Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: POLITICO Playbook: The complicated business of divided government

POLITICO Playbook: The complicated business of divided government

May 28, 2020

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By Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman

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DRIVING THE DAY

IT MAY BE EASY TO FORGET amid this pandemic that has killed 100,000 of our fellow Americans, but there's a big, complicated country that needs to be run. Critical programs expire. Funding runs dry. Policies need reconsideration. Votes need casting.

AND FOR EIGHT OF THE LAST 10 years, the United States has voted for an uneasy power-sharing agreement in which Republicans and Democrats both had roughly equal claim to a governing mandate. And the result? Those programs have expired. Funding has run dry. Those policies that need reconsideration have not gotten their due attention. Politics has turned so virulent and acidic -- so caked in mud -- that doing one's job is a career liability instead of a prerequisite for reelection.

FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS, we've had a president who changes his mind more frequently than some work-from-home employees change their clothes.

AND NOW, as if steering a nation weren't challenging enough, the governing gods decided our elected officials need to do all of this in an era where breathing the wrong particle of air could quite literally be lethal.

AND THAT'S WHAT LEADS US TO TODAY, this Thursday morning, May 28, 2020, 159 days before Election Day.

TWO NIGHTS AGO, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP said that he didn't like a key surveillance law that officials have said is crucial to keeping Americans safe. Yes, that one -- FISA -- a renewal of which lawmakers in both parties had been molding into shape for some weeks.

SO, HE TWEETED IT on Tuesday night. Kill it, he said. And his party quickly fell in line. The White House started telling its allies to build opposition. The House Republican leadership began whipping against it. The Trump machinery started to hum.

BY WEDNESDAY MORNING, PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS -- long skeptical of the law -- got in on the fun, and said they'd vote against it too. And a right-left coalition against the FISA renewal was born.

SURE, CALL IT A WIN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE if you want. But a "win" means you scored more points than the other team and have the opportunity to advance to a subsequent round where you have a plan to do it again. It's not clear to the White House what their plan is, because TRUMP is looking for some amorphous explanation about spying that he believes occurred in 2016 in exchange for his support for the law.

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI -- who, like Senate Majority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL, can usually squeeze an intricate bill through a tortured chamber -- doesn't have a ton of options here. She could dare Republicans and progressive Democrats to vote no. She could continue to whip. Or she could enter into a formal negotiating process with the Senate -- a conference committee -- where a compromise might or might not be reached. More from Sarah Ferris, John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle

EVEN SO, LAWMAKERS -- many of whom are 60 and over -- are sick of being in Washington, which is one of the nation's epicenters for the coronavirus. Seventy-six Democrats sent a letter to the clerk of the House this week granting their vote to someone else. Many said they were physically unable to be in D.C. because of the disease -- rightfully fearful of getting on a plane and hanging out in the petri dish that is Capitol Hill.

BUT EVEN THAT -- the proxy voting system meant to allow lawmakers to stay at home -- has become toxic. House Republicans are suing over it and call it a power grab by the opposition party. History -- John Bresnahan and Sarah Ferris: "House takes historic plunge with first proxy votes"

Good Thursday morning. CALLING ALL CHINA WATCHERS: The trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship will determine whether this century is judged a bright or a dismal one. Today POLITICO's David Wertime launches a new China newsletter that will be worth the read. Sign up

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HERE ARE A FEW NEW NUGGETS to get you going this morning:

… THE PRESIDENT will sign an executive order today looking to smack down on social media companies. The order was being written and rewritten Wednesday night, but we were told it is going to be quite pointed. WAPO says the order "could roll back the immunity that tech giants have for the content on their sites." Nancy Scola on how Covid-19 led Twitter to fact-check Trump

… FACEBOOK'S MARK ZUCKERBERG told Fox News' DANA PERINO that he disagrees with Twitter fact-checking TRUMP. ZUCKERBERG: "We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this. You know, I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online. I think in general, private companies probably shouldn't be or especially these platform companies shouldn't be in the position of doing that."

TWITTER'S JACK DORSEY (@jack) responded: "We'll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make. … This does not make us an 'arbiter of truth.' Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves. More transparency from us is critical so folks can clearly see the why behind our actions."

WSJ'S ED BOARD mulls: "Where would President Trump be if his critics didn't so often help him?"

