| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On this morning’s Playbook Podcast, Adam and Zack Stanton discuss whether Iran is dividing MAGA, how the specter of Iraq looms and the emergence of a new 2028 litmus test.
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| Good Friday morning. This is Adam Wren. How about those Indiana Pacers? Get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — Is talk of a “civil war” over Iran within the MAGA universe overblown? — Ro Khanna tells Dasha Burns he’s tired of Chuck Schumer’s “gobbledygook” answers about Iran and an authorization for use of military force. — A federal appeals court unanimously ruled in favor of Donald Trump over Gavin Newsom in the California National Guard case.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
There are few signs within the MAGA movement that anyone has the appetite or interest in seriously taking on President Donald Trump over Iran. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | THE BIG QUESTION: What exactly is Trump going to do about Iran? That question, its potential answer and the implications that flow from it will ricochet around Washington today. In Geneva: The foreign policy chiefs of the U.K., France, Germany and EU are meeting with their Iranian counterpart for nuclear talks with an eye toward an off-ramp on bombing Iran, as my POLITICO colleagues report from London. Among the attendees is U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy, who yesterday had a 40-minute meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff — and “came out believing that Trump really does prefer a deal over military action,” POLITICO’s Sam Blewett reports in this morning’s London Playbook. In Washington: The president will hold a national security meeting in the Oval Office at 11 a.m. That comes as Trump yesterday retreated to a familiar safe space as he weighs his choice: a “two week” period during which he’ll make a decision. If that timetable sounds familiar, there’s a reason. “Two weeks,” as NYT’s Shawn McCreesh notes, is a long-running “slippery thing” and “not a measurement of time so much as a placeholder” for Trump. “Tax plans, health care policies, evidence of conspiracy theories he claimed were true, the fight against ISIS, the opening of some coal mines, infrastructure plans — all were at one point or another riddles he promised to solve for the public in about two weeks,” he writes. (“With President Trump, two weeks sometimes can be kind of nebulous,” Steve Bannon told Playbook late last night.) Instead of playing the will-he-or-won’t-he game, let's dive into the politics at play. Whatever path Trump chooses vis-à-vis Iran will unfurl a reality that could shape American politics for years to come. IS THE MAGA ‘CIVIL WAR’ ON IRAN REAL? Since Iran emerged as a central issue in Washington, there has been copious chatter about a “civil war” within the MAGA movement over potential U.S. involvement in Iran. And for good reason: Opposing foreign intervention was one of the central planks of Trump’s campaign platform and played a huge part in his rise to power. Attacking Iran could risk shattering Trump’s MAGA coalition and alienating the true believers. It’s worth asking whether that’s more the stuff of a Resistance fever dream, though. Based on a number of conversations we’ve had with MAGA leaders, there are few signs anyone has the appetite or interest in seriously taking on the president over this. Not Steve Bannon: The “War Room” host and keeper of the “America First” flame had lunch with Trump yesterday. Though he declined to discuss his meal with the president, Bannon told Playbook last night that “the MAGA movement tonight is in a great place.” Trump “clearly stated” that he wants “to look at other alternatives,” Bannon told Playbook. “This is a guy, before he turns to violence in terms of military kinetic action, he looks at every other alternative you can do. I think it just once again reinforces the reason that the MAGA movement loves him.” (Bannon puts the onus on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, saying “Netanyahu’s government needs to finish what it started.”) Not Charlie Kirk: There is perhaps no greater proof point of a ratcheting down of MAGA consternation on Iran engagement than Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. Kirk posted to X earlier this week that “No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy,” and added that a schism on Iran could “disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful Presidency.” But when Playbook spoke with him yesterday, he was singing from a different hymnal. “It’s not a civil war,” Kirk told us. “I think that there is robust and healthy disagreement and discussion.” What explains it? Ryan Girdusky, a Republican political consultant with ties to VP JD Vance, put it to Playbook succinctly: “No one gives a fuck about a few bombs so long as we don’t send in ground troops.” Another factor, of course: For the last decade, Trump — rather than any specific policy issue — has been a sort of one-man dividing line defining the sides in American politics: For or against? It’s hard to see that changing, especially in an era of negative partisanship. ON THE HILL: Left unsaid in White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s briefing yesterday: Whether Trump would seek authority from Congress for any military action in Iran. If he does, he seems to have a partner in one of his own party’s biggest advocates for Congress wresting back war powers from the president: Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.). What’s surprising about this: Young is no reflexive MAGA booster and did not endorse Trump’s 2024 campaign. For years, he has teamed up with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to reassert Congress’ role in authorizing military force. With Iran driving the news, Kaine is again demanding a new vote on authorization for the use of military force. But now, Young sounds unlikely to join his longtime Hill ally on the issue — at least with the same vociferousness as in the past. A spokesperson for Young tells Playbook that the senator “plans to review the text [of Kaine’s proposal], and will be following events closely leading up to any votes.” Earlier in the week, Young, who has long argued for a tougher stance on Iran, said on X he would “work with the Administration should any congressional authorization be necessary to protect the American people and advance our core national security interests.” But the issue is dividing Democrats: At least one prominent Hill Dem is not impressed with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s leadership on Iran. In a clip just posted on YouTube, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) tells Playbook’s Dasha Burns he’s disappointed by Schumer’s answer on whether he’ll help push for a vote on Kaine’s AUMF resolution. “He could have said, ‘No, I’m not, because I want Trump to attack Iran.’ Or he could have just said, ‘Yes, I am’ — which is where I think the Democratic Party should be,” said Khanna. “Instead, he gave this gobbledygook answer, which no one other than Washington Beltway consultants understand. Part of my problem is he didn’t take a clear stand. That’s exactly what people hate about the Democratic Party.” The full episode posts on Sunday morning. Subscribe to “The Conversation with Dasha Burns” For your planning: Schumer has privately confirmed there will be an all-senators classified briefing on Iran early next week, an aide for the minority leader told POLITICO’S Inside Congress this morning.
