| | | |  | | By Adam Wren with Dasha Burns AND Liz Crampton | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam and Dasha discuss the latest drama in the Texas Senate GOP runoff.
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| Happy Friday. This is Adam Wren. How about those Purdue Boilermakers and Iowa Hawkeyes? Onto the Elite Eight! Get in touch. FRIDAY LISTEN: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has become one of the names Democrats are tossing around for who might lead the presidential ticket come 2028. He sat down with Playbook’s Dasha Burns for this week’s episode of “The Conversation,” where he sharpened his attacks against VP JD Vance. On why Vance could be “more damaging than Trump”: “When I say he's the most conceited politician that I've ever heard, that's something, given his boss and his self-absorption. But my point in all of this is that we talk about Trump a lot. But this is the Trump-Vance administration.” Asked about Beshear’s latest barbs, Vance comms director William Martin responded in kind: “When he’s not fighting tirelessly for more gender-reassignment surgeries of Kentucky children, Andy Beshear spends his time daydreaming of new ways to faceplant while attacking JD Vance. We look forward to next week’s edition of this pathetic humiliation routine.” Tune into the full conversation for much more, including Beshear’s playbook for winning back voters in Trump country, the litmus test he thinks Democrats should abandon — and the can’t-miss story about the time he wound up in a room with Vance and Martha Stewart? Listen and subscribe on Apple or Spotify In today’s Playbook … — Trump’s once and future Texas endorsement — DHS funding fight shifts to the House — Iran eyes another global energy chokepoint
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | TEXAS TWO-STEP: As the MAGA faithful gather for another day of CPAC in Grapevine, Texas, they are openly celebrating what they believe is tantamount to a major midterms victory: keeping President Donald Trump from endorsing John Cornyn ahead of May’s GOP Senate primary runoff. MAGA world is taking a victory lap — and fresh comfort — in the receipts: A lack of significant spending and polling so far by not only Cornyn’s campaign, but also the NRSC and One Nation, the Senate Leadership Fund-aligned nonprofit. It amounts to a pattern the MAGA cohort reads as Washington making peace with a matchup between Attorney General Ken Paxton, their anointed candidate, and Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. “The grassroots stood in the breach and said a resounding ‘NO’ to Cornyn,” Steve Bannon, who has framed Paxton’s bid for the nomination as a battle for MAGA’s soul, told Playbook. “Polling and spending indicates that the Republican DC establishment reluctantly concurs. This could be the victory that empowers MAGA through the midterms.” Paxton, though, hasn’t rested his case. He traveled to Mar-a-Lago last Friday for a Palm Beach County GOP dinner, Playbook has learned, and was spotted speaking to Trump himself, according to three people. They were on the patio, one person added. Paxton and Trump discussed the runoff, one of the people said. “It was a positive meeting,” said yet another person. A Paxton spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting. It’s the latest sign of a fierce and feverish effort to keep Trump from endorsing Cornyn. Tonight at CPAC, attendees will hear from Paxton, who’s headlining the conference’s Ronald Reagan dinner. Cornyn isn’t planning to attend. “It's an opportunity to be able to, you know, share your vision and basically sell yourself to the crowd, to the Texas crowd,” CPAC host and organizer Mercedes Schlapp told Dasha. “So Ken Paxton agreed to come, and he has a very high CPAC rating. And you know, we've invited Cornyn, and so we are still open. The invitation is still open for John Cornyn to come.” Even when all signs pointed to a Cornyn endorsement, MAGA faithful kept pressing for Paxton. Now they’re optimistic their guy can come out on top, and still take shots at Cornyn every chance they get. “The Cornyn endorsement looks dead, but it’s Trump, so it’s never certain,” a person close to the White House told Dasha. “Cornyn sealed his fate by carrying Mitch [McConnell]’s water on that ridiculous gun grabbing bill. No one thought he would be dumb enough to run for reelection after that but here we are.” Now, Trump may not give an endorsement at all. Or if he does, he may endorse Paxton after the SAVE Act debate in the Senate is over, three sources tell Dasha. “Nothing is dead,” said a source familiar with the president’s thinking. “It’s all just stasis at the moment.” “It’s looking like he may not endorse at all,” another White House official said. “But it doesn’t seem like he has made up his mind.” A person familiar told Dasha that the Senate Leadership Fund and NRSC aren’t spending in order to conserve resources. “Not cause they are throwing in the towel,” this person said. An endorsement in Texas amid the SAVE Act saga is still very much vexing Trump, according to five Republicans in and around the White House. The president, who will not be in attendance at this year’s CPAC, is “being patient” and “trying to exact” a policy win, another person said. “Trump isn’t going to endorse against Cornyn while the Save America Act is still being debated,” a White House ally told Dasha. “So for now I think he stays out, but if Thune files cloture and Paxton continues to lead in every poll then I could see him endorsing Paxton. No question Paxton wins if Trump stays out though.” Every Republican who spoke to Playbook cautioned that Trump could change his mind at any moment. It’s still early for the runoff, they said, with Election Day still nearly two months away. But the deadline for a candidate to drop off the ballot passed last week. The campaign will be spending soon, a Cornyn spokesperson said. “Ken Paxton said he needed $20M to win this primary and he’s barely raised a quarter of that,” said Cornyn campaign senior advisor Matt Mackowiak. “His professional failures and indefensible personal conduct make GOP donors and Texas primary voters deeply uncomfortable.” He added: “We have a plan to win this race and we are executing it. Ken Paxton is busy whining and hiding.” Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign hands who works as a senior adviser for the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, said the runoff boils down to a resource equation. “The question remains the same,” LaCivita said. “Does the GOP want to spend $150-200 million holding what should be a safe seat and giving up other opportunities to gain advantage?” Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said it’s “been very clear that the fight to protect President Trump’s Senate Majority should not be fought in Texas, and John Cornyn is the only candidate who ensures that does not happen.” As for the money, Republicans are planning for MAGA Inc. to be “responsible for resources needed in a general election if it’s Ken Paxton,” according to two GOP operatives briefed on strategy (one cautioned that “planning is probably more hoping.”). A MAGA Inc. spokesperson declined to comment. On the sidelines of CPAC, where bedazzled and sequined conservatives gathered for the base’s annual pep rally, the overwhelming feeling was that most Texas GOP primary voters had already made up their minds — and a Trump endorsement in either direction wouldn’t make much of a difference, our colleague Liz Crampton writes in from Grapevine. Some attendees said they viewed Trump’s silence as a nudge toward Paxton. “Texans — we're done,” said Gregorio Heise, a Paxton supporter and Republican running for Congress in Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas district. “It's already showing, even in the polling. Cornyn doesn't do what Texans want, and [Paxton] does.”
| | | | A message from Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | HOMELAND INSECURITY LATEST STATE OF PLAY: There may finally be an end in sight for the going-on six-week DHS shutdown. The Senate at 2:30 a.m. this morning passed a bill by voice vote that would fund all of the department except for ICE and parts of CBP, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes report. “But Republicans are promising to come back and fund immigration enforcement with a vengeance in an upcoming reconciliation bill — not just for fiscal 2027, but for many years to come,” they write. What comes next: The fate of the Senate-passed agreement is anyone’s guess as it lands in the House. The chamber could very well move the bill today and get it on Trump’s desk — but many House Republicans won’t be happy about voting on a DHS bill that doesn’t include enforcement funding — especially after Trump moved unilaterally yesterday to pay TSA agents. Catch up on all the latest with POLITICO’s Inside Congress GREAT EXPECTATIONS: DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has only been in the job a few days — but the clock is already ticking for him to prove himself as a changemaker at the country’s most highly scrutinized agency, POLITICO’s Eric Bazail-Eimil reports. Republicans hope Mullin will bring calm to DHS in the wake of former Secretary Kristi Noem’s turbulent tenure, but even members of his own party are eager for Mullin to prove himself. MOOD MUSIC: “What perks? Lawmakers play down special treatment as airport lines grow,” by POLITICO’s Riley Rogerson MISSION CREEP THE SECOND STRAIT: The war in Iran has wrenched the global economy as thousands of massive ships remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran is eyeing a second strait to shut down — and things could get much worse, POLITICO’s Scott Waldman reports. An Iranian military official threatened over the weekend that if the U.S. and Israel continue striking the country’s energy infrastructure, its proxies will target the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a major chokepoint off of Yemen through which about 10 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies travel. The world’s two largest shipping companies are already avoiding the region. More on the war: U.S. allies, including some who have rebuked Trump’s calls to aide in securing the Strait of Hormuz, say the president is sending mixed signals when it comes to ending the war, POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz and colleagues report. That’s