| | | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | | | 
Aides and prominent backers have urged President Joe Biden to use humor address the issue of age head-on as polls show a supermajority of voters have major concerns. | Steven Senne/AP Photo | BIDEN IN CHICAGO — President JOE BIDEN has landed in Chicago for a pair of high-dollar fundraisers (one of which is hosted by billionaire Gov. J.B. PRITZKER) and an official speech on “Bidenomics.” Watch live TRUMP IN COURT — DONALD TRUMP has filed a countersuit against writer E. JEAN CARROLL, claiming defamation, WaPo’s John Wagner reports. This follows Carroll’s victory last month in a $5 million defamation case against the former president, in which he was found civilly liable for sexually abusing her. The counterclaim centers on Carroll’s remarks during a CNN appearance the morning after that verdict. Asked about jury finding that Trump was not liable for rape, Carroll responded, “Oh yes he did, oh yes he did.” COMING SOON TO A FOX NEWS SEGMENT — “A Fourth of July without fireworks? Some L.A. shows canceled after new environmental rules,” by the L.A. Times’ Grace Toohey MEANWHILE, ON MARTHA’S VINEYARD — Nine months after Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS flew 49 newly arrived migrants from Texas to the wealthy shores of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, some of them have remained on the island, forging a sense of belonging in the wealthy “liberal enclave,” NYT’s Edgar Sandoval reports from Edgartown. “Ms. DEICI CAURO is one of at least four migrants who have quietly stayed behind on the island, forming bonds with a community that opened what doors it could. … ‘I did not even know where Martha’s Vineyard was. And now I feel welcomed by everybody here. I’m working, making friends and this is home for me now,’ Ms. Cauro said with a wide smile. ‘This is home now. I don’t want to leave.’” TRUMP’S NEW ‘NEW MEDIA’ STRATEGY? — After a nearly two-and-a-half-year absence, Trump may be eyeing his grand return to Twitter, Axios’ Sophia Cai reports. “[A] growing number of Trump allies — and some close to his campaign — are expecting him to tweet again,” Cai writes. “A person close to Trump’s campaign cast the ex-president’s Twitter return as a tool his team could use to try to offset bad news — another indictment, for example.” BIDEN’S NEW ‘OLD AGE’ STRATEGY? — Over “the past two weeks, Biden has been cracking jokes about his age more often than usual,” NBC’s Carol Lee and Mike Memoli report, citing a new analysis of his remarks. The turning point seems to have come around June 13, “when he told attendees at a White House event for U.S. diplomats … ‘I know I look like I’m only still 29 … But I’ve been around a long time.’” The change comes as aides and prominent backers — including Hollywood mogul and megadonor JEFFREY KATZENBERG — have urged the 80-year-old president to use humor to address the issue head-on as polls show a supermajority of voters have major concerns about Biden’s age. Flashback to the WSJ on Sunday: “If HARRISON FORD, 80 years old, can star in a new Indiana Jones movie and the Rolling Stones’ MICK JAGGER, who turns 80 next month, can strut around a stadium stage, Katzenberg says, then Biden should lean into his longevity as a sign of wisdom and experience while offering a sense of humor about it.” Meanwhile, a Biden slip-up this morning is unlikely to do much to put the concerns to bed: He told reporters that Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN “is clearly losing the war in Iraq.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line: birvine@politico.com
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Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | 2024 WATCH DECODING DeSANTIS — As the Florida governor looks for openings to attack Trump from the right, he’s reversed himself on Trump’s signature criminal justice reform legislation, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck write. Trump signed the First Step Act into law in December 2018 with overwhelming bipartisan support. But spikes in crime during the pandemic altered public opinion on the issue, and the GOP base has shifted considerably in favor of the “tough-on-crime approaches that the party has historically embraced. Now, DeSantis wants to repeal the bill.” TOMORROWLAND — “Ron DeSantis pushes for the federal Disney trial to start after the presidential election,” by NBC’s Matt Dixon: “[DeSantis’ lawyers] said that the discovery process in the case should be delayed for a number of reasons, including that they filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit this week. … DeSantis’ legal team would like an August 2025 trial date in the federal case, while Disney’s attorneys have asked the judge for a July 2024 trial.” WAR OF WORDS — WaPo’s Hannah Knowles, Nick Mourtoupalas and Adrian Blanco are up with an in-depth look at each 2024 GOP presidential candidate’s speeches, examining the various themes and key words dominating rhetoric on the campaign trail. What they’re talking about:
- Trump’s campaign speeches have broadly focused on attacks on the “radical” left, and taking aim at “Biden.”