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Learn more at VaporTechnology.org. | | | | WHERE THERE *IS* SOME TREPIDATION: It’s within Trump’s own Cabinet, where some of the most significant opposition to an Iran strike lies. In March, DNI Tulsi Gabbard testified before Congress that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and she has suggested Washington political elite are “carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers.” (Trump dismissed her testimony earlier this week with a curt, “I don’t care what she said.”) What’s going on here? Gabbard’s views on foreign interventionism were hugely shaped by having deployed to Iraq as a member of the Army National Guard from 2004–2005, which she has cited as a turning point for her on any number of issues. On a different place on the spectrum is another Iraq veteran: Vance, whose social media diplomacy has at least somewhat quieted MAGA’s sturm und drang on another foreign entanglement. One theory from MAGA world: Laura Loomer, the influential far-right activist who met with Vance at the White House complex earlier this month, suggested to Playbook that Gabbard is “posturing to undermine JD Vance” to serve her own “presidential and electoral interests come 2028.” (In an interview with Megyn Kelly last month, Gabbard herself said of a 2028 bid that she “will never rule out any opportunity to serve my country.”) Presented with Loomer's quotes, a Gabbard spokesperson did not comment to Playbook but sent along positive X posts from Loomer last year about a Gabbard-Trump “unity ticket.” Loomer has since soured on Gabbard, though she stopped short of calling for her resignation as DNI. “This is the problem with coalition-building,” Loomer told Playbook. “The Democrats who were awarded Cabinet positions in the Trump administration essentially participated in an extortion campaign to make a deal with the president.” Bannon, at least in our chat, was less pessimistic about the state of the MAGA coalition. “Sunday was the 10th anniversary of [Trump] coming down the golden escalator,” he said. “We’ve been through trials and tragedies. We’ve been through victories and defeats. We’ve been through great days and horrible days. The one thing our movement has is resilience.”
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Learn more at VaporTechnology.org. | | | | ON THE HILL RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: Democrats are meeting with the Senate parliamentarian today, ahead of the crucially important Finance Committee’s Byrd bath arguments on the reconciliation bill, which kick off Sunday, Punchbowl’s Laura Weiss and Andrew Desiderio report. This process will decide what’s fair game in the GOP’s megabill — and Democrats are gearing up for a fight on roughly 60 tax and health provisions. Both Democratic and Republican aides are meeting with the parliamentarian beforehand. Odd man out: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, should technically be leading border security spending negotiations on the megabill — but it’s really Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) running the show, POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports this morning. Some minor shade from Graham: “Senator Paul usually votes ‘no’ and blames everybody else … [His] reducing the amount [for border security] didn’t withstand scrutiny … The analysis was shallow.” Also on the outs: the SALT caucus, with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) calling up Reps. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) on Wednesday to get a compromise, Weiss and Desiderio report. Mullin proposed keeping the House’s coveted $40,000 cap but lowering the income threshold — but they’re still not close to a deal, the Washington Examiner’s Rachel Schilke writes. The fallout: The megabill’s “no tax on tips” provision isn’t popular with parts of the restaurant industry, AP’s Dee-Ann Durbin writes. The proposal doesn’t address low pay for workers who don’t get tips, like dishwashers and cooks, and the Independent Restaurant Coalition is asking Congress to reconsider. Sounding the alarm: The “Little Lobbyists,” about two dozen children with disabilities and their families, warned members of Congress this week that the proposed cuts to Medicaid would be “devastating,” NYT’s Megan Mineiro and Margot Sanger-Katz report. Losing credit: Three-quarters of electricity generation projects that benefit from Biden-era clean energy tax credits are in GOP districts, but the megabill would functionally ax them, POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino and Jessie Blaeser report. Democrats and clean energy advocates have been ramping up pressure to save the projects ahead of next week’s potential vote, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday the language is “not totally settled yet,” WSJ’s Lindsay Wise and Jennifer Hiller report. SWORD OF DAMOCLES: Looming in the background is OMB Director Russ Vought, who’s threatening to trigger a rare (and wonky) pocket rescission to codify DOGE’s spending cuts. It’s not playing well with some Republicans, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes reports this morning. “Pocket rescissions are illegal, in my judgment,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “and contradict the will of Congress.” But but but: “Talking is one thing. We’ll see if he actually does it,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). ALSO COMING NEXT WEEK: Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) is a growing favorite to win the caucus vote for House Oversight ranking member, but he’s backed away from calling it “generational change,” POLITICO’s Nick Wu and Hailey Fuchs write. He’s met with almost all the sitting House Dems and is branding himself “less as an anti-Trump attack dog and more as a consensus-builder.”
