| | | |  | | By Adam Wren with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast, Adam Wren and Eli Stokols go deep on the Trump-Putin summit, each side’s strategy heading in and what success looks like for both parties.
| 
| Good morning, and happy Friday. I’m Adam Wren. Send me your scoops: awren@politico.com. In today’s Playbook … — The summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is here … and even Hillary Clinton sees a potential path for Trump to win a Nobel Peace Prize. — As Gavin Newsom charges ahead with a plan to gerrymander California for Democrats, POLITICO obtained the draft document outlining which GOP House members are at highest risk of getting wiped out. — The federalization of D.C. continues: AG Pam Bondi moved late last night to make the DEA chief the “emergency police commissioner” in Washington, placing him above the D.C. Police head.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images | DEAL OR NO DEAL: On this, the 207th day of his second term as president, Donald Trump will come face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the man most responsible for continuing the war that candidate Trump said he could solve within 24 hours of being sworn in. That was then. Now, Trump and his aides are more clear-eyed about the limitations of what is possible, have spent the better part of the past week tempering expectations for the summit — and were even doing so late into the night. “We’re not walking out of there with a deal,” a White House official told Playbook’s Dasha Burns last night. “There is a 25-percent chance this meeting will not be a successful meeting,” Trump himself said on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” Still, the president “is prepared, upbeat and intent on delivering the beginnings of peace in this tragic conflict where so much death and destruction has occurred,” a senior White House official told Dasha. But that choice of words — “beginnings of peace” — is telling: They no longer imagine a quick fix for this morass. So what will happen today? Trump will “sit down and look the Russian president in the eye and see what progress can be made to move the ball forward,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on “Fox and Friends.” It’s worth lingering on that phrase — look the Russian president in the eye — and recalling then-President George W. Bush’s remarks in June 2001, following his meeting with Putin in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Having “looked the man in the eye,” Bush found Putin “to be very straightforward and trustworthy,” and got a sense of his “soul.” Those comments later became a symbol of the president’s misjudgment of the Russian leader, and an albatross around his neck. The same potential peril awaits Trump in Alaska at 3 p.m. EDT, when he sits across from a man who has vexed and embarrassed American presidents for a generation. “International relations are encapsulated in the personal relationships of the heads of the governments involved,” Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton told Playbook. “It’s vastly oversimplified, but that's how [Trump] sees it, and that's why he said and he believes — he said ‘two minutes’: he'll know very quickly whether he thinks there's something here or not.” Bolton told Playbook he is “not aware of any summit of these two kinds of leaders at this level that’s ever been arranged this quickly.” And he is concerned that the hastily organized nature of the summit — including the apparent one-on-one portion with just the two world leaders — only adds to the risk that Putin will pull one over on Trump. “The big question is whether Putin can apply his KGB training to get Trump believing that he and Vladimir are friends again,” Bolton said. “Putin obviously sees that. Whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally, he pushed Trump way out of the comfort zone of believing that he and Vladimir were friends and they could work out a ceasefire, and saw the threats of sanctions, saw what happened to India, and recognized that he had to make some effort to get Trump back in the right frame of mind, from his perspective.” Right on cue: Yesterday, Putin praised the U.S. for making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the fighting,” according to Bloomberg.
