| | | |  | | 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 discuss the Republican Party’s affordability issues, the latest on the U.S. missile strikes in the Caribbean … and why love is in the air in MAGA world.
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| Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. LATEST FROM SYDNEY: The suspected gunmen who shot and killed 15 people and injured dozens more at Bondi Beach over the weekend were “inspired by [the] Islamic State,” Australian PM Anthony Albanese said overnight. Local police commissioner Mal Lanyon revealed two homemade Islamic State flags were found in a car registered to one of the suspected gunmen parked at the scene of Sunday’s Hanukkah festival shooting. Australian police are now investigating a trip the suspects took to the Philippines last month, Lanyon added. More here via AP LATEST FROM RHODE ISLAND: The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the mass shooter at Brown University. But new video clips released by the police still do not show the suspect’s face, another sign of trouble for the investigation thus far. “Questions swirl about campus security, the apparent lack of school video evidence and whether the [initial] focus on the [wrong] person of interest gave the attacker more time to escape,” AP reports. So where’s Kash? With the killer still on the run, FBI Director Kash Patel will appear today … on Katie Miller’s MAGA-friendly podcast, giving a loved-up interview alongside his country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins. Yes, really. LATEST FROM HOLLYWOOD: The double-homicide case against Nick Reiner in connection with the deaths of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, will be turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office today, LA police said. The NYT has more on the Reiners’ troubled son. Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama had planned to see the Reiners on the night that they were killed, she said on Jimmy Kimmel’s show last night. Related: President Donald Trump is facing some of the most widespread conservative criticism he’s sustained since his return to the White House over the baseless claims he made about Reiner yesterday that the director and progressive advocate’s death was the likely result of the “anger he caused others” through “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” A handful of Republican members of Congress have criticized the president’s comments, plus a glut of conservative commentators and influencers ranging from Scott Jennings on CNN to podcaster Tim Pool. In today’s Playbook … — JD Vance grabs a seat on the GOP affordability tour. — That delayed jobs report is finally coming at 8:30 a.m. — Rubio and Hegseth will brief senators today on U.S. boat strikes.
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VP JD Vance is headed to Pennsylvania to talk affordability, just one week after President Donald Trump did the same. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo | COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Here’s a fun game for your Tuesday morning. If the defining political issue of the moment in America is the cost of living — and every opinion poll confirms that it is — then how do the de facto leader of the Republican Party and his likely 2028 successor compare when addressing swing voters on the topic du jour? Today we get the chance to find out. Penn pals: VP JD Vance heads to northeast Pennsylvania this morning for a rallying speech on “making America affordable again,” exactly one week after his boss, President Donald Trump, visited the exact same part of the country to make a speech on the exact same subject. As you may recall, Trump’s speech last Tuesday at Mount Pocono, north of Allentown, was quite something. Yes, the president delivered his pre-prepared lines about bringing down prices and how Dems were to blame for high inflation. But he also called affordability a hoax (twice); suggested it was fine if his tariffs meant Americans couldn’t afford too many Christmas gifts for their kids; and then embarked on lengthy off-topic riffs on immigration and the Somali community. Local press coverage was not kind. Vance’s plan today, per a spokesperson, is to “echo President Trump’s message on the economy and the cost of living.” But your Playbook author is willing to bet a whole year’s supply of Yorkshire Tea that we won’t hear too much advice from the VP today about buying fewer dolls and pencils for your children this Christmas. He also probably won’t speak for 97 long minutes. It’s obviously not true that Vance has been dispatched to “clean up Trump’s mess,” as one smirking Democrat suggested to Playbook last night. Trump remains the Republican Party’s energizer-in-chief and will be hitting the road repeatedly on his “affordability tour” to drum up support ahead of the midterms (next stop: North Carolina on Friday night). And anyway, no serious national politician needs an excuse to visit the Keystone State. But here’s what is true: Vance is way better at staying on message than his boss. During