| | | |  | | 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 Dasha talk through the future of the Republican Party, how to charm Donald Trump … and the most surprising political podcast facts.
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| Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Grab yourself some coffee — there’s been quite a lot going on overnight. Get in touch. While you were sleeping, part I: The most extraordinary World Series game finally ended at 2:51 a.m. Eastern, having gripped a bleary-eyed nation for more than six hours. Japanese legend Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs for the LA Dodgers before his teammate Freddie Freeman finally won the game in the 18th inning. In Tokyo, Trump and Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi delayed their first bilateral meeting to watch part of the game together. The Dodgers now have a 2-1 lead. Game 4 is at 8 p.m. tonight, with Ohtani set to take the mound. While you were sleeping, part II: Hurricane Melissa is still swirling ominously toward Jamaica, and is now forecast to make landfall around 8 a.m. Melissa’s winds hit 175 mph overnight, making it the strongest storm on the planet this year, per CNN’s liveblog. Forecasters are warning of devastating floods in the hours ahead. This extraordinary aircraft footage from inside the eye of the storm is well worth a look. While you were sleeping, part III: Trump asked a New York appeals court to overturn his conviction in the Manhattan hush money case that made him a felon, POLITICO’s Erica Orden reports. In a 96-page filing, Trump’s lawyers argued “the conviction should be thrown out in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity and that the judge who oversaw the trial should have recused himself because he made political contributions.” And after all that, we got Trump’s 3 a.m. speech on board a U.S. aircraft carrier. More on that below. What a night. In today’s Playbook … — The new normal: Trump’s partisan use of the U.S. military. — What everyone is talking about: Karine Jean-Pierre melts down in real time. — And have Republicans given up the fight against Gavin Newsom’s gerrymander?
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump speaks to U.S. soldiers aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. | Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo | TRUMP ROCKS THE BOAT: In the early hours of this morning, Trump gave another highly partisan speech to the U.S. military, hailing his own political achievements and repeatedly condemning his Democratic opponents and critics in the media. War fighters unite: Trump was addressing hundreds of U.S. Navy personnel onboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier in Tokyo Bay, Japan, about 6,500 miles from D.C. In a raucous, rambling, hourlong speech that flipped between jokey asides and fiery rhetoric, Trump told the troops that the U.S. military is “no longer politically correct” and should “defend our country whatever way we have to.” Close your ears, Norway: Trump expressed regret that the U.S. military no longer seeks “the spoils” of war. And the rank-and-file cheered as he told them: “No enemy will ever even dream of threatening America’s Navy ... And if they do, the American sailor stands ready to crush them, and sink them, and wreck them, and blast them into oblivion.” Trump joked that such sentiments could cost him the Nobel Peace Prize. (And he might be right.) There’s zero attempt at message discipline when the president takes to a stage like this. Trump covered Alabama state football, illegal migration, the end of DEI targets, grocery prices, magnetic elevators, American bullets, trade tariffs, the advantages of steam-powered catapults on battleships, the “grossly incompetent” Fed Chair Jerome Powell, personal aesthetics (“I never liked good-looking people: I never admitted that before”), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s former career with Fox News, U.S. submarines and so much more. But what’s most striking is Trump’s willingness to use the troops as a foil for his highly partisan rhetoric. He repeatedly condemned his predecessor Joe Biden, told his audience the 2020 election had been rigged and savaged Democratic governors who resist military incursions into their cities. “People don’t care if we send in our military, our National Guard,” Trump told the troops. “They just want to be safe.” Trump also called out the “fake news media,” encouraging the troops to deride the gathered journalists, before admitting later, a little grudgingly: “They’re getting better. They’re not there yet.” The new normal: This was the third politically charged speech Trump has made to members of the U.S. forces in a month, following his highly controversial address to hundreds of generals in late September and his self-described “rally” to U.S. Navy sailors in Virginia the following week. It's a clear break from any of his predecessors of recent times, and is happening at the very moment Trump is increasingly seeking to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement here in the U.S. And it’s making some members of the military — privately — very nervous indeed. Also — was this news? “I was just told by the [Japanese] prime minister that Toyota is going to be putting auto plants all over the United States to the tune of $10 billion,” Trump said. “Go out and buy a Toyota.” Earlier, Trump held his first meeting with PM Takaichi, Japan’s first-ever female leader. She came to power only last week, but already knew enough to deploy the well-thumbed foreign leader playbook on Trump — lavish praise, touching gifts (cherry trees and a golf club owned by their late mutual friend, ex-PM Shinzo Abe), a shiny trade deal to sign (on rare earth minerals), and a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s easier than it looks, this diplomacy racket. In return, Trump predicted Takaichi will “go down as one of the great prime ministers” and made crystal clear — ahead of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday — that American support for Japan could not be more rock solid. “I want to just let you know, anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump told her. Next up: Trump meets with Japanese business leader shortly before heading off to South Korea later on. Still no word about a summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
