| | | |  | | 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 over the MAGA messaging wars on Iran … and tee up the hottest primaries of the year in Texas today.
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| Good Tuesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, watching and rewatching this powerful rendition of the French national anthem, led by President Emmanuel Macron yesterday at a high-security submarine base in the Atlantic. (France just announced historic plans to increase its nuclear capacity as faith in U.S. protection wavers.) Drop me a line. START YOUR DAY HERE — Meet the SCOTUS watchers: Playbook recommends this fascinating roundtable discussion on covering the Supreme Court with experienced SCOTUS reporters Josh Gerstein, Jodi Kantor, James Romoser and Nina Totenberg, convened by POLITICO’s Ankush Khardori. They examine whether the press has been too slow to rebalance its coverage of a less important Congress vs. more important Supreme Court; if reporters exaggerated recent corruption stories related to the court and more. In today’s Playbook … — The White House takes on MAGA world in the struggle over Iran messaging. — It’s primary day in Texas — and elsewhere. We got all the essential races covered. — And DHS chief Kristi Noem faces a Senate grilling over ICE, Minnesota and more.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | WAR, DAY FOUR: President Donald Trump’s all-out military assault on Iran is causing seismic frictions among his base. We’re now watching a critical White House messaging struggle play out in real time. After a remarkable weekend of radio silence from officials, the Trump administration has shifted gears and is now trying to blitz the airwaves with positive messages making the case for war — which the president himself said “can be fought ‘forever’” on Truth Social last night. Count ’em: Over 13 hours yesterday, we got Trump speaking at the White House. VP JD Vance went on Fox News in primetime. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a press conference on the Hill, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his top Gen. Dan Caine did the same at the Pentagon. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and NATO Ambassador Mike Waltz both did Fox last night. And press secretary Karoline Leavitt went to bat on social media — pushing back at MAGA influencers critical of the administration. The reason for the shift is clear: As Leavitt’s lengthy post on X laid bare, the White House feels pressure to push back on heavy criticism — most crucially, from across its MAGA base — that a convincing case for war has not been made. And the anger on the American right is real. Tucker Carlson. Megyn Kelly. Matt Walsh. Mike Cernovich. Candace Owens. Sean Davis.There are plenty more. Here’s the problem: The White House response is not landing well. Trump’s strategy of offering different lines to almost any reporter who calls is mixing the message. And we’re now up to at least 19 of these ad hoc phone interviews since war broke out three days ago. (For those keeping track, yesterday’s callers included CNN’s Jake Tapper, NewsNation’s Kellie Meyer, the Daily Telegraph’s Connor Stringer, Fox News’ Bret Baier, Rachael Bade, Washington Reporter’s Matthew Foldi and the Sun’s Harry Cole. We should also add WaPo’s Natalie Allison and CNBC’s Joe Kernen, who Playbook missed from the weekend tally.) Through this mish-mash of rapid-fire questions and snatched phone calls Trump has at times dabbled with regime change and freeing Iran, then insisted it was all about the nukes. At one point, the campaign might only last a couple of days, he said. Then suddenly it was “four to five weeks.” No wonder Walsh and Cernovich sound confused. And the poll numbers are only getting worse. An even bigger problem erupted on Capitol Hill last night, where the generally on-message Rubio and Speaker Mike Johnson set out a very different justification for war. Their claims that the attacks were necessary because Israel was poised to strike Iran anyway — meaning America would have been hit in response — have gone down incredibly badly with “America First” types who already feared the U.S. was being dragged into Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s war.
