| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam and Andrew Howard discuss the latest POLITICO Poll showing divisions among Trump’s coalition, plus the drama out of Turning Point’s AmericaFest.
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| Good Monday morning. This is Adam Wren in the driver’s seat for the next few days. Get in touch. THE STORY EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT: CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made a late decision to yank a “60 Minutes” story set to air last night — and unleashed a rapidly ballooning controversy over self-censorship and fairness, NYT’s Michael Grynbaum reports. The story featured longtime correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing people the Trump administration deported to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison about “brutal and torturous conditions” they faced. But in recent days, Weiss asked for a lot of additions, including an interview with Stephen Miller or another top official (Alfonsi had requested comment from the administration), and quibbled with using the word “migrants” to describe unauthorized immigrants, per the Times. CBS’ statement: The network said that the story “needed additional reporting” and will still air at a later date. Alfonsi sounds the alarm: In a message to her colleagues, Alfonsi denounced Weiss’ move in harsh terms as a “political,” not editorial, decision, and said the story had already gone through several legal and standards reviews. “When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship,” she wrote. “We are trading 50 years of ‘Gold Standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.” She said Weiss had refused her request for a call, and that declining to air a story because the administration wouldn’t comment for it amounted to handing the state a veto on journalism. CNN’s Brian Stelter reports that inside CBS, some staffers are already “threatening to quit.” Read Alfonsi’s whole note Weiss pushes back: “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” she said in a statement. “Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.” The context: This debate unfolds in the wake of President Donald Trump repeatedly attacking “60 Minutes” and suing over their editing of an interview, which led to corporate owner Paramount settling with the president. Paramount CEO David Ellison, who has worked to build a relationship with Trump, installed Weiss atop CBS to overhaul what she saw as liberal bias, giving free reign to the Free Press founder (who built a name for herself as an anti-woke opinion journalist focused on free speech). In today’s Playbook … — A split in Trump’s coalition reveals tricky terrain for his successor. — Ukraine peace negotiations yield more “productive” talks — but no breakthrough. — Trump, Hegseth and the Navy secretary are due to make an announcement this afternoon.
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The mission to turn ardent Trump supporters into reliable Republican voters will be an all-consuming task in the sprint to midterms. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo | A MAGA MAELSTROM: As the calendar prepares to flip over to 2026, one of the most pressing political storylines to watch is whether the coalition of voters that sent Trump back to the White House last year will turn out in large enough numbers to protect Republicans’ congressional majority in next year’s midterm elections. It’s an important issue for the White House. Trump has kicked off a slate of rallies in key battleground states to tout his economic efforts. And chief of staff Susie Wiles acknowledged the critical nature of these voters in the now-infamous Vanity Fair profile last week. At Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest over the weekend, some signs of a growing divide within the MAGA movement were on display. And the latest numbers from the POLITICO Poll further illuminate the ideological fissures that threaten the base. The non-MAGA Republican voters who backed Trump have less positive views of Trump, don’t like his style, are more self-identified moderate and less likely to support Republicans and VP JD Vance than MAGA Trump voters, according to the POLITICO Poll. Asked whether they have a positive view of Trump, 95 percent of MAGA Trump voters said they did, compared with 70 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters. But here's where the schisms become truly fascinating: 65 percent of MAGA Trump voters said they support what Trump stands for and the way he goes about leading. Among non-MAGA Trump voters, just 30 percent held this view, with 35 percent supporting what he stands for but not his leadership style, and 30 percent opposing even what he stands for. The cynicism is the point: Some 60 percent of MAGA Trump voters and 65 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters agree that politicians are just in it for themselves. These splits make Wiles’ blunt assessment all the more telling. Speaking to Chris Whipple in a series of interviews for Vanity Fair, Wiles noted the intensity with which the new coalition was attuned to the release of the Justice Department’s files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It is these voters, Wiles said, that Republicans must pay attention to. “The people that are inordinately interested in Epstein are the new members of the Trump coalition, the people that I think about all the time — because I want to make sure that they are not Trump voters, they’re Republican voters,” Wiles said. “It’s the Joe Rogan listeners. It’s the people that are sort of new to our world. It’s not the MAGA base.” The mission of turning those ardent Trump supporters into reliable Republican voters will be an all-consuming task in the sprint to midterms — and with the 2028 presidential race just over the horizon. What Wiles is reading: When asked how likely they’d be to consider a vote for a Republican candidate in the future, 73 percent of MAGA voters report with certainty that they would, compared to just 42 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters. This divide is even more stark when specifically asked about a candidate endorsed by Trump: 53 percent of MAGA Trump voters report with certainty they would consider voting for such a candidate, but just 28 percent of non- MAGA Trump voters do.