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Learn more at optum.com/stories. | | | | WHAT EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT HARD PRESSED: The afterlife of the White House press secretary is normally a charmed one, with all those high-pressure televised briefings giving way to something more comfortable and — dare I say — even better-paid. These days it tends to be a glitzy media gig: check out Jen Psaki’s MSNBC show, or Kayleigh McEnany’s weekend show on Fox News. Even Sean Spicer hosts a couple of podcasts … and that’s before we get on to “Dancing With The Stars.” Further back, it would often be an attractive gig in corporate comms. Josh Earnest is executive VP of comms for United Airlines, and Jay Carney leads global policy, comms and crisis management for Airbnb. And a career in frontline politics is always there for those with the appetite — Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, being the most impressive recent example. But it doesn’t always go that way. And things are certainly looking a little shaky this morning for Karine Jean-Pierre, Psaki’s successor as White House press secretary under Biden, and famously the first Black and first out LGBTQ person ever to hold the role. As you cannot have failed to notice if you’ve opened any form of social (or even legacy) media this week, KJP currently has a book to sell. And — how to put this delicately? — the book tour is not going terribly well. In retrospect, this no-regrets interview with the Never Trumpers at The Bulwark at the start of last week should have been a red flag. Conservative circles shared her defense of Biden’s media performances with glee. Then another “no regrets” interview, with MSNBC, went equally viral on the left — and not in a good way. Jean-Pierre’s answers to the most critical questions the Democratic Party has faced in decades seemed … incoherent, at best. This book review, by WaPo’s Becca Rothfeld, was one of the most excoriating things your Playbook author has read in a long time. And now we have KJP’s “Chotiner moment,” the inevitably catastrophic New Yorker Q&A in which participants are routinely hoisted by their own petard. You hardly need Playbook to pick through the wreckage of the interview, given you’ve likely already read about 50,000 X posts doing exactly that. As of this morning, the KJP pile-on is at its peak. Is any of this fair? What we’re learning now is that the anger toward his top team is still so intense — fueled by the CNN debate, the crushing November defeat and all we’ve learned since — that even a full year on from the election, pretty much anyone from Biden world putting themselves forward for interrogation, and stumbling this badly, is going to melt in the heat.
| | | | A message from Optum: Optum Rx supports 62 million Americans with transparent real-time pricing and personalized care, showing up when it matters most. Learn more at optum.com/stories. | | | | REWRITING THE MAPS FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Throwing in the towel? The flood of Republican spending to fight California Democrats’ redistricting plan has slowed to a trickle, one week out from the vote — a sign the GOP is effectively conceding defeat, POLITICO’s Will McCarthy reports this morning. (Publicly, Republicans say they haven’t given up hope.) But on the ground, Dems are still encountering “confusion and apathy” from supporters “not yet sold on matching the GOP’s ruthlessness,” The Atlantic’s Russell Berman reports from Orange County. Watching the watchmen: California AG Rob Bonta said the state will send people to watch the federal poll monitors being sent by the Trump administration, per POLITICO’s Dustin Gardiner. Nationwide: Democrats are getting aggressive beyond California, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton and colleagues report. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was in Illinois yesterday to urge Dems toward a deeper gerrymander, but he met some resistance from Black leaders who don’t want to cede power, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Mitchell Armentrout and Tina Sfondeles report. Virginia Dems also passed their first vote toward a gerrymander, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Dave Ress and Anna Bryson. On the Republican side: The Indiana GOP is scrambling to shore up support for redistricting ahead of a special session next week. House Republicans have the votes, but Senate Republicans say they don’t, per Playbook’s Adam Wren. But all of this could pale in comparison if the Supreme Court kneecaps the Voting Rights Act, opening the door to Republican redistricting right across the South. GOP planning is already underway in multiple states, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard reports.
