| | | |  | | By Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and Dasha pick through the bones of last night’s record-breaking State of the Union address. And yes, Dasha won the bet on how long he’d go on for. But only just.
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| Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, still feeling wired from way too much coffee and late-night SOTU pizza. Did you last the full 107 minutes? Get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — What Trump got right and wrong in his SOTU speech. — Who won the battle of the Democratic response? — And a big day for MAHA as influencer Casey Means (finally) hits the Hill.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 24. | Alex Kent for POLITICO | THE MORNING AFTER: Here’s the worry for jubilant Republicans waking up after the longest State of the Union in history. What if Donald Trump’s best still isn’t enough? The president did (almost) everything chief of staff Susie Wiles and top White House strategists asked of him last night. He rattled through his biggest achievements; he hailed America’s heroes; he brought powerful, personal stories to his policy messages; he tore into his opponents with remorseless venom. Above all, he (mostly) stayed on script. Obviously, Dems hated every minute, but this is the version of Trump the GOP loves the most. “Peak Trump!” one senior GOP Hill staffer gushed in a message to Dasha after the speech. “Making jokes, bringing the USA hockey team in, highlighting energy prices … on-message Trump is dangerous!” So here’s the key question: Trump delivered his lines, thrilling supporters and triggering opponents in equal measure. But does that impress skeptical voters who have been turned off in droves these past 13 months? Early polling suggests not. CNN conducted its regular snap survey of people watching the SOTU — a cohort that (unsurprisingly) this year tilted 13 percent more Republican than the average population. About two-thirds of them liked the speech. But the proportion of viewers who were “very positive” was only 38 percent. That’s a lower score than Trump has registered in any of his previous addresses to Congress. More importantly, it’s lower than for every recent presidency at this point in the cycle. In 2022, Joe Biden scored 41 percent on the same measure. In 2018, Trump scored 48 percent, as did Barack Obama in 2010. And they all lost the House that fall. For Republicans in 2026, sweating on a wafer-thin majority, the die may already be cast. That’s not to say last night’s speech had no impact. The same CNN polling showed 64 percent of speech-watchers felt the country is headed in the right direction, similar numbers to those Trump landed after previous addresses to Congress. And encouragingly for the White House, the number shifted over the course of the speech, from 54 percent beforehand. Stand and deliver: Republicans will be hoping to win over many more in the coming hours, as MAGA world relentlessly promotes the standout political stunt of the night — Trump’s calculated plea for those present to stand if they agreed with the statement that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Democrats stayed rooted to their seats, stone-faced, refusing to play along. The resulting image is going to be deployed against them for the rest of the year. It was striking how the president saved all his vitriol for his opponents. Democrats were “crazy,” “sick people” who “should be ashamed of yourselves.” He attacked the Biden administration over inflation, border control, gasoline prices and housing. At one point, he appeared to address Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) directly as he vented about the Somalian community in Minnesota. (Naturally, she gave as good as she got.) These passages were a long way from the bipartisan spirit of decades past. But they were effective, and Republicans lapped it up. Just as important was who Trump did not target. There were no attacks on Republicans who have defied him over the past six months. And there were no direct attacks on the Supreme Court justices before him — John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — even though three of the four had voted down his tariffs last week. Instead, Trump spoke carefully and pointedly of the “unfortunate” result. (He then moved swiftly on … but the TV cameras lingered forever on ACB’s emotionless face.)
