| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray Happy Saturday. This is Adam Wren. Get in touch.
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Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) speaks about the war in Iran as someone whose own generation experienced the forever wars. | AP | In the 15 days since President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury on Iran, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is approaching nearly a dozen media appearances, offering his often visceral reaction to the conflict. Gallego, a 46-year-old combat veteran who deployed to Iraq as an infantryman in 2005, has emerged as a blunt, clear voice for the Democratic Party on foreign policy, speaking as someone whose own generation experienced the forever wars. There he was on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlin Collins” saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio was doing “CYA” and noting that the “MAGA base is pissed.” There he was sitting down with the AP speaking “as someone who lives with PTSD,” adding “it’s not been an easy week.” And there he was on Derek Thompson’s podcast, speaking about “going town to town searching for insurgents” 21 years ago, “but there was no clear direction of what victory looked like, what the end goal was, what was going to be the after-action report on Iraq.” Gallego isn’t alone. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a Navy captain who flew combat missions during Operation Desert Storm in 1990, has also racked up a run of high-profile media appearances, as has former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer who deployed to Afghanistan. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who served in Afghanistan in the Army’s 82nd Airborne, went on local radio this week to link Americans’ affordability woes to the war. In a year after many Democrats pined for a metaphorical fighter, the party is now having a conversation with itself now about whether it needs a more literal fighter — a veteran who can speak with credibility on issues of war and national security. In an interview with Playbook, Gallego spoke of “dodging bullets, IEDs, RPGs, clearing towns and then coming back to the same towns with insurgents” and of “losing friends and still not understanding what the end goal was the whole time.” “It leaves a mark on you, and you start seeing it happening again, you know, you don't really think about the politics,” Gallego said. “You think about the people who are going to be potentially dying. And that’s why I think I was not hesitant to speak my mind on that.” Later this month in San Antonio, Texas, Gallego will join VoteVets Action for its third town hall featuring potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates, promising “fresh voices to the national conversation — those who have worn the uniform and served alongside us, who connect with everyday Americans others can’t,” according to a promotional video. (They’ve also done town halls with Buttigieg and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin.) “On foreign policy, the Dems need a candidate who is seen as strong/tough — not in rhetoric or bravado political platitudes but who conveys a sense of judgement and resolve with which voters connect instinctively,” said Doug Wilson, the former assistant secretary of Defense for Public Affairs during the Obama administration and co-lead of Buttigieg’s 2020 foreign policy team. The “Iran war underscores the need” for such a candidate, Wilson added.
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Learn more. | | | | Whomever the Democrats select as their nominee could potentially face a Situation Room-steeped ticket deep with national security credentials, including a Marine Iraq war veteran in VP JD Vance or Rubio, with his secretary of State experience. Depending on how the many conflicts the U.S. is engaged in at the moment resolve, that experience could cut against them. But right now, Democrats who can match those bona fides have some currency others without them can’t. “That’s obviously going to be helpful to them,” said Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way. “It's gonna be a big part of what they're talking about for the next little while. But you know, how long does it last? We just don't know, right? In my professional lifetime, foreign policy stuff and national security has mattered in a presidential race once — in 2004. That’s it. Otherwise, it comes up, but it’s not driving the conversation.” Some potential Democratic candidates without such credentials have still managed to break through amid the Iran newscycle. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has said the White House has treated aspects of the war “as a video game,” in a clip gaining traction on X. “When American service members killed in action are returning to the United States in flagged-draped coffins, and even more Americans have lost limbs or suffered terrible brain injuries or are fighting for their lives, this White House treats war like a game, and it’s a disgrace,” Ossoff said. When asked whether military service is an essential for the party’s eventual nominee, Gallego acknowledged there is a benefit for someone who can “speak with that type of credibility.” “I’m not the type of person that's like, ‘you have to be a veteran — Iraq War veteran,’” Gallego said. “This is a democracy. We’re still one, and there’s a lot of people that can bring valuable experience and knowledge. But you know, someone that actually has a nuanced understanding of foreign policy; that doesn't go to the total knee-jerk reactionism that sometimes we see where we go to the point of, you know, isolationism; or the other way, where we go to, like, full neocon. There needs to be a very balanced way to how we approach the world.”
