| | | |  | | By Adam Wren and Erin Doherty | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray Good Sunday morning. This is Adam Wren and Erin Doherty. IN MEMORIAM — Robert Mueller, who became a household name during the first Trump administration as the special counsel who investigated alleged ties between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, died on Friday night at the age of 81. Mueller’s family told NYT in August that Mueller was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2021. “During Trump’s first term, the nation waited on Mueller and watched, eager to see whether its president or his campaign staff would be found to have conspired with a foreign power to get himself elected. Ultimately, Mueller offered a detailed report that accused Trump of misbehavior and possibly of obstructing justice, but which never came out and said the president had broken the law,” POLITICO’s David Cohen writes. Mueller had a long career in public service, including four years in the Marines during the Vietnam War and 12 years as director of the FBI. Trump greeted the news with glee: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” he wrote in a post on Truth Social yesterday. Trump’s vitriolic post earned him plenty of criticism from Democrats — and even one Republican: “It is clearly wrong and unchristian behavior,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a text to POLITICO when asked about Trump’s statement. “The vast majority of Americans want better.” More from POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy and Ben Johansen
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
The affordability issue remains a key vulnerability for President Donald Trump — even within his own coalition. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP | AFFORDABILITY ANXIETY: As Trump wages his campaign against Iran in the Middle East, he’s still fighting on a front back home that threatens to upend Republicans’ power come November. With the midterms rapidly approaching, new results from The POLITICO Poll show the economy and the cost of living remain top of mind for voters among Trump’s 2024 coalition — with many saying it’s worse than it’s ever been and that the government could be doing more to help. The affordability issue remains a key vulnerability for Trump — even within his own coalition. But there’s also been only modest, if any, change in Trump voters’ concerns about the president’s handling of the cost of living. The takeaway: The percentage of voters who count affordability as a major issue is roughly the same since November. That means the problem has persisted even while the U.S. military engages in a war in the Middle East — one that could further exacerbate the impact of high costs and vulnerability for Trump and Republicans among their supporters. The March polling shows 64 percent of Trump 2024 voters say the federal government should do more to address affordability than it currently does but is choosing not to, compared with 67 percent of Trump 2024 voters who said the same thing in November. The recent figures show a slight decline, but still a clear majority. And this concern cuts across Trump’s coalition: In the March poll, 71 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters say the federal government should do more to address affordability, and 61 percent of MAGA Trump voters say the same. Even among Trump’s core supporters, a majority says the government should be doing more. What is unequivocal: A near majority of 49 percent of Trump voters say that “cost of living is too high” and is a top issue facing the U.S. as we race toward the midterms. That includes 38 percent of Trump 2024 voters who say the cost of living is the worst they can ever remember — a figure virtually unchanged from November (37 percent). It breaks down into similar shares across Trump’s coalition: Forty-two percent of non-MAGA Trump voters say it’s the worst ever, compared to 37 percent of MAGA Trump voters. WHAT TRUMP WILL FOCUS ON: When it comes to whom Trump voters blame for the current state of affairs, former President Joe Biden is still top of mind. The data: A 34 percent plurality of Trump voters says Biden carries full responsibility when it comes to the economy, including 42 percent of MAGA voters and 28 percent of non-MAGA voters. Full blame for Biden sat at 37 percent back in November, suggesting some softening or disbursement of responsibility. Meanwhile, 24 percent say Trump is largely responsible (combining the “mainly rests with Donald Trump, though some with Joe Biden” and “Donald Trump holds full responsibility” answers). Only 16 percent of Trump voters say the president holds full responsibility. But but but: MAGA voters are actually more likely to put at least some blame on Trump: Twenty-six percent say Trump at least holds some responsibility, while 22 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters say the same.