… THE LINCOLN PROJECT -- the anti-Trump Republican PAC -- is airing an ad in Kentucky accusing MCCONNELL of getting rich while in office. KEY QUOTE: "He spent most of his time making deals for himself, but not so much for Kentucky. Mitch didn't have money when he went to Washington 35 years ago. Today he's one of the richest guys up there. Rich Mitch. It has a nice ring to it." They say they are spending $300,000 on this initial buy. The group had $1.6 million on hand as of March 31. … The minute-long spot

… THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURING will release its second-quarter survey this morning, and just 33.9% of respondents say they have a positive outlook about their business -- the lowest percentage since 2009. Seventy-six percent said they were positive in March. The full report

… THE SELECT SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CORONAVIRUS will host a briefing at noon FRIDAY with seven mayors to discuss the need for more money for PPE, "the impact of a failed federal comprehensive testing, tracing, and targeted containment plan" and "ways the federal government can help address the major budget crisis and economic hardships facing cities and their residents."

THE MAYORS: Bryan Barnett of Rochester Hills, Mich., Stephen Benjamin of Columbia, S.C., Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, Jenny Durkan of Seattle, Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Mary Jane Scott of Magnum, Okla., and Lenny Curry of Jacksonville, Fla.

… JOE BIDEN said Wednesday night at a fundraiser that he will name his running mate by Aug. 1, via pooler Adam Wren: "I think that I need somebody who in fact is simpatico with me, both in terms of personality as well as substance. That means that they don't have to agree with me on everything, but they have to have the same basic approach to how we handle the economy and how we handle everything. …

"AND SO I WANT TO make sure that wherever I speak to, whoever I have, has some qualities that I don't possess, as well as is willing to, in fact, tell me the truth, but also do it in a way that is between the two of us, between her and me, so that they can, in fact, be completely candid with me, because I want to have people around me that have strengths and capacities I don't."

VEEPSTAKES: "Famed Democratic pollster: Warren as VP would lead to Biden victory," by Alex Thompson: "Stan Greenberg, one of the Democratic Party's longtime leading pollsters, urged Hillary Clinton in 2016 to pick Elizabeth Warren as her vice president. He thinks Clinton would be president had she listened.

"Now Greenberg — who popularized the term 'Reagan Democrats' and came to prominence as Bill Clinton's lead pollster — is urging Joe Biden's team to heed the same advice.

"Earlier this month, he briefed top Biden campaign officials on two battleground surveys conducted by his firm. Accompanied by a slide presentation that was obtained by POLITICO, Greenberg addressed the question hanging over Biden and his inner circle: Which vice presidential candidate will help the most in November? The conclusion was blunt: 'Senator Warren is the obvious solution.'" POLITICO

SCARY … WAPO: "Coronavirus may never go away, even with a vaccine," by William Wan and Carolyn Johnson: "There's a good chance the coronavirus will never go away. Even after a vaccine is discovered and deployed, the coronavirus will likely remain for decades to come, circulating among the world's population.

"Experts call such diseases endemic -- stubbornly resisting efforts to stamp them out. Think measles, HIV, chickenpox. It is a daunting proposition -- a coronavirus-tinged world without a foreseeable end. But experts in epidemiology, disaster planning and vaccine development say embracing that reality is crucial to the next phase of America's pandemic response.

"The long-term nature of covid-19, they say, should serve as a call to arms for the public, a road map for the trillions of dollars Congress is spending and a fixed navigational point for the nation's current, chaotic state-by-state patchwork strategy."

WOMP, WOMP -- "At Cape Canaveral, Trump's Search for a Heroic Narrative Is Thwarted," by NYT's Peter Baker in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and Mike Shear: "For President Trump, it was a chance to rewrite the story line from tragedy to triumph. Even as the United States reached the grim milestone on Wednesday of 100,000 dead from the coronavirus pandemic, he would help mark the nation's trailblazing return to human spaceflight from American soil.

"But Mr. Trump's hopes of demonstrating that America was back with the verve of a rocket's red glare were doused by lightning-filled storm clouds that forced flight controllers to scrub the long-awaited launch of the SpaceX rocket even as the president watched helplessly from the Kennedy Space Center.

"Only minutes after heralding what was to be the first launch of NASA astronauts into orbit from the United States in nearly a decade, a disappointed Mr. Trump scrapped planned remarks and made a hasty retreat to Air Force One to fly back to Washington and the misery of the health crisis. Still, just as the country's reopening after months of lockdown proceeds with fits and starts, Mr. Trump vowed not to give up, promising to return this weekend when the launch will be tried again." NYT

WAPO'S ASHLEY PARKER: "For a numbers-obsessed Trump, there's one he has tried to ignore: 100,000 dead": "President Trump has spent his life in thrall to numbers -- his wealth, his ratings, his polls. Even during the deadly coronavirus pandemic, he has remained fixated on certain metrics -- peppering aides about infection statistics, favoring rosy projections and obsessing over the gyrating stock market.

"But as the nation reached a bleak milestone this week — 100,000 Americans dead from the novel coronavirus — Trump has been uncharacteristically silent. His public schedule this week contains no special commemoration, no moment of silence, no collective sharing of grief."