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| | | | 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Anxiety creeps in: Senate Republicans are growing increasingly anxious about the midterms, as what once felt like a glidepath to holding the chamber has turned into a tough fight to stave off Democrats’ emboldened challenge for control, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney reports. That’s according to interviews with 10 GOP senators and aides, who acknowledged that the mood is shifting amid the war in Iran, rising oil prices and Trump’s stoking of intra-party divisions as he pushes for passage of the SAVE America Act. Notable quotable: “I’m glad I’m not on the ballot,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), a close Trump ally, said in an interview when asked how he was feeling about the November elections. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) acknowledged: “Energy prices are high. Everything’s high.” He added that Republicans should “take some votes to lower the costs.” 2. NEW POLITICO POLL: “Polling finds U.S. is its own biggest fan,” by POLITICO’s Anna Wiederkehr and Erin Doherty: “Many Americans give their country positive reviews. Some of the United States’ closest allies give far less flattering ratings. The POLITICO Poll, conducted across five countries, reveals a stark disconnect between how Americans see their country and how several top allies do. As the Trump administration’s aggressive posture abroad disrupts the longstanding world order, the United States’ global reputation appears far worse than Americans realize.” 3. DIRE STRAITS: The war in Iran is about to drive up the prices of more than just oil, POLITICO’s E&E News’ Scott Waldman reports. Products varying from semiconductors to party balloons are getting more expensive, driven by the blockage in the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a third of both the global helium and fertilizer supply passes. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly declined to answer questions about the impact on the helium market, but acknowledged a plan for the agricultural industry and said “these impacts are temporary, and the best is yet to come for our great farmers.” 4. MORE ON THE WAR: “Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz. He Still Went to War,” by WSJ’s Alexander Ward and colleagues: “Trump acknowledged the risk, … but moved forward with the most consequential foreign-policy decision of his two presidencies. He told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait — and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it. … The U.S. operation is costing billions of dollars a week. More broadly, the growing risk of a widening and drawn-out war threatens the American economy, raising warnings of stagflation, a quagmire of stagnant growth and high inflation.” For your radar: “Trump says U.S. bombed Kharg Island, striking core of Iran’s oil economy,” by WaPo’s Cat Zakrzewski and Dan Lamothe: “Located about 15 miles from the Iranian mainland in the Persian Gulf, Kharg Island is the centerpiece of Iran’s oil-based economy. About 90 percent of the country’s oil exports move through facilities there, and an attack could strangle what remains of Tehran’s economy — including the government’s limited ability to pay its military.” Tehran warned it would strike U.S.-linked oil and energy infrastructures in the Middle East, POLITICO’s Claudia Chiappa reports.
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| | | | 5. RING RING: D.C.’s hottest commodity is Trump’s personal phone number — and some people are willing to pay steep prices to get it, The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker report. “So many people now call Trump on his private iPhone that his advisers have stopped trying to keep track. Sometimes in meetings, he will leave his phone face up, allowing staff to gawk at the flashing notifications of incoming or missed calls that pile up on his screen.” 