| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | | | |  Former President Donald Trump said on Monday he wouldn't rejoin Twitter. But Republicans we spoke with don't believe him. | AP | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | 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. "If I'm a Democrat, I'd pray that Elon Musk puts Trump right back on Twitter," said one House GOP leadership aide, who asked not to be named to speak candidly. "I don't think it costs Republicans the House, but it certainly will elevate Trump's opinions — and is going to put Republican candidates and members back having to answer for that." The person added: "It's enough to create headaches — and it's enough to probably cost us a couple seats." Some may find this a rather surprising reaction, given that many Republicans have both accused Big Tech of censoring conservative voices (the former president being the most prominent example) and showered praise on the Musk takeover. But as is often the case with the GOP and all things Trump, privately, they feel very differently. To be sure, there's a lot yet unknown about whether or not Trump will return to Twitter. Will Twitter allow it? Questions abound over whether Musk's new leadership team will allow the resurrection of the now-defunct @realDonaldTrump handle. (The Tesla and SpaceX impresario, however, has blasted Twitter's permanent bans and what he views as its censorship of free speech.) Will Trump even want to rejoin? Trump said on Fox News on Monday that he doesn't intend to return to the platform, and will instead stick to his own social media startup, Truth Social. "I am not going on Twitter," he said. "I am going to stay on Truth." Here's the thing: Nobody really believes him. Republicans we spoke with predicted that Trump won't be able to resist the urge to see millions of retweets and likes on his posts, to say nothing of his ability to drive any news cycle with a message to his 88 million-plus followers. Could he stay on Truth Social? Sure, but that platform has been something of a disaster (read here and here ). Trump himself seems to realize this, and has posted on it only once. "The lure of Twitter … may prove as irresistible for Trump as it is a potential return of a migraine headache for Republicans, who have not missed the tweets and the barrage of questions from the Trump-generated outrage du jour," said DOUG HEYE, a longtime GOP political strategist watching this closely. "There is no faster way for Trump to be front and center [in] the political conversation than rejoining Twitter, and he knows that." The entire situation is giving those of us who covered the House GOP during the Trump administration a case of deja vu. Back in the day, Trump would tweet something outrageous in the morning, and reporters would spend the rest of the day asking Republican officeholders for their reactions. In fact, then-Speaker PAUL RYAN was so sick of journalists peppering him with questions about Trump's latest incendiary utterance that he took to denying he'd ever seen them and couldn't comment. "I haven't seen the tweet!" he'd say, dodging. We'd all roll our eyes. These days, however, it's more than just a pesky annoyance for the GOP. For a while now, most Republicans and quite a few Democrats have scoffed at the notion that the midterms would center on anything other than voters' kitchen-table concerns — inflation, gas prices and crime. But if Trump is out there spewing falsehoods about the 2020 election on Twitter every day, putting his every thought into the ether for analysis and debate, the former president will help at least some Democrats frame the 2022 election not as a referendum on President JOE BIDEN, but as a choice between two parties: one led by Biden, the other led by Trump. "He has the world's biggest microphone on Twitter," said one Republican working on GOP campaigns. "He could do a lot of good with it — or bad. It will make every GOP politician's life more difficult." That's to say nothing of the nightmare GOP leaders will have if they flip Congress and suddenly have to compromise with a Democratic president on government funding and the debt ceiling while facing incoming fire from Trump online. "This isn't going to save Democrats' majority, but it would make governing and passing those big, must-pass bipartisan items all the more excruciating," said BRENDAN BUCK, a close former aide to Ryan who remembers the drama of Trump's first two years well himself. Good Tuesday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza .
| | | | A message from Google: Google is helping connect American businesses and customers online. Every month in 2021, Google helped drive over 2.4 billion direct connections to customers, including phone calls, bookings, and more. View the 2021 Google Economic Impact Report. | | | WHITE HOUSE DEPARTURE LOUNGE — Senior adviser CEDRIC RICHMOND will step down in May, making him "one of the first senior White House aides to leave the administration," NYT's Jonathan Martin and Zolan Kanno-Youngs scooped . Richmond is planning to go into the private sector and may advise the DNC as an outside consultant, where he could "be a conduit between the committee, Congress and the White House" and smooth over some contentious relationships. TITLE 42 LATEST — A federal judge in Louisiana said Monday that the Biden administration cannot begin lifting the Title 42 border policy before the end date it had set of May 23, per the NYT. — The judge's threat to block the administration's move immediately forced the Biden team to alter its political calculus, seriously scrambling "a full-court press set to come from the administration this week," Laura Barrón-López and Sarah Ferris report . "It also alleviates some of the intense political pressure that the White House has been facing on the issue, at least for now." — Flashback to Friday: "Biden White House stands behind Title 42 decision amid party revolt," by Laura, Chris Cadelago and Eugene: "'The little secret here is they don't think they're actually going to have to end Title 42,' said an immigration advocate familiar with the White House's thinking. 'They're expecting to lose a lawsuit that's going to force them to keep it in place.'" — Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine have more on the ramifications in Congress, where the move could break a standstill in the Senate while also defusing a brutal immigration conflict between Democrats and Biden, they write this morning. "The administration's plan to lift Trump-era immigration curbs instituted during the pandemic … is roiling the Democratic Party as candidates and incumbents alike dash away from Biden's position. Republicans and some Democrats are beginning to insist on a vote to delay the easing of the immigration limits, even as progressives and some immigration reform advocates stand with the administration's policy — if not its politics."
