| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND LAST NIGHT: A contract extension for NBC’s Seth Meyers (1:56 a.m.) … Banning mail-in voting (12:45 a.m.) … Crime levels in D.C. (12:34 a.m.) … A new crime bill in Congress (12:31 a.m.) … His fundraising skills (12:28 a.m.) … Trey Gowdy’s new novel (11:42 p.m.) … Crime levels in Chicago (9:36 p.m.) … Cracker Barrel (7:42 p.m.) … More Cracker Barrel (7:42 p.m.) … and on and on it goes. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — New Sosnik memo: For years, Playbook has brought its readers Doug Sosnik’s big-picture memos on the landscape of American politics. This morning, we have an exclusive on his very latest, as the onetime adviser to President Bill Clinton raises the curtain on the 2026 cycle on the cusp of Labor Day. Set your 2026 expectations: A majority of the country already disapproves of President Donald Trump’s job performance — and there are more clouds on the horizon, especially on the economy. But while that would normally suggest Democrats are in a strong position to make major gains, “it is unlikely that they will have anywhere near the level of success that the out-of-power party has had in previous midterm elections with such an unpopular incumbent president,” Sosnik writes. Why? Two big factors. 1) The education divide sets a ceiling for Dems: “[T]he singular importance of the president’s job approval has been diminished due to a political realignment by level of education, the new fault line in American politics,” Sosnik writes, noting that this trend “began forming long before Donald Trump ever ran for president.” One astonishing statistic on how much things have changed: At the start of former President Barack Obama’s first term, Democrats had 60 members in the Senate. Since then, they have lost 18 seats in states where less than 35 percent of the population has a four-year college degree. 2) All politics is national — and almost all politics seems to be about Trump. Another stunning statistic: In the current Congress, a whopping 419 members of the House are from the same party as the presidential candidate who won their district. The result: way fewer races are competitive these days, “which narrows the opportunity for the Democrats to fully benefit politically even if support for Trump and the Republicans implodes.” The topline for Democrats: “It’s all about consolidating their base, which has atrophied since they lost the 2024 elections. Luckily for them — when it comes to the midterms, anyway — their strongest supporters are college graduates, who are most likely to vote in off-year elections.” The topline for Republicans: “Part of the Republican strategy to hold the House … is to bend the political system to their advantage through mid-decade redistricting. The other part will be to focus on turning out their MAGA base rather than focusing on swing voters. As a candidate or as president, Trump has never veered off of this focus.” Read the full Sosnik memo … see the Sosnik slide deck … and read his Q&A with POLITICO Magazine Speaking of 2026 previews: “Democrats break GOP supermajority in Iowa Senate by flipping Republican seat in special election,” by NBC’s Zoë Richards In today’s Playbook … — Democratic governors grab their moment in the sun. — Why the battle for control of the Fed is headed to Congress next. — Trump preps major Gaza play as Israeli foreign minister flies in.
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California's Gavin Newsom leads a pack of Democratic governors — and potential 2028 contenders — who have led the resistance against President Donald Trump. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | MAKING GOVERNORS GREAT AGAIN: California Gov. Gavin Newsom takes to the stage for a major POLITICO interview this afternoon (sign up to watch here!), with Democratic governors suddenly having a bit of a moment. And naturally, it’s all thanks to Trump. 2028 watch: While Democratic senators and representatives struggle for impact in Trump’s trifecta — bladder-busting 25-hour speeches aside — and party bigwigs tie themselves in knots over dismal funding and poll numbers, it’s a band of combative Democratic governors who’ve grabbed the opportunity to make waves. That opportunity has been afforded them by none other than the president of the United States, whose method of turning the page on the Jeffrey Epstein saga this summer has been a high-profile assault on their cities. And here’s the bottom line: It’s working pretty well for Trump — but it’s working for these guys too. Three is the magic number: For three ambitious Democratic governors in particular, Trump’s attacks have provided them with useful platforms ahead of the 2028 presidential primaries. Chief among them is Newsom, who got a jump-start on his rivals when Trump sent the troops into Los Angeles back in June. Newsom has been at war with the president ever since, but he took things up several notches this summer with his gerrymandering play in response to Texas Republicans and an increasingly impossible-to-ignore social media game. Thank you for your attention to this matter! You’ve seen — and are possibly now sick of — the dozens of Newsom tweets offering full-caps parody of Trump, and the MAGA-rivalling Newsom merch store set up as an elaborate pastiche of the president. While it’s unclear what the practical impact of these moves will be, the sort of Extremely Online Dems who will make a difference in the 2028 primaries — and who have been crying out for their party to show a bit of fight — are lapping it all up. And Trump can’t leave it alone: “You have an incompetent governor in California: Gavin,” Trump said at his epic three-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday, apropos of nothing. “He's — I know him very well. He's incompetent. He’s a nice guy, looks good. ‘Hi, everybody. How you doing?’ He's got some strange hand action going on. I don't know what the hell his problem is … ” On and on it went. Naturally, Newsom seized the opportunity to respond.