| | | | A message from AARP: Social Security Turns 90 on August 14
90 years ago, our country made a promise to provide hardworking Americans with a way to earn a foundation for financial security in retirement. Social Security is one of the most successful and popular initiatives in American history, helping generations of older Americans live with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. AARP celebrates Social Security's legacy while fighting to protect and strengthen it for generations to come. Learn more. | | | | WHAT DOES TRUMP WANT?: There are a few answers to that question — some altruistic, some egotistic. “This is the American president on a massive global issue, trying to exert his will toward peace,” Matthew Bartlett, a former Trump State Department appointee, told Playbook. “The history books are ready to be written. Trump appreciates the power of the presidency, the power of the moment, the power of the stage.” Indeed, that “power of the stage” looms large. "Trump wants the spotlight,” Bolton told Playbook. “He wants to be there with his picture on the front page of every newspaper with Putin — and he's got that. And it does give him a chance to decide: Does he want to invest more energy into trying to resolve this and get a Nobel Peace Prize, or is this just as hopeless as it’s looked for the past six months?" Reality check: Russia and Ukraine are “nowhere close to a deal,” POLITICO’s Eli Stokols writes this morning in a must-read curtain-raiser we are bringing you first in Playbook. (Particularly interesting: Eli’s reporting that European leaders have come around on VP JD Vance, who, in the words of one European official, “is looking for solutions while being clear that Putin is the bad guy here.”) And knowing that a deal is not likely today, Trump has trained his sights on something more achievable: a “second meeting, which the president hopes occurs soon after the first, would include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, as Trump envisions it, allow for a negotiated peace, possibly including land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine.” “What Trump doesn’t get is Putin doesn’t have the same empathy toward loss of life like he does: Putin wants maximal objectives to secure his legacy as Vladimir the Great and is willing to engage in mass slaughter, while Trump wants to stop the war and win the Nobel Prize for peace,” Fiona Hill, who advised Trump on Russia during his first term, told WSJ. Trump’s thirst for a Nobel Prize is not to be underestimated. “I’ve solved six wars in the last six months — a little more than six months now — and I’m very proud of it,” the self-branded “president of peace” said yesterday in the Oval Office. Trump has even found a truly unexpected cheerleader as the day unfolds. “He very much would like to receive the Nobel Peace Prize,” Hillary Clinton said in an interview that just published for Jessica Tarlov’s “Raging Moderates” podcast. And she sees a path for that to happen: “[H]onestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war … if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor … could really stand up to Putin, something we haven't seen, but maybe this is the opportunity … If President Trump were the architect of that, I’d nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin.”
| | | | A message from AARP:  
Americans earn their Social Security through a lifetime of hard work. Let's keep it strong. Learn more. | | | | REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP LET THE GERRYMANDERING BEGIN: Bad news for Rep. Kevin Kiley: Neither party is backing down in the mid-decade redistricting wars unleashed by Trump’s unprecedented power grab, and the twin loci of the fight — Texas and California — are kicking into a new gear. Republicans hold on in Austin: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is due to adjourn the state legislature’s special session today and then quickly call a second one. And this time, state House Democrats who left the state to block a deeper GOP gerrymander than the one that already exists are folding, per The Texas Tribune. Their logic: Though they successfully captured national attention, they can’t hold out forever to forestall Republicans from seizing five congressional seats, and they’ll focus now on fighting in the courts. But the end of the walkout will almost surely lead to the GOP now passing a new map. Democrats prepare the counter in Sacramento: Newsom’s effort to prevent the Texas gerrymander from determining control of Congress began in earnest yesterday. He and state Democrats officially launched a November special election campaign to ask voters to allow them to change the independently drawn maps, per the LA Times. Their first ad makes clear what Dems’ messaging will be for the “Election Rigging Response Act.” Trump “doesn’t believe in the rules,” Newsom said from LA. “And as a consequence, we need to disabuse ourselves of the way things have been done.” Meanwhile, scores of Border Patrol agents gathered outside the venue of announcement, provoking Dem outrage, per the LAT. The details: POLITICO’s Melanie Mason and Jeremy White scooped the specifics of California Dems’ draft map to gerrymander the state. The plan would easily flip the seats of Kiley and GOP Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Ken Calvert to Democrats, and GOP Rep. Darrell Issa’s district would become “lean Democratic.” GOP Rep. David Valadao may see more Democrats added to his district, too. And competitive seats held by Democratic Reps. Josh Harder, Adam Gray, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min would become gimmes for the party. The map could be officially unveiled today ahead of a breakneck, weeklong rush through Sacramento. The response: Texas Democrats got a boost from former President Barack Obama, who spoke with them yesterday and backed the push for California to respond to Texas, ABC’s Brittany Shepherd scooped. … In California, the science-focused PAC 314 Action Fund said it’ll spend $1 million to support the Democratic gerrymander and candidates who seek to flip seats. … Nationwide mass protests against Republicans’ Texas power grab are set for Saturday, Axios’ April Rubin previews. … Steve Bannon called for Republicans to go to maximalist political war against Democrats and institutions and expand their Texas flip to nine or 10 seats. Not the whole ballgame: Of course, the gerrymandering won’t stop at California and Texas. Ohio Republicans could snatch more seats in legally required redistricting, while Trump is eyeing Florida and a handful of others across the country to boost the margins. The White House is inviting Indiana Republicans to D.C. later this month as Trump tries to push them to grab a seat, per Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman. Democrats may try to fight back, but their options to counter-redistrict grow increasingly limited across the country.
