| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and POLITICO’s Megan Messerly discuss Donald Trump’s anti-globalist speech to the United Nations, the fallout from his eye-popping autism announcement and the late-night return of Jimmy Kimmel.
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| Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. KAM-BACK KID: Former VP Kamala Harris will be all over the airwaves this morning as her memoir recounting the 2024 election campaign sprint is officially released today. Harris will appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “The View” to promote the release of “107 Days,” a much-trailed reflection on her failed bid for the presidency. Noteworthy: This will be Harris’ first appearance on “The View” since the fateful morning almost a year ago when she was asked what she would have done differently than President Joe Biden. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris replied blankly, in a clip that would be replayed endlessly by the Trump campaign. (“I had no idea I’d just pulled the pin on a hand grenade," Harris reflects in her new book.) Last night on TV: Harris gave her book tour’s first sit-down interview to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, describing Trump as a “tyrant” and urging private-sector bosses to “stand up” and act as “guardrails for our democracy.” She also accepted she was partially to blame for Democrats’ “recklessness” that allowed Biden to initially run for reelection. And she — just about — endorsed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor, becoming the most high-profile Democrat to do so … though she managed not to mention Mamdani by name. In today’s Playbook … — Trump takes on the world at the U.N. this morning. — Jimmy Kimmel is returning to screens tonight … but not in D.C. — Plus all the fallout from last night’s chaotic autism announcement in the White House.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump is heading to the U.N. General Assembly today. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | UNITED WE STAND? President Donald Trump will take on the “globalist” world order this morning in his first in-person speech to the United Nations since 2019. The president is due onstage in New York at 9:50 a.m., and aides promise he’ll offer nothing less than a “vision for the world” for us to enjoy. Get ready. Must-see TV: Trump’s UNGA speeches are always worth watching, and not just for the spectacle of his braggadocious New York patter crashing headlong into the diplomatic niceties of the U.N. elite. These are rare occasions when Trump is speaking less to his own MAGA supporters than outwardly to the world — and with a focus on the turbulent geopolitical trends he’s helping to shape. Expect plenty of stony faces in the hall as Trump lectures world leaders on his “America first” vision of national sovereignty vs. their own 80-year vision of a multilateral world. Shifting sands: The mood in the hall will be subtly different than the punchy U.N. addresses of Trump’s first term, as POLITICO’s Eli Stokols and Felicia Schwartz write in their summit walkup piece. World leaders who saw Trump as an aberration during his first term can now see the MAGA project is here to stay. “None of this is amusing any more,” one senior European official tells POLITICO. “Nor do the other leaders still believe they can manage Trump.” So who’s in the firing line? “The president will touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday. So expect the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization — and likely the U.N. and its various offshoots — to come under heavy fire. Also braced for impact: Iran. Hamas. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (And possibly Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom, if Trump veers off into campaign mode.) Finally: Expect the president to dwell on his various peacemaking efforts around the world. The one-man lobbying campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize shows no sign of letting up. (Date for your diaries: This year’s Nobel prize will be announced Oct. 10.) Plotting Trump’s path: A quick flick back through Trump’s past U.N. speeches is instructive on the way his approach has developed. His UNGA debut in 2017 is largely remembered for his rant against “Rocket Man” Kim Jong Un of North Korea — hearing a U.S. president throw pejorative insults at world leaders still seemed novel back then — but much of that speech now looks relatively mainstream. Case in point: In 2017, Trump hailed U.S. famine relief programs in Africa, boasted about promoting global health through the PEPFAR initiative on AIDS and about “empowering women all across the globe” through various funding schemes. (Naturally, most of these programs got shredded by Elon Musk earlier this year.) Trump 1.0 also vowed to support Ukraine’s sovereignty, spoke proudly of how past U.S. administrations “did not seek territorial expansion” and praised Washington’s “healthy trade relationships” with Latin America. Safe to say: Trump 2.0 is a very different beast, as today’s speech will show.
