| | | |  | | By Zack Stanton | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco Good morning. I’m Zack Stanton. The NFL is back until February. Fingers crossed that this will finally be the Lions’ year. Get in touch.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House on Sept. 5, 2025. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | POLL POSITION: President Donald Trump’s job approval rating is 44 percent in a CBS News/YouGov poll out this morning. Fifty-six percent of American adults disapprove. … And there are similar numbers in a new NBC News Decision Desk/SurveyMonkey poll, which finds Trump’s approval at 43 percent, with 57 percent disapproving. The trendline: Trump’s approval is up 2 points since July in CBS News’ poll. What accounts for that change? Republicans rallying to Trump. His approval rating among them is 91 percent, an increase from recent months. That’s happening because of his policies on immigration, deportation and crime. For Republicans, those issues “far [outpace] inflation and the economy as their most important metric.” In that way, even as the public at large broadly opposes Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to American cities, it may have been politically helpful to the president by focusing media attention “on matters other than inflation,” CBS News’ Anthony Salvanto and colleagues write. Thought bubble: For all the talk from Democrats that Trump’s National Guard antics are simply “distractions” from the Jeffrey Epstein files (you should read The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich on that), it’s much more useful as a distraction from inflation and the economy. On the economy: In the CBS poll, 65 percent of American adults say that Trump’s policies are making the price they pay for food and groceries go up. … Sixty-two percent oppose the U.S. placing new tariffs on imported goods. … Sixty-six percent say Americans should not be willing “to pay more for items they buy if that means supporting Donald Trump’s trade policies.”
| | | | A message from Booz Allen: Booz Allen is helping the Department of Homeland Security fight drug cartels at the border with advanced analytics. When American lives are at stake, our tech steps up. Learn more. | | | | On the National Guard: CBS finds 57 percent oppose Trump deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and 58 percent oppose deployment to other cities. Sixty-one percent would oppose Trump sending the National Guard to their own local area. Which brings us to … CHICAGO: It is a useful discovery that even by the standards of our era, there are things the president can post on social media that still manage to shock. Trump posted a meme on Truth Social yesterday that reimagined Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War dystopia “Apocalypse Now,” putting the president’s face over that of Robert Duvall’s character. On one side, military helicopters fly over the Chicago skyline; on the other, a raging explosion. “‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning,’” reads the meme, paraphrasing Duvall’s famous line about napalm. “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” Nearby, in the movie title’s font: “Chipocalypse Now.” It’s worth pausing to take that in. Any one of the aspects of it would be notable on their own: The president threatening to show an American city “why it’s called the Department of WAR” … or likening it to the Vietnam War … or favorably comparing himself to Duvall’s character. The AP headline plays it straight: “Trump threatens Chicago with apocalyptic force and Pritzker calls him a ‘wannabe dictator’” On the ground in Chicago, thousands of demonstrators marched through the downtown yesterday in opposition to Trump’s impending federal crackdown. “Honestly, what made me realize I needed to be here was when I saw Trump’s social media post this afternoon,” one participant told the NYT. “I was on the fence, and then I saw he was declaring war on an American city, my city.” Elected officials across Chicagoland were quick to condemn Trump’s message. “This is not a joke. This is not normal,” wrote Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. “Spoken like a true tyrant,” Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), who represents the Southside, told POLITICO’s Shia Kapos. “I take it very seriously that he is instilling fear in the hearts of a lot of people,” added Sen. Dick Durbin. “That is his intention, and it’s working.” But the White House was resolute. “Eight people were killed and over 50 people were wounded last weekend in Chicago but local Democrat leaders are more upset about a post from the President,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to POLITICO in response to Democrats’ criticism. “That tells you everything you need to know about the Democrats’ twisted priorities and why Chicago has had the most murderers of any US city for 13 consecutive years.” The whole ordeal — the president’s rhetoric, the threat to unleash his newly rebranded War Department on an American city, this becoming a new normal — brings to mind another scene in “Apocalypse Now.” “Someday this war's gonna end,” Martin Sheen’s character says in voiceover. “That’d be just fine with the boys on the boat. They weren’t looking for anything more than a way home. Trouble is, I’d been back there, and I knew that it just didn’t exist anymore.”
