| | | |  | | By Katelyn Fossett | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun and Ali Bianco Happy Saturday! I’m Katelyn Fossett, an editor on the magazine, writing today from Covington, Kentucky, where we had an unusually spring-like day yesterday — a reminder that primary season is coming …
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) growing disagreements with the president have some people wondering if the congressman’s support could be cracking. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | THE BELTWAY VS. THE BLUEGRASS: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has appeared to defy political gravity in recent years, going toe-to-toe with the president on a number of issues but emerging apparently unscathed in his Trump-loving district. But in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, Massie’s growing disagreements with the president have some people wondering if Massie’s support could be cracking ahead of what’s expected to be a tough, Trump-fueled primary fight in May. On Monday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to ask “all MAGA warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein,” the former Navy SEAL facing Massie in the primary. Trump and Massie have long dueled over foreign policy, with Massie arguing he favors non-interventionism. The Venezuela operation last weekend opened up another chapter in that rift after months of the pair squaring off over Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The fight over the files is still ongoing: In late December, Massie raised the possibility of bringing inherent contempt charges against AG Pam Bondi over the heavily redacted release, which was prompted by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, sponsored in the House by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). In an interview with Playbook, Massie said the biggest story is that the Justice Department is “trying to say that internal deliberations are off limits for the release, whereas the bill specifically says that they must be released, [these] specific decisions about whether to indict or not.” “I’m not sure how that gets litigated, if that’ll end up in a court somewhere,” Massie said. “The lever that I have is contempt, and eventually we will try to invoke that, because it only involves one chamber.” Back home in Massie’s district, speculation abounds as the primary approaches. Massie has long been buoyed by support from his district, and Kentucky — though deep-red — has shown signs of independence from the president in the form of its senators, longtime Trump critic Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, who like Massie has a libertarian ideological bent. And Massie, in a district that voted handily for Trump in all three of the last presidential cycles, has cleared primaries in the past three elections with above 75 percent of the vote each time. Those who are aligned with Massie downplayed the idea that there was a split between Massie supporters and Trump supporters in a district that loves both. “It’s kind of one of these things where it’s like mommy and daddy are fighting,” said Steven Doan, a state representative who is aligned with Kentucky’s Liberty movement, an anti-establishment subset of Republicans — including Massie — in the state that grew out of the Tea Party. “Most people just kind of look at it and say, ‘OK, they're fighting, but Thomas is our guy, and he’s been our guy.’” A lot of experts are confident Massie’s popularity will protect him against Gallrein in May. “He’s gonna whoop Gallrein’s ass,” said Tres Watson, the former spokesperson of the Republican Party of Kentucky. “Gallrein has no shot.” And Massie doesn’t seem worried. “Right now, our polling shows that I’m ahead by a considerable margin,” Massie said. “And then when you inform the people taking the survey that Donald Trump has endorsed Ed Gallrein, I’m still ahead by double digits.” Massie thinks there are signs Trump’s support in the district is starting to slip, which could bolster his campaign further. From September to December, he said, citing his office’s polling, the president’s approval rating among likely Republican primary voters in his district went from 85 percent to 79 percent. “That’s not inside the margin of error,” he said. “That’s a significant change in three months.” “I believe if I spend at least a quarter as much as is spent against me, I will win,” he said. But others aren’t so sure of an easy victory for Massie. Gallrein’s campaign, for one, is bullish about his chances. “The race boils down to a choice for Republican voters in KY-04: a congressman like Massie who proudly sides with the Squad to block President Trump’s agenda or someone like Ed Gallrein, a 30-year Navy SEAL, who will be a partner to and help enact the president’s America First policies,” said Lance Trover, a Gallrein spokesperson. In early January, the Gallrein campaign announced that it raised $1.2 million in the last quarter of 2025 — a very respectable haul for a non-incumbent. There’s no public polling yet on the primary, but there are also signs on the ground that some Republican voters could be open to entertaining an alternative to Massie. One Republican insider in the area, who was granted anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the primary, pointed to a divide in the district between the more rural, southern parts of the district and northern Kentucky, which usually refers to the top three northernmost counties (Boone, Kenton and Campbell), and encompasses both urban and suburban spillover from Cincinnati. That northern region is more populous and it’s also home to more establishment Republicans, seemingly fertile ground for a Massie challenger. This insider said he’s picked up on some Massie blowback in the district. “More people have been asking why Massie and Paul can’t get along with Trump,” he said. Still, Massie’s support here is strong — and in his estimation, there are plenty who appreciate his willingness to fight with Trump. “The most common thing I get at a county fair or a Rotary Club,” Massie said, “is ‘I don’t agree with you 100 percent of the time, but I appreciate that you’re forming your own opinion and you’re up there fighting for what you believe in.’”