| | | | Did you know Playbook goes beyond the newsletter—with powerhouse new co-hosts at the mic? Tune in to The Playbook Podcast every weekday for exclusive intel and sharp analysis on Trump’s Washington, straight from Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns. Start listening now. | | | | | BEST OF THE REST BREAKING LATE LAST NIGHT: A federal appeals court officially allowed Trump to retain control of the National Guard in California, against the challenge from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the AP reports. It was a unanimous ruling for Trump from a panel that included Republican and Democratic appointees. But they did reject the administration’s contention that even a National Guard federalization that was “obviously absurd or made in bad faith” couldn’t be overturned by the courts. Newsom vowed to “press forward with our challenge” to Trump’s deployment of the military. L.A. confidential: The city isn’t finished with its turn in the national spotlight as the epicenter of the immigration debate: Vance could make a trip to Los Angeles this week, NBC’s Jacob Soboroff scooped. Plans are in the works, though not final yet. … Separately, the LA Dodgers said yesterday that they’d blocked federal agents from entering their storied stadium, but DHS contested their version of events, the LA Times’ Terry Castleman and Jack Harris report. Immigration files: A federal judge issued an injunction barring the Transportation Department from conditioning infrastructure funding to blue states on cooperation with immigration enforcement, per Reuters. … After the whiplash-inducing Trump pivots on whether to conduct ICE raids at agricultural and hospitality workplaces, border czar Tom Homan pledged they will continue, per Axios. But the raids have sent a chill through key industries, where many migrants aren’t showing up to work, Bloomberg’s Alicia Caldwell and colleagues report. Businesses have been left befuddled by the back and forth, AP’s Paul Wiseman reports. How it’s playing: Focus groups with swing-state Latino Trump voters show most of them still support the president, though there are some mixed opinions about mass deportations, NBC’s Bridget Bowman and Ben Kamisar report. POLITICAL VIOLENCE WATCH: Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) said he’d been run off the road by a man who had issued death threats to him and waved a Palestinian flag. “We know who you are, young man, and the police are going to be paying you a visit,” Miller warned in a video on X, decrying the “blatant antisemitic violence.” More from The Hill … Meanwhile in NYC, police said a man had left a voicemail suggesting that he’d blow up Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s car (though he doesn’t actually own one), per the N.Y. Daily News. The NYPD has launched a hate crimes investigation. The long tail of violence: Former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), who survived the congressional baseball shooting, tells POLITICO’s Ben Jacobs that he still carries a gun for safety eight years later. Meanwhile, WaPo’s Paul Kane notes that the House doesn’t have a plan for what happens if violence tips the balance of power — as it has in Minnesota. BLEEDING CUTS: As Trump proposes slashing the President’s Malaria Initiative budget in half, a new study projects that fully funding it would stop close to 14 million malaria cases and save more than 100,000 lives, FT’s Michael Peel reports. Domestically, NYT’s Kate Morgan reports that black lung is making a comeback among younger coal miners — and many federal scientists who were trying to solve the health crisis have now been fired. PAGING VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: “Washington has had it with Andriy Yermak,” by POLITICO’s Amy Mackinnon and Jamie Dettmer: It’s a “rare point of bipartisan consensus … The second most powerful man in Ukraine, Yermak has been a particularly frustrating interlocutor for the Trump administration … [M]any in Washington have found Yermak to be uninformed about U.S. politics, abrasive and overly demanding with U.S. officials.” Yermak responded in a statement that he’s doing all he can to save his country: “If that means being considered ‘challenging’ by others — so be it.” SCOTUS FALLOUT: After the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender transition-related medical care for minors, NYT Magazine’s Nicholas Confessore has a sprawling read on recriminations within the transgender rights movement. Some LGBTQ+ advocates long thought this was a losing case and questioned the strategy of bringing it to the high court — “a tragic gamble” that perhaps “set their movement back a generation.” The plaintiffs argue that Republican scapegoating of trans people is really to blame. Still, advocates think the ruling left them some legal room to maneuver, Reuters’ Andrew Chung reports.