the insanely meandering two-and-a-half-hour televised Cabinet meeting Trump chaired this month, Vance’s contribution was brief and precisely to the point — a well rehearsed two-minute attack on Democrats over high food prices and housing costs, and a pledge that Republican policies will improve people’s lives in 2026. Trump’s contributions were … a little less honed. Expect to hear the exact same messaging from the VP today — including, crucially, that the best is yet to come; a message Trump has really struggled with through the latter half of this year. A Vance spokesperson told Playbook: “From the historic working families tax cuts to over $18 trillion worth of investment in America, the benefits of the Trump economic agenda have only begun to kick in and there is more work to be done in the new year. Expect Vice President Vance to emphasize the fact that making America affordable again is the number one priority of the Trump administration.” In many ways, Vance is just a better message-carrier on this issue than Trump, period. Vance’s blue-collar backstory is, of course, quite literally straight off the New York Times bestseller list. Tellingly, Vance’s venue pick for today’s speech is a packaging warehouse in the suburbs of Allentown. Trump, by contrast, picked a casino resort in the mountains, 40 miles north. The suspicion is that Vance just feels these issues more deeply; even as Trump gets bored with talking about affordability and calls the whole thing a Democrat hoax. It’s well worth reading this WaPo interview with conservative pollster Mark Mitchell, brought into the White House by Vance to talk to Trump about his growing disconnect with the MAGA base on the economy. Mitchell relates how Trump listened to his assessment, asked questions … and then pivoted to talking about golf.
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Learn more. | | | | Trump, of course, has other qualities. There’s a reason why he’s so beloved by MAGA supporters, why he’s dominated his party for an entire decade and why he’s been elected president twice. Can Vance repeat that trick? There’s no doubt the VP has the political smarts, and the intelligence — and of course the backstory — to pull off a successful 2028 bid. But whether he has the presence, the charisma, the charm to energize and mobilize a Trump-shaped voter coalition remains to be seen. Subplot: A Vance speech in Pennsylvania also now carries the added subplot of a possible 2028 rivalry. The state is of course the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of a handful of potential candidates with a realistic chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination. A Quinnipiac poll in September had Shapiro beating Vance in a hypothetical head-to-head in his home state by a comfortable 53 percent to 43 percent. Vance has three years to close that gap. BACK HERE IN D.C.: We’ll get a handle on how the U.S. economy is actually doing at 8:30 a.m., when the Bureau of Labor Statistics belatedly releases the November jobs report delayed by the government shutdown. Today’s stats will also include half of October’s never-released figures, and are expected to show (more) slow growth in the jobs market. Trump’s schedule: The president is set to participate in an ambassador credentialing ceremony at 2 p.m. and appear at a Hanukkah reception at the White House this evening. Press will be invited in from 8:15 p.m. MEANWHILE ON THE HILL: Republicans continue to wrestle with the affordability crisis at a policy level, chiefly in the form of health care. The House GOP is slowly rallying behind Speaker Mike Johnson’s limited health care plan that neither extends the Obamacare subsidies due to expire at the end of this month, nor expands the health savings accounts touted by Republicans. Johnson has his usual Tuesday presser at 10 a.m., before House Rules finalizes a plan at 2 p.m. Votes may come tomorrow. And as for those subsidies: GOP moderates in both the House and the Senate are still pushing for some sort of vote on the extension of the subsidies, although it’s all too late now for the Dec. 31 cutoff. Those Republicans terrified about what the imminent leap in premiums for millions of voters will do for their own electoral prospects are still hoping to agree to some sort of extension early in the new year. My Inside Congress colleagues have more on the parallel tracks in the House and Senate The new deadline: “The real deadline is shifting toward when open enrollment for the Obamacare marketplaces ends on Jan. 15 — and when a swath of government funding expires on Jan. 30,” Semafor’s Burgett Everett reports. “Progressives see that shutdown date as a point of leverage, and Republicans see it as the last chance for a deal with Democrats.” Get those trips in to see the T-Rex while you can. Staying out of that fight is Trump himself — and with good reason, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and our other ace White House colleagues report this morning. Trump’s top aides are “fearful of the president getting yoked into a messy health care fight” as he did early in his first term.