| | | | A message from AHIP: 35 Million Seniors Could See Reduced Benefits and Higher Costs. Health plans welcome reforms to strengthen Medicare Advantage. However, a proposal for flat program funding at a time of sharply rising medical costs and high utilization of care will directly impact seniors' coverage. If finalized, this proposal could result in benefit reductions and higher costs for 35 million seniors and people with disabilities when they renew their Medicare Advantage coverage in October 2026. Learn more. | | | | More persuasive than Trump’s malice was his use of the personal — each guest was deployed to powerful effect. The arrival of the triumphant men’s hockey team was a moment, as was the sight of widowed Erika Kirk comforting the weeping mother of murdered Iryna Zarutska. We got the heroes of the Venezuela operation and a freed Venezuelan dissident. We got Andrew Wolfe, the National Guard troop attacked in D.C. and the family of his fallen colleague. We got brave young children and brave 100-year-old war heroes. We got the beneficiaries of Trump’s tax cuts and of Trump’s price-cut drugs. But what was missing was a vision of the future. To hear the president speak, the job is already done. The border is fixed, the economy is booming, prices are rapidly coming down. There were precious few new policy proposals — even the announcement of retirement accounts for low-income workers is essentially a Biden policy from 2022, my POLITICO colleague Victoria Guida notes. Where, beyond the Dem-bashing, was the reason to vote Republican in 2026? And there’s the rub: “It's all look-behind, as great as it all is," one GOP operative told Dasha, via text message. “Not sure what anyone is supposed to do the rest of the year, much less after Election Day.” All Trump’s asks of Congress, this person noted, were “half-assed or nonexistent” at best. POLITICO’s Eli Stokols has more on that in his big writeup of the speech. The other problem was the speech’s history-busting length. Nobody actually wants to watch a political speech for almost two hours, and we can only guess how many viewers had switched off long before Trump wrapped at 11 p.m. Eastern. Playbook’s Ali Bianco reports from inside the chamber that it was painfully obvious that members on both sides were struggling to stay awake. “Between the blankets, the repeated blinking, the hands propping up heads and the multiple open-faced yawns,” she writes in, “the chamber was waning once the hour mark had passed.” The epic length also had the effect of watering down key passages on affordability, which the White House wants front and center in the election campaign — but had been long forgotten by the end. Even Trump himself was visibly waning at the wind-up. There’s a reason why most previous presidents have tried to keep it under an hour — but Trump cannot, will not rein it in. Obviously, one speech on its own doesn’t win or lose an election, even if it is likely the most-watched of the entire year. But what we got last night was the clearest window yet into the campaign that will play out through the next nine months — and for Republicans, there is still much work to do. OTHER THINGS WE NOTICED: Trump’s shoutout to Marco Rubio was easily his warmest of the night, which got Playbook’s 2028 radar buzzing … By contrast, VP JD Vance has now been saddled with a fraud-fighting gig that may or may not help his cause … A week out from the Texas primary, under-pressure Sen. John Cornyn bagged a plum seat right near the Cabinet — but awkwardly, his opponent Ken Paxton was also in the chamber … And conservative media stars were all around. Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo and YouTuber Nick Shirley both got seats in the visitors’ gallery, while Paramount boss David Ellison landed a seat in the front row. OUTFIT OF THE NIGHT: We’re handing it to Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), and his oddball necktie adorned with multiple pictures of Trump’s face. He even got it signed by the president. FURTHER READING: How Trump did on the biggest issues of 2026, by POLITICO staff
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| | | | PLANET DEM TAKE ME TO THE RIVER: Democrats will head off up the Potomac to Leesburg, Virginia today for their annual three-day retreat — and will frankly be glad to put last night behind them. The opposition were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t as they considered how to position themselves ahead of last night’s speech. Those inside the chamber suffered a miserable two hours, bullied and abused by Trump and subjected to damaging political stunts. The dozens who boycotted the event — roughly half of all House and Senate Democrats, per a rough headcount — risked looking irrelevant, especially given the protest event on the National Mall outside proved something of a damp squib. A few hundred people braved the cold to gather for the “People’s State of the Union,” Playbook’s Irie Sentner reports from the ground, joining about three dozen Democratic members of Congress who were boycotting Trump’s address. “I could not go and normalize this president when nothing that he has done has been normal,” explained Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). “In fact, he has been the most corrupt and authoritarian president in American history.” But “No Kings” Day this was not. It was clear to just about everyone in the shivering crowd that the turnout left something to be desired, Irie reports. “I thought there would be more people, and somebody said there were 400 people, but I don’t really see them,” protester Zina Pelkey said just before the speeches kicked off.
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Democrats react during Trump's speech. | Alex Kent for POLITICO | Back inside the chamber, Democrats brought Epstein victims wearing symbolic butterfly pins, and families targeted by ICE. Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) — both targeted by Trump over the so-called “Seditious Six” video — sat front and center together, eyeballing the president throughout. The most visible and vociferous protests came from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) — escorted out at the start for waving a banner that read “Black people are not apes” — plus Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who heckled and shouted at Trump throughout his more aggressive moments. Like many of their colleagues, they’d both walked out long before the end. 2028 watch: The few Dems who actually enjoyed themselves last night were those who decided to take on Trump in real time or bagged plum spots on friendly TV networks. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker were posting live responses to Trump throughout the night on his X account. Rahm Emanuel was all over CNN. Pete Buttigieg was on The Bulwark's livestream before popping up for the CNN postgame show. None did their 2028 prospects any harm. But best of all was Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who made a great fist of the official response. The backdrop played up her strength in Virginia's grand, flag-draped Williamsburg, with a large crowd of supporters looking on from either side. The message was punchy and tight, with affordability her relentless focus throughout. Spanberger will be the star turn at today’s retreat in Leesburg. She’s found something from which other Dems can learn.