| | | | A message from Google:   Every month in 2021, Google helped drive over 2.4 billion direct connections between American businesses and customers. Learn more. | | | WE NEED YOUR HELP — Heading to a party this week ahead of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday? We'll be out and about, but would love to have as many eyes and ears on the ground as possible. Send us spotteds of big names: who's talking to whom; which celebrities or White House officials are sitting at which media outlet's tables; if you overheard a great bit of gossip or saw something hilarious happen. You can email tips to us at playbook@politico.com, or just text us: Save 202-556-3307 as "Playbook" in your contacts now, and when you see something interesting, shoot us a text! (And don't worry, we'll keep you anonymous.) BIDEN'S TUESDAY — The president and VP KAMALA HARRIS will receive the President's Daily Brief at 10:15 a.m. Press secretary JEN PSAKI will brief at 3 p.m. with Covid-19 response coordinator ASHISH JHA. THE SENATE will meet at 10 a.m. to take up LAEL BRAINARD's nomination as Fed vice chair, with a vote at 2:15 p.m. after a recess for weekly conference meetings, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. A.G. MERRICK GARLAND will testify before an Appropriations subcommittee at 10 a.m. CFPB Director ROHIT CHOPRA will testify before the Banking Committee at 10 a.m. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. THE HOUSE will meet at 2 p.m. to take up several bills.
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|  President Joe Biden greets the 2020 and 2021 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, April 25. | Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | CONGRESS MANCHIN EYES GOP ENERGY BILL — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) is talking about energy and climate legislation again — but this time with Republicans. The centrist swing vote met with senators Monday to explore a possible bipartisan package on the matter as an alternative to a party-line reconciliation bill, Bloomberg's Ari Natter and Steven Dennis report. "[R]eform of the federal oil and gas leasing process" could be one area of focus, they report, plus planks to "focus on increasing domestic production of energy in the near term and provide incentives for climate-related projects in the longer term." But, but, but: Getting 10 Senate Republicans and House Democrats to sign off on a climate/energy bill is quite the tall order. THE UKRAINE RESPONSE — The White House is discussing pairing a military aid package headed to Congress soon with funding for food aid around the world, Bloomberg's Mike Dorning and Jennifer Jacobs scooped . The war has seriously disrupted food production in one of the globe's crucial bread baskets, prompting fears of broad hunger crises in low-income countries. The request could be as high as $5 billion. "I don't know if it'd be that much, but we want money for food aid, yes," Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) tells Bloomberg. — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER said he expects the Ukraine aid to pass Congress quickly, per Reuters. ALL POLITICS ABOUT LAST NIGHT — Both Democrats and Republicans had primary debates in the Pennsylvania Senate race Monday night. Check out these good breakdowns of what happened from The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, respectively. THE LIMITS OF TRUMPISM — Despite DONALD TRUMP's craving for a GOP primary opponent to take down CHRIS SUNUNU, the New Hampshire governor looks set to cruise to a fourth term this fall, David Siders reports this morning. Sununu has a 62% approval rating in the state. And though COREY LEWANDOWSKI has tried, no top-tier Trumpist contender has emerged to challenge Sununu, robbing Trump of an opportunity to unseat a rare Republican leader who hasn't fallen in line. Sununu isn't seen as likely to run for president in 2024, David adds. WAR IN UKRAINE THE NEW COLD WAR — The U.S. pivoted and escalated its messaging on Ukraine on Monday, as Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN declared, "We want to see Russia weakened to the degree it cannot do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine." Speaking as part of the senior American delegation to Kyiv, Austin "was acknowledging a transformation of the conflict, from a battle over control of Ukraine to one that pits Washington more directly against Moscow," NYT's David Sanger reports . "Mr. Austin and others in the Biden administration are becoming more explicit about the future they see: years of continuous contest for power and influence with Moscow," Sanger writes. LATEST FROM UKRAINE… — Siren: Russian Foreign Minister SERGEY LAVROV said Monday of nuclear war, "The danger is serious, the danger is real, and shouldn't be underestimated," per Bloomberg. — Appearing in Germany, Austin told NATO military leaders "that Ukraine's 'resistance has brought inspiration to the free world and even greater resolve to NATO.' He said Russian President Vladimir Putin 'never imagined that the world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely,' as the United States pledged military aid and Poland and Germany announced they would send tanks," WaPo reports. — Heavy fighting continued Monday, as Russian strikes reportedly knocked out power and water supplies in Luhansk and killed several people in Kharkiv. Russia is particularly targeting weapons shipments from the West, Paul McLeary and Lara Seligman report.