ANOTHER TRUMP "POWER CENTER" … BLOOMBERG'S JENNIFER JACOBS: "Guilfoyle's Influence Rises as Trump Re-Election Race Tightens": "Former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle has built her own power center within Donald Trump's re-election campaign, helping to bolster fundraising amid the coronavirus pandemic even as the president frets about his standing with voters.

"Guilfoyle, 51, has dated the president's son Donald Trump Jr. for two years. But since taking a role in mid January as national chairwoman of the Trump Victory Finance Committee -- where she draws a salary of $15,000 a month -- she has amassed a team and operates with the authority of a member of the Trump family.

"She operates mostly independently of campaign manager Brad Parscale and Jared Kushner, the de facto head of the president's re-election campaign. 'I have to answer to the president,' Guilfoyle said when asked about some tension with other Trump aides. 'I'm not going to let him down. He's been my friend for 15 years. So, in that sense, you know, I make no apologies for coming in and trying to just totally, you know, kick ass, and do well.'" Bloomberg

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TRUMP'S THURSDAY: AT 2:30 P.M., the president and first lady Melania Trump will receive a briefing on the hurricane season.

-- 2 P.M. press briefing by KAYLEIGH MCENANY.

LISTEN UP! Congress is nowhere close to a coronavirus deal. More Americans are applying for unemployment benefits. States across the nation are opening up but trying to avoid a 2nd wave. POLITICO Dispatch is a short, daily podcast that provides critical news and context you need, in 15 minutes or less. Subscribe and listen today.

PLAYBOOK READS

Minneapolis police officers and protesters are pictured. | Getty Images

PHOTO DU JOUR: Protesters face down police officers in Minneapolis on Wednesday after video showed George Floyd, a black man, being pinned to the ground by an officer shortly before he died, triggering broad outrage. | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

JOHN HARRIS COLUMN: "What if Trump's record on the pandemic is better than we think?": "Trump does work for all of us, of course, and his response to the cataclysmic events of 2020 presumably will be the preoccupying question — what else comes close? — as voters this fall decide whether he continues to do so. At the moment that U.S. deaths have passed the 100,000 threshold, more than any other country, it's fair to ask: By what rational standard could Trump pass this test?"

PROTESTS TURN UGLY IN MINNESOTA -- "As Mayor Frey calls for officer's arrest, violence intensifies in Minneapolis," by the Star Tribune's Liz Navratil and Libor Jany: "Hours after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for a police officer's arrest and charges in the death of George Floyd, violent protests erupted anew, causing widespread damage and looting at south Minneapolis storefronts.

"A fatal shooting in the protest area was over looting at a pawn shop, the shots fired by the store's owner, Minneapolis police said early Thursday at a news conference … A Target and Cub Foods … were looted, along with other small businesses … Flames and smoke shot into the air when a nearby AutoZone auto parts store was set ablaze. As some protesters tried to put out the fire, others danced gleefully in front of it, snapping selfies.

"The violence followed a daylong protest outside the Third Precinct police headquarters, where officers sought to disperse crowds with flash-bang grenades, tear gas and projectiles through the day and night.

"Earlier, Frey called for the arrest and charging of now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck as he pleaded to breathe. 'I've wrestled with, more than anything else over the last 36 hours, one fundamental question: Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?' Frey said. 'If you had done it, or I had done it, we would be behind bars right now. And I cannot come up with a good answer to that.'" Star Tribune

-- AN AMAZING SET OF PHOTOS by the Strib staff: 28 pix

-- EXPLAINER … NYT: "What We Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis"

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MORE AIRLINE CUTS -- "American Airlines to Cut 30% of Management and Administrative Staff," by WSJ's Alison Sider: "American Airlines Group Inc. will cut its management and administrative staff by 30% as the airline prepares to shrink, with demand decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.

"American is among the airlines that have said they are starting to see signs that demand is picking up after government travel bans, stay-at-home orders and fears of infection brought travel to a near halt in March and April. But the modest gains won't be enough to save thousands of industry jobs. Carriers think it could take years for travel to return to the same level as before the virus."

ACROSS THE POND … DOMINIC WHO? … JACK BLANCHARD: "Health Secretary Matt Hancock will launch England's all-important test and trace program this morning as ministers tell the nation it's 'time to move on' from the Dominic Cummings scandal.

"From 9 a.m. people will start receiving phone calls, text messages and emails asking them to self-isolate if they've come into close contact with someone who recently tested positive for the coronavirus. Hancock is touring (virtual) broadcast studios right now to set out more details of the scheme, and Downing Street hopes that what should be a pivotal moment in the fight against coronavirus will be enough to push the Cummings story off the front pages for good.

