| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine Happy Saturday. This is Adam Wren. Happy Flag Day. Get in touch. SCARY STUFF: Two Minnesota state lawmakers — former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman, both members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party — were shot at their homes by a gunman impersonating a police officer, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Briana Bierschbach. Hortman and her husband were killed, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called it a “politically motivated assassination.” Security concerns spread: Ahead of today’s “No Kings” protests nationwide, one prominent battleground Democratic Senate candidate with plans to participate in the demonstrations now tells Playbook through a spokesperson that they are taking extra security precautions after the attack in Minnesota. Diane Morgan, a Cleveland-based mobilization coordinator with Our Revolution, one of the groups behind the No Kings protests, told Playbook that in the wake of the shooting she’s hearing from people on the ground who are saying that “more than anything else it makes people more determined, much like what happened with LA. It’s made people more determined” to attend a protest today. Other ominous mood music playing beneath the day: “A review of dozens of known far-right social-media accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers across leading platforms like X, Truth Social, and Telegram are posting about the ‘No Kings’ rallies and encouraging their people to respond, in some cases with violence,” according to the WSJ’s Brenna Smith and Cameron McWhirter.
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Soldiers in President Donald Trump’s military parade will march from the Pentagon to the National Mall tonight. | Stephanie Scarbrough/AP | On the 146th day of Donald Trump’s second presidency, which also happens to be his 79th birthday, the resistance is finally expected to materialize. Across what organizers say will be protests in 2,000 cities and towns, millions are expected to take part in what promises to be the largest national protests since Trump took office. THE PROTESTS: One of the defining features of the Resistance 2.0 is just how long it has taken them — and the Democratic Party — to find ways to respond to Trump and MAGA’s blitzkrieg on the government. Unlike the Women’s March, which took place on Jan. 21, 2017, the No Kings protests are coming months into Trump’s second term. Why? Unlike in 2016, Democrats got beat beat. They could not point to Russian collusion. They could not point to the Electoral College. They lost. At key big moments throughout the last months, Democrats have been stuck on the back foot, struggling to respond to MAGA. In some ways, that started to change this week: California Gov. Gavin Newsom elevated himself as a key leader in the resistance with a nearly nine-minute primetime address that, unlike his podcast, received largely positive reviews from fellow Democrats. Then there was Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) viral handcuffing and press conference removal, which gave him the opportunity to blanket the media. As NYT’s Glenn Thrush noted: These were all “signs that Dems, out of sheer desperation, are learning to hack the Trump-age media environment thru the disruption and interruption that Trump has used so effectively.” The protests today could give the resistance another opportunity to hack the news cycle. In Los Angeles, where Marines are guarding the Wilshire Federal Building, authorities are expecting “unprecedented” crowds. But some Democrats are also wary of the protests following the same path of those in 2020, note WSJ’s Elizabeth Findell and Annie Linskey. “The dangers outweigh the potential upsides for Democrats and for Trump, which is not a contradiction,” Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way, told them. “Trump could go too far; he always does. And the protests could also — and already kind of have — go sideways for us.” THE PARADE: Also today, from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., soldiers in Trump’s military parade marking the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army will march from the Pentagon to the National Mall. (See the route.) Along the way, they’ll pass Trump’s viewing stand on Constitution Avenue. The parade is the keystone event in a day of related activities that begin as this newsletter arrives in your inbox, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth kicking off things by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, according to the Army, ahead of a pre-parade festival on the National Mall. Following the parade, the U.S. Army will hold an enlistment ceremony followed by a concert and fireworks. RAINING ON THE PARADE? The optics of the parade — which will happen, according to the Army, rain or shine — could be rough. The Capital Weather Gang notes this morning that storms “will probably be numerous this evening in DC area. Heavy rain could cause flooding but too soon to know where the worst will occur. This could cause disruptions for Army anniversary festivities.” The weather at the protests around the country could provide quite a split screen: It will be sunny in LA today. Same in Chicago. WHERE TRUMP’S HEAD IS AT: “I don’t feel like a king, I have to go through hell to get stuff approved,” Trump said in the White House this week. This morning, Trump posted to Truth Social: “OUR GREAT MILITARY PARADE IS ON, RAIN OR SHINE. REMEMBER, A RAINY DAY PARADE BRINGS GOOD LUCK. I’LL SEE YOU ALL IN D.C.” Related reads: — “Fox News Vets Are Taking Over America’s 250th Birthday Party,” by The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker, and Missy Ryan: “The celebration is supposed to be nonpartisan, but is turning into an arm of Trump’s White House operation.” — “Political turmoil strains the Army as it marks a milestone birthday,” by WaPo’s Dan Lamothe: “The partisan display [at Trump’s Fort Bragg rally] … has left senior Army leaders disappointed and concerned.”
| | A message from PhRMA: Let's address the real reasons Americans pay more for medicines.