| | | | Join POLITICO and FICO for a policy briefing that delves into the latest obstacles to preventing financial fraud, and the new technologies aimed at protecting consumers. Gain insights from government leaders and industry experts from Aspen Institute, Identity Theft Resource Center, Microsoft Security and more! Register to attend or watch online. | | | | | SHUTDOWN DAY 28 THE SISYPHEAN SHUTDOWN: Democratic state leaders will file a lawsuit today to fight the Agriculture Department’s refusal to use emergency money to cover the SNAP shortfall looming this weekend, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports. This is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing shutdown-related pain points, as 42 million Americans could stop receiving food aid as soon as Saturday — though some states plan to backfill. Get ready for a lot more headlines like this: “‘I’m going to have hungry kids,’” via ABC’s Mary Kekatos, and “Food banks brace for 42 million without SNAP,” via Axios’ Avery Lotz. Head Start programs will also miss funding this weekend. And there’s more: The shutdown helped cause more than 5,600 flight delays yesterday, per Reuters, including an FAA ground delay in Dallas. And ICE is now citing the shutdown to deny Democratic lawmakers oversight visits to immigration facilities, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Myah Ward scooped. Time to fold? This all piles fresh pressure on Democratic leaders, who are so far standing firm after a federal workers union urged them to end the shutdown yesterday. But it was “the first major fraying of their coalition” after nearly a month of unity, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and colleagues report. And “there are growing signs of bipartisan frustration” among the rank and file. House Democrats have an in-person caucus meeting back in D.C. at 6 p.m On the flip side: New Jersey said residents on the state exchange will see health care premiums increase some 175 percent if Obamacare subsidies aren’t extended, per POLITICO’s Daniel Han. Anger over premium spikes could pressure the most politically vulnerable House Republicans, but most aren’t folding yet, per POLITICO’s Robert King. Watching brief: VP JD Vance will join the Senate GOP lunch today — ostensibly to talk about upcoming votes against Trump’s tariffs, POLITICO’s Diana Nerozzi and Daniel Desrochers report. But obviously the shutdown is going to come up. Read more on Vance’s visit from POLITICO’s Inside Congress
| | | BEST OF THE REST FED UP: The Fed board kicks off its latest two-day meeting today — with expectations high for another quarter-point interest-rate cut when they wrap up tomorrow, Reuters’ Ann Saphir previews. MUST READ: “Inside Paul Manafort’s Comeback,” a POLITICO Magazine excerpt from Ken Vogel’s new book, “Devils’ Advocates” ($24): “Manafort made his name by helping launder the reputations of blood-stained foreign figures whom he sold to Ronald Reagan’s Washington as Cold War allies. But it’s a new era in Washington, and the pitch has changed. Instead of winning over an American administration by casting his clients as anti-communist stalwarts, he’s positioning them as comrades in Trump’s war against globalist, deep-state elites.” IMMIGRATION FILES: DHS announced that Trump’s mass deportations have removed 500,000 unauthorized immigrants from the U.S. and prompted another 1.6 million to leave the country on their own, per ABC’s Luke Barr. But that’s not good enough for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski and Greg Bovino: They’ve kicked off a purge of top regional ICE leaders and replaced them with Border Patrol leaders in Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego, the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli scooped. The White House is frustrated with ICE and thinks the Border Patrol can more quickly ramp up arrests, NBC’s Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler report. In the courts: A federal judge yesterday asked why the U.S. keeps planning to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, despite a court order preventing it, instead of to Costa Rica, per the AP. And a different federal judge scorched AG Pam Bondi and Noem for their public comments about the illegally deported Abrego, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. TRADING PLACES: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that Trump has agreed to postpone heavy tariffs another several weeks past his previous Nov. 1 deadline for a trade deal, per Bloomberg’s Michael O’Boyle and Alex Vasquez. ANOTHER NOMINATION GOES DOWN: The White House yanked Joel Rayburn’s nomination as an assistant secretary of