| | | | A message from BlackRock: The world will need up to $85 trillion over the next 15 years to modernize and build the infrastructure of the future. BlackRock is proud to support the development of skilled tradespeople to help meet growing infrastructure demand across the U.S. Click here to watch. | | | | SUNDAY BEST … — Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on Trump saying that he expects to take Cuba, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Truly, we don’t know what they’re talking about. But I can tell you this: Cuba is a sovereign country and has the right to be a sovereign country and has the right to self-determination. Cuba would not accept to become a vassal state or a dependent state from any other country or any other superpower. … Our military is always prepared. And in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression.” — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Operation Epic Fury, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I know there is a lot of debate in the U.S. and in Europe whether this campaign of the president against Iran was necessary. And let me tell you, it is. It is crucial that the president, that the U.S. is doing this, to take out the nuclear capability and the ballistic missile capability. Because this is posing a threat, it’s an existential threat to Israel, it’s a threat to the region, it is a threat to Europe, to the whole world … I commend the president’s leadership on this. … When it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, I’m absolutely convinced that we will get this done together. Actually, it is already being planned.” — Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on what the U.S.’ primary objective is in Iran, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I don’t know, and I think it’s a real problem. I think the president did a really good job with Venezuela talking about what the objective is. It was in, it was out … I could see why we needed to finish some of the work [in Iran] and go back in and maybe have a week or two back in there, really degrading their capabilities. Now, it’s very — it’s ambiguous. I don’t know what our long-term strategic goals are, but we’re going to need to know that. I generally support what the president’s doing in Iran, but if we’re going to get anything close to the $200 billion supplemental request, we got to get 60 votes.” — Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on the SAVE America Act, on “Fox News Sunday”: “We all agree only American citizens should vote. And if the Trump administration and Republicans want to guarantee that every single American citizen gets a photo ID and that the government pays for it — because we shouldn’t have a poll tax, no one should have to pay for the right to vote — then we could look at that. But that’s not what they’re proposing. … And Donald Trump has sort of given up the game here, right? He said that we need to do this to, quote, guarantee the midterms for Republicans. … Their calculation is: By making it harder for tens of millions of Americans to exercise their right to vote, they’ll have a chance of winning the midterms.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “Congress could be headed for a tipping point, irreversible decline,” by WaPo’s Paul Kane
- “The Supreme Court Should Let States Run Their Elections,” by Pat McCrory and Mark Schweiker in National Review
- “The Voter Fraud Fraud,” by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) in The Bulwark
- “The Future of the Democratic Party Is Emerging,” by Lis Smith and John Guida in the NYT
- “The Tax Trap Democrats Built for Themselves,” by Mike Konczal
- “Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about Iran,” by Phil Klay in the NYT
- “The Iran war is eroding America’s China deterrent,” by Joe Costa and Ely Ratner in WaPo
- “I’m Iranian American. Here’s What I Want Educators to Understand About the War,” by Nina Rees in Education Week
- “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Glenn Youngkin — He’s Just Not Around To Fight Gerrymanders,” by The Daily Wire’s Ben Domenech
- “Democrats Are Too Cozy With Hasan Piker,” by Jonathan Cowan and Lily Cohen in the WSJ
- “An Elegy for the Kennedy Center,” by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross
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Skilled trades are critical to the future of infrastructure investment. Learn more. | | | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. WAR REPORT: Trump threatened another major escalation of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, declaring last night that Iran had 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or else face American destruction of its power plants. Iran responded that if Trump followed through on his pledge to “obliterate,” they’d retaliate in kind against American and Israeli regional energy interests and critical infrastructure. Live updates from the NYT Trump’s threat was the latest in his wildly vacillating pronouncements about the war, now entering its fourth week; the president said the day before that the war might soon be over and that reopening the strait would be just “a simple military maneuver.” Rhetoric from top Israeli officials, as usual, pointed only toward escalation. “They are not mutually exclusive,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on “Meet the Press” today. “Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.” On the ground, Israel suffered some of its worst hits yet of the war as Iranian strikes penetrated Israeli defenses and hit multiple cities, injuring many dozens. At least one of the strikes was aimed at nuclear facilities. Attacks also continued across Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The U.S. said its attack on an Iranian underground facility had successfully “degraded” Tehran’s powers to gum up the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also claimed that its Natanz nuclear site had also been attacked, which the International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating. Meanwhile, cities from London to Nairobi to Dhaka could have fresh reason to worry after Iran’s attempt to hit the U.S.-U.K. Diego Garcia military base showed that the country has much longer-range missiles than previously understood, WSJ’s Shelby Holliday and Dov Lieber write. How it’s playing: New CBS polling shows an American public with conflicting views. Majorities of Americans think it’s important for the U.S. to end the war ASAP (92 percent), guarantee the freedom of Iranians (80 percent), end Iran’s nuclear programs for good (73 percent) and end the war without Iran’s current leaders in power (53 percent). Americans overall think that the war is going badly — and, by a 2-to-1 margin, they’re not willing to pay more for gas. Global fallout: The Trump administration plans to postpone Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping indefinitely — until after the Iran war concludes, POLITICO’s Phelim Kine and colleagues scooped. Trump likens partisan politics to war: “Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!” the president posted on Truth Social this morning. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning, “Donald Trump should keep his reckless mouth shut before he gets somebody killed.”