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Visit ms.now for more. | | | | That means to accomplish Wiles' mission, there is considerable space for a GOP candidate to have different policies and a leadership style that diverge from Trump's, which could foreshadow some potential problems for a 2028 Republican like Vance, who is hugging Trump closely. When asked about whether Vance is the heir apparent to run for president in 2028 on ABC’s “This Week,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) acknowledged there were some gaps between Vance’s view of the party and his. “I think there needs to be representatives in the Republican Party who still believe international trade is good, who still believe in free market capitalism, who still believe in low taxes,” Paul said. “Now all these pro-tariff protectionists, they love taxes, and so they tax, tax, tax, and then they brag about all the revenue coming in. That has never been a conservative position.” Asked by Jonathan Karl whether Vance met that criteria, Paul bluntly said “No.” According to The POLITICO Poll, Paul gains some credence. Asked to position their political ideology on a scale, from very left wing to very right wing, 56 percent of MAGA Trump voters placed themselves further right than “right of center,” but only 24 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters do. And 61 percent of those voters position themselves either in the center or right of center. The simmering ideological divides that face Vance is staring down were evident in Arizona this weekend during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest, where three days of MAGA infighting culminated with a capstone address from Vance. The vice president used his speech as a vehicle to steer the energy among the base toward fighting Democrats rather than themselves, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard reports from Phoenix. Vance went further in an interview with UnHerd’s Sohrab Ahmari. “Let me be clear,” Vance told UnHerd on Friday. “Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki [the former Biden press secretary] or Nick Fuentes, can eat shit. That’s my official policy as vice president of the United States.” He continued: “Antisemitism, and all forms of ethnic hatred have no place in the conservative movement. Whether you’re attacking somebody because they’re white or because they’re black or because they’re Jewish, I think it’s disgusting.” But the weekend’s intense splits foreshadow the “treacherous political waters that Vance, or anyone else who seeks the next Republican presidential nomination, will need to navigate in the coming years,”as AP’s Jonathan Cooper and Sejal Govindarao write. Vance, though, sounds up for the challenge. “President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance told the crowd gathered in Phoenix yesterday, which greeted his remarks with loud applause. “We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” he said later.
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| | | | WAR AND PEACE ON THE SCHEDULE: Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Navy Secretary John Phelan will make an announcement at 4:30 p.m. from Palm Beach. UKRAINE LATEST: Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev is returning to Moscow today to give President Vladimir Putin a readout from the latest U.S. talks over the war in Ukraine, per Reuters’ Guy Faulconbridge and Gleb Stolyarov. The weekend of American negotiations with both Ukrainians and Russians in Florida yielded some mixed signals, as both Washington and Kyiv touted progress — but there was no breakthrough, and Moscow had words of caution. Whirlwind weekend: In identical statements, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Ukrainian national security adviser Rustem Umerov called their talks “productive and constructive” but provided few details, POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler and Daniella Cheslow report. Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s Miami talks with each side haven’t yet borne public fruit in erasing the yawning gaps that remain between Ukraine’s and Russia’s positions. The usual cold water: Dmitriev told reporters this weekend that his talks had been “constructive,” per NBC. And Russia did unexpectedly float the prospect of Putin speaking with French President Emmanuel Macron. But Russian foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov dismissed recent changes to peace proposals under discussion, warning that they “do not improve the possibility of achieving long-term peace,” per Reuters. And after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the U.S. had raised the prospect of trilateral talks, Ushakov said it was not in the works, per AFP. It remains unclear whether Putin will be willing to end his illegal invasion on any terms other than those he’s demanded. To wit: The most recent U.S. intelligence report, from September, judges that Putin’s goals in the war haven’t changed at all — he still wants to capture all of Ukraine and beyond, Reuters’ Jonathan Landay and colleagues report. That assessment contradicts Putin’s public statements and the Trump administration’s comments that he wants to end the war. THE PRESSURE CAMPAIGN: Having interdicted a second tanker accused of carrying Venezuelan oil, the U.S. is in the process of going after a third vessel, per WSJ’s Costas Paris and Shelby Holliday. In this case, U.S. officials said the ship had been previously sanctioned and was now “flying a false flag to disguise the country where it is registered.” But with the Coast Guard in active pursuit, the ship refused to allow the U.S. to board and “is now fleeing away from the Caribbean Sea,” NYT’s Nicholas Nehamas and colleagues report. As the Trump administration seeks to undercut and isolate the Venezuelan government and push President Nicolás Maduro out of power, Caracas has asserted that the U.S. seizures are illegal. MEANWHILE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Israel warned the U.S. that Iran may be preparing to strike Israel amid a missile exercise, Axios’ Barak Ravid reports. Despite those concerns, American intelligence doesn’t foresee any imminent attack from Tehran. Trump spoke yesterday with British PM Keir Starmer, and the two talked about Gaza and Ukraine, among other topics, per Bloomberg. TRAIL MIX FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Endorsement watch: The National Border Patrol Council is backing Carlos De La Cruz, who’s running in the GOP primary in Texas’ newly redrawn 35th Congressional District. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — The affordability agenda: Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger today is launching a PAC, United for Virginia’s Future, that is devoted to backing “commonsense” candidates who are focused on lowering costs, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton writes in. “In November, Virginians sent a resounding message: they chose pragmatism over partisanship and public service over political games,” the Democrat said in a statement, adding that she looks forward to supporting “candidates who listen, lead, and want to actually get things done — not grandstand.” PRIMARY COLORS: Democrats may have found a fairly united front recently in Congress and in last month’s election successes, but ideological rifts threaten to divide the party in pivotal primary contests next year. After being on the same page about Affordable Care Act subsidies, progressives and moderates could clash over Medicare for All in the Michigan, Maine, Illinois and Minnesota Senate primaries (plus some House campaigns), POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky and Elena Schneider report. And establishment Democrats in D.C. are frustrated that they have to spend money trying to fend off primary challenges from the left, which they consider a distraction from beating Republicans, CNN’s Sarah Ferris and Manu Raju report. LOOMING IN THE BACKGROUND: “How the Supreme Court’s Mail-In Ballot Ruling Could Affect Voters,” by NYT’s Nick Corasaniti and Christine Zhang: “Hundreds of thousands of Americans in rural and urban areas alike could see their votes rejected if the court decides that ballots must arrive by Election Day.” 2028 WATCH: In the nascent Democratic presidential contest, unpredictable divisions over the future of artificial intelligence could become a differentiating factor for some candidates, Axios’ Alex Thompson reports. Potential contenders like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have celebrated AI companies investing in their states, while progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (Calif.) have taken a warier stance and want more regulation. Looking the part: More superficially, Holly Otterbein and Alex run down the makeovers some potential 2028ers have undergone, from weight loss (JB Pritzker, Tim Walz, Elissa Slotkin) to facial hair (Pete Buttigieg, Chris Murphy) to better style (Shapiro).
