| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine, Ali Bianco and Rachel Umansky-Castro On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and POLITICO’s Megan Messerly discuss what might just be the biggest Supreme Court case of the year … and why Pete Hegseth seems to be running scared of the Pentagon press corps.
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| Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, distraught to learn the true scale of D.C.’s rat problem via this dismal graph from the Economist. Since when were we so much worse than New York? Surely there’ll be an Executive Order to fix this any day now. THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY: Two more members of that Young Republican group chat have stepped down from their jobs after POLITICO’s publication of their shocking private Telegram exchanges blew up the internet yesterday. Former New York State Young Republicans Chair Peter Giunta and Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as general counsel for the group, are both out after POLITICO revealed details of more than 250 crude racial slurs and grim Nazi jokes used in a Telegram chat group by prominent millennial and Gen Z Republicans. That makes four: As POLITICO’s New York scoop machines Emily Ngo and Jason Beeferman report, two other members of the chat group had already seen “job statuses change” before their article even published. Details of the chat group have sent shockwaves through political circles and drawn condemnation from right across the spectrum — though not from VP JD Vance, the most senior GOP member to comment on the leak. Whataboutism lives: Vance dismissed the Young Republican Telegram messages — one of which described the NBA as “monkey play ball,” and another that referred to “watermelon people” — as a “college group chat” and said those condemning such comments were “pearl clutching.” The vice-president said people should focus instead on the scandal enveloping the Democratic Party’s AG nominee in Virginia, Jay Jones, who in a message to a colleague mused about shooting the then-Republican House speaker. He did not explain why both sets of messages cannot be condemned. In today’s Playbook … — Huge day at the Supreme Court as justices mull gutting the Voting Rights Act. — Hegseth talks Ukraine ahead of Zelenskyy’s trip to the White House. — Donald Trump / Kash Patel joint presser at 3 p.m. … But no, they’re not releasing the Epstein Files. |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump greets members of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh after delivering an address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. | Pete Kiehart for POLITICO | DIAMOND JUBILEE: Sixty years ago this past August, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, a landmark moment in the centuries-old struggle for minority representation. This morning at the Supreme Court, the nine justices will gather to hear oral arguments in a case which could deliver a body blow to that same legislation — and potentially deliver the House to the Republican Party next year. Don’t look away: Louisiana v. Callais might look like an opaque constitutional debate over the makeup of a single congressional district in the Pelican State. But make no mistake: this is one of the blockbuster cases of the year, both for its profound implications for minority representation in America, and for the colossal impact it could have on who wields political power. Some groups believe as many as 19 House seats could hang in the balance, depending on how this case goes. Essential explainer: As POLITICO’s Zach Monatarello and Andrew Howard write this morning, the case centers on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, designed to prohibit discrimination at the ballot box on racial grounds. Over the years Section 2 has driven the creation of so-called “majority-minority” districts within states, where minority voters make up more than half of voters and so (in theory) are ensured a “meaningful” opportunity to elect their preferred candidate. Supporters say the law stops unscrupulous state legislatures “from diluting minorities’ voting power by either ‘cracking’ communities — scattering minority voters into numerous white-dominated districts — or ‘packing’ districts by trying to fit as many minority voters into as few districts as possible,” Zach and Andrew write. Without such protections, supporters argue, these groups end up badly underrepresented at state and national level. But but but: Plenty of conservatives argue the law is outdated and plain unconstitutional, violating the 14th and 15th amendments by proactively discriminating on racial grounds. (They also believe it gives Democrats an unfair advantage.) “It is time for the Supreme Court to finally eliminate this government-mandated business of divvying Americans up by race through redistricting and reaffirm our colorblind Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law,” Adam Kincaid, president of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, said in a statement to POLITICO. The case focuses on one specific Black-majority congressional district in Louisiana, created following a court ruling in 2022 and since faced with legal challenges by a group of non-Black voters. (AP’s Sara Cline has been on the ground to see what voters there make of it all.) SCOTUS has already heard the case once this year, but — unusually — sent it back for further discussion. The court's request in August that this time around, legal arguments focus