| | | | A message from Google: Google is helping American small businesses like veteran-led Junk Platoon grow. Todd Temaat owns Junk Platoon, a junk removal service in Oklahoma City. He uses digital tools like Google Workspace and a Google Business Profile to help run his business. Since April 2021, Google Ads helped Junk Platoon grow their total sales by 10%. View your state's impact report here. | | | JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH MCCONNELL VS. TRUMP — In the latest download from Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns' new book, "This Will Not Pass," WaPo's Josh Dawsey reports that Senate GOP Leader MITCH MCCONNELL trashed Trump to Martin just hours after the Capitol insurrection: "I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself." McConnell asked Martin what the buzz was about the 25th Amendment. "'He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,' [McConnell] said, standing in a doorway of the Capitol after midnight. 'Couldn't have happened at a better time.'" JUDICIARY SQUARE SCOTUS WATCH — The Supreme Court on Monday allowed a new admissions policy at northern Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology to stand, turning back for now a bid by parents to reverse a policy that has become a flashpoint on affirmative action and diversity. The new guidelines aimed to increase diversity, but incited backlash from Asian Americans, who said they'd be discriminated against. Three conservative justices — SAMUEL ALITO, NEIL GORSUCH and CLARENCE THOMAS — disagreed with their colleagues. More from WaPo — In the case of the Washington state high school football coach who was suspended for leading prayers on the field, multiple outlets reported that during oral arguments, the justices' conservative majority seemed likely to rule in favor of the coach. NBC's Pete Williams breaks it down , and NYT's Adam Liptak notes that the justices appeared to be looking for a narrow ruling. THE PANDEMIC FOR YOUR RADAR — This morning, the Biden administration "is expected to outline plans to make it easier for infected people to get Covid-19 treatments, which some health leaders and patient advocates say are too difficult to obtain despite a federal program to help make them more widely available," reports WSJ's Stephanie Armour and Jared Hopkins. THE END OF AMERICA FIRST (IN LINE FOR VACCINES)? — The White House is telling Congress to pass new pandemic response funding now — or risk the U.S. losing out on vaccine doses and therapeutic pills to other countries. AP's Zeke Miller reports that the era of America being first in line could come to an end: "Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong have all placed orders for treatments and vaccine doses that the U.S. can't yet commit to, according to the White House." BEYOND THE BELTWAY REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP — Kansas Republicans' congressional map was tossed out by a judge Monday as an unconstitutional gerrymander, a setback for the GOP's efforts to flip Democratic Rep. SHARICE DAVIDS' seat. Republicans said they'd appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, where the majority of justices were appointed by Democrats. More from The Kansas City Star THE NEW ELECTION RESTRICTIONS — Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS signed into law a major new elections bill that includes the creation of an election police unit, a ban on ranked-choice voting and requirements to clean voter rolls more regularly. The Miami Herald breaks it down.