because even as he says the U.S. is prioritizing diplomacy, he continues to direct thousands of additional troops to the region, amplifying the expectation that an extended conflict could be close at hand. “I have no idea what they are trying to do,” said one Asian diplomat, referring to U.S.objectives toward Iran and the confusing war messaging from the White House. ON THE HOME FRONT: Trump today will come face-to-face with two very different audiences for very different speeches in very different cities — but they’ll both be full of stakeholders who have been deeply impacted by the war. First, the president is set to deliver remarks on the White House South Lawn to farmers, who are staring down inflated fertilizer prices (about a third of the world’s fertilizer passes through the Strait of Hormuz) as spring planting season charges into full force. Then, he’s flying to Miami to speak at a Saudi-backed investment summit as Riyadh faces strikes from Iran and market turmoil as the top oil producer in the region, and allies across the gulf weigh pulling investments in the U.S. RIPPLE EFFECT: “War scrambles Trump admin's fragile efforts to deport Iranian nationals,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney: “[F]ederal judges are confronting the realities of the conflict as they decide whether Iranians held by ICE face a realistic chance of being deported in the near-term. If not, the courts are bound by constitutional requirements to release detainees from immigration custody — or at least give them a chance to make their case for release at a bond hearing.”
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST FRAUD BUSTERS: Vance today is convening the first meeting of the White House anti-fraud task force he leads to crack down on misuse of federal funds, NBC’s Henry Gomez reports. Vance will be joined by FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, the task force’s vice chair; deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Cabinet secretaries. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Prediction market crackdown: California Gov. Gavin Newsom is signing an executive order today banning appointed state officials with insider information from betting on prediction markets, POLITICO’s Christine Mui and Tyler Katzenberger scoop. “Newsom’s move would make him the latest politician to take aim at concerns of rampant insider trading on the platforms, as fast-growing sites like Kalshi and Polymarket field all kinds of bets, from those in sports to pop culture and even state politics.” BETTING ON BLUE: The private sector and the lobbyists who represent it are preparing for Democrats to take back some power from Trump — after they spent the past year-and-a-half focused on winning his favor, POLITICO’s Alex Gangitano and Caitlin Oprysko report. Their focus is on Democrats’ investigative and subpoena power — and their alacrity to use it — if they take back at least one chamber of Congress, seven months into a presidency where the corporate world poured money into Trump’s pet projects. CLAUDE: 1, PENTAGON: 0: “Anthropic Wins Court Order Pausing Trump Ban on AI Tool,” by Bloomberg’s Rachel Metz: “US District Judge Rita F. Lin issued a preliminary injunction on Thursday, pausing the administration’s plan to sever all ties with Anthropic while a legal fight plays out in San Francisco federal court. She put the order on hold for seven days to give the government a chance to appeal.” TRUMP’S JOHN HANCOCK ON YOUR BENJAMINS: Treasury plans to add Trump’s signature to all bills going into circulation in the coming months, Vanity Fair’s Aidan McLaughlin scooped. It’s the first time in U.S. history the sitting president’s signature will appear on American currency, which usually bears those of the current Treasury secretary and treasurer. FRIDAY READ: “What Happens When MAGA Goes Global,” by POLITICO Mag’s Catherine Kim: “What does it look like when MAGA-esque politics take root abroad, particularly among young people on the right? That experiment is now playing out in South Korea.” THE WEEKEND AHEAD FRIDAY PROGRAMS … POLITICO “The Conversation”: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. C-SPAN “Ceasefire”: Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) … Jamil Jaffer and Samantha Vinograd. PBS “Washington Week”: Peter Baker, Susan Glasser, David Ignatius and Missy Ryan. SUNDAY SO FAR … ABC “This Week”: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Chris Christie and Leigh Ann Caldwell. NBC “Meet the Press”: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Panel: Adrienne Elrod, Sara Fagan, Andrea Mitchell and Tyler Pager. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Brent Sadler … Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.). Legal panel: Tom Dupree and Jonathan Turley. Sunday panel: Leslie Marshall, Tiffany Smiley, Cal Thomas and Josh Wingrove. MS NOW “The Weekend”: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) … Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling … Norm Eisen… Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.). CNN “State of the Union”: Panel: Reps. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Scott Jennings. PBS “Compass Points”: Ronen Bergman.