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute: The next generation of U.S. financial infrastructure is open-source and blockchain-based—built by developers creating transparent systems that empower consumer choice. As Congress crafts digital asset legislation, we must preserve historical protections for open-source developers. The future of American financial innovation depends on protecting those building it today. Learn more. | | | | More important than the speech itself may be the meetings which follow — chief among them a bilateral with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s now been nearly six weeks since Trump rolled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin on American soil — yet he has nothing to show for his efforts, and no prospect of a peace deal any time soon. The focus is still on tougher Russian sanctions, with Trump insisting he is ready to act — but only once European nations stop buying Russian oil. The irony is the main offenders (Hungary, Turkey and Slovakia) are those with leaders most closely allied with Trump. Zelenskyy said on Saturday he wants Trump himself to “push” European countries to do more. For your radar: Trump also has a bilateral with MAGA-friendly Argentinian President Javier Milei. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday the U.S. is considering a massive bailout of the ailing Argentine economy, boosting Milei’s prospects ahead of next month's legislative elections, NYT reports. It sounds about as far from "America First” as you’re likely to get. The other big event will be Trump’s Middle East peace conference with the leaders of eight Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. It comes just a day after a host of U.S. allies including France, Britain and Canada made coordinated announcements formally recognizing Palestinian statehood for the first time — an extraordinary diplomatic moment in the West’s fast-shifting relations with Israel. The expectation is Trump will address their actions in his speech, and Leavitt has made clear where the president stands. “He disagrees with this decision,” she said. “He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza, does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close, and frankly, he believes it's a reward to Hamas. He believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action.” In short: There should be plenty to chew on throughout the day.
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| | | | AFTER CHARLIE KIRK HE’S BACK: As you’ve no doubt heard, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC’s airwaves tonight, just six days after beginning an “indefinite” suspension over comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killer — and following FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s ensuing threat of government action against the network. Must-see TV: Kimmel has not spoken publicly since his suspension last Wednesday, meaning scrutiny of how he addresses the whole affair will be intense. You can expect wall-to-wall coverage of the show when you get up on Wednesday morning — and yes, Playbook will be tuning in at 11:35 p.m. tonight so you can still get your beauty sleep. The explanation: In a statement yesterday, ABC parent company Disney said it had initially suspended Kimmel to “avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” but that the media giant had “spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy,” leading to his return. But exactly how it all unfolded is still unclear. Triumphant liberal campaigners are claiming victory after days of pressure upon Disney, with petitions and threatened boycotts of advertisers. But Playbook will point out gently that there were reports almost immediately (h/t Puck’s Dylan Byers) that the suspension was always a temporary measure, which Disney hoped to swiftly resolve. Some conservative commentators noted drily that Trump’s “authoritarian” reach is perhaps not quite what many on the left had made it out to be. News of Kimmel’s return prompted a predictable mix of partisan reactions: “This is about fighting for free speech and against these abuses by Donald Trump and Brendan Carr,” tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. … “Must be nice to be a leftist. ‘Cancellation’ lasts 5 nights and you’re right back under klieg lights. On the right you’re underground,” posted conservative commentator Megyn Kelly. … “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmell [sic] back on the air is not surprising, but it's their mistake to make,” wrote Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet. “Nextstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.” And, indeed, they aren’t … One market that won’t see Kimmel: Washington, D.C. That’s because our ABC affiliate, WJLA, is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which announced that it will not be airing “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” across its 38 stations, per the Hollywood Reporter. Instead, Sinclair will preempt the show “with news programming” while “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show's potential return.” No comment yet from Trump himself, who celebrated Kimmel’s suspension last week. But surely he’ll find a way to watch for whatever it is Kimmel says tonight. Speaking of Trump: The president signed an executive order yesterday declaring antifa — the domestic decentralized anti-fascist movement — a “terrorist organization” and threatening “investigatory and prosecutorial action” against those who financially support it, writes NYT’s Chris Cameron. One small problem: “Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations,” writes AP’s Darlene Superville. And because “there is no equivalent domestic terrorism law … experts downplayed the legal effect,” NYT notes. Meanwhile in Minnesota: The Turning Point USA college tour resumed last night, with large crowds of students gathering to chant Charlie Kirk’s name ahead of the show.