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➡️ Subscribe Now | | | | | BILL OF HEALTH MAHA’S MATRIARCH: Casey Means, Trump’s controversial pick to become surgeon general, faces senators at 10 a.m. for a long-awaited confirmation hearing before the chamber’s health panel — a pivotal step in her bid to become the country’s top doctor, POLITICO’s Amanda Friedman writes in. Means is quite a character. She left her surgical residency in 2018, citing disillusionment with the health care system. She doesn’t actually hold an active medical license — but in MAHA world, she’s a megastar. Her standing in HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again orbit was largely cemented through social media and her newsletter, promoting wellness products like supplements — and less conventional health practices like drinking raw milk. She’s a polarizing pick. Democrats and public health experts have savaged her medical credentials. MAHA’s anti-vaccine camp complains she hasn’t sufficiently resisted the shots. Advancing American Freedom, the conservative group founded by former VP Mike Pence, recently branded her an “unlicensed, neopagan, supplement hawker.” But Trump is a huge fan — and her brother Calley already works as an influential health adviser in the White House. The one to watch: This is Means’ second attempt at a confirmation — her previously scheduled hearing, last October, was cancelled at the 11th hour when she went into labor. Today, all eyes will again fall on Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy, who has publicly split with RFK Jr. over vaccine policy, including the CDC’s decision to no longer recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for infants — which Means has endorsed. Means arrives at a fragile moment for her movement. The White House has pushed Kennedy to tone down his most aggressive anti-vaccine and anti-chemical stances ahead of the midterms. (Dietary guidelines and drug pricing are now the preferred focus.) RFK Jr. has also faced sharp backlash over Trump’s glyphosate executive order. It may be tough to keep the MAHA coalition together. And the vaccine furor isn’t going away. Fifteen states filed a federal suit yesterday over Kennedy’s shakeup of the childhood vaccine schedule, per Bloomberg. Lede of the day, from The Atlantic’s Tom Bartlett on another close Kennedy ally: “Over coffee at a Starbucks just outside Austin, Texas, Del Bigtree told me he wants his teenage son to catch polio. Measles, too. He’s considered driving his unvaccinated family to South Carolina, which is in the midst of a historic outbreak, so that they can all be exposed … It’s not the diseases that Americans should be afraid of, Bigtree insists: It’s the shots that stop them.”
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST EVERYTHING’S BIGGER: We’re six days out from the Texas primaries, and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) is holding firm that he won’t resign amid allegations of an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide, per POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill. “There will be an opportunity for all the details and facts that come out,” Gonzales said. “What you’ve seen is not all the facts.” Relatedly, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) told NBC’s Melanie Zanona she wants to file a privileged resolution as early as today to force the House Ethics Committee to make public all reports about sexual misconduct. No Trump card: Texas state Rep. Steve Toth landed the backing of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as he challenges Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) from the right in a primary next week. NBC notes Crenshaw is the only GOP incumbent seeking reelection in the three states holding primaries next week whom Trump hasn’t endorsed. Presidential inspiration: Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (D-Texas) Senate campaign kicked The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey out of a rally yesterday — and has called the Capitol Police on CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere over possible trespassing for attempting to visit a campaign office, Semafor’s Max Tani scooped. Crockett’s campaign, which has grown more confrontational to the press, denied that Godfrey was ejected. ALL WORK AND NO PLANE: “Kash Patel’s use of jet delayed FBI team’s mass shooting response, whistleblower tells top senator,” by MS NOW’s Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian: “Agents with the FBI’s elite evidence response team were delayed in reaching the scene of a mass shooting at Brown University in December because there was no FBI plane available to take them to Rhode Island, according to three sources and a whistleblower’s account … FBI spokesman Ben Williamson disputed the whistleblower’s account.” … Meanwhile, NYT’s Glenn Thrush got hold of Patel’s schedule in Italy, which included several work meetings — and lots of time for possible fun. DRUMBEAT OF WAR: The “Gang of Eight” congressional leaders emerged from an Iran briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio mostly tight-lipped, though Democrats emphasized that Trump needs to “make the case” for military action to the public and to Congress, POLITICO’s Joe Gould reports. THE EPSTEIN SAGA: “Bill Gates Apologizes to Foundation Staff Over Epstein Ties,” by WSJ’s Emily Glazer: “In a town hall on Tuesday, the Microsoft co-founder acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they didn’t involve Epstein’s victims. ‘I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit,’ Gates said, according to a recording reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.” POLITICO DOUBLES DOWN ON ENERGY: Energy is becoming one of the most important policy and political stories of the moment, shaping fights over AI, finance, defense and infrastructure. POLITICO and E&E News are doubling down with expanded state coverage, sharper reporting on the nexus of federal policy and industry, a relaunched POLITICO Energy podcast and an exclusive media partnership with CERAWeek in Houston that includes a signature POLITICO Pub. Read the announcement … More about The POLITICO Pub at CERAWeek