| | | | POLITICO's Economy Summit Join POLITICO’s Economy Summit on March 25 for discussions with government and industry leaders about the policy decisions that will determine tomorrow’s market risks and opportunities. Hear from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Gary Cohn, and more. RSVP to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | 2. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Washington’s fight over the shuttering of DHS could take a new twist tomorrow after Trump threatened to send ICE agents into airports to assist with airport security, per Reuters. The reinforcements could help ease long lines that are increasingly ensnarling air travel. But Democrats, who forced the shutdown to demand reforms to ICE’s operations, reacted angrily: “America would be absolutely appalled to see ICE agents roaming through airports, just as they’ve been breaking down doors at homes,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. The number of TSA staffers who have quit after more than a month without pay now tops 400, NBC’s Jay Blackman and Phil Helsel scooped. Border czar Tom Homan said on “State of the Union” that the ICE plan will happen tomorrow: They’ll decide which airports will get the agents by the end of today. Fascinating backstory: Before he was selected as the next DHS secretary nominee, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) was quietly working with Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) to try to strike an immigration deal and end the shutdown, NYT’s Michael Gold reports. Notably, their plan “offered substantially more ground than the White House had publicly given” to Democrats, including requiring judicial warrants, pulling back on use of force and limiting enforcement at places like schools and churches. 3. THE NEXT SENATOR? Oil and gas executive Alan Armstrong is Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s pick to replace Mullin for the remainder of his term, NOTUS’ Reese Gorman reports. It’s not a completely done deal, though, as the two are expected to meet with Trump today at Mar-a-Lago — where Armstrong’s 2021 donation to Adam Kinzinger could come up. 4. BIG DHS READ: “How Corey Lewandowski Wielded Power Inside D.H.S.,” by NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz and colleagues: “[Secretary Kristi] Noem’s top aide and confidant hosted meetings in the office without her present, grilling agency officials and issuing orders as he flexed his vast influence over President Trump’s efforts to detain and deport millions of immigrants … On several occasions, he is said to have ordered employees to be placed on administrative leave over what they considered trivial matters. There were also mounting concerns among homeland security officials that Mr. Lewandowski was trying to enrich himself through his role.” His lawyer said he completely denied demanding any compensation. 5. CRISIS IN CUBA: “Cuba plunged into second nationwide blackout in less than a week,” by CNN’s Max Saltman and Mauricio Torres: It left “more than 10 million people without power. … Cuba was still recovering from a nationwide power grid collapse on Monday, the first since the US began blocking fuel supplies from Venezuela earlier this year.”
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BlackRock survey shows broad support for expanded retirement investment access. Click to learn more. | | | | 6. THE TRANSGENDER DEBATE: A GOP effort to bar transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports failed in the Senate yesterday, where an amendment to the SAVE America Act went down in a 49-41 party-line vote, short of the necessary 60, per WaPo. The chamber’s marathon debate over the likely doomed voting legislation remains ongoing. 7. ROB SAND ON THE RISE: “‘I’m super-Republican, but you got my vote’: The Democratic deer hunter setting his sights on flipping Iowa,” by Adam in Des Moines: “The state’s lone Democratic statewide elected official, and Democrats’ hope for flipping the governor’s mansion for the first time in 16 years, could barely make it through the Sunday morning sea of camo-wearing, venison jerky-chomping, Busch Light tallboy-nursing fellow hunters [at an expo] as more than a dozen people stopped and congratulated him. But it wasn’t because of his politics. If anything, it was in spite of them. ‘Rob, heckuva buck!’ said one passerby.” 8. MEDIAWATCH: The Trump administration’s campaign against the press suffered a couple of notable court defeats last week. But will they translate to actual change? It’s “anybody’s guess” whether Voice of America will be revived, AP’s David Bauder reports, after a federal judge said Kari Lake had lacked the authority to eviscerate it. The White House says the ruling won’t “be the final say on the matter.” And the NYT will seek to get its reporters’ Pentagon press passes restored tomorrow after a federal judge tossed out the Defense Department’s new restrictions on journalists, NYT’s Erik Wemple reports. DOD said it will appeal the ruling. 9. ANTHONY KENNEDY’S WORLD: “Super PAC spending passes $200M, with some groups hiding their cause,” by WaPo’s Clara Ence Morse and Dan Merica: “The political arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee funneled over $5 million to other groups as part of its work to defeat Illinois Democrats critical of Israel in House primaries held Tuesday, filings made public late Friday show. … Outside groups have already spent over $225 million trying to influence the 2026 congressional elections — the most ever at this point in the cycle … Even super PACs that did not obscure the sources of their funding avoided running ads on the special interests they represented.”