"Tory insiders believe they have now weathered the storm after a pretty disastrous week — and that without further developments, the anger will start to subside." London Playbook

MEDIAWATCH -- Dave Levinthal is joining Business Insider. He previously was at the Center for Responsive Politics.

-- Uri Friedman is now managing editor at the Atlantic Council. He previously was a staff writer at The Atlantic.

MAKE SENSE OF THE WORLD: Our Global Translations newsletter, presented by Bank of America, layers global news, trends and decisions with sharp contextual analysis from the sharpest minds around the world. From the interesting approaches foreign governments are taking to get their economies moving again, to longer-term challenges, including inequality, technology, trade and climate change, Global Translations offers a unique perspective that cannot be found anywhere else. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

IN MEMORIAM -- "Sam Johnson, ex-Texas GOP congressman and Vietnam POW, dies," by AP's Will Weissert: "Former Texas Rep. Sam Johnson, a military pilot who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam before serving more than two decades in Congress, died Wednesday at age 89.

"The conservative Republican, who lived in the northern Dallas suburb of Plano, died at a Plano hospital of natural causes unrelated to the coronavirus outbreak, said his former spokesman, Ray Sullivan. Johnson flew nearly 100 combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. … The ardent conservative and anti-communist was elected to Congress in 1991 after six years in the Texas House of Representatives."

SPOTTED at a Zoom party organized by Stacy Kerr, Margaret Talev, Carol Lee and Erica Werner for Kate Andersen Brower's new book, "Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump" ( $20.49 on Amazon): Kristen Welker, Chris and Kathleen Matthews, Steve Scully, Ann Compton, Karen Travers, Shawna Thomas, Betsy Fischer Martin, Nedra Pickler, Chris Cillizza, Ann Klenk, Dan Merica and Monica Alba.

TRANSITIONS -- Dustin Carmack will be chief of staff to DNI John Ratcliffe. He previously was Ratcliffe's COS in the House. … Geysha Gonzalez is now senior director for programs and strategy at the Center for European Policy Analysis. She previously was deputy director for policy partnership at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, and is a Freedom House alum.

ENGAGED -- Jenna Browder, an anchor and reporter at CBN News, and Joe Cope, co-founder and managing partner at wealth management firm Cope Corrales, got engaged over Memorial Day weekend in Gunnison, Colo. They met at National Community Church and had their first date the night before D.C. restaurants and bars closed. Pic … Another pic

BIRTHWEEK (was Tuesday): Erin Gray, deputy finance director for the Charlotte 2020 Host Committee

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Andy Stone, policy comms manager at Facebook. A trend he thinks doesn't get enough attention: "It's getting more attention, thanks to some great and heart-wrenching reporting on the subject, but one of the issues this pandemic has clearly highlighted is the digital divide in this country -- and not just along predictable lines. How can we expect the whole country to benefit from advancements in technology if some people don't even have basic internet access?" Playbook Q&A

BIRTHDAYS: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is 49 … Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is 71 … Rudy Giuliani is 76 … Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action (h/t husband Brandt) … Coalter Baker, deputy COS at HUD (h/t Brittany Baker) … Diane Dewhirst … Alan Khazei is 59 (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Natalie Yezbick, press secretary for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) … Katharine Weymouth, former WaPo publisher and CEO … Keenan Austin Reed, COS to Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.) (h/t Ralph Jones) … Chalkbeat's Carrie Melago … Mark Greenbaum, comms director and senior counsel to Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), is 4-0 (h/t Victoria Bonney) … Ry Triplette … former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) is 6-0 … former Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) is 6-0 … former Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) is 8-0 … Lauren Mandelker … POLITICO's Pradnya Joshi …

… Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th … Lisa Wallenda Picard … Martin McCarthy, founder of Founders Bank (h/t Fred Graefe) … Giulia Melucci … Coleen Jose … Newsday's Dan Janison … Christopher R. Downing … Uber's Josh Gold … Isabella Moschen Storey … BBC's Tim Willcox is 57 … Julie Hershey Carr, partner at Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid … Tamara Draut ... Adam Collins, VP of comms and community affairs at MillerCoors, is 38 ... Ed Hamberger ... Edelman's Stephanie Shewmon and Chris Donahoe ... David Lobl ... Matthew Pritzker is 38 ... Robb Harleston ... Andrea Wuebker ... Lesotho PM Tom Thabane is 81 ... Jon Black ... Kim Ton-That ... Brian M. Kelly ... Joe Paulsen ... Andrew Ciafardini ... Christy Felling ... Omid Memarian ... Adelle Nazarian ... Ron Jacobi of Bryan Cave ... Peter Cobus

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