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| | | | WAR AND PEACE SCOOP: The Trump administration will show video of the controversial Sept. 2 military double strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat to all members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees later this week, Playbook’s Dasha Burns reports. That means fierce Trump critics and military veterans who sit upon the committees, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), will be rendering their verdicts in the coming days. (The Defense Department ramped up its fight with Kelly yesterday, declaring that it was upgrading its “preliminary review” of his supposed misconduct to an “official Command Investigation,” per WaPo. He’s vowing to fight back hard.) That news comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine prepare to brief all members of Congress this morning on the military buildup and strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. Keep a close eye on the reactions of Republican members who have previously criticized the attacks. Official line: A White House official says the administration will “continue to be forthcoming and unapologetic about the President’s efforts to take on the cartels and stop the illegal smuggling of drugs into our homeland,” saying it has now offered nearly two-dozen “bipartisan Hill engagements” on the issue. And there’s no sign of the attacks easing off. Last night the administration confirmed Hegseth just green-lit three more strikes on boats in the Pacific, killing eight men whom U.S. Southern Command called “narco-terrorists.” Latest escalation: Trump bolstered his legal backing for anti-trafficking efforts by signing an executive order that declared fentanyl to be a weapon of mass destruction, per POLITICO’s Eric Bazail-Eimil and Jack Detsch. It’s a “nearly unprecedented presidential action,” they report. The bigger picture: Trump’s military buildup near Venezuela received a boost from Trinidad and Tobago, which signed off yesterday on U.S. military aircraft using its airports in the weeks ahead, per Reuters. The U.S. and Paraguay inked an agreement to strengthen joint work on anti-gang operations, per Bloomberg’s Ken Parks. And the election of José Antonio Kast in Chile gives Trump another right-wing ally in a burgeoning Latin American (and worldwide) movement, on top of recent electoral successes for the right in Honduras, Bolivia and Argentina, NYT’s Emma Bubola writes. “I hear he’s a very good person,” Trump said of Kast. Monroe 2.0: “Less than two weeks after Trump published his national security strategy putting the western hemisphere at the top of America’s priorities,” FT’s Michael Stott writes, “Kast’s win adds another Latin American president to a growing column of Trump-friendly leaders across the region.” And it’s not just the national security strategy: The Pentagon is planning major changes to consolidate its headquarters and help refocus resources from the Middle East and Europe to the Americas, WaPo’s Dan Lamothe and colleagues scooped. U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command would fall under a new U.S. International Command, lowering the number of combatant commands and top generals/admirals directly under Hegseth. Caine is due to present the proposal to Hegseth soon. ON THE OTHER END: As the U.S. plans this big-picture pivot, talks in Berlin yesterday over ending the Ukraine war moved forward — but it’s not clear yet whether the U.S. and Ukraine can reach an agreement, to say nothing of Russia. A significant offer from the U.S. on NATO-esque security guarantees for Ukraine left Europeans feeling more optimistic. “For the first time since the war began, a ceasefire now seems possible,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz posted on X. We’re “closer now than we have ever been,” Trump told reporters. But but but: Territorial concessions remain a sticking point. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Kyiv wouldn’t officially recognize Donbas territory seized by Moscow as Russian, “de jure or de facto.” But the U.S. is still pushing Ukraine to pull troops from the eastern part of the region, Reuters’ Andreas Rinke and colleagues report. There’s still no deal here yet on a core issue. FOR YOUR RADAR: “White House scolded Netanyahu for violating Gaza ceasefire with strike,” by Axios’ Barak Ravid