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| | | | THE WEEKEND AHEAD TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Jonathan Karl, David Ignatius, David Sanger and Nancy Youssef. SUNDAY SO FAR … POLITICO “The Conversation with Dasha Burns”: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). Supreme Court panel: Tom Dupree and Jonathan Turley. Panel: Matt Gorman, Stef Kight, Roger Zakheim and Juan Williams. CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) … Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter … retired Gen. Frank McKenzie. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). Panel: Lanhee Chen, Ashley Etienne, Jonathan Martin and Andrea Mitchell. ABC “This Week”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Steve Ganyard … Karim Sadjadpour … Chris Christie. CNN “State of Union”: Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). Panel: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Xochitl Hinojosa and Scott Jennings. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) … Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). Panel: Ian Swanson, James Hohmann, Molly Ball and Jasmine Wright.
| | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts—be the smartest person in the room. Meet our Policy Intelligence Assistant: it combines POLITICO’s unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver smarter insights, faster answers, and two powerful new report builders that turn information into impact. Try it free for 30 days here. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Christopher Tattersall, an arborist who helped erect the two new White House flagpoles, found himself standing by the president as Donald Trump told reporters about a potential strike on Iran. A similar thing happened to players from the Italian soccer club Juventus. Timothy Weah, a U.S. soccer player in the room with Trump, said the experience was “a bit weird” because “I just want to play football, man.” But Tattersall said it was “pretty cool.” Mark Cuban confirmed that Kamala Harris’ campaign requested he submit VP vetting papers. He said he declined, because it would take too long and he wouldn’t have been “very good as the No. 2 person.” PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: “On Juneteenth, a march in D.C. that retraces the steps to freedom,” by WaPo’s Ellie Silverman and Afia Barrie: “It’s been four years since Juneteenth was designated a federal holiday … But people marching in the nation’s capital Thursday said they felt like the country was moving backward … People came alone, alongside friends or with their children to celebrate the same history they feel the administration is trying to erase.” — Miss Pixie’s, the iconic vintage and antiques store in Adams Morgan, is closing its doors later this year. Antique lovers everywhere, we feel your pain. MEDIA MOVES — The Atlantic is adding Quinta Jurecic, Toluse Olorunnipa and Nancy Youssef as staff writers. Jurecic previously has been a contributing writer for The Atlantic and senior editor at Lawfare. Olorunnipa previously was a national political reporter at WaPo. Youssef previously was a national security correspondent at the WSJ. TRANSITION — Shefali Razdan Duggal is now a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a speaker for Creative Artists Agency. She recently retired as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Louis Nelson, an editor at POLITICO, and Becky Nelson, a managing director at FGS Global, welcomed Elizabeth Reeves Nelson this week. Lizzie joins big sister Juliet, who is delighted to have a baby sister, and older brother Jimmy, who is warming up to the idea. — Nicole (Ginis) Del Beccaro, a producer at Newsmax, and Thomas G. Del Beccaro, an author, historian and political commentator, welcomed Thomas Lucca Del Beccaro on Monday. He came in at 8 lbs, 12 oz and 19 1/2 inches. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro … Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) (5-0) … Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) … Adrienne Elrod … POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Mackenzie Wilkes … Ian Prior … CNN’s Janie Boschma … Jeremy Wiggins … Brandon Arnold of the National Taxpayers Union … Tom Zigo of the MPA … Brad Howard of Corcoran Street Group … Ryan Walker of Heritage Action … Kristin White … Leon Rodriguez of Seyfarth Shaw … Ginger Loper … former Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.) … Gisselle Reynolds of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s (R-Fla.) office … Sara Pearl Kenigsberg … Emma Tenery of Speaker Mike Johnson’s office … Chris Grieco … Susan O’Neill … Kai Bernier-Chen of Trident GMG 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.
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Learn more at VaporTechnology.org. | | | | | | | | 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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