- DeSantis has heavily emphasized his record as “Florida” governor and his self-proclaimed war on “woke.”
- Former VP MIKE PENCE’s speeches frequently spotlight his achievements in the “Trump-Pence administration.”
- Former South Carolina Gov. NIKKI HALEY’s remarks are heavy on “love” and “together,” which “underscore her more aspirational message to a party that has gravitated in recent years toward dark and angry.”
MAMA GRIZZLIES, 2024 EDITION — “GOP presidential candidates want the Moms of Liberty vote in Pennsylvania after local victories,” by NBC’s Tyler Kingkade: “Even though Moms for Liberty doesn’t plan to endorse a candidate in the presidential race, the 2024 candidates are coming to court the group — in large part because of the outsize influence its chapters have had on the local level. Candidates endorsed by the nonprofit have swept dozens of school board races and have begun making big changes in K-12 schools.”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | WAR IN UKRAINE MAJOR JUMP IN SUPPORT — “Most Americans support U.S. arming Ukraine, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows,” Reuters: “The two-day poll that was concluded on Tuesday charted a sharp rise in backing for arming Ukraine, with 65% of the respondents approving of the shipments, compared with 46% in a May poll.” CONGRESS MILESTONE FOR JUDICIARY — “Democrats Reach Milestone: 100 New District Court Judges,” by NYT’s Carl Hulse: “[But] despite the judicial tally, some progressives are still agitating for Senate Democrats to do more to try to match the confirmation successes of Mr. Trump and Senator MITCH McCONNELL, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader.” EYEBROW RAISE — “Anti-abortion Rep.’s husband invests in company that uses embryonic stem cells,” by Raw Story’s Dave Levinthal: “Congressional financial disclosures indicate that ANDREW GAMBERZKY, [Rep. ANNA PAULINA LUNA’S (R-Fla.)] husband, holds a stock investment worth between $1,001 and $15,000 in Lineage Cell Therapeutics. … [The company’s research] includes the use of embryonic stem cells derived from human embryos — a practice that many conservatives consider morally fraught, if not reprehensible, amid an age-old debate over the definition of personhood and when life truly begins.” NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP — While some members are pointing to Reps. LUCY McBATH (D-Ga.) and ROBIN KELLY (D-Ill.) to take the charge when it comes to Democrats’ legislative priorities on gun control, Rep. MIKE THOMPSON (D-Calif.) said he’s not backing down from leading the caucus’ gun violence prevention taskforce. “I can understand where people might be frustrated,” Thompson told NBC’s Scott Wong, “Believe me, if new leadership would get us gun violence prevention legislation, I would have been lobbying for new leadership a long time ago.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | THE WHITE HOUSE SPINNING WEBS — Biden took aim at Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE this morning in a tweet after the Alabama Republican applauded the expansion of broadband internet in the state. Tuberville tweeted yesterday that it was “great to see Alabama receive crucial funds” that were included in 2021’s bipartisan infrastructure law — legislation Tuberville voted against. In a winking nod at that fact, Biden responded this morning: “See you at the groundbreaking.” More from The Messenger’s Dan Merica THE ECONOMY FED UP — Fed Chair JEROME POWELL noted today at a symposium in Portugal that the central bank is expected to further raise interest rates in the U.S., despite official assurances earlier this month that they are slowing the pace of hikes, WSJ’s Nick Timiraos and Tom Fairless report.“Policy hasn’t been restrictive for very long,” Powell said, “so we believe there’s more restriction coming.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD AFTER-ACTION ASSESSMENT — “Wagner’s Prigozhin Planned to Capture Russian Military Leaders,” by WSJ’s Bojan Pancevski
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | PLAYBOOKERS IN MEMORIAM — “Former Connecticut Gov. and U.S. Sen. Lowell P. Weicker dies at 92,” by the Hartford Courant’s Christopher Keating: “Blunt and feisty, loved and hated, Weicker stood out in Connecticut politics for decades as a do-it-my-way figure who won political races at the local, state and federal levels in a long career that stretched four decades from the 1960s into the 1990s. Praised by his supporters as a one-of-a-kind maverick, Weicker was also blasted by his detractors as a bombastic iconoclast who had his own political agenda and was too liberal for the Republican Party.” TRANSITIONS — David Tatel will join Hogan Lovells as senior counsel in September after he retires from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. … Caroline Ponseti is joining Invariant’s strategic comms and public affairs team. She most recently was at the Herald Group. … Shay Khatiri is now a fellow at Yorktown Institute. He most recently was a senior policy analyst at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. 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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