| | | | JOIN US ON 4/29 FOR A WOMEN RULE DISCUSSION ON WOMEN IN TECH : Women, particularly women of color and women from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, have historically been locked out of the tech world. But this new tech revolution could be an opportunity for women to get in on the ground floor of a new chapter. Join POLITICO for an in-depth panel discussion on the future of women in tech and how to make sure women are both participating in this fast-moving era and have access to all it offers. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Joe Biden will go to Minneapolis on Sunday — the day of Walter Mondale's memorial service, Alex Thompson notes. Speaking of Minnesota, state Senate candidate Erin Maye Quade had to withdraw from the race on the day of the DFL Party's convention to give birth — but not before giving a speech while actively in labor. Deborah Birx told ABC that "she had a pact with other doctors on [Donald] Trump's team — including Anthony Fauci — that if one of them was fired, then they would all resign," Ben Gittleson writes. She also said she was "paralyzed" when Trump made his now-infamous comment about injecting disinfectants. Joe Manchin had a 17-point leap in his approval rating last year — the largest increase of any senator, per Morning Consult's Eli Yokley. The most popular senators in their home states? John Thune, John Barrasso and Bernie Sanders, each of whom has a 62% approval rating. The least popular? Mitch McConnell, who has a 60% disapproval rating. WHCD WEEK — Nobody in D.C. knows more about the inside story of what the fancy people are doing than the tailors. Exhibit A: Our own Eugene was picking up his tailored tux from JC Lofton Tailors, a Black-owned shop that's been operating since 2000 in D.C., when the owner, Eddie Lofton, let spill that he spent part of his weekend at the Four Seasons doing alterations for Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend Pete Davidson ahead of the Mark Twain Prize ceremony at the Kennedy Center on Sunday. Lofton said the pair "are real nice and real down to Earth." Lofton said he's also doing the couple's alterations for this weekend's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. He wouldn't spill the deets on what they are wearing. As for where they're sitting, rumor has it that they'll be at the Disney/ABC table. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Cristina Marcos is joining Rokk Solutions as a senior account director. She previously was a congressional reporter at The Hill. HOT JOB — The NYT has a job posting for a right-wing media politics reporter with a very interesting prerequisite section. MEDIA MOVES — Adam Wren is joining POLITICO as a national political reporter. He was previously a national correspondent for Insider, where he published memorable profiles of J.D. Vance, Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) and Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), among many others. A features writer par excellence, Adam is a longtime contributing editor to POLITICO Magazine, where the subjects of his vivid, revelatory pieces ranged from Amy Coney Barrett to the liberals who secretly work for OAN to — of course — Pete Buttigieg. Newsroom note … Jerry Seib is retiring from the WSJ, where he's been executive Washington editor. Seib has had a storied career at the Journal across 45 (!) years. Talking Biz News … Alec Snyder is now a reporter on POLITICO's Legislative Compass team. He previously was a committees reporter at CQ Roll Call. … … Lydia DePillis will join the NYT's business desk as an economics reporter. She most recently has been a reporter at ProPublica. Announcement … Suzette McLoone Lohmeyer is now a senior editor at Grid. She most recently was the author of NPR's The New Normal newsletter, and is a WaPo alum. … ABC's "This Week" has promoted Kendall Heath to senior producer and Mae Joo to senior editorial producer. They've both been with the broadcast for several years. STAFFING UP —Craig Martell is joining DOD as chief digital and artificial intelligence officer. He most recently was head of machine learning for Lyft. TRANSITIONS — Evelyn Farkas will be the next executive director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University. She was a deputy assistant secretary of Defense in the Obama administration and a congressional candidate in 2020. … Bullpen Strategy Group is promoting Christian Hertenstein to partner, promoting Michael Ahrens to SVP and adding Chris Martin as VP in the comms practice. Martin most recently was deputy executive director of America Rising PAC. … … Daniel Sepulveda is joining Platinum Advisors' government relations team. He most recently was at Wiley, and is a former U.S. ambassador for telecommunications and media issues and a USTR and Senate alum. … Joe Hoellerer is now director of government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. He previously was senior manager of government relations at the Security Industry Association. … Kathleen McWilliams is now Connecticut comms director for Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). She most recently was deputy director of comms for Connecticut A.G. William Tong. WEDDINGS — Micah Johnson, co-founder of Bridge Public Affairs and a Bob Corker alum, and Clay Stockett, VP at FourBridges Capital Advisors, got married Saturday at Marblegate Farm near Knoxville, Tenn., with a large contingent of Corker alums in attendance. Pic — Matt Ford, a staff writer at The New Republic, and Jillian Rucker, a cybersecurity analyst at CISA, got married April 9 in D.C. Pic — Justin Discigil, COS for Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), and Carlin Daharsh, who works on the U.S. politics and government outreach team at Meta, got married at The Oaks Waterfront Inn and Events in Easton, Md., on Saturday. The two met at Union Pub. SPOTTED: Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Tara Crenshaw, former Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) — who also officiated the wedding — and Mylene Walden , Lorissa Bounds, Nolan Ahern and Jenny Forrest, Riley Bushue, Kristen Shatynski, Jordan and Melinda Davis and Zack Roday. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former first lady Melania Trump … State Department's Suzy George and Nicole Elkon … Luke Frans … AKPD Message and Media's Larry Grisolano … Greenwich Biosciences' Karas Gross … Nick Penniman … NPR's Domenico Montanaro and Ben Fishel … Bloomberg's Colin Wilhelm … John Leganski … U.S. News and World Report's Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder … Ebbie Yazdani … Rich Feuer Anderson's Jared Sawyer … Shana Teehan … WaPo's Paulina Firozi … Chris Curry … Google's Charlotte Smith (3-0) … Morning Consult's Vlad Gorshkov … Jonathan Rauch … NBCUniversal's Phil Tahtakran … Snap's Ben Schwerin … Meagan McCanna … CNN's Jessica Schneider … Jackson Richman … Alex Morgan of the Progressive Turnout Project … Maggie Sherouse … NYT's Russell Goldman … Kristi Stone Hamrick … former Reps. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) and Rod Blum (R-Iowa) … William Hayden (82) Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. 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