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| | | | SUNDAY BEST … — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the August jobs numbers and the direction of the economy, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Look, we’re not going to do economic policy off of one number. We believe that good policies are in place that are going to create good, high-paying jobs for the American people. … August is the noisiest month of the year. Typically, the highest revisions come in August. That's why it’s important that we have good data. … If, in fact, these numbers are true, it shows that President Trump was right about the Federal Reserve: They are too late.” — National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on his potential appointment to be chair of the Federal Reserve, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I would say 100 percent that monetary policy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, needs to be fully independent of political influence — including from President Trump. The fact is that we’ve looked at countries that have allowed the leaders to take over the central banks, and what tends to happen is that it’s a recipe for inflation and misery for consumers.” — Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on the Trump administration’s threats against Chicago, on “Face the Nation”: “Let's make it clear the president of the United States essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation. This is not normal … This is not acceptable behavior. … We don't have any indications of them getting ready to send troops into Chicago. In fact, I was out at Great Lakes base yesterday, naval training base, and they were able to confirm that the only assistance they've been requested to provide is just office space for ICE, but that no barracks, no detention facilities, none of that is being requested or prepared in order to support troops into Chicago.” — Border czar Tom Homan on the Trump administration’s threats of “war” in Chicago, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think it’s words being taken out of context. If I said we’re going to war, we’re going to war with the criminal cartels, we’re going to war with illegal aliens.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “Disney and the Decline of America’s Middle Class,” by Daniel Currell for NYT
- “What’s Happening to the Economy Is Obvious to Anyone Paying Attention,” by Derek Thompson on Substack
- “Just How Bad Would an AI Bubble Be?” by Rogé Karma for The Atlantic
- “Can We Be Earnest Again?” by Valerie Pavilonis for The Dispatch
- “We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health” by Richard Besser, Mandy Cohen, William Foege, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, William Roper, David Satcher, Anne Schuchat and Rochelle Walensky for the NYT
- “AI can't replace polling,” by G. Elliott Morris for Strength in Numbers
- “Digital Dopamine Is Consuming America. It’s Time to Fight for IRL,” by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) for NYT
- “The one crime trend in D.C. that needs our attention,” by Thaddeus Johnson and Natasha Johnson for WaPo
- “Stop Acting Like This Is Normal,” by Ezra Klein for NYT
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulations, and decisions shaping defense and security across North America and Europe. Subscribe today to receive special daily briefings as our team reports live from DSEI. | | | | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser continues to toe the line between standing her ground as Washington’s local leader and not getting on Trump’s bad side. As she navigates being caught in the conflict’s center, Bowser’s fine line isn’t likely to get easier to walk, WaPo’s Paul Schwartzman and colleagues write. After this Wednesday (when Trump’s official 30 days expires), “Bowser would still be powerless to stop roadside checkpoints and raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. National Guard troops are still expected to patrol the city for months.” On the ground: Thousands took to 16th Street yesterday to protest Trump’s D.C. takeover, in a rally that began in Meridian Hill Park and led straight to the White House, WaPo’s Juan Benn Jr. and Emma Uber write. The “We Are All D.C.” march marked one of the first large organized protests against Trump’s deployment of federal troops in the area. Portrait of a city: Across the river in Anacostia, residents say they want more resources dedicated to fighting crime, but they’re not seeing the same National Guard presence as in touristy D.C., AP’s Gary Fields reports. 2. VAX NOT: Trump is standing by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. amid the upheaval he has spurred at the CDC and vaccine skepticism that is drawing increasing criticism from GOP lawmakers — but it’s testing the limits of how far RFK Jr. can go, WSJ’s Sabrina Siddiqui and colleagues write. Despite MAHA’s influence, the GOP is reckoning with massive support for some vaccines among voters. That’s becoming the dividing line between Kennedy and some GOP senators, who are now looking back and touting Trump’s implementation of the coronavirus vaccine in 2020, WaPo’s Dan Diamond and colleagues report. 3. ON DEFENSE: VP JD Vance doubled down on the administration’s defense of its attack on a boat in the Caribbean they said was carrying drugs and cartel members from Venezuela, saying in a post on X it is the “highest and best use of our military.” In a back-and-forth with anti-Trump influencer Brian Krassenstein, who denounced the strike as a war crime, Vance wrote back: “I don’t give a shit what you call it.” That statement drew pushback from Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who blasted Vance on X. “What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” Paul wrote. More from POLITICO’s Ben Johansen 4. THE CAMPAIGN: Democrats are placing their hopes on Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia to be early bellwethers this November in their respective gubernatorial races for the party’s future success under the second Trump presidency. The 2025 elections “are Democrats’ to lose,” POLITICO’s Madison Fernandez and Brakkton Booker write this morning in a look at the top issues