Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: ‘Revenge of the silent normie majority’

‘Revenge of the silent normie majority’

Aug 13, 2026

By Adam Wren, Dasha Burns and Will Steakin

Presented by

With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner

Good Thursday morning, it’s been a long week, we’re tearing open a Pop-Tart box with no shame, and glad we’re not the only ones. Get in touch.

In today’s Playbook …

— The Democratic civil war hits an inflection point.

— Pete Buttigieg on what Democrats must learn from Republicans.

— The Boldfaces: Rahm Emanuel, Francesca Hong, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sam Cornale, Matt Bennett, Liam Kerr, Cory Mills, Peggy Flanagan, Karoline Leavitt, and more.

DRIVING THE DAY

KINDA MID: The Democratic civil war has ground to a stalemate.

A casserole of upper Midwestern states delivered a mixed verdict over the last week on which ideological direction the party should head — and left an opening for the establishment to argue that progressives have failed to expand or remake Democratic voters.

“We’re the only country where you have to be rich enough to be a socialist,” Rahm Emanuel, the former DCCC chair who’s eying a potential presidential campaign, told Playbook. “If you're trying to be a party that recruits people, working class people that go paycheck to paycheck, socialists have been repulsing them.”

Fresh evidence for that argument emerged Tuesday when mainline Democrats blocked DSA candidate Francesca Hong from competing for the governor’s mansion atop Wisconsin’s swingy state ballot, and on Sunday via Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s admission of woke overreach.

Emanuel highlighted an emerging “pattern,” noting on X that “Black Democratic turnout has been surging since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for the Trump-backed redistricting wave.”

Progressives haven’t demonstrated that they can win over the party’s Black voters. In their place, Emanuel told us, they’ve only netted “those that are living in the brownstones in Park Slope Brooklyn or the struggling PhD student at Columbia.”

“In every race you have 75 cents and you need $1, so you’ve got to make choices,” Emanuel said. “And the Republicans have nothing to run on, and so they're going to force you to distance yourself from a bunch of people that you've never met, rather than prosecute a referendum election against Trump and the rubber stamp GOP Congress.”

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It’s not just Black voters. Consider Wisconsin: In the 2018 blue wave, 538,000 Democratic primary voters turned out during the Trump 1.0 midterms. Eight years later, the state saw a massive turnout hike featuring some 790,000 voters. Gubernatorial victor David Crowley was able to win enough of those voters, particularly those who are older, whiter and less educated.

“Normie Dems that voted in generals but not primaries are voting in droves in primaries,” said Sam Cornale, the former DNC executive director.

Rahm praised AOC’s admission that “Woke 1 was crazy,” but pointed to its long tail.

“The consequence is you still have people running around open borders, free health care at the border, defund the police, Latinx, etc,” he said. “She’s learned it, kudos for her. I just don't think everybody else has.”

“There's no question the far left has had a bunch of victories,” center-left think tank Third Way’s Matt Bennett said, “but the fact that we came storming back in Wisconsin is important.”

Or, as the centrist Welcome PAC’s Liam Kerr put it, the left just experienced a “touch the stove” moment with Hong that increases the likelihood the party will ultimately settle on a center or establishment candidate in 2028.

Kerr called the last week “the revenge of the silent normie majority.”

“And the last 10 days has basically been like one long, drawn-out Isaac Chotiner interview, where candidates are just asked an open-ended question, and they can’t answer them,” Kerr said.

Referring to AOC’s remarks on ABC’s This Week, Kerr asked, “can you giggle away Woke 1?”

“The Wisconsin normie voter said, ‘no,’” he said.

On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam, Dasha and Playbook’s Megan Messerly zoom in on the middle-of-the-road political appetite among Democratic voters emerging in the Midwest, and a post-Karoline Leavitt White House press operation.

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THE DOWNLOAD

FOR PETE’S SAKE: Pete Buttigieg wants Democrats to focus on a new area in the party’s pursuit of power: state legislatures. He’s started by backing a crop of mostly long-shot Democrats in Indiana’s state House and Senate, Adam scoops. The endorsements are the first slate in what his team says will be a number of state-by-state down-ballot endorsements. “This is an area where Democrats should learn from Republicans who spent many years patiently and cleverly building up power all the way up from the school board level,” he said in an interview.

2028 WATCH: DNC members gather in Austin, Texas, today to begin the final stage of setting the early-state voting order in the 2028 presidential primary. South Carolina and Nevada are at the front of the line on a schedule expected to be finalized by the full party on Saturday. Democrats will also talk about preparations for the midterms. The DNC’s money woes, many of which have fallen on Chair Ken Martin, will provide an unsettling backdrop.