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulatory battles and industrial shifts shaping defense and security across continents. We connect what happens in Washington, Brussels and beyond to what gets funded, what gets built and who benefits. Subscribe now to access the free preview edition. | | | | | MAHA WORLD FALLOUT: Yesterday’s extraordinary, off-script performance by Trump at the White House event on the causes of autism is going down about as well as you’d expect with the medical community. Straying way off piste, Trump strongly warned pregnant women not to take popular pain-reliever and fever-reducer Tylenol, linking both it and the childhood vaccine schedule to an increased risk of autism in children, as POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports. In his own words: “There are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism,” the president claimed, providing no evidence for a theory long rejected by scientists. On Tylenol: “Trump vacillated between echoing what his health officials actually advised — saying the federal government is ‘strongly recommending that women’ limit use in pregnancy ‘unless medically necessary’ — and then staking out his own position more forcefully,” Lauren writes. “‘I’m not so careful with what I say,’ Trump said, before adding: ‘Taking Tylenol is not good. Alright, I’ll say it: It’s not good.’” Some facts: Trump’s message “contradicts a recent analysis of nearly four dozen studies investigating a potential connection between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental conditions,” per Lauren. Medicine regulators in other Western nations — such as the U.K., per Bloomberg — have so far rejected the president’s claims. Not happy: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the GOP’s resident doctor-in-chief, was clearly unimpressed. And Ann Bauer, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts whose research was cited by the White House, said she welcomes a judicious approach to Tylenol usage, but told KFF Health News she worried her message was being distorted by the MAHA movement — describing herself as “sick to my stomach” with concern that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would link her studies to discredited theories about autism. The actual advice: A letter published by the Food and Drug Administration during Trump’s afternoon news conference said only that doctors “should consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy,” per the AP — a much more circumspect stance than the president’s. Indeed, Bauer told POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner that Tylenol is still an option during pregnancy, but advised “judicious use.” Tylenol responds: Kenvue, the manufacturer of Tylenol, says it “strongly disagrees” with the correlation, stating that “sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism.” The company pointed to scientific reviews by multiple government regulators worldwide, per the AP. “Shares of Kenvue Inc. fell 7.5% in trading Monday, reducing the company's market value by about $2.6 billion.” And on vaccines: Trump urged parents not to get their children vaccinated on the widely used, medically sound schedule. “Don’t do it,” he said. “Get them broken into four or five visits. … It can only help. There’s no downside.” The downside: The vaccine changes proposed by Trump “could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases for a longer period of time,” per STAT’s Daniel Payne and colleagues. “The CDC and major medical groups advise health care providers to adhere to the recommended vaccine schedules … Trump’s plan of spreading out doses for years could leave children more vulnerable and vaccines less effective.” Expect plenty more discussion of all this today.
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| | | | TRAIL MIX FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ad it up: Democrats are leaning into cost-of-living issues in a major new TV ad campaign targeting 10 vulnerable Republicans in swing districts, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider scoops this morning. “House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, is spending $3 million on broadcast TV and digital ads attacking Republicans on cost-of-living increases and cuts to Medicaid.” HOT ON THE LEFT: Aides say more than 800 people turned up for Oyster farmer Graham Platner’s first town hall in Maine last night (here’s a pic). Platner, an Iraq war veteran, is running an insurgent grassroots campaign to take on GOP Sen. Susan Collins, which threatens to disrupt national Democrats’ efforts to recruit and unite around Gov. Janet Mills. PEARL OF WISDOM: Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement yesterday, but he will not be making a long-rumored bid to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) … at least for now. “I need to focus now on being a great husband, being a great father, being the best grandfather I possibly can be,” Pearl said in a 14-minute video posted on X. BEST OF THE REST EPSTEIN ELECTION: Voters in southern Arizona go to the polls today for a special election that looks certain to boost Democratic numbers in the House. And the all-but-certain election of Democrat Adelita Grijalva will soon bring the all-important 218th signature to the chamber’s Jeffrey Epstein files discharge petition, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports — forcing Speaker Mike Johnson to decide whether to settle a fight that has divided his GOP conference, or to let the matter play out on the House floor. The timeline: “Grijalva — who is heavily favored to succeed her late father, Raúl Grijalva, in a district Trump lost by 22 points — said she will be pleased to force the issue,” Meredith reports. “She would be eligible to sign immediately after she is sworn in, likely early next month.” HOMAN HOSED? Questions are still swirling around the conduct of border czar Tom Homan after a less-than-convicing outing on Fox News last night. MSNBC published blockbuster claims over the weekend that Homan was filmed accepting $50,000 in cash last year from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives seeking government contracts once the Trump administration came to power. The inquiry was reportedly later dropped under Trump’s DOJ. Denial: The White House said unequivocally yesterday that “Mr. Homan never took the $50,000,” describing the incident as entrapment and laying the blame on “the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice.” Homan himself surfaced on Laura Ingraham’s show last night — but said only that he “did nothing criminal, nothing illegal,” while blaming MSNBC for a “hit piece.” But it was all a little vague, given the detailed nature of the allegations (which have since also been reported by the NYT and WaPo.) This one feels like it still has some way to run. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: As lawmakers stare down a Sept. 30 shutdown deadline, Trump is expected to huddle with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday to discuss the funding deadlock, POLITICO’s Nick Wu and Jordain Carney report. But neither side seems hopeful that progress will be made. Democrats are still threatening to withhold support unless they win GOP concessions over health care spending. And while Trump told reporters over the weekend he would be happy to meet with Dem leaders, he warned: “I don’t think it’s going to have any impact.” More from our colleagues on Inside Congress SCOTUS POCUS: The Supreme Court said it will consider expanding Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a century-old federal law limiting when presidents can fire board members for political reasons. “If the court strikes down the law — as many legal experts expect — it will further hobble Congress’ ability to insulate the leaders of regulatory agencies from political pressure,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports. Justices said they expect arguments in the case to come in December. The high court ruled yesterday allowed Trump to keep FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter from returning to her role while the legal challenge to her firing makes its way through the courts.