6. TIGHTENING THE LEASH: The White House is taking a more comprehensive role in managing the messaging that comes out of HHS ahead of the midterms, WSJ’s Liz Essley Whyte and Natalie Andrews report. Polling shows that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine moves have been unpopular, and administration officials have grown frustrated with perceptions of disorganization in the department. White House spokesperson Kush Desai told WSJ that Kennedy is an integral member of the administration and that “the White House continues to work hand in glove” with him and his team. 7. MONEY MONEY MONEY: “Trump Administration Set to Receive $10 Billion Fee for Brokering TikTok Deal,” by WSJ’s Miriam Gottfried and Amrith Ramkumar: “The payment is part of the agreement through which investors friendly with the administration gained control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese parent ByteDance … The $10 billion payment would be nearly unprecedented for a government helping arrange a transaction. … Administration officials have said the fee is justified given Trump’s role in saving TikTok in the U.S. and navigating negotiations with China to get the deal done … The TikTok fee extracted from private-sector investors is the administration’s latest transaction involving the nation’s largest businesses.” 8. STITT SHOW: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt went to the White House this week in an attempt to patch things up with the president, who last month called him a “wiseguy” and made other personal attacks against the fellow Republican amid tensions over a bipartisan governors confab, POLITICO’s Alex Gangitano and Adam report. Stitt sought the meeting after Trump tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace Kristi Noem as DHS secretary, leaving the governor to select Mullin’s replacement. 9. TACKLING THE HOUSING CRISIS: “Trump goes his own way on housing,” by POLITICO’s Katherine Hapgood and Cassandra Dumay: “The executive orders are notable as the president has remained unusually quiet when it comes to the housing legislation battle gearing up on Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are struggling to define a clear affordability message ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Instead of pushing Congress to come to an agreement on housing legislation, so far Trump has said the top priority should be passing a partisan election bill that doesn’t have the Senate votes to overcome major procedural hurdles.” CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 15 funnies
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Learn more. | | | | GREAT WEEKEND READS: — “‘God, It’s Terrifying’: How the Pentagon Got Hooked on AI War Machines,” by Bloomberg’s Katrina Manson: “The department’s efforts to build an AI-enabled fleet of drones that can attack by air and sea have been marked by false starts, missed deadlines and strategic incoherence.” — “Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler,” by The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins: “I knew, of course, that I wouldn’t win every bet. But I didn’t see the harm in dreaming.” — “General McChrystal’s Dolly Parton Doctrine,” by The Atlantic’s Marie-Rose Sheinerman: “[T]he retired four-star general not only revealed himself to be a devotee of the country-music superstar, but turned to the lyrics of one of her most renowned songs to express his view on President Trump’s second-term foreign policy.” — “Love in the Time of A.I. Companions,” by The New Yorker’s Anna Wiener: “Where other chatbots are marketed as akin to reference librarians, A.I.-companion products tap into something more emotional.” — “What Do You Do and What Do You Make?” by N.Y. Mag’s Editors: “It’s not too late to try to become a tugboat engineer, is it?” — “Everyone has seen Baltimore’s missing boy. So why can’t authorities find him?” by The Baltimore Banner’s Jessica Calefati and colleagues: “A police poster shows a blurry photo of a little boy with curly hair and deep-brown eyes. It describes him as 4-foot-8, 90 pounds, last seen wearing a white sweater and blue NBA pajama pants. Call if spotted. What it doesn’t say is that the past year of Tristan’s life was a procession of misery and mishaps, or that red tape and mistakes hampered the agencies responsible for finding him.” — “Behind the scenes of Alysa Liu’s Olympic victory tour and her new level of fame,” by The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II: “Liu arrives at an ideal moment in a nation starved for lightness. No one gets universal approval in this divided country. But few garner approval ratings as high as Liu currently boasts. America is digesting her like comfort food.” — “The Year I Was Supposed to Die,” by Slate’s Christopher Ingraham: “I knew I was in for a harrowing ride. I had no idea quite what kind.”