PRIMARY COLORS: The next embattled House Republican to face a competitive primary is Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) on Tuesday, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout previews from Tallahassee. Mills has faced a barrage of negative stories over the past couple of years, including many allegations he’s denied, and he trails Ryan Elijah in fundraising. Democrats are eyeing a long-shot flip on the back of another Republican’s scandals. But Mills has Trump’s endorsement and remains adamant he did nothing wrong.

Catch up on On the Road with Jonathan Martin

Season 2 is underway. Jonathan Martin sits down with key political players in the places that shaped them for conversations on power, strategy, 2028 and what comes next for American politics.

Watch now.

THE FRONT PAGE

WHAT PEGGY WANTS: Peggy Flanagan, fresh off her primary victory in Minnesota Tuesday, said if she’s elected to replace Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, she’d pursue many of the same committee assignments as her predecessor, she told Playbook’s Ali Bianco in an interview. She also declined to back Chuck Schumer as the party’s leader, saying she was “grateful” for his work but, “I think it’s time for us to have a new voice in that role.” Schumer’s team, meanwhile, is dialed-in on pushing Flanagan to victory. He called her yesterday morning, with both sides calling it a “great conversation.” More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress

AD IT UP: Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson is going up with a seven-figure ad buy about affordability, Playbook’s Irie Sentner scoops. It’s Jackson’s second ad since his nomination last month, and it emphasizes his experience as “a poor kid in a town full of poor people doing everything right and still struggling to get ahead.” Watch the ad

THE TAX BREAKS COMETH: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s suite of new special tax breaks has unleashed an election-year parade of lawmakers trying to implement similar carveouts, POLITICO’s Brian Faler reports. Everything and everyone from boat loans to striking workers to businesses selling New Jersey merch has been pitched for some tax relief — even though the policy approach is disliked by deficit hawks and progressives alike. Expect the debate to resurface when last year’s tax breaks expire in 2028.

FRAUD FILES: GOP legislation to root out fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP may face a tough road to passage this year, POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy and Robert King report. Though it’s a major priority for the Trump administration and its Hill allies — who hope it’ll be a persuasive message in the midterms — cracking down on fraud through reconciliation would have to surmount significant legislative obstacles. Still, a push from VP JD Vance has House GOP leaders exploring what they can do.

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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: The Clarity Act is pitting the cryptocurrency industry against the banking industry’s last-minute push to alter it — and that puts Senate Republicans in a difficult spot, POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman reports. Lobbying by senators’ hometown banks in particular, backed by many big banks, has some in the GOP threatening to vote no unless the bill is changed. The legislation’s pathway to post-recess passage is increasingly complicated.

2. E-RING READING: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hyper-partisan approach to his job runs the risk of angering Democratic lawmakers whom he may need to pass his massive defense budget request, POLITICO’s Mark Satter and Connor O’Brien report. Even Republicans are warning that the GOP-only classified briefings for them break precedent — and could backfire.

3. A NEW ICE FLASHPOINT: “It ‘felt like a Renée Good situation,’ U.S. citizen says after ICE encounter,” by WaPo’s Juan Benn Jr.: “The first frame of the video Carolina Molina posted across her social media accounts shows a masked [ICE] agent pointing a gun at the camera. … The gun in the agent’s hand can be seen raised and held at the center of Molina’s open driver’s side window [in Falls Church, Virginia].” DHS says Molina had almost run officers over, which she says is a lie — like the administration’s inaccurate claims about the killing of Renée Good.

4. THE PLANE TRUTH: At the time an alleged Iranian assassination threat against Trump led him to take a secret other aircraft out of Turkey last month, the CIA had “low confidence” in the intelligence about the threat, which Israel provided, WaPo’s Warren Strobel and colleagues scooped. CIA analysts told the administration about those doubts. “But with little time to confirm incoming details and the U.S. in the middle of a war with Iran, the Secret Service took no risks and devised a plan that seemed ripped from the pages of a political thriller,” WSJ’s Alex Ward and colleagues report.

5. MAX MILLER LATEST: Rep. Max Miller’s (R-Ohio) ex-wife, Emily Moreno, brought a lawsuit in federal court against him and his lawyer over files they posted online that allegedly included a photo of their toddler without some clothes on. Miller denies Moreno’s domestic-abuse allegations, and his lawyer said the photo was an accidental inclusion they deleted. More from NOTUS

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TALK OF THE TOWN

END OF AN ERA — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her role at the end of the month, saying she’d decided to move on from “the honor and adventure of a lifetime” to devote more time to her two children, per POLITICO’s Megan Messerly. Trump praised her tenure and said she’ll continue to be among his “top outside advisors.”

