Feb. 21, 2023: 2024 hopefuls rev their engines

President Joe Biden is in Europe, reminding everyone that he’s commander in chief — even as Republicans back home are angling to try to take his job.

Today, he’ll huddle with Polish President Andrzej Duda and give a speech at Warsaw Castle ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine later this week. The meeting comes as the media is still buzzing about his surprise visit to Kyiv — a risky endeavor that reportedly infuriated cronies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who may respond as he delivers his annual parliamentary address today in Moscow.

Meanwhile, on the home front, GOP presidential contenders are revving their engines.

— In his Don’t-Call-It-A-Campaign-Yet campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit up New York, Chicago and Philly yesterday, touting his tough-on-crime agenda and goading liberal cities and prosecutors as “woke” and out of touch. NYT’s Jonathan Weisman and Emma Fitzsimmons have more. NBC’s Natasha Korecki writes that in speaking to “the rank and file of some of the biggest police unions in the country, DeSantis was homing in on a specialized electorate Trump has owned since he first ran for president in 2016.”

Tomorrow, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will head to Iowa, while former President Donald Trump will head to East Palestine, Ohio, the site of a train derailment two weeks ago that has unleashed toxic chemicals into the surrounding community.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.