| | | | A message from Booz Allen: Booz Allen uses the most advanced tech to engineer, build, and deploy what nobody else can. So our nation can stay ahead. It's how we win every time, everywhere. It's in our code. Learn more. | | | | Gimme Moore: Last night, it was the turn of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, another potential 2028 hopeful, who popped up on CNN with Kaitlan Collins after an extended weeklong spat with Trump over his attacks on Baltimore. “The president seems to be obsessed with me,” a smiling Moore told viewers. The Maryland governor is highly rated, but enjoys nothing like the name recognition of Newsom. Several high-profile arguments with the president might help. My kind of town: Back on Monday, it was J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, who took center stage after Trump indicated Chicago will be next in line for the National Guard. Pritzker responded with a choreographed show of force, the governor’s team corralling dozens of pillars of civic life for a press conference carried live by networks across the land. Pritzker, as POLITICO’s Illinois Playbook author Shia Kapos writes in, isn’t shying away from the public fight, walking along peaceful city streets and tapping social media influencers to stroll with him, livestreaming safety-in-action in his city. Pitfalls: Of course, this kind of thing could backfire come a presidential election. As my colleague Rachael Bade wrote yesterday, the White House is gleeful to see certain high-profile Democrats appearing to play down fears of crime — a very real concern for many voters. And Trump believes his endless mud-slinging about weakness and incompetence will stick. But for now, needing publicity in what’s likely to be a crowded 2028 field and with eyes fixed solely on primary voters, these Dem governors are seizing their moment. ADDENDUM: By the time the next president is sworn in come 2029, it will have been two full decades since an ex-governor sat in the Oval Office. That’s the longest gap — aside from one weirdly barren spell post-1945 — in American history. In fact, a former governor hasn’t even made it onto the ballot since 2012. So maybe this is all kind of overdue. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Newsom is the final interviewee this afternoon at POLITICO’s first California Policy Summit, and you can sign up here to watch. He’ll be on stage with POLITICO’s Christopher Cadelago at 7:40 p.m. ET, following interviews with other Golden State heavy hitters, including Sen. Alex Padilla (3:40 p.m. ET) — who is the subject of growing buzz about a potential gubernatorial bid, which he is not ruling out, POLITICO’s Melanie Mason and Jeremy White scooped.