| | | | 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 PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION: The federal government and D.C. could be heading for a new confrontation after Bondi moved late last night to invalidate city regulations that limit police’s ability to go after undocumented immigrants, per the NYT. The AG made DEA Administrator Terry Cole “emergency police commissioner,” placing him above D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith. Bondi’s directive “seems intended to turn Washington from a sanctuary city into one that aggressively pursues undocumented immigrants,” and it adds a new layer to a federal takeover of local police that was originally framed as cracking down on violent crime, not immigrants. The troops and the feds: The Pentagon said yesterday that the last of 800 National Guard troops being deployed in D.C. had been mobilized, and they’ll work in shifts around the clock. So far, though, they haven’t been a big presence in the city, NYT’s Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs notes, similar to what happened in LA. Federal agents conducting checkpoints and arrests have been more prominent. After one such checkpoint on 14th Street on Wednesday, Trump said such immigration- and crime-focused stops could be set up all over the country, per Axios. Homeless camps were also cleared out in D.C. in advance of expected raids. Out of town: After reports that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had gone to Martha’s Vineyard amid her city’s tumult, Bowser explained that she needed to pick her daughter up from camp and planned to return today. The skepticism: Though Trump framed his moves as fighting levels of crime in D.C. — which are high compared to many cities, though Trump used some false or misleading statistics — city leaders say Republicans’ own actions have made it harder to fight crime, NYT’s Tyler Pager and Devlin Barrett report. Those include not filling law enforcement/judicial vacancies and dealing a $1 billion budget cut to the city. And in Anacostia, which suffers from higher crime rates, residents say they haven’t seen any federal presence or changes yet, USA Today’s Josh Meyer finds. SHADES OF BEIJING: The Trump administration and Intel are now discussing a deal that would see the U.S. take a stake in the company, Bloomberg’s Ryan Gould and colleagues scooped. If it comes together, the unusual state-industry connection could bolster the financially troubled Intel’s delayed chipmaking facility in Ohio and provide a lifeline for CEO Lip-Bu Tan, whom Trump previously called on to be booted. STAT OF THE DAY: Office of Personnel Management head Scott Kupor told Reuters’ Courtney Rozen that he expects the federal government to shrink by 300,000 employees this year as a result of the DOGE-fueled campaign to slash the civil service. ANOTHER WIN FOR ANTI-VAXXERS: “RFK Jr. Resurrects Decades-Old Vaccine Safety Task Force,” by Bloomberg’s Rachel Cohrs Zhang: “[One expert] said that if panelists who aren’t vaccine experts are appointed, they could undermine immunizations without improving safety. [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] and his allies have complained for years that the task force should have continued and produced reports every two years.” BUT MAHA FOLDS ON FOOD: “Draft of White House Report Suggests Kennedy Won’t Push Strict Pesticide Regulations,” by NYT’s Dani Blum and colleagues: “A highly anticipated White House report on the health of American children would stop short of proposing direct restrictions on ultraprocessed foods and pesticides … At this stage, any draft would go through a number of revisions before it is finalized.” ONE TO WATCH: Members of Congress from both parties reacted with outrage to a blockbuster Reuters report that showed Meta had allowed its chatbots to have romantic talks with children. And a couple called for the Hill to conduct an investigation, per Reuters. Meta says the policy has now been changed after reporter Jeff Horwitz asked about it. JUDICIARY SQUARE: The Supreme Court gave Mississippi the go-ahead for now to mandate age verification and parental consent for children using social media, per NBC. … A federal judge said the Trump administration could