squarely on the 14th and 15th amendments, does not seem to bode well for Democrats. Indeed, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has a history of both weakening the Voting Rights Act and of supporting cases similar to these. As Zach and Andrew write: “The conservative majority on the Supreme Court is often skeptical of any race-based decision-making by government actors, and the court has increasingly interpreted the Constitution in other contexts to mandate strict colorblindness. The conservative justices may now be poised to extend that approach to voting rights, too.” Plenty of observers have believed since August that the writing is on the wall — but in truth SCOTUS remains notoriously hard to predict, despite the 6-3 conservative majority. A similar case concerning Alabama’s voting map in 2023 saw the court pass up the opportunity to narrow the Voting Rights Act in a 5-4 decision, with Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh both voting with the majority. Dems’ worst nightmare: If the conservative argument wins out — and wins quickly — this could yet prove the decisive moment in the 2026 elections. Multiple red states would be likely to follow Louisiana’s lead and start redistricting efforts, eliminating formerly legally protected Black- and Hispanic-majority seats that tended to vote Democrat in the past. Andrew reported in August that two liberal groups calculate as many as 19 Democratic seats in red states could be redrawn in that scenario — and that’s on top of the gerrymandering efforts already underway in Texas and elsewhere. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know that numbers like that could sound the death knell for Democratic hopes of regaining the House next year. The timing is crucial, however — states would need a quick decision from the court to redistrict ahead of the midterms, with primaries due to get underway in early spring. But even a later decision in favor of gutting Section 2 would transform U.S. politics longer-term. The case “could open the door for the first really significant decline in minority representation in more than 100 years in Congress,” Harvard University law professor Nicholas Stephanopoulos tells the Washington Post. “It would be one of the biggest political earthquakes caused by a court decision in memory.” So buckle up: An hour of oral arguments have been scheduled from 10 a.m. | | | | A message from Evernorth Health Services: Controversy around GLP-1s and how much pharmaceutical companies want Americans to pay for them continues to rise. Which is why we offer a benefit that ensures members pay no more than $200/month out of pocket for certain GLP-1s for weight loss. That's not a middleman. That's an advocate.
See how Express Scripts Pharmacy Benefit Services is advocating to make GLP-1s more affordable for millions here. | | | | THE MAGA MILITARY UKRAINE ON THE BRAIN: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined fellow NATO defense ministers in Brussels this morning to discuss next steps on Ukraine, preaching the Trump doctrine of “peace through strength,” America’s envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker has already teased “big” announcements coming later today which should include fresh spending pledges from Europe on defensive weapons for Ukraine, Bloomberg’s Max Ramsay and Andrea Palasciano report. But back here in D.C., Hegseth leaves behind a near-empty Pentagon press room after his unprecedented drive to force all accredited journalists to sign up to highly restrictive reporting requirements fell flat. Every single accredited news outlet — bar Trump mouthpiece One America News Network — has refused to sign, including Hegseth’s own former employer Fox News, POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels writes. Fox’s longstanding military analyst Gen. Jack Keane — a retired four-star general and occasional Trump adviser — is among those condemning Hegseth’s approach. (POLITICO did not sign on to the new rules.) Paranoia at the Pentagon: As The Hill’s Ellen Mitchell reports, this is just the latest in a series of highly restrictive media policies implemented by Hegseth, who has not given a single media briefing in almost four months. (He again declined to take questions from the press in Brussels today, unlike most of his NATO colleagues, per POLITICO’s Paul McLeary.) Hegseth is the youngest defense secretary in decades and easily the least experienced of all time, and none of this behavior smacks of self confidence — especially while his boss takes questions from all-comers in the White House on a daily basis. Speaking of which: President Trump is “optimistic” he can achieve peace in Ukraine following his success with the hostage exchange in the Middle East, POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi and Eli Stokols report this morning. Trump is once again hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House on Friday, still mulling whether to supply Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles — a step Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned would mark a “new stage of escalation.” NYT’s Luke Broadwater and Eric Schmitt break down Trump’s growing frustration with Russia. | | | | A message from Evernorth Health Services: Controversy around GLP-1s and how much pharmaceutical companies want Americans to pay for them continues to rise. Which is why we offer a benefit that ensures members pay no more than $200/month out of pocket for certain GLP-1s for weight loss. That's not a middleman. That's an advocate.