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| | | | FED UP WITH ALL THIS? NEXT STOP, THE HILL: The battle for control of the Federal Reserve will soon hit Capitol Hill as Trump tries to barrel forward with his newest governor nominee. A confirmation hearing for Trump ally Stephen Miran is being teed up for next week, POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman and Jordain Carney scoop — the first potential flashpoint in Congress following the president’s dramatic attempt to oust Lisa Cook from the central bank’s board of governors. Reminder: Miran had already been nominated by Trump for a vacant governor’s seat before the president’s headline-grabbing attempt to fire Cook on Monday night. But his nomination may now become a moment of real contention on the Hill, both for furious Democrats and — potentially — for uneasy Republicans who have long embraced the sanctity of Fed independence. “Now it’s like a political stand and a referendum on Trump,” one GOP congressional aide tells POLITICO. See you in court: This comes after Cook’s lawyer Abbe Lowell confirmed his client will sue the president over his attempt to oust her from the bank’s board. Both Trump and the Fed have said they will abide by the court’s decision. In a new piece this morning, POLITICO’s Victoria Guida assesses the Fed’s strategy of cautious resistance. Next steps: The pending court case is unlikely to stop Trump pressing ahead with a swift nomination to replace Cook, the WSJ reports. It says options being considered include nominating former World Bank President David Malpass, a close ally of Trump’s who has criticized the Fed on interest rates, or switching Miran’s nomination so that he replaces Cook instead. Bloomberg has a useful piece looking at how — assuming he gets his way on Cook — Trump could use his majority on the board to shake up the Fed at a regional level. And as for Cook … this is just one more battle with GOP adversaries, POLITICO’s Sam Sutton, Michael Stratford and Eli Stokols report. Her confirmation in 2022 was another fearsome struggle. “They questioned her background, they questioned her expertise, they questioned whether she was qualified to serve,” recalls Lisa Rice, the president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, who rallied support for Cook’s nomination. “She was a target. And she's still a target.”
| | | | TODAY: The California Agenda-- Don't miss POLITICO's inaugural California policy summit in Sacramento. Join us virtually to explore policy debates around tech, energy, health care and more. Hear from Sen. Alex Padilla (D), Katie Porter, GOP gubernatorial candidates and more! Register to watch. | | | | | MIDDLE EAST LATEST WAR AND PEACE: The intractable Israel-Hamas war takes center stage at the White House again today, with Trump set to lead a “large meeting” on a day-after plan for Gaza once the conflict ends, special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Fox News. It’s the first time Witkoff has suggested such a plan even exists, the Times of Israel’s Jacob Magid writes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also due to meet today with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar. On the ground: Global outrage continues over the double Israeli strike in Gaza, which killed 20 people at a hospital, including multiple journalists. The Israeli military said yesterday that it was going after a Hamas surveillance camera, and that six of those killed were Hamas members. But AP’s Wafaa Shurafa and colleagues report that Israel didn’t provide evidence to back up their account, which was contradicted by eyewitness accounts. The initial strike Monday in fact killed a Reuters journalist who was using a camera for a live shot. And (of course) there’s more: The following day, Israeli attacks killed at least 35 more Palestinians, while another three died from malnutrition or starvation-related causes, per local hospital and health officials. THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE: As Trump weighs the future of Gaza, deep divides over the war continue to rend Democrats. Tensions briefly spiked at the DNC meeting, where a party committee rejected a resolution calling for military aid to Israel to be suspended, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider reports from Minneapolis. Perhaps more consequential was a new call from House Armed Services ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) for the U.S. to withhold some weapons from Israel as leverage to move Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. “The Democrats must pass the resolution that calls for an embargo of military sales to Israel that are being used to kill civilians and that calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) tells Playbook’s Dasha Burns. “This is a defining issue for the Democratic party in terms of our moral and human rights leadership.”