Who might replace Leavitt? The White House isn’t saying yet, after yesterday’s announcement came as a surprise to some insiders, but the NY Post’s Steven Nelson and Emily Goodin report a long list of possible names: Alina Habba, Matthew Boyle, Taylor Budowich, Steven Cheung, Katie Miller, Anna Kelly, Monica Crowley, Jason Miller, Rachel Campos-Duffy, Spencer Pratt, Scott Jennings and Kari Lake.

TO TELL THE TRUTH SOCIAL — The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a federal lawsuit over Truth Social’s new scheme to give organizations advance access to Trump’s posts if they pay $100,000 a month, per POLITICO’s Emilio Perez Ibarguen. The plaintiffs argue the practice, which has drawn intense criticism as being tantamount to insider trading on the president’s market-moving announcements, violates their First Amendment rights.

MEDIAWATCH — Internal talks at Paramount have included the prospect of crafting an editorial board for CNN that would help assuage concerns about its independence under a merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, WSJ’s Jessica Toonkel scooped.

TOP TALKER — Forbes’ head editor, Randall Lane, “was fired last month after the company discovered that he had received a payment of about $6 million from the founder of a firm that does business with the magazine,” NYT’s Ben Mullin scooped. “I made a mistake” in not disclosing the gift, Lane said, “and I take responsibility for it.”

CENTER OF ATTENTION — “Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover pushes National Symphony Orchestra into crisis,” by WaPo’s Jonathan Edwards and Apurva Mahajan: “The National Symphony Orchestra has rapidly lost many of its audience members and individual donors since President Donald Trump seized control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, sending revenue into a two-year free fall that has pushed the internationally acclaimed orchestra into the deepest financial crisis in its recent history.”

OUT AND ABOUT — The Article III Project and Article III Foundation threw a major party Tuesday night at Butterworth’s to celebrate Todd Blanche’s confirmation as AG (and his recent birthday). Cocktails made for the event included the Viceroy’s Vice, Majority Makers and Recess Is for Kids. SPOTTED: Judge Emil Bove, border czar Tom Homan, incoming White House counsel Will Scharf, Ryan Giles, Jennifer Heins Davis, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Jack Vivian, Zach Loyed, Clare Slattery, Hannah Akey, Michael O’Neill, Colin McDonald, Trent McCotter, Brett Shumate, Aakash Singh, Diego Pestana, Emily Covington, Rachel Jag, Nick Davis, Patrick Davis, Elliot Gaiser, Sarmad Khojasteh, Camille Peeples Varone, Ben Mehr, Sam Ramer, James Baehr, Chad Mizelle, Steve Kenny, Josh Hoyt, Vetan Kapoor, Saurabh Sharma, Will Mascaro, Sara Matar, U.S. Attorneys Jason Reding Quiñones, Leah Foley, Jamie McDonald, Peter McNeilly, Bill Essayli, Jerome Gorgon Jr., David Metcalf and Sigal Chattah, Shane Hedges, Mike Davis, Otto Heck, Will Chamberlain, Stephen Vaden, Joseph Mazzara, Susan Braden, Kara Westercamp, CJ Pearson, Scott Brady, Sharon Soderstrom, U.S. Ambassador to Australia-designate Dave Brat, Arthur Schwartz, Maureen Bannon, Mollie Hemingway, Jack Posobiec and Julie Kelly.

FIRST IN POLITICO — Ben Hovland is joining the Center for American Progress as senior fellow leading elections work. He previously was a Democratic member of the Election Assistance Commission whom Trump fired from the role last month, leaving the commission without any members, and is a Senate Rules alum.

TRANSITION — Juan Carlos “JC” Scott will be chief strategy officer and executive director of AdvaMed Accel. He previously led the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

ENGAGED — Colin Kruse, legislative aide for Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), proposed to Ciara Donovan, a federal research associate for the University of Notre Dame, at the Spanish Steps in Kalorama on Saturday. They met at a networking coffee in the Longworth Dunkin while Colin was interning for Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Ciara was a staff assistant for Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.). Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders … former acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham … Karine Jean-Pierre … former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen … Kristalina Georgieva … Larry Weitzner … Jeremy Bash of Beacon Global Strategies … Grace Davis Jamison of HHS … State Department’s Bridget Roddy … MatchPoint Strategies’ Isabel Aldunate … Adam Sharon … GrayRobinson’s Chris McCannell … Scott Dziengelski of the National Association of Behavioral Health … Gabriel Laizer … AP’s Kelly Daschle … Gonzo Gallegos … Owen Jappen of the American Chemistry Council … Kelly Rzendzian … former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders … Sara Sorcher … former Reps. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) … Ben Pack … Herald Group’s Ansley Bradwell Howd … Cate Hurley of Beyond Carbon Fund … Douglas Rivlin … Margot Roosevelt … Addy Baird … Josh Romney

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