| | TALK OF THE TOWN | | IN MEMORIAM — “John F. Burns, Prize-winning Foreign Correspondent for The Times, Dies at 81,” by NYT’s Alan Cowell: “With his signature mop of tousled curls framing aquiline, bearded features, Mr. Burns was once described in an internal memo at the newspaper as the ‘consummate Foreign Desk fireman’ — a term denoting rapid deployments to the world’s trouble spots and fast work once there.” BONUS CONTENT — JMart kicked off POLITICO’s latest podcast/video series, “On The Road with Jonathan Martin” this week, featuring an interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But he texts in to Playbook with an extended cut from his visit to The Natural State: “You didn’t think I’d go to Little Rock without a stop at Doe’s Eat Place, did you? Step inside, through the kitchen and into the backroom of the legendary steakhouse where I catch up with Skip Rutherford and other Razorback political legends.” Watch the video CENTER OF ATTENTION — Richard Grenell is leaving his role as head of the Kennedy Center ahead of the venue’s planned renovation this summer, POLITICO’s Aaron Pellish reports. He will be replaced by Matt Floca, vice president of facilities for the performing arts center, the president said on Truth Social. Meanwhile, Trump yesterday released the renderings for his vision of the new Kennedy Center, which “appear strikingly similar to the current marble complex he plans to close for two years for renovations,” WaPo’s Janay Kingsberry and Kelsey Ables write. “A review of the renderings shows few structural changes to the complex … The cornices appear thicker … The roof and some of the windows look like they’ve been updated. The images appear to include Trump-era changes to the columns, which have been painted white, and the signage outside the institution, which now includes Trump’s name. They also reveal some landscaping changes.” ANOTHER WHITE HOUSE RENOVATION — Trump is bent on leaving his mark on the White House complex, and he isn’t stopping with his 90,000-square-foot ballroom and paved over Rose Garden. Now, the White House wants to build a new 33,000-square-foot underground center for visitors to undergo additional security screening, AP’s Darlene Superville reports. It would be built beneath Sherman Park, where tourists used to line up before Trump demolished the East Wing. WAPO INSIDE SCOOP — “How Jeff Bezos Upended The Washington Post,” by NYT’s Ben Mullin and colleagues: “Dissatisfied by expanding losses and dwindling readership, Mr. Bezos is demanding that The Post embrace some of the same ideas that brought him riches at Amazon, including a focus on data and efficiency.” THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM — A baby elephant born last month named Linh Mai will make her public debut at the National Zoo on April 18, Washingtonian’s Daniella Byck reports. ABOUT THAT THURSDAY WEATHER — “Summer to winter in hours: How one of D.C.’s wildest weather days unfolded,” by WaPo’s Jason Samenow and colleagues: “That warmth and a touch of humidity produced an unstable air mass over the Mid-Atlantic as an unusually strong cold front approached.” OUT AND ABOUT — The Ronald Reagan Institute on Thursday hosted its fourth annual National Security Innovation Base Summit. SPOTTED: Sens. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va..), Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.), John McGuire (R-Va.) and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), Michael Duffey, Justin Fanelli, John P. Healy, Eric Fanning, Chris Power, Dino Mavrookas, Ryan Tseng, Oleg Rogynskyy, Peter Ludwig, Randy George, Jim McConville and Christopher Grady. MEDIA MOVES — Camille D. Smith is now a booking producer for Newsmax. She most recently was a booking and segment producer at CBS New York. BIRTHWEEK (was Thursday): Alex Bruesewitz HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) … Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon … State’s Jimmy Loomis … Bill McGinley … Christine Emba … Faith McPherson of National Public Affairs … MGT’s Rory (Brosius) Martin … Andrea Bozek of Big Dog Strategies … AEI’s Kevin Kosar … Deb Jospin … T.A. Hawks of Monument Advocacy … Lily Adams … Eric Reath … Kei Helm … Kelsey Cooper of Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) office … Moderna’s John Lepore … Georgetown’s Lauren Mullins … Susan Swecker … former Rep. Bill Jefferson (D-La.) … Rick Grafmeyer … Kathy Wright … John Connolly … Margita Thompson … Ashley Simmons … David Sadava … Erika Gulija of New Heights Communications … Amy Travieso Loveng … Axios’ Andrew Solender … POLITICO’s Jack Mundy … The Dispatch’s Campbell Rawlins … Joshua Walker THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): CBS “Face the Nation”: Kevin Hassett … Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) … Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) … Jonny Gannon … Kevin Book … Samantha Vinograd. NBC “Meet the Press”: Energy Secretary Chris Wright … Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) … Thomas Friedman. Panel: Lanhee Chen, Sam Jacobs, Faiz Shakir and Melanie Zanona. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz … Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) … Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) … Brent Sadler. Panel: Francesca Chambers, Meghan Hays, Josh Holmes and Josh Kraushaar. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) … Pete Buttigieg … U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz. Panel: Brad Todd, Karen Finney, Adam Kinzinger and Nazila Fathi. ABC “This Week”: Energy Secretary Chris Wright … Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Panel: Kevin Donegan, Diane Swonk, Vali Nasr and Meghan O’Sullivan. Panel: Donna Brazile and Patrick McHenry. Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures”: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy … Interior Secretary Doug Burgum … Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) … Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) … Gen. Jack Keane … Wynton Hall.
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