| | | | A message from United for Cures: The United States leads the world in lifesaving medical research, and Americans benefit from its advances daily. Diagnoses that were once death sentences are now treatable and even curable. And more progress comes every year. We can't lose our leadership now. Millions still need cures — which means they still need federally-funded medical research that leads to more treatments, more cures, and more lives saved. Support Cures. Increase federal funding for lifesaving medical research in FY26. | | | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US 1. FRIDAY NIGHT SURPRISE: “Trump calls for one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%,” by Reuters’ Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward: “Trump said on Friday he was calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting on January 20 but he did not provide details on how his plan will come to fruition or how he planned to make companies comply. Trump also made the pledge during the campaign for the 2024 election that he won but analysts dismissed it at the time saying that such a step required congressional approval.” 2. DRILL, MAYBE, DRILL: Trump pitched oil executives hard yesterday on going into Venezuela — and got a mixed reception, per CNN. The country is “uninvestable” currently, ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods said, and nobody made a big commitment amid concerns about Venezuela’s future stability. Trump and other U.S. officials tried to sell them on making significant promises, and many of the execs commented favorably on the prospect of reopening the market to U.S. companies. But a $100 billion pledge — as Trump had claimed — it wasn’t. More on Venezuela: GOP Venezuela hawks are urging Trump to make elections happen and hasten the return of democracy ASAP, even as the president shows little interest in committing to a timeline, POLITICO’s Gigi Ewing and Eric Bazail-Eimil report. Meanwhile, many GOP voters like the balance Trump has struck on Venezuela, using force without putting boots on the ground, NYT’s Sabrina Tavernise reports. And WaPo’s Anthony Faiola and colleagues have the backstory on the many unsuccessful efforts to find an offramp for Nicolás Maduro to exit Venezuela before the U.S. raid happened, with would-be safe harbors encompassing everywhere from Russia to Qatar to the Vatican. On the Hill: After five GOP senators advanced a war powers resolution to hem Trump in on Venezuela, he called them furiously and told at least some that they were voting against the military, WSJ’s Josh Dawsey and colleagues scooped. One Senate GOP member tells The Hill’s Al Weaver that Trump’s call to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was a “profanity-laced rant” — the latest instance of Trump undermining a senator he’ll need if the GOP wants to hold onto the Senate, POLITICO’s Jessica Piper and Aaron Pellish note. Trump also called Senate Majority Leader John Thune for a “very spirited” talk on the matter, per POLITICO’s Jordain Carney. 3. MORE WORLD NEWS FROM A WILD WEEK: Trump said Colombian President Gustavo Petro, with whom tensions have begun to thaw, will come to the White House early next month. Iran: As a crackdown on protests intensifies — one doctor says Tehran hospitals have already seen 217 people killed — Trump issued another warning to the Iranian regime. If authorities shoot protesters, “we’ll start shooting too,” Trump threatened, though he said it wouldn’t take U.S. troops on the ground, per WaPo. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei retorted that Iran would not retreat and that Trump “will be brought down” like other “world tyrants.” Greenland: Trump escalated his threats to take over the Danish territory, saying the U.S. would “do it the hard way” if Greenland and Denmark don’t strike a deal, per Bloomberg. Trump’s strategy here is to threaten Europe intensely so that Copenhagen will ultimately sell Greenland to the U.S., POLITICO’s Eli Stokols and Felicia Schwartz report — an approach the White House thinks was validated by the successful push to force NATO members to boost defense spending. But on the ground in Greenland, “there is a growing sense of bewilderment that Trump might actually be serious when he threatens military force,” WSJ’s Max Colchester and Daniel Michaels report from Nuuk. Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Bloomberg’s Daryna Krasnolutska and Aliaksandr Kudrytski that he’s interested in striking a free-trade deal with the U.S. 4. JUDICIARY SQUARE: A federal judge temporarily stopped the Trump administration from withholding $10 billion in child care and other welfare money from five Democratic-led states, per the N.Y. Daily News. … Another federal judge blocked Trump from imposing new mail voting restrictions on Oregon and Washington, per the AP. … Acting CFPB Director Russ Vought said the administration will provide $145 million to fund the agency in the wake of a court loss that partially paused his efforts to dismantle it, per Reuters. … Brian Cole Jr., the alleged planter of pipe bombs outside the DNC and RNC the day before the Jan. 6 riot, pleaded not guilty, per POLITICO’s Hassan Ali Kanu. 5. THE LATEST IN MINNESOTA: The furor over an ICE agent’s killing of Renee Good continued after Alpha News published a new video of the incident with footage apparently from Jonathan Ross’ perspective, per the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Greta Kaul and colleagues. DHS insisted the footage showed that Ross was acting in self-defense, but the video doesn’t show whether Good’s vehicle hit him, per WaPo. She says, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” After the shooting, a male voice says, “Fucking bitch.” Last night, protests over Good’s killing and ICE’s operations more broadly intensified in Minneapolis and were ordered to be dispersed in some cases. Behind the scenes: Though the administration has stood firm behind its version of events, some allies and current ICE officials are worried that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s rush to declare Good guilty of “domestic terrorism” undermines the credibility of the administration’s investigation, POLITICO’s Myah Ward reports. “I don’t know how we recover from this,” one administration official says. The squeeze continues: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that she’d cut off $129 million in funding for food stamps and other hunger funding in Minnesota, citing fraud concerns, per NYT’s Chris Cameron. And DHS announced that it’s re-reviewing the refugee cases of some 5,600 people in the state, subjecting them to added scrutiny, per NYT’s Madeleine Ngo.
| | | 6. TRAIL MIX: Senate Majority Leader John Thune launched his 2026 drive to keep the Senate in Republican hands with remarks yesterday at the southern border, where he emphasized border security funding and other priorities in the GOP’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney reports from McAllen, Texas. “As we get out there and talk about [our record], I think it’ll start to change the perceptions and the views in the public,” Thune told her. Race for the House: New York Assemblymember John Lemondes yesterday ended his GOP bid against Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.), per The Post-Standard’s Mark Weiner. 7. TOP TALKER: “Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer under investigation for ‘inappropriate’ relationship with employee,” by the N.Y. Post’s Josh Christenson: “[Lori] Chavez-DeRemer, 57, has welcomed her alleged paramour at least three times to her DC apartment and twice into her hotel room while traveling, alleges a complaint filed with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Inspector General last week, which has since begun a probe. The former Oregon congresswoman is also accused of drinking in her office during the workday and committing ‘travel fraud’ by having her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff ‘make up’ official trips to destinations where Chavez-DeRemer can spend time with family or friends.” The response: The White House said these allegations were “baseless.” The Labor Department said that “[t]hese unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false” and Chavez-DeRemer is considering legal action. 8. BILL OF HEALTH: The conservative backlash over a potential Affordable Care Act subsidy extension/bipartisan deal is growing. Anti-abortion groups’ anger over Trump’s call for flexibility on the Hyde amendment has prompted the administration to plan a walkback — or a clarification, depending on whom you ask — of that stance, The Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell reports. And Americans for Prosperity said it will stop supporting the 17 House Republicans who voted to revive the Obamacare credits, per POLITICO’s Amanda Chu. Reality check: “Trump’s plan to strong-arm insurers into lower prices is met with skepticism,” by POLITICO’s Cheyenne Haslett: “Even if a deal materializes, there are reasons to be skeptical that voluntary cuts by insurance companies could bring significant, lasting health care savings for Americans. … That’s because the biggest culprit in rising health care costs is the rates charged by hospitals and doctors’ offices.” 9. BRINGING THE HOUSE DOWN: Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte indicated yesterday that his idea for 50-year mortgages, which was roundly rejected at the White House and by experts, is no longer top of mind as the administration pursues other ideas for lowering the cost of housing, POLITICO’s Cassandra Dumay and Irie Sentner report. One of those plans — Trump’s sudden announcement that he’d seek to block institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes — continues to shock Wall Street firms, which have suffered in the markets this week, WSJ’s Ryan Dezember and colleagues report. Antitrust the process: “Real-Estate Brokerages Avoided Merger Investigation After Justice Department Rift,” by WSJ’s Dave Michaels and Nicole Friedman: “Justice Department antitrust enforcers wanted to investigate the $1.6 billion merger of the country’s two biggest real-estate brokerages but were overruled by senior officials who thought the deal should be greenlighted … Compass and Anywhere Real Estate closed their deal on Friday.” CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 18 funnies
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Michael DeAdder - cagle.com | GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “One more night in a ‘sober house’ for sports bettors,” by WaPo’s Kent Babb in Hightstown, New Jersey: “He hasn’t bet in months. It’s almost time to move out. Is he ready to have his phone back?” — “At Middlebury, She Hoped to Start Fresh. In Trump’s America, It Seemed Impossible,” by NYT’s Juliet Macur: “Lia Smith was a senior at Middlebury College, a transgender woman and, for a time, an athlete on the school’s diving team. But she struggled to feel accepted, and in October, she took her own life.” — “A Calif. teen trusted ChatGPT for drug advice. He died from an overdose,” by SFGate’s Lester Black and Stephen Council: “Amid a wave of hype for OpenAI's chatbot, the newly reported death shows stark risks.” — “Donald Trump Wants You to Forget This Happened,” by The Atlantic’s Jamie Thompson: “January 6, five years later.” — “He was attacked on Jan. 6. Can he make sense of it for the kids he teaches?” by WaPo’s Ellie Silverman: “Nathan Tate was a D.C. police officer defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Now he’s trying to find the lesson in it.” — “The real da Vinci code,” by Science’s Richard Stone: “Scholars on a quixotic quest to identify Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA achieve a milestone.”
| | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | PLAYBOOK ARTS SECTION — The Washington National Opera is the latest D.C. arts institution to depart the Kennedy Center, NYT’s Adam Nagourney scooped. It’s “perhaps the largest artistic rebuke yet to President Trump’s campaign to remake the Kennedy Center in his image,” though both the Kennedy Center and the opera said it made financial sense for it to leave. 250 YEARS LATER — “Supporters press for a DC memorial to Thomas Paine, whose writings helped fuel the Revolutionary War,” by AP’s Hillel Italie: “Saturday marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of [Thomas] Paine’s ‘Common Sense,’ among the first major milestones of a yearlong commemoration of the country’s founding … The fate of the current legislation depends not just on financial support, but on President Donald Trump’s interior secretary, Doug Burgum.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the Wicked Game concert at Marx Cafe last night: Adam Green, Katherine Doyle, Christina Sevilla and Steve Rochlin, Jack Doll, Josh Meyer, Mark Paustenbach, Ani Chkhikvadze, Jess Hoy, Adam Ruben, Philippa Hughes, Bay Fang, Kasper Zeuthen, James Barbour, Elizabeth Hagedorn, Romina Kazandjian, Alissa Pavia and Fabian Giorgi. TRANSITIONS — Christopher Raia was tapped as co-deputy director of the FBI to serve along with Andrew Bailey, per the AP. He leads the bureau’s New York field office. … Tim Kosiba has been named deputy director of the NSA, after months of a leadership vacuum there, POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis reports. He’s a longtime NSA and FBI veteran. … … Charlie Andrews is joining Nvidia’s policy comms team in D.C. He previously worked at Weber Shandwick and is a Commerce Department and Patty Murray alum. … Eric Jones will be comms director for Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.). He previously worked for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) … Jared Kushner … former Reps. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and Lois Capps (D-Calif.) … Ajit Pai … The Hill’s Julia Manchester … Nick Calio … former Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) … Freddie Tunnard of Harvard’s Institute of Politics … Blake Adami … Nat Wienecke … The Spectator’s Freddy Gray … Adam Weissmann … Liesl Hickey … Ryan Dierker of Rising Tide Associates … Joseph Petrzelka … Samuel Negatu … Liz Chadderdon … Hannah Pope … Travel Tech Association’s Laura Chadwick … Darius Stanton of the American Cleaning Institute … Hugh Livengood … POLITICO’s Kristen Young … FiscalNote’s Brandon McDonnell … Caroline Hakes … Michelle Fields … Blake Hopper … Robert Burns THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) … Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) … Panel: Xochitl Hinojosa, Bryan Lanza, Jonah Goldberg and Sabrina Singh … DHS Secretary Kristi Noem … Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara … Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker … Panel: Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), David Urban, Brad Todd and Ashley Allison. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem … HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. … Reza Pahlavi … Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). ABC “This Week”: Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Minneapolis ICE shooting panel: Jason Armstrong and John Sandweg. Foreign policy panel: retired Lt. Gen. Doug Lute and David Sanger. Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus, Sarah Isgur and Susan Glasser. FOX “Fox News Sunday,” guest-anchored by Jacqui Heinrich: Border czar Tom Homan … Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin … Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) … Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.). Panel: John Ashbrook, Annie Linskey, Juan Williams and Roger Zakheim. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey … Richard Engel. Panel: Monica Alba, Jamelle Bouie, Stephen Hayes and Jonathan Martin. CBS “Face the Nation”: Energy Secretary Chris Wright … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) … Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) … Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.). MS NOW “The Weekend”: Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) … Texas state Rep. James Talarico … David Hogg … Jacob Soboroff. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.). Panel: George Will, Burgess Everett and Paul Kane. 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.
| | | | A message from United for Cures: The United States leads the world in lifesaving medical research—and Americans benefit from its breakthroughs every day. Thanks to federal funding, several forms of cancer that were once death sentences are now survivable. A cure for diabetes is closer than ever. And in the fight against Alzheimer's, two FDA-approved treatments are already slowing disease progression in patients. But we can't afford to lose momentum. Millions of Americans are still waiting for answers—and they need federally funded research to keep cures coming. Sustained federal investment is essential to keeping America at the forefront of lifesaving medical innovation.
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