The U.S. is the only country in the world with 340B hospital markups and PBM middlemen fees driving up costs for patients. Americans also foot the bill for the research and development of new treatments and cures, while other countries don't pay their fair share. It's time to lower drug prices by cracking down on middlemen and foreign free riders. Learn more. | | | | 5 MINUTES WITH Welcome to “5 Minutes With,” a new Playbook weekend segment featuring a quick chat with a newsmaker. Raheem Kassam — the British expat, former editor-in-chief of Breitbart News London and editor of the National Pulse, is a co-owner of Butterworth’s, the hottest restaurant in Trump’s Washington. The irony that MAGA’s new hangout, with its organ meats and bone marrow, does not serve the movement’s leader’s favorite dishes — a well-done hamburger or steak with ketchup — is not lost on Kassam. (The restaurant has largely eschewed traditional dishes, so diners focus on its more exotic cuisine, though they did offer hamburgers on National Hamburger Day.) “Listen to me — very, very on the record,” Kassam, who was watching Fox News coverage of “missiles flying back and forth across the Middle East” from his Capitol Hill home, told Playbook. “If Donald J. Trump wants to come in and have a hamburger, we’ll make him the best fucking hamburger of his life.” Butterworth’s has become such a nerve center of Trump 2.0 in recent months that Kassam found himself having to host a gaggle with reporters outside the restaurant the day of Elon Musk’s X tirade against Trump: “Everyone wanted a quote about Elon.” One of Kassam’s favorite subjects to expound on is the uneasy alliance between the Tech Right and the MAGA Right, and he firmly counts himself among the latter. “Everybody’s tiptoeing around each other, because I think each side sort of realizes that they need to keep that coalition together if it wants to keep winning elections,” he said. But Democrats buy bone marrow, too — Playbook reported this week that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) ate there Monday evening alongside Breitbart’s Matt Boyle and Steve Bannon — and Kassam wants Fetterman’s colleagues to follow in his footsteps. “When the Monocle first opened, it was a Nixon bar,” Kassam said. “But nobody thinks of the Monocle as a Republican or a Democrat bar today. That’s something that we really want to get to.” 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: As Washington marks Pride Month, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell has thoughts. “I mean, you go to a pride parade, and it’s embarrassing, to be honest,” Grenell told Dasha Burns in an interview for this week’s episode of “The Conversation.” “It’s real fringe, and it’s too sexual. And I think that we have to start critiquing ourselves — and by the way, this is extremely popular with normal gays.” What does he mean by a “normal gay”? Dasha asked Grenell, who is himself gay. “It’s not a radical gay that says that a 6-year-old should have their boobs cut off or get hormone replacement therapy,” he said. “Look, I think the reality is that we have to have normality. That’s what we were fighting for in 1993. We kept saying, ‘We’re normal, we are just like you, we just love somebody of the same sex.’ … I think that we have largely achieved equality in this country for gays and lesbians. And I think the gay left knows that, and so therefore they’re coming up with new gimmicks and fringe stuff to keep the money flowing and to keep power going within the Democratic Party. … You see normal gays voting for Donald Trump, for Republicans.” More on YouTube 2. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Major, lethal attacks between Israel and Iran continued early today, keeping hostilities at a fever pitch despite international calls to lower the temperature. Iran said 78 people had been killed — including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and many civilians — while Israel said Iranian missiles have killed three people. Iran may have sustained damage to its principal nuclear site. “Tehran will burn” if Iran doesn’t stop firing missiles, Israel’s defense minister threatened today. More from the AP Trump’s big pivot: Though the president had wanted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on attacking Iran as U.S.-Iran nuclear talks unfolded, Trump grew more pessimistic about those negotiations earlier this week, WSJ’s Alex Ward and colleagues report. And Trump finally told Netanyahu on Thursday that Washington wouldn’t obstruct Israel from launching strikes. His about-face, suddenly embracing the Israeli approach, comes as he’s walking a tightrope in the region — and as he now hopes the strikes could give him leverage in Iran talks, POLITICO’s Eli Stokols and colleagues report. But Iran said today that those talks have now been rendered “meaningless,” per Reuters. Wasteful propaganda no more? After months of excoriating and decimating Voice of America, the U.S. Agency for Global Media scrambled to bring back its Persian-language staffers from administrative leave, POLITICO’s Ben Johansen reports. From 30,000 feet: Having repeatedly pitched himself to Americans as the only politician who could bring peace abroad, Trump now faces a new, burgeoning war on top of the ones he’s already failed to stop, WaPo’s Michael Birnbaum and Matt Viser report. And this one seems to have been triggered by Israel’s fear of his very efforts to strike a deal with Iran. Despite the administration’s work on diplomacy around the world, “Mr. Trump’s peace projects are in tatters,” NYT’s Michael Crowley and Edward Wong write. And Israel/Iran policy in particular drives a wedge in Trump’s MAGA coalition. 