| | A message from Anthropic: Binti uses Claude, built by Anthropic, to save social workers up to 75% of time per home study visit, so they can spend more time with children and families. See the impact | | | | The most fascinating character in this episode is Vance, a politician — and military veteran — famed for his opposition to overseas wars. (Here he is in October 2024 explaining why war with Iran is a bad idea.) As POLITICO’s Ian Ward explores here, Vance’s silence prior to last night’s Fox News interview set tongues wagging that he’s opposed to this war, too. “People are really fixated that Vance has not tweeted,” a House GOP official told Dasha yesterday, suggesting Vance was the focus of much gossip at an NRCC retreat in Key Biscayne over the weekend. “It's kind of a huge problem.” This person noted Vance was absent from the “war room” at Mar-a-Lago this past weekend, just as he had been during the operation to oust Nicolás Maduro. (The White House later posted pictures of Vance in the White House Situation Room on Saturday morning.) It all makes for fascinating rune-reading ahead of the VP’s expected 2028 run. NYT’s Mark Mazzetti and colleagues reported Vance was against military action in Iran, though his team hasn't commented. His six-minute appearance on Jesse Watters’ Fox News show last night certainly saw him carefully present the president’s case for war — if not quite his own. But Vance did insist this operation is nothing like Iraq or Afghanistan. “What's so different about this,” he said, “is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.” Not everyone who’s watched the past 72 hours agrees. One Republican strategist close to the White House was impressed with Vance’s singular focus on the nuclear question. “I think it was probably the most coherent defense of the strikes that I've seen from anyone in the admin,” this person told Playbook’s Adam Wren via text. The White House messaging blitz will continue today when Trump opens up bilateral talks with a top ally to the media. The president welcomes German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to the Oval Office this morning and — for the first time this year — press will be invited in for the start of the session. The departure from the recent closed-doors policy suggests an urgent need to get back on the front foot. A quick note on the visitor: Merz has been cautiously supportive so far, though other European allies are less so. Trump is clearly angry with British PM Keir Starmer for being slow to let America use British bases for its attack — just check out his comments to the Sun last night, suggesting the prized “Special Relationship” is now “much different.” Once the White House event wraps, attention will switch to the Hill this afternoon for more Iran briefings from Rubio, Hegseth and co. Senators will be briefed at 3:30 p.m., followed by House members at 5 p.m. Both chambers hold finely balanced war powers votes later this week. Read more from POLITICO’s Inside Congress FURTHER READING: CBS reports the six Americans killed in a drone strike in Kuwait were in “makeshift office space” lacking adequate protection … Israel’s defense forces are now operating on the ground in southern Lebanon as their struggle with Hezbollah escalates, per the Jerusalem Post … Reuters reports the State Department is advising Americans to evacuate from more than a dozen countries across the Middle East … While Bloomberg reports Qatar and the UAE are urging allies to help Trump find a quick off-ramp.
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| | | | TRAIL MIX IT’S ELECTION DAY: We’ve exhaustively previewed today’s high-stakes primaries across Texas. The hard-fought Senate contests in both parties. The GOP congressmen in danger of falling, thanks to their respective albatrosses: personal scandal (Tony Gonzales) and lack of Trump endorsement (Dan Crenshaw). The Democratic incumbent-vs.-incumbent matchup of Christian Menefee and Al Green, and the Democratic incumbent-vs.-recent-incumbent matchup of Julie Johnson and Colin Allred. The Flores-vs.-Flores matchup (Mayra and Eric) in the Rio Grande Valley. And even a dash of non-political celebrity as Bobby Pulido tries to land a Democratic nomination. So as we wait for results, here’s the deep dive you need to read: POLITICO’s Liz Crampton on how Texas AG Ken Paxton beat back scandal after scandal to keep rising, demonstrating the power of MAGA and the far right as he stands on the brink of ousting Sen. John Cornyn. And here’s the one link to bookmark: NBC’s Steve Kornacki on the counties to watch most closely in each Senate primary. More on the expanded “Kornacki Cam” UNDER THE RADAR: Though Texas has gobbled most of the attention, it’s also Election Day in North Carolina and Arkansas. Federal races in the latter will be pretty quiet, but keep an eye on the Arkansas GOP contest for secretary of state, where frontrunner state Sen. Kim Hammer, who has sought to add restrictions on citizen-led ballot initiatives, squares off against Miller County Judge Cathy Hardin Harrison and Mike Lindell-backed Army veteran Bryan Norris. What to watch in North Carolina: The state’s most important race in November, for an open Senate seat, will probably be a snoozer today, as Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper and former RNC Chair Michael Whatley glide to nominations. The most competitive House race will instead be for Democratic Rep. Don Davis’ seat, which Republicans have again gerrymandered to the right after their previous map failed to pick him off in 2024. The GOP contest to take on Davis is crowded, and polling indicates tight margins. Dems’ big showdown: Can Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam become the first leftist of the cycle to knock off an incumbent? The Bernie Sanders-backed progressive is challenging establishment pick Rep. Valerie Foushee in a rematch of their 2022 race. And it’s another Democratic race with Israel (and now Iran) as a flashpoint, with Allam backed by the new anti-AIPAC American Priorities PAC. If she wins, “that’s a good indication that the North Carolina Democratic Party is going to push further left over time,” Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll, told Playbook’s Eli Okun. The day’s most fascinating candidate? That would be Kate Barr. She ran for state Senate in 2024 as a Democrat in a heavily Republican district with the slogan “Kate Barr can’t win,” to draw attention to the GOP gerrymander. Now she’s stepping it up: Barr is challenging Rep. Tim Moore in the Republican primary for the 14th Congressional District — and she’s running explicitly as a “fake Republican,” again with a message that rails against gerrymandering and corruption. “Making them work in a district that they thought they had drawn to be perfectly safe feels really good,” she told Playbook. “You should have to earn it.” MORE TRAIL MIX BITES:
- The Supreme Court’s conservatives blocked a redistricting effort in New York that otherwise looked set to flip GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ seat to Democrats, per NBC. Adjust your tallies of the gerrymandering wars accordingly.