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➡️ Get on the Invite List | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — The Senate-passed bipartisan ROTOR Act came up just one vote short in the House yesterday, leaving the future uncertain for aviation safety reform following last year’s deadly crash over the Potomac. A significant swath of House Republicans rejected the bill as leaders quietly pushed for the alternative ALERT Act. It made for a dramatic scene on the House floor, as family members of the plane crash’s victims who supported the ROTOR Act watched its narrow defeat. More from POLITICO’s Sam Ogozalek and Chris Marquette MEDIAWATCH — “Federal judge rejects government’s request to search Washington Post reporter’s devices,” by POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler: “U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter declined in his … ruling to require the DOJ to return equipment seized from the home of reporter Hannah Natanson in January, saying the court would review her devices for any material relevant to the government’s investigation.” IN MEMORIAM — Rhodes Cook, a senior analyst for Sabato’s Crystal Ball, died Friday at 78 after a career in election analysis and political journalism, including more than two decades at CQ. Cook was “one of the nation’s preeminent experts in national and state elections,” his family wrote in a remembrance. “When people stayed up late on election night watching ABC News’ reporting of returns and races being called, Rhodes was behind the scenes calling those key races.” Read it here KUSH AND MAKE UP — After U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner enraged the French government, he called Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and “smoothed things over,” POLITICO’s Victor Goury-Laffont reports from Paris. WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Taylor LaJoie is now a VP at the Alpine Group. He most recently worked in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, and is a Roger Marshall and JD Vance alum. MEDIA MOVES — Ben Domenech is joining The Daily Wire as opinion editor, leading a new opinion vertical set to launch soon. He most recently worked at The Spectator. … Geraldine Sealey will be a senior editor at ProPublica, working with its local reporting network. She previously was managing editor of The Marshall Project. TRANSITIONS — Carlissia Graham has been named the new president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. She most recently led New Media Ventures, and is a Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Energy Department alum. … Eric Kanter is now chief of staff for Rep. Adam Gray (D-Calif.). He most recently worked for Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and is a Seth Moulton alum. … Michael Kikukawa is now a VP in SKDK’s public affairs practice. He previously worked for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Lily Adams, managing director at Orchestra and a Biden Treasury alum, and Corey Ciorciari, a partner at Evergreen Strategy Group, on Feb. 15 welcomed Maggie Cecile Adams, whose middle name is in honor of Lily’s late mom, Cecile Richards. She joins big brother Teddy. Pic … Another pic — Lauren Hagen Meehan, government affairs director at Boeing and a Trump State Department alum, and Colton Meehan, lead associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, on Feb. 12 welcomed Lillian James Meehan, who came in at 7 lbs. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) … Mini Timmaraju … NBC’s Matt Dixon … Mona Charen … Bridgett Frey … Tom Nides … Tim Berry … Dan Riordan … FanDuel’s Jonathan Nabavi … Valerie Chicola … Anna Albert … The Guardian’s Joseph Gedeon … Charles Faulkner … Tyler Houlton … Greg Crist … former Reps. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Bill Flores (R-Texas) and Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.) … Gina Kolata … Bob Schieffer … CNN’s Hadas Gold … Jack Burns … Andrew Burk 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 editor Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross.
| | | | A message from AHIP: 35 Million Seniors Could See Reduced Benefits and Higher Costs
Health plans welcome reforms to strengthen Medicare Advantage. However, a proposal for flat program funding at a time of sharply rising medical costs and high utilization of care will directly impact seniors' coverage. If finalized, this proposal could result in benefit reductions and higher costs for 35 million seniors and people with disabilities when they renew their Medicare Advantage coverage in October 2026. Learn more. | | | | | | | | 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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