3. SOMEBODY CHECK ON STEPHEN MILLER: In a rare and significant retreat from Trump’s mass deportations, top officials have now pivoted and mostly halted raids in the agricultural and hospitality industries, NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz and Zolan Kanno-Youngs scooped. Notably, it tells agents to avoid picking up “noncriminal collaterals” when making other arrests at farms, meatpacking plants, restaurants and hotels. More immigration files: Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration still continues apace in other ways. Trump has revived a dormant, 75-year-old law to start charging immigrants for not having registered with the government, POLITICO’s Hassan Ali Kanu reports. And WaPo’s Samantha Schmidt has the story of Gregory Sanabria Tarazona, a Venezuelan dissident reportedly tortured in his home country who’s now been detained in the U.S. as he tries to seek asylum. 4. HEADS UP: “Judge won’t order release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Erica Orden: “U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ruled Wednesday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to revoke [Mahmoud] Khalil’s green card and tee up his deportation was likely unconstitutional retaliation … But on Friday, Farbiarz said the administration could continue to keep Khalil detained … on a separate alleged immigration violation that officials lodged after his arrest. … Farbiarz’s Friday ruling came despite his finding Wednesday that it was ‘overwhelmingly likely’ that the alleged green card application violation was not the reason he was being held.”
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| | | | 5. ANOTHER ONE TO WATCH: Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to the new human smuggling charges the U.S. has lodged against him after they finally returned the mistakenly deported man from El Salvador. A federal judge said she may grant him bail and sounded skeptical of many of the prosecution’s claims. If she does set him free, “it would be a significant rebuke of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly accused him of being a dangerous criminal,” NYT’s Alan Feuer and Jamie McGee report. But Abrego would also likely be then taken in by immigration authorities. 6. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Mark Meadows isn’t a member of Congress or White House chief of staff anymore — but he’s still playing a key behind-the-scenes role as both power centers craft Republicans’ megabill, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill report. From his perch at the Conservative Partnership Institute, Meadows has crucial ties to the House Freedom Caucus and fiscal hardliners in the Senate, working to help them pull the legislation to the right. Coming soon: The crucial Senate Finance bill text on tax provisions is now not expected to be published until Monday, per Meredith and colleagues. Meanwhile, WaPo’s Jeff Stein and Clara Ence Morse dug up a little-noticed provision in the House-passed bill that would somewhat carve out the U.S. Virgin Islands from a restriction on tax havens. It was added after an expensive lobbying effort, but it “has puzzled experts on both the left and right, who say it has little clear policy justification” — and would cost $1 billion. 7. PRESSING PAUSE, PART I: “US judge blocks State Department’s planned overhaul, mass layoffs,” by Reuters’ Daniel Wiessner: “A federal judge in California on Friday temporarily blocked the U.S. State Department from implementing an agency-wide reorganization plan that includes nearly 2,000 layoffs. … U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Alexander Resar said in response that the State Department would not issue layoff notices that were scheduled to go out on Saturday.” And another one: “Judge orders reinstatement of product safety regulators fired by Trump,” by WaPo’s Todd Frankel: “A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump lacked the power to fire the three Democratic commissioners on the five-person Consumer Product Safety Commission, reversing their abrupt dismissals from last month and setting up a fresh test of presidential power to control independent agencies.” 8. TRADING PLACES: As G7 leaders head to Canada this weekend, British PM Keir Starmer told Bloomberg’s Lucy White and colleagues that he’s hopeful to wrap up a trade deal with the U.S. soon: “We haven’t got any hiccups or obstacles.” Meanwhile, Japan’s lead negotiator met yesterday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, trying to get closer to an agreement, Bloomberg’s Yoshiaki Nohara and Akira Matsui report. 9. MAN OF STEEL: “U.S. Steel and Nippon can consummate their deal with national security agreement signed,” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Anya Litvak: “Nippon Steel Corp. announced Friday evening that it had signed the national security agreement put forward by the U.S. government, the last hurdle before it can consummate its $14.9 billion takeover of U.S. Steel Corp. the action ends the national security review process and allows the companies to close the deal first announced in December 2023. President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier on Friday undoing the block that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had placed on the deal in January.” CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 16 funnies