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST TRADING PLACES: Additional 25 percent U.S. tariffs on India went into effect overnight to punish New Delhi for its ongoing purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total rate on Indian goods to 50 percent and the U.S.-Indian relationship to a new nadir, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Ari Hawkins report. The increasingly sour dynamic between the world’s largest democracies could have significant geopolitical implications — as well as a brutal impact on India’s economy. HOW TO WIN THE CULTURE WARS: Trump and the White House celebrated after Cracker Barrel backed down following the president’s intervention in the row over its new logo. Trump’s deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich took the call from Cracker Barrel yesterday evening. “They wanted the President to know that they heard him,” he wrote on X. TRUMP AND THE COURTS: A Trump-appointed federal judge harshly rebuked the administration for suing the entire federal judiciary in Maryland, tossing the attempt at a “constitutional free-for-all” and saying the executive branch wanted to “smear and impugn” judges, per CNN. WEAPONIZATION WATCH: Speaking out for the first time, Jack Smith’s lawyers said the Office of Special Counsel’s investigation into him is based on an “imaginary and unfounded” rationale, NYT’s Devlin Barrett reports. ICE ICE BABY: Trump’s race to massively expand ICE is worrying officials who fear a politicized wave of poorly trained MAGA recruits could badly worsen the agency’s professionalism, The Atlantic’s Nick Miroff reports. New deportation officers’ training has been halved, he writes, with academy training limited to 47 days simply because Trump is the 47th president. BANNED AID: The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court for the green light to impound billions of dollars in foreign aid funding, per Bloomberg. Yet, per NBC’s Garrett Haake, one of the world’s most important figures for humanitarian aid, Bill Gates, met with Trump yesterday — as NYT’s Teddy Schleifer scooped that the Gates Foundation has quietly stopped working with the Democratic-linked Arabella Advisors. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Trump yesterday sought to expand the crackdown on D.C., saying he’d seek the death penalty for all murders in the city and would try to keep federal control of police past the 30-day limit, per WaPo. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll finds a plurality of Americans oppose the troop deployment. FEDERAL WORKFORCE LATEST: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA HQ staff will be moved to the DOT building in Navy Yard, per Bloomberg. … Several FEMA employees were placed on leave after signing a public letter of dissent against agency leaders, WaPo’s Brianna Sacks scooped. RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT: A White House meeting with Indiana Republican state lawmakers may have started to break their resistance to a mid-decade gerrymander, Playbook’s Adam Wren and Dasha Burns report. It’s not a done deal, but supporters felt the tide turning. Florida could be the next GOP target through the fall and early next year, CBS’ Aaron Navarro reports. SAY GOODBYE TO AI REGS: A huge new Silicon Valley super PAC, Leading the Future, plans to spend big in the midterms to support candidates who are “pro-AI” and oppose “doomers” who want more regulation, WaPo’s Nitasha Tiku and colleagues report. In California, Meta will also spend tens of millions of dollars on a state-level super PAC with a similar approach, POLITICO’s Tyler Katzenberger and Christine Mui scooped. THE FUTURE OF WAR: Experts say the U.S. is lagging behind in the new era of drone warfare, with Pentagon bureaucracy only now working to catch up with Ukraine and Russia, Michael Hirsh reports for POLITICO Magazine. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — 2028 watch: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is heading to North Carolina and Nevada over the next two weekends for a series of political events “fighting against President Trump’s attacks on working families.” They’re the latest stops on the growing list of early primary and general-election battleground states that the potential 2028 hopeful has visited. He previously held town halls in South Carolina and Michigan with his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords. FOR YOUR RADAR: Federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence Nadine Menendez to a minimum of seven years behind bars for her bribery conviction, per the NYT.
| | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts — set the pace. POLITICO Pro’s Policy Intelligence Assistant combines unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver sharper insights, faster answers, and two powerful report builders that turn intelligence into impact. Try it free for 30 days. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Melania Trump will lead a new Presidential Challenge to get American kids excited about AI. Michael Knowles became the first podcaster to attend a Cabinet meeting. Donald Trump offered well wishes to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce on their engagement. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Trent Morse’s White House departure party last night at Mastro’s Steakhouse: chief of staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HUD Secretary Scott Turner, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, Stephen Miran, Michael Kratsios, James Blair, Robert Gabriel, Dave Warrington, Sergio Gor, Nick Luna, Richard Walters, Tony Fabrizio, Chad Tucker, Jason Miller, Alina Habba, Senay Bulbul, Cam Henderson, Keagan Lenihan, Josh Fisher, Meghan Patenaude Bauer, Jennifer Homendy and Sean Cairncross. — SPOTTED: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Paul Pelosi stopping by Steve Clemons’ birthday dinner, hosted by Gloria Dittus, at La Terrazza Gualtiero Marchesi in Lake Como, Italy. Pic SCENE SETTER — “Donald Trump’s Big Gay Government,” by NYT’s Shawn McCreesh: “These are the A-Gays. They’re (mostly) out, they’re proud (to work for President Trump) and they have big jobs inside (or alongside) this administration. They wield influence all over town, from the Pentagon to the State Department to the White House to the Kennedy Center. … At gay bars around town and on dating apps they are either iced out or confronted about the things this president has said and done. … But the most coveted invitation for a MAGA gay in Washington is to one of the parties that [Peter] Thiel, the gay Trump megadonor, has been throwing at his mansion near Embassy Row.” WHITE HOUSE MOVE — Dan Scavino will be the new director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, leading hiring efforts for the administration, Axios’ Alex Isenstadt scooped. The longtime Trump aide has previously been a White House deputy chief of staff. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — After creating the Washington Reporter, Garrett Ventry and Brian Colas are launching another conservative media organization — this one called the Upper Chamber, a magazine-style outlet focused on the Senate and Senate campaigns. It will include current and former Senate staffers writing about legislation and procedure, beginning with a focus on what Republicans may include in a second reconciliation bill. MEDIA MOVES — Vaughn Sterling is returning to CNN as executive producer of “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.” He previously was senior executive producer of news and features at the WSJ. … Alex Altman is moving up to be executive editor of Time. He previously has been deputy Washington bureau chief and executive features editor. … Samuel Skove is now a staff reporter at Foreign Policy. He previously was a space and emerging tech reporter at POLITICO and is a Defense One alum. TRANSITIONS — Courtney Freeman is now counsel at Adams & Reese. She previously worked in the regulations division of the FAA’s Office of the Chief Counsel. … Diana Astiz is now a principal at McKenna Media. She previously was research director for two cycles at the DSCC, and is a Senate Majority PAC alum. … Eric Heighberger is now senior director of federal affairs for LA28, the host committee for the Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics. He previously was staff director at the House Homeland Security Committee. … … Edo Banach is now a partner at Foley Hoag’s health care practice. He previously was a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. … Bill Gray is now director of comms at Stand Together. He previously was comms director at the R Street Institute. … Groundwork Collaborative is adding Charisma Troiano as chief of comms and Jayme Link as comms associate. Troiano previously was deputy director and chief spokesperson for the Office of Public Affairs at the Biden Energy Department. Link previously was a comms assistant at Pew Research Center. ENGAGED — Zach Leibell, senior client success manager at Meltwater, and Katy Nystrom, senior comms manager at the Center for Countering Digital Hate, got engaged Saturday with a watch and an engraved brick at the Congressional Cemetery while walking their dog, Doug. They met in 2021 while Zach was working for the House Democratic Caucus and Katy was working for Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Oriana Pawlyk, aviation reporter at POLITICO, and Marcus Weisgerber, senior director at Invariant, welcomed Ksenia Angelina Weisgerber on Friday. Pic … Another pic — Charlyce Bozzello, chief of staff at Berman and Company, and Tim Rice, D.C. bureau chief for The Daily Wire, welcomed twins Henry Francis and Abigail Rose on Friday. They join big sister Lily. Pic — Molly Morrissey, a strategic comms principal for Bracewell’s Policy Resolution Group and Tina Smith alum, and Jayhon Ghassem-Zadeh, business development director at ManTech, welcomed their son Cyrus on Aug. 25. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul … Jennifer Senior … former DNI Avril Haines … Roger Stone … Steve Clemons … Fox News’ David Spunt … POLITICO’s Darius Dixon and Kasi Perkins … Megan Cassella of CNBC … Francesca Jordan … Ty Matsdorf … Leah Daughtry … Benjamin Haas … CNN’s Jedd Rosche … George Hartmann … Francisco Flores-Pourrat … Sarah Schenning of Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) office … Moutray McLaren … Spencer Silverman … Adam Joseph of House Energy and Commerce … Pete Boyle … TikTok’s Mac Abrams … former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) … Gary Cohn … Karla Raettig of the National Wildlife Federation Action Fund … Michael Boots … Evergreen Strategy Group’s Kelly Ramirez … Jinnie Christensen of BGR … NBC’s Josh Mankiewicz (7-0) … Peter Sterne 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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