to watch as Election Day edges closer. In Virginia, both candidates are also testing one of their party’s larger messaging questions, as Spanberger hits Trump on the economy and GOP candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears leans into a rebuke of transgender policies, WaPo’s Gregory Schneider writes. Live from New York: At a town hall in Brooklyn, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) criticized Democrats for not throwing more support behind Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for NYC mayor. Mamdani joined Sanders for the last stop of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in a moment that felt like “a passing of the torch,” NYT’s Emma Fitzsimmons and colleagues write. First in Playbook — One to watch from the Hoosier State: Jennifer-Ruth Green, the former Republican nominee in the 1st Congressional District, is resigning her job in Indiana Gov. Mike Braun’s cabinet as secretary of public safety because she is weighing another bid for Congress, according to a person familiar with her thinking. It’s unclear what the district will look like given a potential mid-decade redrawing of the maps, but it could heavily favor Republicans. Braun announced the shakeup in a post to X at 8:57 p.m. last night.
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| | | | 5. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Deep in the heart: As Texas state Rep. James Talarico prepares to enter the Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, as POLITICO’s Adam Wren’s scooped, a new poll shows him trailing Colin Allred by 8 points. The Public Policy Polling survey shows Allred up 40 percent to 32 percent, with the silver lining for Talarico’s camp being that he has much lower name recognition. The poll has a relatively small sample size of 510 for a large state like Texas; includes no bios for each candidate on the informed vote section and no demographic breakdown. See the poll It’s also unclear who commissioned the poll. A spokesperson for Talarico denied commissioning the poll, and PPP did not respond to a request for comment. In response, Allred’s campaign pointed to polling that shows him beating Republican AG Ken Paxton 49 percent to 47 percent in a general election matchup, and holding a 23-point lead over Talarico in a Democratic primary, 56 percent to 33 percent. 6. LOOKING EAST: South Korea finalized a deal with the U.S. to free the hundreds of South Korean workers swept up in an immigration raid of a construction site at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, NYT’s Choe Sang-Hun reports from Seoul. The detained workers will be flying to South Korea upon release, a diplomatic path forward after the raid revealed tensions with South Korea’s push to invest in American manufacturing and compete in the U.S., NYT’s Jim Lynn and colleagues write. Much of the details of the raid, and the U.S. government’s investigation into the labor practices at the battery plant, remain unclear. Coming attractions: Trump and his top advisers are planning a trip to South Korea for the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers — a potentially prime opportunity for a bilateral with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, CNN’s Alayna Treene reports. The stakes for a potential sitdown on the sidelines of APEC, set for late October to early November, have only grown as China, Russia and India reinforce their economic ties amid trade scrutiny from the U.S. So long, Ishiba: Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba announced Sunday that he will resign from his post, per AP. In a news conference on Sunday, Ishiba said that he had planned to step down after his party’s losses of power but wanted to wait to move forward with a trade deal with the U.S. before exiting. 7. TRADING SPACES: As the administration prepares to make its case for Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda to the Supreme Court, behind the scenes the White House is preparing back-up plans if the high court doesn’t go their way, NBC’s Garrett Haake and colleagues report. The administration for months has been discussing potential loopholes through laws that delegate Congress’ tariff authority to the president. Meanwhile, on the tariff negotiations: The European Union’s trade deal with the U.S. is faltering as the U.S. slaps 50 percent metal tariffs, a spike from the 15 percent in July’s agreement that’s now spreading frustration over the unpredictability of trading with the U.S., WSJ’s Bertrand Benoit and Kim Mackrael write. The brave new world: “Chinese Hackers Pretended to Be a Top U.S. Lawmaker During Trade Talks,” by WSJ’s Joel Schectman: “Several trade groups, law firms and U.S. government agencies had all received an email appearing to be from the committee’s chairman, Rep. John Moolenaar (R., Mich.), asking for input on proposed sanctions with which the legislators were planning to target Beijing.” 8. PROMISES KEPT?: “Conservatives have a message for Trump: We want more babies,” by POLITICO’s Megan Messerly: “Trump this spring dubbed himself the ‘fertilization president.’ But some conservative family policy advocates say he’s done little so far to publicly back that up and are pushing to get the White House in the remaining months of the year to prioritize family policy — and help Americans make more babies. … Privately, the White House is deliberating its next moves now that the GOP’s tax and policy bill passed. It’s taking a two-pronged approach: addressing financial pressures and infertility issues that prevent people from having children; and helping couples raise kids in alignment with their values.” 9. I SAW THE SIGN: “Trump Tried to Kill the Infrastructure Law. Now He’s Getting Credit for Its Projects,” by NYT’s Richard Fausset: In recent months, a number of signs crediting Trump “have popped up in front of major infrastructure projects financed by the bipartisan 2021 legislation, a $1.2 trillion package that Mr. Trump, who left office in January of that year, had passionately railed against. He called the bill ‘a loser for the U.S.A.,’ and warned that Republican lawmakers who signed on could be thrown out of office by angry primary voters. ‘Patriots will never forget!’ he wrote.”