- Democrats will not hold a midterm convention to match Republicans’ unconventional 2026 gambit, CBS’ Hunter Woodall scooped. Host-city selection for their 2028 convention has narrowed to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia.
- Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) announced he won’t run for reelection, creating an open seat in a district Democrats were already hoping to flip, per NonStop Local’s Bradley Warren. Republicans need to move fast ahead of tomorrow’s filing deadline: Watch for Al Olszewski and Aaron Flint.
- Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) announced he’ll run in the new 6th District, an uphill battle as Democrats look to gerrymander him out of Congress, rather than face off against Rep. Tom McClintock in the 5th, per the Sacramento Bee’s Mathew Miranda.
- Endorsement watch: Working Families Party is endorsing Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary to take on GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, lending more firepower from the left to the unusually expansive coalition of moderates and progressives lining up behind him, POLITICO’s Lisa Kashinsky scoops.
- Republicans’ effort to put voter ID before California voters is now well on its way to landing on the state ballot this fall, per the LA Times.
| | | | POLITICO Forecast The forces reshaping politics, policy and power are accelerating across regions and sectors. Drawing on POLITICO’s global reporting, Forecast connects the dots — from major global moments to behind-the-scenes developments — to help readers anticipate what comes next. Sign up for POLITICO Forecast. | | | | | ROAMING NOEM IMMIGRATION’S BACK: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is due before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an oversight hearing at 9 a.m. For Noem, it’s a huge test, POLITICO’s Eric Bazail-Eimil writes in. It’s her first appearance before Congress since the two fatal Minneapolis shootings earlier this year, and comes at a time when Republicans are being slightly more open about their frustrations with her leadership of DHS. This is a key opportunity for Noem to stanch the bleeding and shore up her standing with Republicans as she’ll face some of the sharpest questions yet from Democrats. It’s not hyperbolic to say her testimonies this week before both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees (the latter is tomorrow) could have a lasting effect on her tenure — especially if more Republicans publicly voice concerns after the hearings. Pushback: You can expect Noem (and some Republicans) to try to focus instead on attacking Democrats for the ongoing DHS shutdown, as TSA, FEMA and other employees start to see paychecks reduced this week. House Rules Republicans will tee up another funding bill vote at 4 p.m., but Dems still aren’t budging without immigration enforcement reforms, POLITICO’s Katherine Tully-McManus and Jordain Carney report.
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST RARE MOMENTUM ON THE HILL: The Senate will meet at 10 a.m. to take up the bipartisan housing bill called the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, after it cleared an initial procedural vote by a whopping 84-6 margin yesterday, per POLITICO’s Katherine Hapgood and Jasper Goodman. Notably, the affordability-focused package includes a controversial crackdown on institutional investors buying single-family homes. The White House backs the legislation. MACE’S PLACE: The House Ethics Committee is probing Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) over reimbursement she received for her housing in D.C., per CNN. Mace’s lawyer sharply denied the allegations. A TRUMP RETREAT: Wait, the Trump administration is backing off a legal fight? Yes, the Justice Department stopped appealing court rulings that had struck down Trump’s attempts to punish major law firms, WSJ’s Erin Mulvaney and Ryan Barber scooped. (Brad Karp’s year keeps getting worse.) THIS IS STILL HAPPENING: National Guard troops will remain on the streets of New Orleans for another half a year, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced, per the AP. WHAT RFK JR. IS WATCHING: “Meeting on U.S. Measles Status Is Delayed Until November,” by NYT’s Teddy Rosenbluth: “The decision to revoke the country’s elimination status would now likely come after the U.S. midterm elections, experts noted.” POLITICS IN 2026: The AP’s roster of clients receiving its election results already expanded in recent months to include ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MS NOW and CNBC. The latest addition to the list of organizations getting the data? Prediction market Kalshi.
