The Playbook Podcast

The enormous gap between the excitement in Washington about the return of the WHCA weekend and the ongoing anxiety of voters hit us hard this week as we watched focus groups of voters conducted by longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.On Tuesday night, Lake talked to a group of “high -information” Democrats scattered around the country over a Zoom call while we watched on mute. This appeared to be one of the more financially well-off focus groups we’ve seen this year, but like the others, these voters were defined by their disgust. When asked the first word that popped into their mind about how things are going in the country, here’s what they said: “frustrated,” “disbelief,” “aggravated,” “discouraged,” “unsure,” “worrying,” “resigned,” “frightened.” The only positive words offered were “better” and “OK.”Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

The news that Elon Musk is buying Twitter has thrown Washington into a tizzy over one major question: Will Donald Trump return to his old favorite social media platform and start tweeting again?As it turns out, no one is more petrified of this than members of Trump’s own party.  On Monday night, in a series of calls and texts with several top GOP insiders, every single one of them told us that they hoped the former president stays the hell away from Twitter, lest he sink their chances at flipping the House and Senate. Some of his allies even think that a return to his old Twitter habits could damage his own brand ahead of a possible third presidential bid in 2024.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Congress returns from a two-week recess facing the same unresolved issues that have plagued lawmakers for months. Lawmakers left town unable to pass a bipartisan deal to provide the administration with $10 billion in pandemic relief money and there’s still no immediate solution in sight. The White House announced another $800 million tranche of Ukraine aid last week, but says it needs Congress to allocate more funds ASAP. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and White House officials have been exchanging niceties in recent weeks, strong signals that they’re willing to re-engage on a smaller social-spending package months after Build Back Better was left for dead.

For years now, through controversy after controversy, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has bent over backward to stay in former President Donald Trump's good graces, all to serve one major purpose: He wants to be speaker someday.That hope may have just blown up on the launchpad.On Thursday night, NYT’s Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns delivered an absolute stunner of a scoop: an audio recording of a phone call on Jan. 10, 2021, in which McCarthy is heard clearly and unambiguously saying that Trump should resign. Listen for yourselfListen to Playbook Deep Dive: 'You only win if you fight:' Will Gallego unseat Sinema?Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Whether it’s pandemic restrictions and schools, or critical race theory and political correctness, when it comes to the culture wars raging across America, the right often dances circles around the left. And because of that, many Democrats — particularly those in vulnerable seats — either avoid engaging on those topics altogether or privately beg their colleagues to avoid overly “woke” rhetoric or policy prescriptions they believe could hurt the party politically.Enter Mallory McMorrow, the little-known Democratic state senator from suburban Michigan, who is turning that conventional wisdom on its head this week. Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Tech mogul Peter Thiel gave J.D. Vance's Ohio Senate campaign a fresh infusion of cash, pouring in $3.5 million to Protect Ohio Values, the super PAC backing Vance, our colleague Alex Isenstadt reports, “part of a broader tranche of money that has come in to support the Senate candidate after last week’s [Donald] Trump endorsement.”Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audi

On Monday, just hours after a federal judge struck down the nationwide public transportation mask mandate, major airlines (and even President Joe Biden’s beloved Amtrak) began telling their passengers they could stop wearing the protective face coverings — sometimes while they had already boarded and taken their assigned seats.The surprise ruling seems to have caught the White House flat-footed on the question of whether or not to appeal the ruling.Officially: White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the administration was “reviewing the decision, and, of course, the Department of Justice would be making any determinations about any litigation.”Unofficially: The White House is still figuring out what to do next, weighing two very big factors: credibility and politics.Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

Democratic strategists have split in two over how to discuss inflation. One camp tends to blame the media for focusing too much on the issue at the expense of positive economic news such as low unemployment. This group tends to promote statistics buried beneath the headlines that suggest inflation isn’t that bad. But privately, more and more Democrats see inflation in far more dire terms — and not just for their prospects in elections this year. One top progressive sounded the alarm over the weekend on a widely read off-the-record email list. The author gave us permission to quote from their missive — “Danger: Inflation Is a Third Rail” — which was ricocheting around lefty circles Sunday night.

With Ohio’s May 3 Senate GOP primary barely two weeks away and no clear frontrunner, J.D. Vance's rivals are mounting an all-out effort to head off a potential endorsement from former President Donald Trump, per our colleagues Natalie Allison, Meridith McGraw, Alex Isenstadt and Daniel Lippman. Trump seems intent on picking a horse in all the big GOP primaries. But several candidates are bunched together in polling in Ohio, making this one a real roll of the dice.Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: Biden’s pollster on the recipe for how to ‘not get our a---- kicked’ in the midtermsRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be out covering the key districts and states that will decide the outcome of the midterm elections. Nevada has one of 2022’s most under-covered Senate races. The incumbent, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, keeps a low profile in Washington and back home, but she’s raised a record amount of money and is spending big on TV ads. Nevada has a famously transient population, so she’s started with a biographical spot to introduce herself to the hundreds of thousands of potential new voters who weren’t around when she was first elected in 2016. Her other messaging is straight from the Dems’ generic 2020 strategy for vulnerable senators: reminding voters of all that Covid relief money that kept businesses afloat.The political environment for Cortez Masto is brutal. Consider the latest poll, released this week from Suffolk University and the Reno Gazette Journal: Biden’s approval rating in the state was 35%. Cortez Masto would lose to either GOP nominee: 43-40 against the well-known Adam Laxalt, and 40-39 against the relatively unknown Sam Brown. 72% of Nevada voters said the economy was just fair or poor. Inflation is the top issue for voters — 40% of whom said they are worse off compared to four years ago. Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletterRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.