| | | | 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 | | Donald Trump is attending the U.S. Open men’s final at 2 p.m. in Queens, N.Y. He was invited by Rolex. Broadcasters of the match have been warned not to televise any protests or negative reactions to his attendance, Ben Rothenberg reports for Bounces. Kamala Harris is no longer under the protective services of the LAPD. Joe Biden has chosen Delaware as the home for his presidential library. HOT ON THE HILL — The top Capitol Hill liaison for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is at the center of a controversy that has been grist for gossip across the Hill — and which has now made its way to the attention of top White House officials, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow report. The backstory: Before serving in the Trump administration, Tucker Stewart was a top adviser to Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). While in that role, he shared with fellow Hill staffers something he’d written: a 28-page love story about a cowboy living in D.C., complete with vivid descriptions of oral sex and other sexually explicit content. Which brings us to today: Now, Stewart is a Trump appointee and deputy assistant secretary of Agriculture, working out of the department’s congressional affairs office. And in recent weeks, the story he wrote has resurfaced, quickly traveling around Hill circles, making its way to other federal departments and even outside agriculture industry and trade groups. POLITICO has since obtained it. Playbook has learned that top White House officials are now aware of the matter. The USDA declined to comment. Stewart and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. OUT AND ABOUT — Evan Gershkovich gathered in New York with friends and supporters on Saturday night to thank them for their collective efforts which led to his release just over one year ago. SPOTTED: Emma Tucker, Almar Latour, Roger Carstens, Paul Beckett, Liz Harris, Siobhan Gorman, Jay Conti, Todd Thorpe, David Bowker, Bob Kimmitt, Justin Cooper, Jason Rezaian, Emma O'Brian, Ashok Sinha and Ashley Huston. TRANSITIONS — Jon Fisher-Espinoza is now a policy manager at Plaid. He previously was director of government relations at Fair Isaac (FICO). … Diana Godlevskaya is now the director of government affairs at Razom for Ukraine. She previously was federal affairs deputy director at the American Clean Power Association. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Peggy Noonan … Anthony Tata … Shawn McCreesh … Bloomberg’s Zoe Tillman … Meridian International Center’s Stuart Holliday (6-0) … CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez … Busara Advisors’ Reuben Brigety … Joe Klein … Chris Padilla … WaPo’s Michael Duffy … Meredith Raimondi of the National Council of Urban Indian Health … Robert Blizzard of UpONE Insights … Jason Oxman of the Information Technology Industry Council … Sam Iacobellis … CBS’ Melissa Quinn … Erin Mendelsohn of Alpine Group Partners … Elizabeth Fox … NEA’s Brandon Rettke … Craig Higgins of House Appropriations … Matthew Grill … Eric Kanter of Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-Maine) office … Johan Propst of Rep. Brad Sherman’s (D-Calif.) office … MSNBC’s Stefanie Cargill … Emerson Collective’s Robin Reck … John Walker … Mia Saponara … Nick Ciarlante … Jeff Schrade … Kate Andersen Brower … Gayle Tzemach Lemmon … former Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) … Nathaniel Reed … Madeline Meeker of ODNI … Sawyer Hackett … John Catsimatidis … Bill O’Leary … POLITICO’s Zoya Sheftalovich … Caroline Chambers 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 Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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