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST TRUMP VS. THE MEDIA: The BBC is waking up today to a $10 billion lawsuit from Trump filed last night in a federal court in Miami, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. The president accuses the state-owned British broadcaster of defaming him and violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by splicing together two remarks Trump made during his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, which Trump says wrongly gave the impression that he was encouraging violence. The BBC has apologized for the edit, but rejects the prospect of a defamation suit. The corporation could seek “to challenge the federal court’s jurisdiction over the case,” Josh and Kyle note, since the documentary in question never actually aired in the U.S. Hitting a wall: “Judge refuses to grant Sarah Palin a new trial in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times,” by AP’s Larry Neumeister HOT ON THE RIGHT: Candace Owens and Erika Kirk met for what Owens described as an “extremely productive” conversation that lasted four-and-a-half hours. (That’s twice as long as Zelenskyy’s meeting with U.S. and European officials yesterday, for comparison.) Owens, who has promulgated conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s killing, said that despite some disagreements, “tensions were thawed” and the women “agreed much more than I had anticipated.” She said she’ll share more today. Kirk’s readout was more concise, calling it a “very productive conversation.” LEGACY WATCH: “Pelosi Resisted Stock-Trading Ban as Wealth Grew, Fueling Suspicion,” by NYT’s Annie Karni: “The former speaker failed to appreciate the groundswell of support for banning the practice, refusing to give an inch amid G.O.P. accusations that she was corrupt.” TRAIL MIX: Former NFL sportscaster Michele Tafoya is getting close to a decision on whether to run for Senate as a Republican in Minnesota, OutKick’s Dan Zaksheske scooped. … Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), who’s getting gerrymandered out of Congress, dropped his plan to run for Tarrant County judge, The Texas Tribune’s Gabby Birenbaum reports.. … California Republicans kicked off their uphill legal battle to challenge Democrats’ new gerrymander as a racial one, the LA Times’ Jenny Jarvie and Christopher Buchanan report. Clicker: POLITICO’s Jessica Piper and colleagues are up with a deep dive on the shrinking number of competitive seats, which has dampened Democrats’ hopes of a blue wave in the midterms as they face a map that’s a far cry from that of 2018. Though Dems don’t need to win as many seats this time around to claim a majority, the hill to reach a comfortable majority like the 235 seats they held after the last blue wave has grown much steeper. “The result is that Democrats could post a bigger national swing than in 2018 and still end up with a slimmer majority than they had after that year.” MAKE AMERICA HIGH AGAIN: Trump confirmed yesterday that his administration is “very strongly” considering a reclassification of marijuana, though he gave no indication of when he might sign an executive order. CNN’s Kit Maher and Steve Contorno report that the drug could drop from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule III. WHAT MONAREZ DID NEXT: California Gov. Gavin Newsom said former CDC leaders Susan Monarez and Debra Houry will head a new state Public Health Network Innovation Exchange, after they clashed with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year, NYT’s Laurel Rosenhall and Apoorva Mandavilli scooped. TRADING PLACES: “It Will Be Messy if the Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs,” by POLITICO’s Ankush Khardori in his latest Rules of Law column: “Reviving the tariffs will not be as simple as administration officials suggest.”
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Explore our ongoing work. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | SPOTTED: Tiffany Trump, Michael Boulos and Jacob Helberg having dinner at Filomena on Sunday night. IN MEMORIAM — “Robert Samuelson, Award-Winning Economics Columnist, Dies at 79,” by NYT’s Michael Rosenwald: “He was a familiar byline in Newsweek and The Washington Post for decades, explaining the intricacies of economic policy in reader-friendly vernacular.” LAST DANCE — Trump’s new White House ballroom won’t be finished until summer 2028, just a few months before he leaves office for the final time, according to a report by the National Park Service, per CBS’ Arden Farhi. And in a legal fight over the ballroom, the Trump administration in part cited national security reasons for why its construction shouldn’t be halted, AP’s Darlene Superville reports. The filing didn’t explain why. LOVE IS IN THE AIR — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Real America’s Voice White House reporter Brian Glenn got engaged. He told Playbook’s Dasha Burns that he surprised her with a proposal at a private table at Joe’s Seafood: “I’m just happy that I’m able to sweep her off her feet and leave D.C.” More from the Daily Mail … Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson are also now engaged, Page Six’s Oli Coleman and Mara Siegler scooped. The president announced the news at a White House Christmas party last night. FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK — Hunter Biden was officially disbarred in Connecticut. OUT AND ABOUT — Widehall’s Steve Clemons hosted a Christmas and Hanukkah gathering at Cafe Milano last night, including a toast to the late lobbyist Kent Knutson, who died suddenly last week. SPOTTED: Heather Podesta, Deborah Lehr, Michael Schaffer, Karan Bhatia, Daniel Lippman, Bruce Andrews, Nina Totenberg and David Raines, Francesca Chambers and Michael Moroney, Emilia Valbum, Robb Harleston, Candida Wolff, Michele Oshman, Richard Vague, John Parker, Tom Quaadman, Ann Fairchild, Brie Sachse, Faryar Shirzad, Gerry Petrella, Rhonda Bentz, John Bozzella, Marlene Colucci, Stephen Renna, Tom Madrecki, Peter Borsos, Michael Powell, Christian Emering, Hideo Amiya, Sébastien Fagart, Gianluca Battaglia, Anastasia Dellaccio, Matt Paul, Jonathan Kott, Belma Ambrose, Sydney Simon, Juleanna Glover, Sam Feist, Erin Streeter and Evan Burfield. MEDIA MOVES — Matt Woelfel will be moving to Brussels to take on the role of executive director of the media business for POLITICO. He currently is senior managing director and team lead for the media solutions team. … Brian McGrory is returning to The Boston Globe to lead the newspaper as its top editor again. He has chaired Boston University’s journalism department, written columns for the Globe and led The Baltimore Banner on an interim basis since departing the role in 2023. … Katie Pavlich is joining NewsNation to host a new political news program on weekdays at 10 p.m., starting early next year. She previously was a longtime editor at Townhall.com and a Fox News contributor. More from Variety TRANSITIONS — Robin Colwell is joining Intel as SVP of government affairs. She most recently has worked in the Trump White House and National Economic Council. More from Bloomberg … Kareem Shora is now COO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. He previously worked at FEMA. … LSG is adding Aubrey Waldock as an SVP and Justin Strength as a senior director. Waldock most recently worked at The Clearing. Strength most recently worked at APCO. ENGAGED — Taylor Rogers, White House assistant press secretary, and Matt McDougal, a law student at Catholic University, got engaged Saturday at the Union League in Philadelphia. They met as students at Clemson University. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mark Messmer (R-Ind.) … Jake Sherman … CNN’s Phil Mattingly and Liz Turrell … Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo … Lesley Stahl … Allison Herwitt of Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-Conn.) office … Jason Seher … NewsNation’s Bryn McCarthy … Melissa Kiedrowicz Ellison … former Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) … Adam Bromberg … Jody Murphy of Harmon Murphy Creative … Peter Orszag … Fisher Phillips’ Rebecca Rainey … Emilie Simons … Jenni LeCompte of FGS Global … Jenner & Block’s Matt Klapper … Caroline Champion of FlexPoint Media … Hannah Hartranft (Robinson) … Kezia McKeague of McLarty Associates … Carol Browner … Sony’s Christina Mulvihill … Chris Frech … WaPo’s Liz Goodwin … Amy Siskind … former Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri … Susan Estrich … former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn … Scotty Greenwood of Manulife … Alexandra Davis of Rep. August Pfluger’s (R-Texas) office … Susan Liss … Garrett Brown of Rep. Ryan Zinke’s (R-Mont.) office … POLITICO’s Andrew DiNardo … Malcolm Douglass of the DNC … Ben Falkowski of Rep. Rudy Yakym’s (R-Ind.) office 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.
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