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➡️ Learn More about POLITICO Pro | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | IT’S A PARTY — Trump is finally going to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He announced that because the WHCA “now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country” (it’s not entirely clear who has admitted this or what he’s referring to) he’ll attend the dinner this April for the first time in office. Trump said he’ll seek to make it the “GREATEST, HOTTEST, and MOST SPECTACULAR DINNER, OF ANY KIND, EVER.” (Hottest? This is nerd prom we’re talking about here.) BILL OF HEALTH — A red skin irritation on Trump’s neck will likely continue for weeks and is being treated with a “very common cream,” Sean Barbabella, the president’s personal physician said in a statement, per NBC. He didn’t get more specific about the problem, or the treatment — but naturally the internet has plenty of theories. PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — “Ivana Trump’s Manhattan Townhouse Sells at a Big Discount,” by WSJ’s Katherine Clarke and E.B. Solomont: “The ornate Manhattan townhouse where the late Ivana Trump lived for decades has sold for $14 million — a steep discount from its original $26.5 million asking price.” PLAYBOOK ARTS SECTION — Kesha excoriated the White House for using her song “Blow” in a social media video showing U.S. fighter jets: “Trying to make light of war is disgusting and inhumane,” she wrote. More from The Hollywood Reporter A KENNEDY CENTER ALTERNATIVE — After Philip Glass yanked the premiere of a “Lincoln” symphony from the Kennedy Center due to Trump’s takeover, Robert De Niro will instead read excerpts from it at the Carnegie Hall tonight, per AP’s Hillel Italie. It’ll be part of an event to support Tibet House U.S. OUT AND ABOUT — William Cohen, Richard Burr and Karina Lynch hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) reelect yesterday at DLA Piper’s offices in downtown D.C. SPOTTED: Helen Rhee, Lauren Sormani, Frank Purcell, Tim Speller, Bob Tyrer, John Gibson and Beth Mitchell. — J Street held its “Building Tomorrow” national convention over the past few days at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, where president Jeremy Ben-Ami recognized Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with the organization’s Tzedek v’Shalom Award last night. Also SPOTTED at the conference: Ehud Olmert, Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.). TRANSITIONS — Paul Foldi has launched JIB Solutions, a government affairs/consulting firm. He previously spent 13 years working with government contractors at the Professional Services Council, and is a Senate Foreign Relations and State Department alum. … Francisco Sabaté is joining Stagwell’s SixAM as a director, working with its Democratic leadership on public affairs strategy. He previously worked at Legis1 and is a Barbara Lee alum. … … Will May is now a senior director of state public affairs at PhRMA. He previously worked at Forbes Tate Partners. … Kathleen Martin is now federal relations officer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. She previously was a financial services lobbyist and is a Dick Durbin alum. … Jackson Grasz has been named COO of the Steamboat Institute. He previously worked at Pepperdine University. ENGAGED — Luke Bunting, associate counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office, and Jake Ross got engaged Friday in St. Petersburg, Florida. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) … Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) and George Whitesides (D-Calif.) … Herschel Walker … Marc Short … Ira Glass … Dan Conston … WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom … Elaina Plott Calabro … Ron Chernow … Alex Smith … POLITICO’s Lily Bhandari … George Little … Jesse Hunt … Susan Zirinsky … Mayer Brown’s Andrew Olmem … Tim Morrison … Peter Mirijanian … Carlton Carroll … Steve Smith … Hadar Arazi… Michael Remez … Roll Call’s Jason Dick … Patrick Gavin … Laura Engquist … John Roscoe … Jason Gerson … Spencer Hurwitz … Hannah Blatt … Ghada Alkiek … Charles Cote … Mike Yelovich … former Reps. Paul Cook (R-Calif.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) … Ajay Kuntamukkala … Alexa Henning … Mandate Media’s Devon Brown … Cameron French … Cecilie Combs … Justin Krakoff of Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-Ore.) office … Nicholas Hamson of MapleBridge Strategies 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.
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