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST IMMIGRATION FILES: South Sudanese who have lived in the U.S. legally with Temporary Protected Status will see their designation — and protection from deportation — expire two weeks from today. Many of them now fear that they’ll be forced back to a country that remains in the grip of widespread instability and humanitarian crisis, NBC’s Jean Lee and colleagues report. The stepback: The TPS decision is just one drop in the bucket of a whole-of-government immigration crackdown that will get only more intense in 2026, Reuters’ Ted Hesson and colleagues preview. Get ready for way more ICE/Border Patrol funding, more workplace raids, more arrests and expanded deportations. OK THEN! Trump announced last night that he was tapping Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland — though Landry said he’ll continue in his presumably full-time position in Baton Rouge. WAIT, WHAT? “Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation,” by POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis: “At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed. The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation into whether the staff provided ‘false information’ about the need for the test — which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to certain highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with the agency.” THE EPSTEIN FILES: After a backlash to its disappearance, the Justice Department has now restored an image of Trump to the Jeffrey Epstein files that have been made public online, per the Washington Examiner. DOJ said it had been temporarily taken down after being flagged out of concern for identifying victims, and it was put back up without changes after a review. Even as AG Pam Bondi announced that the department “will bring charges against anyone involved in the trafficking and exploitation of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims,” the backlash to the significant redactions in the files continued. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that they’ll pursue finding Bondi in contempt of Congress. SILENT HILL: “If Congress is going to avoid another shutdown, lawmakers need to start talking,” by POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes and colleagues: “The impediments to reaching a deal that can pass both chambers are more extensive, starting with the fact that Republicans and Democrats on both ends of the Capitol have yet to start negotiating the details of the nine pending funding bills. The lack of bipartisan offer-trading is raising the likelihood of another short-term punt — or another shutdown.” More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress DISASTER DIGEST: “Federal grants for flood mitigation work sat on hold as storms inundated Washington state,” by NBC’s Evan Bush: “State officials say the recent deluge highlighted the need for projects to protect communities from floods. The Trump administration has attempted to cut funding for some of them.” HOW HE DID IT: This year was nothing if not a show of Trump’s ability to move Washington’s policymaking apparatus. Perhaps nowhere illustrated his increased speed, disregard for norms and consolidated grip on power more than his quick dismantling of California’s clean-car rules, POLITICO’s Alex Nieves writes. It took Trump 18 months to revoke the state’s nation-leading electric vehicle sales mandate in his first term, compared to less than five months this time around. The infighting, sloppy rulemaking and lack of clear policy goals that marked Trump’s first administration have been replaced by an aggressively overhauled government workforce stocked with MAGA loyalists and an eagerness to test the bounds of executive authority. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Survey says: A poll from the pro-Trump group Building America’s Future finds support for one national standard in regulating AI rather than states setting rules individually, in line with Trump’s recent executive order to preempt state regulations. When presented with those two broad options, registered voters favor a national standard, 53 percent to 33 percent, the FabrizioWard survey finds. The polling also finds that support for a single national standard for AI to protect kids is a political winner for candidates. The details
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Visit ms.now to learn more. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | HIGH SCHOOL IS FOREVER — “Move Aside, Snowflake: ‘Theater Kid’ Is the New Go-To Political Insult,” by NYT’s Sopan Deb: “Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor-elect, is among the latest politicians to be tagged with the term, raising the question: What did theater kids do to deserve such scorn? … The dings against theater lovers have come mostly from the right, but not exclusively so.” BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Tara Spicer HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) … Reps. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) and Derek Tran (D-Calif.) … Mike Needham of the State Department … DJ Nordquist … Landon Heid … NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz … Jamie Kirchick … Venable’s Rich Ward … Matt Manda … Heather Holdridge of Real Voices Media … Andrew Egger … Libby Rosenbaum of the American Council of Young Political Leaders … Maria Thorbourne … Stephanie Strategos Polis of the Plastics Industry Association … Zack Carroll … ACB Ideas’ Rachel Manfredi … Beau Phillips … Jake Perry of Jake Perry + Partners … Maeve Coyle … Versus Media Group’s Karen Defilippi … AP’s Jack Auresto … NPR’s Michele Kelemen … Chris Austin … McGuireWoods’ Mark Bowles … Paul Wolfowitz … former Rep. Bill Lipinski (D-Ill.) … Eugene Steuerle … former Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz … Marc Raimondi … Matt Cohen of Groundgame/Impact Advocacy Group … Mary Baskerville … Matt Kaplan of Meta … Diane Sawyer … POLITICO’s Kristin Longe and Sarah Nema … Mary Kirtley Waters … Hank Sheinkopf 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. | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Canada Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
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