not demand that schools end diversity programs or lose their funding, per the AP. THE TAXMAN COMETH: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, now pulling double duty as acting IRS commissioner, visited the agency to talk with employees — and to send a message with Hunter Biden whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler by his side, the N.Y. Post’s Miranda Devine scooped. Meanwhile, NYT’s Andrew Duehren and Maggie Haberman dive into what went wrong with deposed commissioner Billy Long: Bessent orchestrated his ouster after Long tried to make independent moves at the IRS without getting Treasury’s OK. More than a dozen sources “described a territorial Treasury secretary in Mr. Bessent who has sought total control of the beleaguered I.R.S. [and] a neophyte administrator in Mr. Long.” THE RACE FOR NOVEMBER: Democrat Abigail Spanberger rejected CNN’s offer to host a debate in the Virginia gubernatorial race after GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears accepted, with Spanberger’s camp saying she was focused on local outlets hosting debates. Spanberger also launched her first Spanish-language radio spot, per CBS’ Anne Bryson. 2026 WATCH: Could Democrats actually flip the Senate? Some are beginning to see the faint outline of a chance, though the odds are long, POLITICO’s Holly Otterbein and Nick Wu report. They’ve been buoyed by recruitment coups in North Carolina and Ohio, with hopes that more could land in Maine and Alaska — and that nasty GOP primaries will help Dems in Texas and Georgia. … There’s growing chatter in Minnesota that Gov. Tim Walz isn’t so sure anymore about running for a third term, The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ryan Faircloth and Sydney Kashiwagi report. Walz was rattled by the assassination of close friend and state Sen. Melissa Hortman (whose alleged killer was indicted on state charges yesterday). CASH DASH: ActBlue is opening up to give independent candidates an easier path to fundraise through the platform, Axios’ Hans Nichols scooped. RESCISSIONS IN ACTION: PBS approved a 21 percent budget cut in the wake of Republicans wiping out its federal funding, which will likely lead to layoffs, NYT’s Ben Mullin reports. KNIVES OUT FOR COREY LEWANDOWSKI: “White House suspicious of Lewandowski’s ‘temp’ work,” by Axios’ Brittany Gibson and Marc Caputo: “Lewandowski … is wielding outsized influence at the Department of Homeland Security as a ‘special government employee’ whose work is supposed to be temporary. But administration officials tell Axios they believe Lewandowski … has gamed the system by undercounting his work hours to avoid leaving his unpaid job when he should have. White House officials began monitoring Lewandowski’s time at work in recent weeks.”
| | | | A message from AARP:  
AARP will never stop fighting to protect and strengthen Social Security for all generations. Learn more. | | | | THE WEEKEND AHEAD TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: David Ignatius, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Scott MacFarlane and Vivian Salama. SUNDAY SO FAR … CBS “Face the Nation”: Secretary of State Marco Rubio … Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) … Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) … Fiona Hill. NBC “Meet the Press”: Secretary of State Marco Rubio … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Sara Fagen, Jonathan Martin, Andrea Mitchell and Ned Price. ABC “This Week”: Secretary of State Marco Rubio … Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) … special envoy Steve Witkoff. Panel: Michael Allen, Mary Katharine Ham, Hans Nichols and Juan Williams. CNN “State of the Union”: Special envoy Steve Witkoff … Mike Pence. Panel: Brad Todd, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Bakari Sellers and Nayyera Haq. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) … Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) … Kay Bailey Hutchison. Panel: George Will, Jessica Taylor, Franco Ordoñez and Hannah Brandt. MSNBC “The Weekend”: Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta … Djimon Hounsou. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Ed Martin … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Kevin McCarthy.
| | | | Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant. Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | IN MEMORIAM — “Delaware ex-Gov. Mike Castle, who championed 50 State Quarters Program while in Congress, dies at 86,” by AP’s Mingson Lau in Wilmington: “Castle was among Delaware’s most successful politicians, never losing a race until his stunning upset in a 2010 primary for the U.S. Senate seat that Democrat Joe Biden held … During his 18 years in Congress, Castle became a leader of centrist Republicans, earning a reputation as a fiscal conservative and social moderate not afraid to challenge the party line.” AND THE AWARD GOES TO — The Edward R. Murrow Awards announced this year’s winners, including prizes for overall excellence to ABC News, ABC News Radio, the Boston Globe and The Assembly in North Carolina. Other awards went to coverage of the Trump assassination attempt by NBC News and NPR, MSNBC’s “Ultra” podcast, a WaPo feature on one family’s dangerous journey to the U.S., and much more. See the full list and all the work SPY GAMES — “You Can Buy One of the C.I.A.’s Greatest Mysteries at an Auction House,” by NYT’s John Schwartz: “Sleuths have solved three of the panels of the Kryptos sculpture at the agency’s headquarters. Now the artwork’s creator is announcing the sale of the solution to the fourth.” OUT AND ABOUT — Nvidia hosted a creator and digital media happy hour in its D.C. office yesterday, with Angela Krasnick and Eric Breckenfeld talking about the company’s role for the U.S. in the AI race. SPOTTED: Aaron Parnas, Tony Polcari, Yemisi Egbewole, Sam Gordon, Sam Schmir, Jack Cocchiarella, Mariana Castro, Emma Weir, Michael Kikukawa, Matthew Hogenmiller, Patrick Stevenson, Ariana Mushnick, Maxwell Alpar, Blake Davis and Chris Russo. MEDIA MOVES — Kimbriell Kelly will be editor-in-chief of Chicago Public Media, overseeing WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. She previously was Washington bureau chief at the L.A. Times and won a Pulitzer as a reporter at WaPo. … Christian Schneider is joining Pacific Legal Foundation as op-ed editor. He previously was at the Cato Institute, and writes a column for National Review. … Alex Sanz will be managing editor at CBS Atlanta. He previously was deputy managing editor and politics director at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and is an AP alum. TRANSITIONS — Roy Cooper’s Democratic Senate campaign is adding Jordan Monaghan as rapid response director and Ben Conroy as press secretary. Both previously worked for Cooper in the governor’s office. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) … Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.) … Melinda Gates … Puck’s Leigh Ann Caldwell … Devin O’Malley … former Justice Stephen Breyer … MSNBC’s Richard Hudock … Maggie Mulvaney Wiggins … Annie Wolf … Bart Reising … Meg Joseph … Dara Cohen of Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-Nev.) office … Hannah Stone of Salem Strategies … Karen Finney … Peggy Binzel … Jarrett Lewis … Patrick Gleason of Americans for Tax Reform … Mary Elizabeth Taylor … Elise Labott … Dentons’ Eric Tanenblatt … Brett Doyle … ABC’s Mariam Khan … former Reps. Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.) (5-0) and Judy Biggert (R-Ill.) … Christopher Loring … Zahava Urecki … Slade Bond … CC Jaeger of the Herald Group … Allen Weisselberg … POLITICO’s Alec Snyder, Paula Friedrich and Daniel Naylor … Kevin Hall … AP’s Juliet Linderman … Anup Rao … Ky Ash of HB Strategies … Linda Ellerbee … Jennifer Holdsworth Karp 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 attributed the byline on an NBC report. It was Ryan Reilly.
| | | | A message from AARP: Social Security is one of the most successful and popular initiatives in American history.
· Nearly all Americans (96%) consider Social Security important, with broad agreement across party lines: 98% Democrats, 95% Republicans and 93% of Independents all say the same.
· More than two-thirds of Americans (67%) view Social Security as more important to retirees today than five years ago.
· Nearly two in three (65%) retired Americans say they rely substantially on Social Security, while another 21 percent say they rely on it somewhat. In 2020, 63% of retired Americans said they relied substantially on Social Security, jumping from 58% in both 2015 and 2010—all according to AARP research.
Congress: Keep America's promise—protect and strengthen Social Security for older Americans today and our kids and grandkids tomorrow. 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 | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment