| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | Presented by United for Cures | With help from Eli Okun and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and Dasha discuss Trump’s quest for oil and what he really wants to do with Greenland.
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| Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Get in touch. QUESTION OF THE DAY: How should Democrats respond to Donald Trump’s excursion into Venezuela? One 2028 presidential hopeful has a clear answer: By staying laser-focused on the kitchen table issues Americans care about. “The president wants to focus on Venezuela? Democrats are focused on Virginia,” Rahm Emanuel tells Playbook. “He wants to talk about what’s happening in Caracas? I want to talk about what’s happening in Columbus.” It's a neat line from a politician who insists that amid the crescendo of Trump-bashing and all the alarm bells about the end of democracy, there’s still space within the Democratic debate to talk old-fashioned domestic policy. To that end, the former Chicago mayor is headed to the less-than-typical presidential stop of Mississippi today to discuss his favorite topic: education and kids’ literacy. Not because he fancies his chances in a state that hasn’t backed a Dem for president since Jimmy Carter — but to talk more about what they call the “Mississippi Miracle,” an intense state-level focus on children’s literacy rates that flipped Mississippi from among the worst performing states in the U.S. to the top half. “If we don’t get this right, nothing else matters,” Emanuel says. His first town hall kicks off tonight. In today’s Playbook … — Trump’s oil-and-land ambitions send shockwaves around the world. — Mike Johnson’s math headache. — Trump’s most popular policy ever? DOT wants to ditch D.C. speed cameras.
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump departs after speaking during a House Republican retreat at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, Jan. 6. | Alex Wong/Getty Images | IT’S GOING TO BE A VERY LONG YEAR: We’re only one week into 2026, and already these are seismic moments for America’s relations with the world. A U.S. government publicly threatening a Western ally with military action to seize part of its territory. An American president gleefully taking tens of millions of barrels of oil from a neighbor whose leader he just forcibly deposed. It seems 2026 will be the year that the head-spinning rejection of rules and norms we’ve all grown accustomed to under Trump 2.0 goes global. The only question — now being asked by worried allies and foes alike — is just how far the president will go. So pity Marco Rubio: The secretary of State has the toughest job in D.C. this morning as he leads a team of top administration officials to brief U.S. senators on the military operation that removed Nicolás Maduro from power. Rubio’s role since Saturday has essentially been to downplay the significance of what we’re seeing. In his interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” at the weekend he insisted America will not in fact be running Venezuela, that all we’re really seeing here is a powerful oil embargo and that the aim is to rebuild the oil industry for “the benefit of the Venezuelan people.” The problem is that Trump keeps sending out a very different message to the Rubio line. “The difference between Iraq and this,” Trump told MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough, “is that [George W.] Bush didn't keep the oil. We're going to keep the oil.” Democratic senators will likely be repeating these words back at Rubio this morning, and it’s quite the circle for him to square. The spoils of war: As we saw last night, they’re not empty words. Shortly before 7 p.m., Trump announced America will help itself to up to 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela — around two months’ output — to sell on the open market. “That money will be controlled by me,” Trump said. You’d imagine members of Congress will have plenty of questions about that, not least given they control the power of the purse. And there’s more: This all comes with the crisis over Greenland escalating rapidly with every passing day. When it first reemerged as an issue on Sunday, it appeared Trump was just responding to a smart question from an opportunistic journalist. On Monday it was still possible to dismiss the talk as bravado or bluster — even as White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who loves doubling up as a troll-the-libs talking head, was making the case that Greenland should be under U.S. control. (Miller gets the NYT profile treatment here following his viral performance on CNN.) But the statement issued yesterday by Trump’s own press secretary represents something more serious: an official White House position. “President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority,” Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option.” We’ll hear more from Leavitt today — plus, intriguingly, (unnamed) “Cabinet officials” — at a White House press briefing at 11 a.m. Every politician in Europe is taking this deadly seriously now, as witnessed by yesterday’s extraordinary joint statement — signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and many more — warning Trump off annexing territory owned by a NATO ally. Needless to say, no statement remotely like that has been issued in the 75-plus years of the Western alliance. The postwar settlement is rocking before our eyes. Rubio can expect plenty of questions on all this today. The WSJ reports he told senior senators on Monday that there is, in fact, little prospect of military action in Greenland and that the U.S. simply hopes to buy the world’s largest island. But that’s not quite what the White House is saying. And we already know Denmark has no wish to sell. So what happens next?
| | | | 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. | | | | How to annex Greenland in 4 easy steps: My ace POLITICO colleague Zoya Sheftalovich has a must-read out this morning on what a U.S. takeover of Greenland might actually look like. One option includes a combination of sweetheart deals and threats, she reports. But a simple military solution could happen much more quickly. “It could be like five helicopters,” one Danish politician says. “There would be nothing they could do.” Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on Greenland security, predicts U.S. forces could take the island’s capital Nuuk (population: 20,000) “in half an hour or less.” Reality check: The 119th Congress has not exactly covered itself in glory when it comes to asserting its constitutional roles and powers. But America invading a NATO ally would surely trigger a huge bipartisan reaction. GOP leaders are already quietly warning against it. “I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Speaker Mike Johnson said last night. A U.S. military takeover is “not something that anybody is contemplating seriously,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune insisted. More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress The crashing irony is this is happening just as America firms up its defense commitments on Europe’s eastern flank. European leaders were delighted with the U.S. security guarantees being cautiously outlined by Trump’s top envoy Steve Witkoff at yesterday’s Ukraine peace summit in Paris, per Bloomberg, which was seen as a breakthrough moment in securing the backing Ukraine would require in the face of another Russian invasion. Yet it required significant cognitive dissonance to ignore what we were all seeing play out in real time — an America offering to protect Europe’s eastern flank, while actively threatening its territory to the west. The common theme of all this, of course, is Trump putting America’s raw power interests ahead of all other concerns. And on that, the White House will be confident it has broad public backing. Polling shows increasing support for the ouster of Maduro now that it’s actually happened — and as this viral CNN polling segment showed yesterday, MAGA world remains largely onboard. AP has a good roundup of conversations with Trump supporters, most of whom are cautiously happy with where we’re at. But that support relies on a calm and successful aftermath — and there are big questions still to be answered about the viability of Trump’s oil plans for Venezuela, as NOTUS’ Anna Kramer and Reuters’ Ron Bousso both report. Still, there’s little sign of mass unrest following the removal of Maduro — not least because the same repressive regime remains in place. About the regime: While former VP Delcy Rodriguez is now the regime’s top leader, she may not be the U.S.’ next target, even as she hardens her public tone against the U.S., Playbook’s resident Venezuela expert Ali Bianco writes in. A team at Reuters scoops that the U.S. is now eyeing the country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, with suspicion. Both are critical members of the regime’s inner circle, along with Delcy’s brother, Jorge Rodriguez, who heads the National Assembly; Vladimir Padrino López, who heads the military; and Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, an assembly member. But Cabello undoubtedly presents the biggest risk — he controls the country’s illicit security forces, groups of armed paramilitary men on motorcycles known as colectivos who are the regime’s enforcers and have been accused of numerous human rights violations, from the capture of journalists to dissidents and political prisoners. One to watch. Another norm busted: Even Trump’s comments about the cyber operation he suggested U.S. forces undertook to knock out power in Caracas during the operation represent a significant shift for a country that has long maintained a veil of secrecy around its sophisticated cyber operations, POLITICO’s Maggie Miller reports. “It also serves as a stern warning for top cyber foes, including Russia and China, that the U.S. has the cyber capabilities to inflict serious damage — and is not shy about using them.”
| | | BILL OF HEALTH REPUBLICANS’ ROUGH REALITY: The sudden passing of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) shocked Washington yesterday just as House Republicans headed into their annual policy meeting. The day was meant to be a rallying point for the conference, but instead kicked off with an unexpectedly somber mood as Republicans confronted both the sudden death of a well-liked colleague and the dire political straits their dwindling majority has to navigate, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill writes. The math problem: Mike Johnson is now facing a nail-biting margin for his already slim GOP majority: LaMalfa’s death, one day after Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s exit, leaves Republicans with just 218 votes at least until March. As Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman notes, Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) consistent party-bucking means the margin at times is more realistically one vote. In March, the GOP could get more breathing room when Greene’s seat is filled, but it’ll go back to one vote when Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s seat is filled in New Jersey a few weeks later, per NYT’s Annie Karni. “We keep saying we are one breath away from the minority — that’s more true today than ever,” one House Republican told Meredith. And this crunch comes as critical government funding negotiations get underway, and with a contentious health care debate unfolding this week. PRESSURE COOKER: Trump piled the pressure on his party yesterday to do everything possible to maintain its majority in the midterms, urging Republicans to take on health care as a campaign issue. But he also threw a wrench in those plans by telling House Republicans to be “flexible” on the Hyde amendment, a key sticking point in negotiations over an extension of the expired Affordable Care Act tax credits. Anti-abortion lawmakers were stunned. “I almost fell out of my chair,” one told Meredith and Ben Guggenheim. SPEAKING OF THE ACA CREDITS: The proposed three-year extension has been teed up for a procedural vote today, with a final vote expected tomorrow. House and Senate GOP moderates will also meet tomorrow to talk about a potential deal on the subsidies, per Punchbowl. The bill got support from several moderates who signed onto the discharge petition against Johnson’s wishes back in December — but how many vote for the extension tomorrow remains to be seen. SHUTDOWN RUNDOWN: Lawmakers meanwhile have less than four weeks to get government funding bills out the door — but as Meredith reports, Republicans’ slimmed-down margin had leadership calculating whether they will even be able to move forward with a procedural vote on a key appropriations package today. The House Rules Committee unexpectedly recessed last night as GOP lawmakers sought a path forward, per Meredith. They’re reconvening at 8 a.m. What comes next: There are still six remaining bills to challenge the Hill’s appropriators, and any package will require sufficient Democratic approval for it to pass the Senate with 60 votes. But Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) remain confident the Jan. 30 deadline will be met, per Punchbowl’s Samantha Handler.
| | | TRAIL MIX FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Cash dash: House Majority PAC and its affiliated nonprofit House Majority Forward have set a new fundraising record, raking in a combined $121 million in 2025, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider reports this morning. That includes $81 million in the second half of 2025, doubling the haul from the first half of the year, “a sign of donors’ growing optimism for the party tied to its overperformance in a slate of off-year elections,” Elena writes. “For comparison, House Majority PAC raised $72 million for the entire 2018 election cycle. The group didn’t launch its affiliated nonprofit until 2019. In 2023, the groups raised a combined $76 million.” SCOOP — Warren spreads the wealth: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is donating $400,000 to split among 23 state Democratic parties featuring competitive midterm races in an effort to beef up Democratic infrastructure ahead of the 2026 midterms, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider writes in. Warren has also raised more than $1.1 million for candidates this cycle, weighing in on a handful of contested primaries. Warren is urging fellow Democrats to invest early. “The best time to do it is January, not waiting until next October,” she said. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE: As Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s 88-year-old delegate, faces mounting pressure to retire, one of her former staffers is jumping into the race to succeed her. Trent Holbrook, Norton’s former senior legislative counsel, is launching his campaign today, WaPo’s Olivia George scoops. “If Congresswoman Norton was running a campaign that I thought would win, I wouldn’t be here. But that’s not where we’re at right now,” Holbrook told WaPo. FROM THE TRAIL: Trump officially endorsed the Republican candidate running against Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), whom Trump pardoned, NBC’s Raquel Coronell Uribe reports. While endorsing Tano Tijerina, a Webb County judge, he also slammed Cuellar for “disloyalty.” … Sean Patrick Maloney is skipping a comeback bid against Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) this year, per Axios’ Hans Nichols. … Vivek Ramaswamy has tapped Ohio’s Senate president, Rob McColley, as his running mate for lieutenant governor, per NBC’s Henry Gomez. … Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) will endorse Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss’ campaign to succeed her in Congress, Evanston Now’s Matthew Eadie scoops. PAYTAS IT FORWARD: Trisha Paytas, the podcaster and influencer, said she’s considering mounting a congressional run in California. In the TikTok video, Paytas said she was “currently Googling” how to put together a campaign. “The idea of me being representative for the state of California came to me in a dream,” Paytas said. BEST OF THE REST FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Grand gesture: Grand juries are making a comeback under Trump. But gone are the days that these panels act as something of a rubber stamp, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein writes. “Instead, they’ve become a headache for prosecutors trying to advance controversial Trump policies like mass deportations and militarizing law enforcement. Dozens of recent cases in Washington, D.C., have been met with so-called ‘no bills’ — the shorthand for a grand jury declining to return a bill of indictment. And grand juries in other jurisdictions have turned down high-profile cases that Trump has prioritized.” IF IT PLEASES THE COURT: “Judge Orders Trump Loyalist to Explain Why She Has Kept U.S. Attorney Title,” by NYT’s Alan Feuer: “A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the loyalist prosecutor chosen by President Trump in the Eastern District of Virginia to explain in writing why she had continued to lay claim to being the U.S. attorney there, even after a different judge determined that she had been unlawfully appointed to the post. … Judge Novak gave [Lindsay] Halligan seven days to respond.’” CUTTING DEEP: The Trump administration is axing up to $10 billion in child care and social services funding for Democratic-run states it’s accused of harboring fraud in their welfare programs, POLITICO’s Rachel Bluth reports. Federal officials planned to notify the cuts to California, Illinois, New York, Minnesota and Colorado in letters yesterday. The states are already gearing up to challenge the decision in court. IMMIGRATION FILES: ICE announced its “largest operation to date” began yesterday in Minneapolis, with acting ICE Director Todd Lyons saying agents will be going “door to door” of businesses suspected of employing unauthorized immigrants, NYT’s Madeleine Ngo and Ernesto Londoño report. … The Hilton hotel company has come under fire after an employee at a Hampton Inn was accused of denying services to immigration agents, NYT’s Christine Chung writes. Hilton said it was removing the hotel from its systems. FIVE YEARS LATER: “How Jan. 6 was remembered — and rewritten — on its 5th anniversary,” by POLITICO’s Nick Wu and colleagues: “At a march and a hearing, on a plaque and a website, the story of the Capitol riot was contested Tuesday.”
| | | | 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.
Support Cures. Increase federal funding for lifesaving medical research in FY26. | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | IN MEMORIAM — “Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan, dies at 80,” by AP: “Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Ronald Reagan and a conservative commentator, has died. He was 80. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute announced his death in a post on the social platform X on Tuesday, calling him ‘a steadfast guardian of his father’s legacy.’ … His cause of death was not immediately announced. … Reagan was a contributor to the conservative Newsmax television network and was known for his talk radio program, ‘The Michael Reagan Show.’” — “Aldrich Ames, most damaging CIA traitor in agency history, dies at 84,” by WaPo’s Walter Pincus: “Aldrich H. Ames, the CIA officer whose spying for Moscow was the most damaging breach in the agency’s history, reportedly causing the deaths of at least 10 recruited CIA or allied intelligence agents, died Jan. 5 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. He was 84.” PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — The Transportation Department is seeking to scrap its plans to use automated traffic enforcement cameras in D.C., “a move that would cost the city millions in lost revenue but would likely be cheered by many drivers in the nation’s capital,” POLITICO’s Chris Marquette scooped. The proposal intends to outlaw speed, red light and stop sign cameras throughout D.C. as part of the upcoming surface transportation bill, which Congress is hoping to pass this year. PLAYBOOK STYLE SECTION — “The crisp blouses and structured dresses from the D.C. fashion retailer Tuckernuck dominate podiums in Trump’s White House and are bought in bulk by Fox News’ wardrobe department,” The Daily Beast’s Laura Esposito writes in a look at MAGA fashion in Trump’s Washington. “Among those spotted browsing the retailer’s classic, Americana style at its DuPont Circle and tony Georgetown locations: Karoline Leavitt, Kristi Noem, and a who’s who of Republican staffers from Capitol Hill and the Trump administration. “But privately, the Daily Beast has learned, its staff are far from thrilled at being MAGA’s unofficial outfitter. Inside the multimillion-dollar brand, some employees scoff at the women who turned its fundraiser-season maxi dresses into Washington staples. And while the company’s owners insist the label is apolitical, top executives are Democratic donors.” MEDIA MOVES — Emily Goodin has joined the New York Post as a White House correspondent. She previously worked at McClatchy and Daily Mail. TRANSITIONS — Dylan Jones has joined BWXT as senior manager for government relations. He was previously with the House GOP conference. … Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has joined Morrison Cohen as of counsel in the firm’s government strategies and controversies practice. Rawlings-Blake is a former mayor of Baltimore. … Kyle Danish and Tadas Kisielius are now co-chairs at Van Ness Feldman. Danish was a partner in the firm’s D.C. office, and Kisielius was a partner in the Seattle office. … Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service is bringing on its new spring 2026 fellowship class. The fellows are: Zeteo Media’s Mehdi Hasan; TikTok’s Stephen Martinko; former Homeland Security adviser Julia Nesheiwat; former Hill staffer and Marshall & Popp’s Monica Popp; former Montana senator Jon Tester; and former RNC staffer and executive director of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee Richard Walters. ENGAGED — Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.) and Eric Costello, a former Baltimore councilmember, got engaged over the holidays. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Kennedy Stowater, comms director for Rep. David Rouzer (R-N.C.), welcomed Elaine Margaret Stowater on Nov. 21. She came in at 8 pounds, 15 oz and 20.5 inches. Pic … Another pic BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Second lady Usha Vance HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Senate Majority Leader John Thune … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) … Yohannes Abraham … The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf … Adam Entous … Alex Milofsky … Fox Business’ Dagen McDowell … Maura Keefe of Keefe Singiser Partners … John Reiss … Cherie Short … Stewart Boss … Megan Clarke of Fox News … Lauren Harmon Murphy of the Association of State Democratic Committees … Stewart Verdery of Monument Advocacy … Rishi Sahgal … Capital One’s Tim Kraus … former Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) … Axios’ Ben Geman … Ashley Callen … Cory Crowley … Brett Shogren … Katie Couric … Michael McAdams … Mike Brodo … Jennifer Denney Lawson of Keep America Beautiful … Ernie Tai … Mike D’Orazio of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s (R-Pa.) office … Eli Aguayo … CNN’s Claire Barkley … Maddy Beckwith … Vivek Kakar of the Herald Group … Michelle Greenhalgh of Stony Brook Medicine … Nick Clegg 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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