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➡️ Get on the Invite List | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | ABOUT LAST NIGHT — The Washington set gathered last night for the 141st Gridiron Club and Foundation Spring Dinner, where Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker delivered surprisingly edgy speeches that took plenty of risks but were rewarded with lots of laughs. Jokes of the night ranged the spectrum of hot topics from President Donald Trump’s first year back in office: Jeffrey Epstein, Greenland, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Zohran Mamdani, Gavin Newsom, JD Vance, Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem — who seemed to rack up the most points for being the subject of jokes from Democrats and Republicans. There was a song about Epstein in the styling of the “He had it coming …” refrain from “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago,” complete with a chorus of “we hardly knew him” that was a crowd favorite. Pritzker joked about his 2028 ambitions, saying he was focused on the people of Illinois and adding: “That’s not just me talking, that’s also a 2006 quote from Barack Obama.” Sanders opened by poking fun at Josh Dawsey, who had to don a white polar bear suit, and had some good jokes about Dems and Republicans, including about how hard it was for Marco Rubio to walk in size 13 Florsheim shoes. There was a “Mambo No. 5” skit on Trump’s foreign policy: “One, two, three, four, five — still pissed off about the Nobel Prize.” PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE SECTION — Rather than the typical swanky neighborhoods, many top administration officials have chosen to live in secure military housing, NYT’s Katie Rogers reports. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are at Fort McNair, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, and AG Pam Bondi and Stephen Miller also live in military housing. DNI Tulsi Gabbard and OMB Director Russ Vought have considered it. The trend, Rogers writes, “has no modern precedent. It raises some unsettling questions about the increase in violence against public figures, about the overall health of American democracy and, perhaps most obviously, about who is paying for this.” PLAYBOOK ARTS SECTION — The Smithsonian has added two giant statues of buffalo, each weighing more than a ton, outside the National Museum of Natural History, to help celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. WaPo’s Michael Ruane and Alex Kent have photos. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, and Katie Schilling welcomed Charles John Edward Schilling on Monday, amid a tornado warning and hospital power outage. He joins seven older siblings. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) … Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) … Wolf Blitzer … MS NOW’s Ali Vitali … Judge Neomi Rao … Alan Williams … Rebecca Miller Spicer of Airlines for America … Lyzz Schwegler … Kathryn Jean Lopez … POLITICO’s Josh Siegel, Emma Dumain, Scott Streater and Alex Wang … Ann Oliveira … Connor Rose … Dan Backer … Precision’s Matt Williams … Sarah Mars Bowie … former Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) … former Rep. Thomas Andrews (D-Maine) … Jeff Cohen … Time’s Ruairí Arrieta-Kenna … Victoria Blair … Sarah Feldman … Myrna Blyth … Patrick Manion … Public Agenda’s Andrew Seligsohn … Jeffrey Vinik … OutVote’s Isaac James 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 BlackRock: The US faces a generational infrastructure moment. Roughly $10 trillion will be needed by 2033 to build AI-driven infrastructure and modernize traditional assets such as roads, railways and ports. Infrastructure is not just about physical capital: it also requires human capital. Demand for skilled trades like electricians, HVAC technicians and plumbers is projected to grow faster than the national average, creating hundreds of thousands of new roles. Building infrastructure can create pathways to financially secure careers, particularly for people who do not pursue a four-year college degree.
Skilled trades typically pay above-average wages, with electricians, plumbers and ironworkers earning materially more than the median US worker. As infrastructure investment grows, so does the need for skilled trades. BlackRock's Future Builders initiative will expand economic opportunity and power the next generation of America's skilled trades workers. Learn more. | | | | | | | | 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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