State because he lacked the votes in the Senate, Axios’ Hans Nichols scooped. TALKER: “The left-leaning Roosevelt Institute is releasing a major new report Tuesday — with input from nearly four dozen former senior Biden officials — that seeks to diagnose the administration’s governing mistakes and failures,” The New Republic’s Greg Sargent reports. “One of its most compelling conclusions is that the Biden administration seemed reluctant to engage in ‘picking the fights worth having’ and sometimes took refuge in incremental policy gains due to a self-limiting ‘risk aversion.’” THE LONG TAIL OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE: “How the Firebombing of His Home Changed Josh Shapiro,” by NYT’s Katie Glueck in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: “‘The hardest part for me has been navigating this as a dad,’ [Gov. Josh] Shapiro said in a wide-ranging, hourlong interview, in which he was by turns defiant and vulnerable. ‘Grappling with the sort of personal guilt that your job put your kids in a position where they could have been harmed.’” First in Playbook — A line in the sand: A new declaration from the U.S. Conference of Mayors decries political violence and calls for pluralism, compromise and persuasion to keep the American democratic experiment alive. Led by Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, 230 mayors across 41 states and Puerto Rico have signed the Oklahoma City Declaration. The mayors aver that they “are humans first, Americans second, and partisans last.” Read it here MEDIAWATCH: Bret Baier told Meghan McCain that he’s not moving to CBS for now, despite reports that new network leader Bari Weiss might try to lure him: “I’m in a multi-year contract with Fox” and “very happy” there, Baier said. Weiss’ potential changes include looking to bring in more prominent conservatives and harder-hitting investigative reporting, the N.Y. Post’s Alexandra Steigrad reports. At “60 Minutes,” there’s chatter about whether Weiss could oust Scott Pelley or Bill Whitaker (but she’s apparently a fan of Lesley Stahl). ALSO, THIS HAPPENED: Tucker Carlson hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes for a two-hour-plus conversation on his show after the two have been engaged in a monthslong feud. HAPPENING TOMORROW: POLITICO is hosting a policy briefing at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow delving into the latest obstacles to preventing financial fraud and the new technologies aimed at protecting consumers. Featured speakers include: Reps. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and more. Click here to register for the livestream or to join in person
| | | | Washington is fixated on the shutdown fallout — and POLITICO is tracking every move.
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➡️ Sign up for West Wing Playbook | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Jimmy Hoffa is the latest dead public figure to consume FBI employees’ working hours: The Trump administration has ordered a search for documents about his mysterious disappearance. Jason Leopold and Matt Topic are launching a new podcast today from Bloomberg and No Smiling, “Disclosure,” about efforts to obtain government records. Ziwe has recorded a forthcoming interview with Eric Adams. IT’S ELECTRIC — Republican House members have been picking up new hobbies while waiting out the shutdown in their districts, Playbook’s Dasha Burns writes in. Among the most popular: the art of leaf blowing, according to a source close to Republican representatives. Lawmakers are discovering the advent of electric leaf blowers. Several were initially concerned about the political implications of switching from gas to electric, but apparently in the domain of household appliances, the switch to a quieter more efficient tool that doesn’t wake the kids and anger the neighbors is worth it. NEW FROM POLITICO CANADA — The “Playbook Canada” podcast: Our colleagues Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric, the plugged-in reporters behind Canada Playbook, are bringing their sharp political insight to a new weekly podcast. Each Thursday morning, they’ll unpack the stories driving the news in Ottawa and beyond — the characters, conflicts and conversations setting the national agenda — plus a fan-favorite feature: their 200-second interviews with the people shaping Canadian politics. The first episode drops Thursday. Listen to the trailer and subscribe on Apple,Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. BOOK CLUB — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is publishing a new book, “Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America’s Elite Universities” ($29). It’s coming out April 7 from Simon and Schuster’s Threshold Editions. The book is billed as “a damning exposé and a blueprint for reform.” The cover OUT TODAY: “Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America,” ($32) the latest book by ABC’s Jonathan Karl. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at APCO’s party for Sam Kass’ new book, “The Last Supper: How to Overcome the Coming Food Crisis” ($30), at its D.C. office yesterday: José Andrés, Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, Matt O’Mara, Max Finberg, Kelly Williamson, Jorge Guajardo and Valentine Kass. — Nature Is Nonpartisan hosted a reception at Union Station last night celebrating the launch of the Senate Stewardship Caucus with co-chairs Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.). SPOTTED: Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Benji Backer, Collin O’Mara, Zach Hartman, Joel Pedersen, Laird Hamberlin, Andrew Mills, Leslie Jones, Jerome Foster II, Pasha Majdi, Ben Cassidy and Amelia Joy. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Michelle Smith is joining the Guardian in a new role as a senior science investigative reporter on the U.S. investigations team, covering the challenges facing scientific institutions. She previously spent 25 years at the AP. — Sarah Istel is now a managing director at Cerberus Ventures, focusing on technology critical to national security. She most recently worked for the Senate Intelligence Committee. TRANSITIONS — Children’s Defense Fund is adding Brittany Packnett Cunningham as VP and chief strategy officer. She is an activist, writer, educator and BET Media Group alum. … Carlile Soldo is now comms strategist at Liftoff Campaigns. She previously worked for Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). … … Ben Kenney is joining Invivyd, a monoclonal antibody developer, as VP of government affairs. He most recently has worked at CGCN Group, and is a Trump HHS alum. … Roswell Encina has been named the next president and CEO of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. He most recently worked at the Library of Congress. … Brandon Russell is now partner and chief of staff at VoteNexus. He previously worked at Sole Strategies. WEDDINGS — William Wadsworth, chief of staff to Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), and Tamar Mickahail, a second grade teacher at Calvary Road Christian School, got married this weekend in Upperville, Virginia. Pic — Kasey Lovett, head of public affairs at HUD, and Parker Williams, comms director at Ducks Unlimited, got married at Chateau de la Valouze outside of Bordeaux, France, on Oct. 11. They started dating in 2019 after meeting while working as comms directors on Capitol Hill. Pic, via Frances Mary Sales … SPOTTED: Kristen and Paul Byrne, Blair Hancock and Sean Rudeau, Brett and Kenton Quick, Jillien and Ronald Flores, Sean and Brooklyn Griffin, Sarah Durdaller and Sam French, Jake Hochberg, Ali Keane and Matt Gorman, Stephen Simonetti, Lin Whitehouse, Jake and Shannon Hilkin and Stinson Rogers and Sarah Selip. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Amanda Murphy, senior policy and engagement officer at Alberta’s Washington office, and Richard Madan, Manitoba’s senior representative to the U.S., welcomed Annabelle Madan on Oct. 10. Pic — Natalie Boyse, a senior program manager at ORF America and a Trump administration alum, and Whitcomb Johnson, a producer for Cabin Editing Company, welcomed William (Billy) Johnson on Oct. 15. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) … Bill Gates … Bradley Cooper of HB Strategies … Oksana Markarova … Sarah Hohman of the National Association of Rural Health Clinics … Rachel Levine … Jessie Hernandez of Capgemini Government Solutions … Jason Rodriguez … POLITICO’s Kara Tabor and Renee Klahr … Lisa Jenkins … Cyré Velez of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office … Justin Discigil … ABC’s Quinn Scanlan … David Finkel … CNN’s Margaret Given … Kyle Parker … Jonny Slemrod of Harbinger Strategies … Rob Shrum … Steve Hartell of Amazon … Adam Bozzi … Griffin Anderson … former Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) … Teresa Vilmain … Bridget Walsh of Boehringer Ingelheim … Peter Morris … Doug Band … Meghan Caravano … Zach Hunter 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. Corrections: Sunday’s Playbook misstated the title of Julia Ioffe’s new book. It is “Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.” Yesterday’s Playbook misstated which year the Olympics men’s 100-meter final was dubbed “The Dirtiest Race in History.” It was 1988.
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