| | | | 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 | | BIRTHDAY PARTY GOES SOUR: “The bipartisan organization overseeing the nation’s 250th birthday celebration terminated its White House-selected executive director on Monday after the 25-year-old political appointee posted unapproved content to the official Instagram account and clashed with commissioners,” WSJ’s Meridith McGraw and Jess Bravin scooped last night. Yikes: Former Fox News producer Ariel Abergel was fired over “serious and repeated breaches of authority and trust,” according to a spokeswoman for America250. Abergel said America250’s statement contained “malicious lies.” PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has “put her Capitol Hill residence on the market, asking $2.195 million for the three-bedroom townhouse in advance of her reported run for New York governor,” the Washington Business Journal’s Michael Neibauer reports. “Stefanik’s LLC paid $1.2 million for the home 15 years ago.” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Dianne Munevar is joining Healthsperien, LLC to launch its new Center for Health Research, Policy & Strategy. She previously worked at NORC at the University of Chicago, and is bringing her team of researchers with her. TRANSITIONS — Nick Ahamed is joining Equis Research as managing director. He previously worked at Priorities USA. … Grace Wright is joining the think tank Snake Island Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine. She previously worked for Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.). WEEKEND WEDDING — Skip Estes, director of government affairs at SAFE, and Carly Good, assistant VP at Venn Strategies, got married on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Caroline Kitchens, who works on public policy at TikTok, and Dion Mitchell, senior partner sales manager at AWS, recently welcomed Montgomery (Monty) Edmund Mitchell. Pic ... Another pic — Nathan Baca, a comms officer at the DOD, and Rebecca Knier, a photojournalist with Gray Media, welcomed Adeline Baca on Saturday. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) and Adam Gray (D-Calif.) … Karen Pierce … Kristen Silverberg … Sean Spicer … Corey Tellez … Elise Jordan … Todd Ricketts … Helen Tolar of Mehlman Consulting … Nick Everhart of Content Creative Media … NYT’s Mike Schmidt … Rob Crilly … Richard Viguerie … POLITICO’s Bernie Becker … Axios’ Sam Sabin … Kyle Wiley … PwC’s Todd Metcalf … Abbey Watson … Darryl Nirenberg of Steptoe … Ralph Hellmann … CNN’s Gregory Wallace … David Harris of the American Jewish Committee … Karen Czarnecki … Serenety Hanley … NBC’s Julia Ainsley … Grace Dubay … former Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), Jason Lewis (R-Minn.) and Al Lawson (D-Fla.) … Brooke Brogan … CBS’ Anne Hsu … Loretta Solon Greene … Dale Leibach … Nicole Mata of Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-Calif.) office … Ana Marie Cox … Gisele Roget of Overbrook Square Group … Taylor McCarty Hoover … Ben Chao of Rep. Jill Tokuda’s (D-Hawaii) office … Victoria Hammett of Gen-Z for Change … Spotify’s Dustee Jenkins … Emily Kingsland … Siraj Hashmi … John Tamny … Lyndsay Keith 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.
| | | | A message from Solana Policy Institute: The next generation of U.S. financial infrastructure is open-source and blockchain-based—built by software developers creating transparent systems that empower consumer choice. As Congress crafts digital asset legislation, we must preserve historical protections for open-source software developers.
America's welcoming approach to software development enabled our leadership in groundbreaking technologies. But regulatory uncertainty is driving talent overseas. Our share of all global open-source developers dropped by more than 50 percent from 2015-2025, weakening our competitive edge. To maintain our status as the "crypto capital of the world," Congress must protect the builders and service providers who build and power it.
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