Shifting Alliances: Populism and the Parties

As the humanitarian disaster in Gaza shifts American politics and opinions about Israel, the entire issue is quickly becoming the Democratic Party’s first foreign policy litmus test of the 2026 and 2028 cycles. Playbook’s Adam Wren and POLITICO White House reporter Megan Messerly look at how that’s playing out in Michigan’s pivotal Senate primary, which is a microcosm of the broader dynamics shaping the party: a divide that isn’t so much left vs. center or progressive vs. moderate, but institutionalists vs. disruptors. All of that, plus: President Donald Trump’s latest wave of tariffs went into effect overnight, and what we know about the latest rumblings of a coming meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.