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| | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | EDUCATION EVICTED — The Education Department is poised to abandon its longtime HQ in the Lyndon B. Johnson Building in August to make room for the Energy Department to move in, POLITICO’s Isa Domínguez reports. It’s yet another administration move to dismantle the department, which has lost about half its staff since Trump took office. CENTER OF ATTENTION — “Kennedy Center begins layoffs, rocking institution ahead of two-year closure,” by WaPo’s Travis Andrews and Janay Kingsberry: “Multiple departments were affected — including programming, development, advertising, marketing and the office of the president … It is unclear how many staffers were affected, but the number appears to be in the double digits.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a fundraiser last night benefiting BOLD PAC, hosted at Capitol Counsel by Norberto Salinas: Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), Nellie Pou (D-N.J.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Norma Torres (D-Calif.) and Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Emily Crerand, Yujin Lee, Zahraa Saheb, Ben Rich, Monica Garay, Rubi Flores, Virginia Zigras, Jaqueline Serrano, Linda Pham, Hanna Pelletier, Alina Oh, Joyce Liu, Lori Kearns, Daniel Armando Jones, Wendy Hamilton, Paul Gutierrez, Colin Craib, Natalie Armijo and Monique Frazier. — SPOTTED at the American AI Festival hosted today by SeedAI: Scott Kupor, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Conner Prochaska, Josh Carter, Taylor Stockton, Margaret Busse, Alan McQuinn, Helen Toner, Arun Gupta, Michelle Lee, Rachel Wolbers, Sam Rodriques, Aalok Mehta, Erwin Gianchandani, Anastasia Gamick, Caleb Watney, Hodan Omaar, Josh New, Miranda Bogen, Tammy Haddad, Josh Hone, Ara Kharazian, Sarah Heck, Jennifer Pahlka, Chris Massey, Kellee Wicker, Izzy Santa, Liam Dow and Natalie Taitano, Kiran Keshav, Jason Lozada, David Shahoulian, Dan Svirsky, Ryan Thornton and Sean Perryman and Elizabeth Stockton. — Elias Law Group last night hosted its annual client reception at the National Archives Museum, where Marc Elias spoke about the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution. SPOTTED: Andrew Piatt, Andie Levien, Brooke Butler, Devan Barber, Eric Schultz, Jamie Fleet, Jessica Floyd, Kevin McKeon, Marina Jenkins, Mindy Myers, Nico Starr, Shaniqua McClendon and Skye Perryman. MEDIA MOVE — Matt Viser is joining The Atlantic from WaPo, where he was White House bureau chief. It’s the latest high-profile defection from the Post to The Atlantic and comes the same month several other of the paper’s star reporters defected to NOTUS. More from NYT’s Katie Robertson WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Christopher LaCivita Jr., public affairs director at Checkmate Government Relations, and Sheridan LaCivita, an occupational therapist, welcomed Christopher Joseph LaCivita III yesterday. Pic BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Niki Christoff HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Playbook’s own Jack Blanchard … NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly … Steve Atkiss … Rob Nabors … Natalie (Buchanan) Joyce of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation … Rachel Semmel of OMB … MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff … Lisa Zhang … Liz Johnson of the Emerson Collective … Billy Moore … The 19th’s Shefali Luthra … Alberto Martinez of Continental Strategy … David Mitrani … Juan Hinojosa of American Airlines … Whitney Smith of Rolls-Royce Defense North America … The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Stephanie Beasley … Lauren Dikis … Katie Johnson of Jenner & Block … Lane Bailey of the Advocom Group … Laura Driscoll … Edelman’s Erin Schwille … Roll Call’s John Donnelly … Sally Kohn … Mara Vandlik … James Park of House Judiciary … Jonathan Beam … POLITICO’s Julia Holland … former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.) … Alex Aragon of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office … Mike Andrews … National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow … Brad Rateike … Frank Sadler … Toni DeWitt … Jocelynne Simbana of Dewey Square Group … Iain Hart … Hannah Balash of Rep. Eric Burlison’s (R-Mo.) office 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 Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois 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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