” by Vanity Fair editor Mark Guiducci: “‘Is this the part where you say we’re all evil?’ the vice president asked.”

2. ROCKING THE BOAT: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were on the Hill this morning for a briefing available to all members of Congress on the military buildup and strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. The headline news out of the briefing came from Hegseth, who told reporters that the Pentagon does not plan to make public the video of the controversial Sept. 2 “double-tap” strike — a decision that comes as the administration plans to show the video to members of the Armed Services committees. “Of course we're not going to release a top secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth said. Rubio said the administration would continue engaging Congress on its mission.

3. TRAIL MIX: Elon Musk is making good on his promises to pull some weight for the GOP in next year’s midterms. He’s already started funding some GOP House and Senate campaigns, Axios’ Alex Isenstadt reports. The move brings Musk back into the political fray, even after he recently lamented some of his politics-related woes on Katie Miller’s podcast. Though the exact amounts won’t be released until campaign finance reports drop next month, Musk “recently cut big checks to help Republicans win congressional races next year and indicated he'd give more throughout the 2026 cycle.”

First in Playbook — Endorsement watch: Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) is throwing his weight behind Carlos de la Cruz’s Republican bid for Texas’ redrawn 35th Congressional District, an endorsement that de la Cruz’s team is billing as the latest support from a growing list of Trump allies. “Carlos isn’t a career politician. He has the backbone to help President Trump confront the threats our country is facing. I’m proud to endorse him,” Gill said in a statement to Playbook.

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4. IMMIGRATION FILES: The Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown in Louisiana, dubbed the “Catahoula Crunch,” is “exposing stark divides in and around New Orleans that reflect broader national reactions to the administration’s immigration raids — and who should help enforce them,” WaPo’s Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports. “New Orleans is a ‘sanctuary city,’ where officials have historically refused to support federal immigration sweeps. But new state laws designed to penalize those who impede immigration enforcement could put officials and officers at risk if their departments don’t cooperate with federal operations.”

Bench busters: “Judges Are Getting Fired as Trump Pursues Immigration 'Purge,’” by Bloomberg’s Alicia Caldwell and Jimmy Jenkins: “Many of the cuts are in liberal areas, according to a labor union that has represented the judges. In New York, eight were recently terminated in a single day. At least one San Francisco judge was fired in the middle of a complicated asylum hearing. Those cuts were part of a culling of about 100 judges from the federal immigration bench, which began the year with around 700.”

For your radar: “Republicans are divided on Afghan immigrant policy after the National Guard shooting,” by NPR’s Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur

5. REPORT CARD: The Trump administration is restricting how many federal workers can receive top performance ratings, reaching agencies including the “Commerce, Justice, Energy and Interior departments as well as the General Services and Small Business administrations,” WaPo’s Jake Spring and Hannah Natanson report. Many experts say this action is illegal and can lead to staff being more easily fired. “Last week, a National Park Service official informed managers on a conference call that they should give 80 percent of their staff a rating of 3 out of 5, while only 1 to 5 percent should receive top marks, according to people with knowledge of the call.”

6. ONE YEAR IN: When Trump signed an executive order yesterday designating fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction,” it marked the 221st EO since he returned to office in January — a figure that surpasses the total number of EOs he signed during his entire first term, WaPo’s Emily Davies and colleagues report. “One-third of Trump’s executive orders have been explicitly challenged in court as of Dec. 12 … Almost a quarter of Trump’s executive orders have targeted trade or broader economic policy. Other major categories of executive orders include the U.S. DOGE Service and the federal bureaucracy; changes to the military and foreign policy; and issues related to race and culture.”

TALK OF THE TOWN

PUMP IT UP — There’s a friendly holiday decor competition going on in Rayburn’s 3rd floor hallway, but not just any decorations — inflatables, inspired by last year’s Santa Claws lobster at Rep. Chellie Pingree’s (D-Maine) office and Rep. Sara Jacobs’ (D-Calif.) office’s Hanukkah bear. Pic … Another pic

TRUMP CLAUSE? — Speaking in Pennsylvania, VP JD Vance told a story about a meeting with Donald Trump a week ago in the Oval Office, where Trump told Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “You guys have terrible shoes.” Trump got out his shoe catalogue and ordered four pairs of his favorite shoes for Vance and Rubio. “Then we went back to talking about whatever major international issue we were talking about,” Vance said.

SPOTTED dining at Pastis last night: Brian Christine, Jim O’Neill, Bishop Robert Barron, Vince Haley, Andrew Guernsey, Natalie Dodson, Samantha Ottimo, Joseph Proenza, West Cuthbert and Steve Grunow.

OUT AND ABOUT — Independent Women hosted a “Champion Women” event at Capitol Hill Club yesterday, featuring special guest speaker House Conference Chair Lisa McClain. SPOTTED: Carrie Lukas, Amber Schwartz, Andi Bottner, Machalagh Carr, Ashley Callen, Lisa Mortier, Charmaine Yoest, Kaya Singleton, Missy Foxman, Patrice Onwuka and Gabriella Hoffman.

TRANSITION — Martin Johnson has joined Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies as a principal. He previously worked for the Virginia Association of REALTORS.

ENGAGED — Paxton Harmon, a political consultant with Push Digital Group, and Emma Goetz, a financial adviser, recently got engaged in Salzburg, Austria. Pic

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Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misstated Dan Martini's new job title. He is now head of U.S. federal government relations at eBay.