The Playbook Podcast

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to flip the chamber in 2022. But one potential obstacle keeps coming up time and again: multiple Donald Trump-inspired candidates who might sweep their GOP primaries but go on to lose in the general election.Take Georgia: While Trump is all but begging NFL legend Herschel Walker to run against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, McConnell views Walker’s personal history as a vulnerability.Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio

In the special election runoff in Texas’s 6th District, Jake Ellzey defeated the Trump-endorsed candidate, Susan Wright. It's a pretty rough outcome for Trump in a district where his super PAC spent over $100,000 last weekend, according to the Dallas Morning News.And, this was the week we stepped back in time when it comes to masks, and ditched carrots for sticks when it comes to vaccinations.Expect this to get politicized quickly with announcements in the coming days from states, cities, companies and political entities either embracing or condemning vaccine requirements. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio 

This is going to be an all-around tough day for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — and to a large degree, it’s a self-inflicted predicament.The House’s Jan. 6 committee makes its debut this morning.And, for the first time across dozens of high-profile Trump-related oversight hearings, Republican leadership and allies will have no voice on the panel.Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Earlier this year, two of the most unlikely pairings in America started on a journey that we here at Playbook have been watching closely: Bennifer and BIF.Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's first clandestine meetings were reported in the spring. Around that same time, some Republican senators began quietly meeting with their Democratic colleagues to discuss infrastructure. Both reunions were so improbable that they needed to be shrouded in secrecy lest they fall apart under the glare of public scrutiny.In the end, Bennifer went public before BIF. The couple made it “Instagram official” Saturday, but we’re still waiting to see the full details of the bipartisan infrastructure framework.Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

No matter what happens to BIF, Pete Buttigieg has already won.The Iowa caucus winner-turned-Transportation secretary has redefined the backwater Cabinet position where Democrats typically plant their obligatory Republican senior official and vice versa (e.g. Obama/LaHood, Bush/Mineta). Buttigieg has assumed celebrity status in D.C., a mainstay of Playbook “spotteds”: In the past six months we’ve seen him riding his bike to work, hanging with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the dog park, waiting in line for ice cream, sitting next to President Joe Biden in the Oval Office and beamed into our living rooms giving off warm fuzzies about a pretty non-ideological issue: infrastructure.It’s a posting that has never led to the presidency, yet some say Buttigieg has positioned himself well by taking the gig, right when fixing roads and bridges is the issue. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

It should be among the most important oversight investigations Congress has ever conducted. But the select committee on Jan. 6 hasn’t even had its first hearing and it’s already consumed by drama after Speaker Nancy Pelosi decision to reject two GOP appointees, Reps. Jim Jordan and Jim Banks.And, we told you Wednesday about how GOP leaders are going on offense against Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package by framing it as a “reckless tax and spending spree.” Well today, White House senior adviser Anita Dunn is going to the Hill to arm Democrats for the messaging war ahead.Dunn will appear at Senate Democrats’ caucus lunch and the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, we’re told. According to a copy of the presentation obtained by Playbook, her talk will encourage Democrats to argue that Build Back Better will usher in “more jobs,” “tax cuts” and “lower costs for working families.”Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wanted today to be the GOP’s moment to put up or shut up on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. But based on our conversations with sources involved Tuesday night, it probably won’t be. Republicans will vote against a motion to proceed to the BIF if the text isn’t done by the time of the vote. But members of the bipartisan group are optimistic that if the BIF is within striking distance — Schumer and President Joe Biden will have to give the deal a few more days to gel.And over the weekend, aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso and NRSC Chair Rick Scott huddled to devise a counterattack against Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation behemoth.Expect to hear one phrase in particular from Republicans over and over this summer: “reckless tax and spending spree.”Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework has had an entire political life that few pieces of legislation enjoy: a much-ballyhooed agreement after months of closely watched discussions, a ceremony at the White House, a presidential trip to a swing state where BIF was celebrated.Yet after all of that drama, it could be as if BIF never existed.And, it’s no secret that Rep. Jim Banks is ambitious. The Indiana Republican and leader of the Republican Study Committee has had his eye on the House Republican Conference chairmanship for a while now and would likely make a play for the post if Elise Stefanik only serves one term, as she has said she would.Now House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is giving the third-term lawmaker and member of the U.S. Navy Reserve an audition: ranking Republican on the Jan. 6 select panel. Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Chuck Schumer seems to be channeling Mitch McConnell these days. The Senate majority leader is taking a gamble worthy of the last guy to have his job by scheduling two major deadlines this week to force action on President Joe Biden's agenda.It’s a hardball move meant to test whether Republicans who say they want bipartisanship mean it — but also to strong-arm his own ideologically diverse caucus into line on the massive, Dem-only reconciliation bill.Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

It’s fair to wonder whether Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California or filming another reality show. Well, it turns out she’s doing a little bit of both. Jenner is showing up at campaign events and rallies with a film crew like famous candidates often do — but she’s also brought the crew to an interview with Sean Hannity and to an appearance at CPAC.And, a pair of stories up from CNN and POLITICO spotlight Democrats’ upcoming gambit to back-door immigration reform through the reconciliation process — Senate parliamentarian be damned. “Top Democrats, with the support of the White House, are planning to tuck a handful of immigration measures into their forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending bill. The tactic — which just months ago seemed like a long shot even to liberals — is now widely seen as President Joe Biden's best shot at confronting one of Washington’s policy leviathans and delivering on a decades-long party promise."Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.