See how Express Scripts Pharmacy Benefit Services is advocating to make GLP-1s more affordable for millions here. | | | | MIDDLE EAST LATEST TRUMP TODAY: Trump’s main event is a 3 p.m. press conference in the Oval Office with FBI chief Kash Patel. The focus has not yet been revealed, although key issues the pair have been discussing recently include wages for law enforcement during the shutdown, and Trump’s declared war on ANTIFA. Regardless, you can expect plenty more questions for Trump on Gaza as his pledge of a 3,000-year peace continues to hang by a thread. Is this really the plan? By far the most striking comment we’ve heard from the president since his return from the Middle East was the direct threat he issued to Hamas yesterday. Trump told reporters that the U.S. could step in “quickly and perhaps violently” if Hamas does not disarm, potentially one of the biggest sticking points in Trump’s 20-point peace plan, WaPo’s Amy Wang and Sammy Westfall report. “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them. They know I’m not playing games,” Trump said. To be very blunt, it’s not clear how this would work. But your Playbook author is old enough to remember when the Trump administration was saying there will be no U.S. boots on the ground in Gaza … Because it was JD Vance saying it only last Sunday. Bibi speaks out: In an interview with CBS last night, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu also stressed the importance of Hamas demilitarizing as the next step after the release of the hostages. “First, Hamas has to give up its arms,” Netanyahu told “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil. If they don’t, Netanyahu warned “all hell breaks loose” — though he added Israel wants to proceed peacefully. On the ground in Gaza: Both sides accused the other of violating the tenuous ceasefire agreement — with Hamas handing over four bodies of deceased hostages into custody of the Red Cross yesterday, per WSJ’s Anat Peled and colleagues. Israel halved the amount of humanitarian aid it allowed into Gaza to pressure Hamas to release more of the dead hostages, while Hamas said several Gazans were killed in separate shootings from the Israeli military. Meditators are still discussing the possible release of more hostages today. After yesterday’s transfer, 20 bodies remain in Hamas custody, per WSJ. What we’re all wondering: “Why Was the President of FIFA at the Gaza Summit?” by NYT’s Tariq Panja | | | | Washington is obsessing about shutdown negotiations — and POLITICO is tracking every move.
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➡️ Sign up for West Wing Playbook | | | | | TRAIL MIX LIVE FROM NEW YORK: We’re less than three weeks out from the Nov. 4 elections, and the highly anticipated NYC mayoral race remains top of mind. The mayoral general election debate co-hosted by POLITICO is happening tomorrow at 7 p.m., with Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa all set to participate. Cuomo needs the debate to go exceptionally well for him, as he trails Mamdani by double digits in recent polling, NYT’s Katie Glueck writes. While you’re waiting for that: Mamdani is sitting down with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum for an interview at 3 p.m. today, which should be well worth a watch. MOULTON VS. MARKEY: Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) is rolling out a primary bid against Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), marking the latest campaign built around generational change, POLITICO’s Kelly Garrity reports. “Moulton, who turns 47 this month, is putting age at the center of his announcement, saying in a campaign video to be released Wednesday that Markey is ‘a good man’ but he should nevertheless move on after decades in Congress.” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Campaign launch in Florida: Hector Mujica is launching a campaign today in the Senate special election to fill the seat vacated by Marco Rubio, which is currently held by Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.). Mujica, who works at Google, makes the case that Republicans have weakened public safety via mass cuts to federal agencies. Watch the launch video CASH DASH: Scott Brown, the former GOP senator, is building up his campaign war chest preparing for a likely Senate primary faceoff against John Sununu, another former senator, in New Hampshire, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped. Brown brought in $1.2 million in fundraising and has $900,000 cash on hand in last quarter’s numbers. CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN’: Katie Porter expressed remorse over her treatment of staff and chastising a reporter, saying she “could have handled things better.” More from POLITICO’s Lindsey Holden
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST RINSE AND REPEAT: The deadlocked Senate will vote — yet again — at 2:15 p.m. on ending the shutdown. Before that, House Republicans will hold another news conference at 10 a.m. and House Democrats will hold their own presser at 11:30 a.m. Everyone’s pointing fingers, nobody’s shifting their stance, as POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes report. Different Thune? Some Senate GOP leaders are now turning their attention to full-year appropriations bills that would fund the Defense Department and other agencies, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune teeing up an initial procedural vote on the defense bill for Thursday, per POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain. But whether the move “is a pressure tactic or a trust-building exercise depends on who you ask,” as our Inside Congress colleagues write. A shutdown like no other: Members of the U.S. military will get their paychecks today, after the administration’s funding workaround. The same can’t be said of the Capitol Police, who missed their full paycheck for the first time yesterday, NBC’s Julie Tsirkin and colleagues report. The administration began its sweeping mass layoffs and RIF’s this past weekend, but new court filings show that HHS accidentally laid off nearly double the amount of people intended, NOTUS’ Oriana González and Margaret Manto report. The new GOP mavericks: Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) has been a big critic of his party, and he has no plans to back down from his break with Speaker Mike Johnson’s shutdown strategy, he told Meredith in an interview yesterday. … And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is continuing her tear against some of her GOP colleagues, attacking “weak Republican men” in an interview with WaPo’s Kadia Goba and Liz Goodwin. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Shut down the shutdown: New polling from Public Opinion Strategies conducted across key battleground states shows support for reopening the government, even before health care negotiations. The poll, conducted on behalf of right-wing group One Nation and shared exclusively with Playbook, asked 1,200 likely voters last week whether the government should remain closed or reopen with the negotiations on the ACA tax credits. A majority of 60 percent said it should reopen and then negotiate on health care, while 35 percent said it should stay closed. The polling memo THE ECONOMY, STUPID: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are holding a joint news conference at 9:15 a.m. today on Trump’s economic policies. Meanwhile, Trump’s handpicked Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran will deliver remarks at 12:30 p.m. at the Nomura Research Forum today. What they might be talking about: Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled yesterday that the Fed is on track to keep cutting interest rates at its final meetings of 2025, per NYT’s Colby Smith. DOWN IN THE SUNSHINE STATE: A judge in Florida issued a restraining order against Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) after he was accused of threatening to expose sexual videos of his former girlfriend, per POLITICO’s Gary Fineout. … Another judge blocked the transfer of downtown Miami land for Trump’s presidential library, siding with a Miami activist who said the owners of the land, Miami Dade College, did not provide sufficient notice of its special meeting where the land transfer was approved, per AP’s Kate Payne. THE VIEW FROM K STREET: “Hollywood turns to K Street as AI threatens their livelihoods,” by POLITICO’s Caitlin Oprysko: “Entertainers are no strangers to lending their voices to advocacy fights in Washington. More often than not, those are ad hoc appearances, with studios, unions and industry organizations typically taking the lead. But the dizzying pace of new developments coming out of Washington right now, combined with the deeply personal stakes of issues like generative AI and the potential censorship of administration critics, are fueling a heightened interest in deploying influence peddlers to make their stand with the Trump administration and Congress.” FOR YOUR RADAR: “Trump threatens World Cup host cities over crime. Some respond with a shrug,” by POLITICO’s Sophia Cai KNOWING RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: Independent Women’s Features, a project of Independent Women, released its “Champion Women” profile today on Rachel Campos-Duffy, host of “Fox Noticias” and wife of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | OUT AND ABOUT — Hillary Clinton presented the 2025 Hillary Rodham Clinton Awards in a ceremony and luncheon yesterday hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security and Melanne Verveer. The awardees included Maria Ressa, Anne Applebaum, student protest leaders advocating for democracy in Bangladesh, and imprisoned women political prisoners in Venezuela. SPOTTED: Austrian Ambassador Petra Schneebauer, Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, Slovenian Ambassador Iztok Mirošič, Finnish Ambassador Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, Bangladeshi Ambassador Tareq Md Ariful Islam, Icelandic Ambassador Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir, Spanish Ambassador Ángeles Moreno Bau, Polish Ambassador Bogdan Klich, Ken Wollack, Damon Wilson, Richard Verma, Alina Polyakova, Mary Louise Kelly and David Smolansky. TRANSITIONS — Julia Greensfelder is now a director of policy and international programming at SEEC Institute. She previously worked at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is a Biden administration alum. … Tomika Anderson Greene is joining One World Associates as an adviser in their D.C. office. She also runs Manifest Greatness Media. … David Jenkins is now VP of finance at the Aerospace Industries Association. He previously worked at the Society for Science. WEDDINGS — Payton McCarty-Simas, an author, and Benjamin Grunwald Cooper, a film editor and producer, got married Monday in Topsfield, Massachusetts. It was a Clinton-Obama merger for the children of David Simas, Shauna McCarty, Mandy Grunwald and Matt Cooper. Pic, via Tim Correira Photography — Teddy Schleifer, a politics and technology reporter for NYT, and Anna Lipkin, a postdoctoral neuroscientist at the NIH, got married on Oct. 11 at Jacob's Pillow in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. They first met at a mutual friend's party in 2015 in D.C. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: NBC’s Jon Allen … Erica Loewe … Stat’s Rick Berke … Ken Griffin … Liz Sears Smith of Kent Strategies … Lis Smith … John Martin of Smith & Nephew … Jenni Pierotti Lim … Brian Walsh of Red Elephant Strategy … Heather Caygle … John Doty of Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-N.Y.) office … Mark Bednar … Liz Kenigsberg of SKDK … Bill Hoagland … John “JB” Byrd of Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies … Chris Godbey … Jose Villalvazo of Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-Calif.) office … Haim Saban … Casey Harper of Family Research Council … Anthony O’Boyle … New Heights Communications’ Christy Setzer and Promise Pitman … Susan Ralston … Nippon TV’s Takaaki Abe … Anna Farías … former Rep. Rush Holt Jr. (D-N.J.) … Jim McFeely … Gigi Stone Woods … Meaghan Byrne 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 deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. | | | | A message from Evernorth Health Services: Lowering costs. Improving patient access. Supporting long-term health. Express Scripts Pharmacy Benefit Services is making it all possible through better GLP-1 benefits. Benefits delivering better care for millions by ensuring members pay no more than $200/month out of pocket for certain GLP-1s for weight loss. And it's not just their patients who are benefiting from this first-of-its-kind offer. They're helping to lower costs for health plans, unions, government agencies, public sector organizations, and more. Savings that allow them to expand access to more patients without breaking their budgets. That's not a middleman. That's an advocate.
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