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M.Wuerker- Politico | GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “Inside America’s Death Chambers,” by The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig: “What years of witnessing executions taught me about sin, mercy, and the possibility of redemption.” — “How politics and image control destroyed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,” by The San Francisco Standard’s Emily Shugerman: “Current and former staffers at the philanthropy describe a decade-long history of lifting up progressive causes and then abandoning them.” — “Why the MAGA Right Became Obsessed With the Romanian Election,” by the NYT Magazine’s Nicholas Casey in Bucharest: “It started with a Russian influence campaign and a canceled vote. Then the American right showed up.” — “How smuggled US fuel funds Mexico’s cartels,” by FT’s Christine Murray, Chris Campbell, Peter Andringa, Alison Killing and Sam Joiner: “Sophisticated criminal networks are illegally importing huge volumes of fuel — and piling pressure on Mexico’s president.” — “He’s dying. She’s pregnant,” by WaPo’s Ariana Eunjung Cha, Drea Cornejo, Jahi Chikwendiu, Dan Keating and Julia Wall in Provo, Utah: “His one last wish is to fight his cancer long enough to see his baby.” — “E. Jean Carroll’s Uneasy Peace,” by N.Y. Mag’s Jessica Bennett: “In the year and a half since defeating Trump for the second time, she’s written a secret book — and learned to shoot.” — “How I Learned to Become an Intimacy Coördinator,” by The New Yorker’s Jennifer Wilson: “At a sex-choreography workshop, a writer discovered a world of Instant Chemistry exercises, penis pouches, and nudity riders to train for Hollywood’s most controversial job.” — “How A Man Not Named Dan Came to Own Dan’s Cafe for Six Decades,” by Raman Santra in the Washington City Paper: “Clinnie ‘Dickie’ Dickens owned the iconic dive Dan’s Cafe since he was 31. He died in February, just shy of 91, but his sons will keep the party going.”
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| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Chuck Schumer was seen having dinner with Sherrod Brown, as some Democrats hope he’ll run for Senate again (though he’s reportedly more interested in governor). Jacqui Heinrich, Brian Bennett and Sara Cook were elected to the White House Correspondents’ Association board, with Heinrich tapped to be president in 2027-2028. Mehmet Oz, Lee Zeldin and Joe Kernen chatted at Cafe Milano last night. WEDDING — Van Bloys and Joe Whited, via the NYT: “Mr. Bloys, now 38, is a managing counsel at Crown Castle … Mr. Whited, 45, is the chief of staff at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency … Mr. Whited is a resident of Washington, Va., where he was elected mayor in November 2022. … The two were married on June 6 at the Old Chapel at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pa.” HAPPY BIRTHDAY: President Donald Trump … Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) … Brian Fallon … Allison Lombardo … former Reps. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) … Tollbit’s Campbell Brown … Mack McLarty of McLarty Associates … Northwestern Mutual’s Christopher Gahan … Julia Cohen ... Pavel Khodorkovsky … David Keller of Sen. Jim Banks’ (R-Ind.) office … YouTube’s Alexandra Veitch … Chamber of Commerce’s Sara Armstrong … CNN’s Pete Muntean … Ryan McKenna … Shomik Sarkar … BP’s Josh Hicks … Aaron Williams … Chris Liddell-Westefeld … WaPo’s Robert Klemko … Ben Kaufman … Tom Gjelten … Tim Pagel … Chris Lamond of Thorn Run Partners THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): POLITICO “The Conversation with Dasha Burns”: Richard Grenell. CNN “State of Union”: LA Mayor Karen Bass … Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) … Mike Pence. Panel: Andy Levin, Shermichael Singleton, Karen Finney and Brad Todd. CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) … Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). ABC “This Week”: Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter … Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) … retired Gen. Joseph Votel. Panel: Rachel Scott, Donna Brazile, Sarah Isgur and Nancy Youssef. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Senate Majority Leader John Thune … Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Panel: Francesca Chambers, Mollie Hemingway, Jeremy Hunt and Dan Koh. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Panel: Kimberly Atkins Stohr, Stephen Hayes, Ryan Nobles and Amy Walter. MSNBC “The Weekend”: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) … Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) … Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson … Jerome Adams. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Mike Pence … Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) … Kori Schake. Panel: George Will, Yoni Appelbaum, Andrew Desiderio and Julie Mason. 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. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook incorrectly referred to Joseph Votel. He is a former CENTCOM commander.
| | A message from PhRMA: Foreign-first pricing is a bad deal for American patients.
Government price setting policies like foreign reference pricing are bad for American patients, especially over the long term. These "foreign-first pricing" schemes don't guarantee lower costs. Instead, they take away dollars that could be invested in American manufacturing and undermine biopharma R&D. Most importantly, foreign reference pricing fails to address the real reasons Americans pay more for medicines than other countries: PBM middleman fees, 340B hospital markups and foreign governments not paying their fair share for innovative medicines. We must address these issues to support American patients in accessing and affording the medicines they need, while ensuring the United States remains the global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation. Learn more. | | | | | | | | 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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