| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | | 
A Buffalo supermarket is the latest site of mass violence in America. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | Ten people were killed and three more wounded in a mass shooting in and around a Buffalo supermarket Saturday, the latest burst of violence to shatter a community and singe the American fabric. Local authorities took a teenager into custody and accused him of the massacre, which they described as "straight up a racially motivated hate crime" that intentionally targeted Black people — who made up 11 of the 13 casualties. He pleaded not guilty after being charged with first-degree murder. It was the country's deadliest mass shooting this year. Read The Buffalo News' Lou Michel, Ben Tsujimoto and Maki Becker for the latest details on the scene and in the city The suspect, who had previously been investigated for reportedly threatening a school shooting, also is believed to have posted a manifesto online detailing his plans to target Buffalo's Black population. NBC's ace disinformation reporter Ben Collins breaks down the document , in which the author "claims that he was radicalized on 4chan while he was 'bored' at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020." The manifesto includes racist and antisemitic arguments, memes and debunked statistics. It leans heavily on the false, once-fringe white supremacist "replacement theory," about white people being replaced. Pieces of the rhetoric — largely fears about demographic change as a political tool — have entered the mainstream via TUCKER CARLSON and other segments of the American far right; they're now believed by about one-third of the country. The political reaction: — President JOE BIDEN in a statement: "Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America. Hate must have no safe harbor. We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism." (Notably, he made no mention of gun policy, an implicit sign of how little chance gun control has of passing even in Democratic-controlled Washington.) — New York Gov. KATHY HOCHUL traveled from Albany to Buffalo and called on social media sites to step up their monitoring and removal of extremist content. "It has to end right here and that is my message," she said, per The Buffalo News. — Rep. ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.) highlighted House GOP Conference Chair ELISE STEFANIK's (N.Y.) Facebook ads last year that labeled pictures of immigrants as a "PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION." He said House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY should be made to answer for her. Stefanik said she's "mourning for the entire community & loved ones" and called on people to support the police. It's worth spending some time absorbing the stories of the lives lost Saturday. Though many of the victims haven't yet been identified, remembrances have begun to emerge: Read about RUTH WHITFIELD and AARON SALTER (who tried to stop the shooter) via their hometown paper. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. You can email me here, or get in touch with the rest of the team: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza .
| | | | A message from PhRMA: ICYMI: A majority of Americans reject so-called government "negotiation" once they learn it could restrict access and choice and chill the innovation of new treatments and cures. The survey also shows a majority find health care coverage costs unreasonable and a top priority health care issue for policymakers to address today. | | | SUNDAY BEST … — New NBC polling on "Meet the Press" found Biden's approval rating dipping to a new low of 39%, even as Democrats pulled even with Republicans on the generic congressional ballot and support for abortion rights reached new highs. — Speaker NANCY PELOSI on gun control, on "State of the Union": "It is a huge priority for us. And it has been a huge priority for Joe Biden … But the fact is, the 60-vote majority in the Senate is an obstacle to doing any — many good things, unfortunately. And, again, we are not going away until the job is done." — Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) on his centrist colleagues, on NBC's "Meet the Press": "You got two members of the Senate, Sen. [JOE] MANCHIN and Sen. [KYRSTEN] SINEMA, who have sabotaged what the president has been fighting for." CHUCK TODD: "That's a strong word, sabotage." Sanders: "Well, you help me out with a better word here. You got 48 members of the Senate who wanted to go forward with an agenda that helped working families, that was prepared to take on the wealthy and the powerful. You got a president who wanted to do that. You had two people who prevented us from doing it. You have a better word than sabotage? That's fine. But I think that is the right word." — Oklahoma Gov. KEVIN STITT on not including rape or incest exemptions in an abortion ban, on "Fox News Sunday": "Well, first off, super compassionate about that. I have daughters. Cannot even imagine what that would be like and that hardship. But you have to choose: That is a human being inside the womb, and we're going to do everything we can to protect life and love both the mother and the child. And we don't think that killing one to protect another is the right thing to do either." — Finnish President SAULI NIINISTÖ on his call with Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN to tell him Finland would be applying to join NATO, on "State of the Union": "The surprise was that he took it so calmly. … In security policy, especially talking with Russia, you have to keep in mind that what he said doesn't mean that you shouldn't be all the time quite well aware and follow up what really is happening. But so far, it seems that there's no immediate problems coming."
| | | | A message from PhRMA: ICYMI: Majority of Americans reject so-called government "negotiation" once they learn it could restrict access and choice and chill the innovation of new treatments and cures. | | | BIDEN'S SUNDAY: — 10:15 a.m.: The president and first lady JILL BIDEN will depart New Castle, Del., getting to Joint Base Andrews by 10:50 a.m. — Noon: The Bidens will attend a ceremony to honor the law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2021 at the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service on the West Front of the Capitol, where the president will deliver remarks. VP KAMALA HARRIS' SUNDAY — The VP will leave D.C. at 2:50 p.m. to lead a delegation to Abu Dhabi upon the death of UAE President Sheikh KHALIFA BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN. (NYT's Ben Hubbard has a good primer on his ambitious replacement, Sheikh MOHAMMED BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, who's effectively been in charge for years and has close U.S. ties.)
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|  Donald Trump addresses the American Freedom Tour at the Austin Convention Center, a big national conservative gathering, on Saturday. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 10 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. KEYSTONE CRUNCH TIME: In the final weekend sprint before Tuesday's primaries, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari, Julia Terruso and Chris Brennan have a good rundown of Saturday's frenetic burst of campaigning across the state. Among the notable developments:
- Lt. Gov. JOHN FETTERMAN was out sick. NYT's Katie Glueck has an interesting story on how he became the Democratic Senate frontrunner.
- Insurgent GOP Senate candidate KATHY BARNETTE called MEHMET OZ and DAVID MCCORMICK "two globalists," declared her conservative opponents part of the "swamp," and got a crowd to boo the mention of SEAN HANNITY for "sowing disinformation." More from CNN
- Oz blasted Barnette for an old Islamophobic tweet, calling it "disqualifying," "reprehensible" and "defamatory to an entire religion" in an interview with AP's Steve Peoples. Oz would be the first Muslim senator if elected.
2. SCOTUS FALLOUT: Hundreds of rallies around the country brought out abortion rights supporters Saturday to demonstrate against the potential Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Thousands marched to the high court building in D.C., USA Today reports in a nationwide roundup of the day's protests. Related read: WaPo's Mike DeBonis profiles Sen. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.), who has long led Democrats' abortion rights charge on the Hill and is now looking to move from behind-the-scenes negotiations to going on offense publicly. But she "acknowledged not only that the fight she has led during her 30 years in office is getting tougher but expressed fear and frustration that she might end her political career with women enjoying fewer rights than when she began it." 3. BRACING FOR 2023: NYT's Charlie Savage and Michael Schmidt go inside the White House's planning for a congressional GOP takeover next year and all its attendant investigations of the administration. RICHARD SAUBER has been hired from the VA as special counsel to the president "to oversee responses to subpoenas and other oversight efforts," as part of the legal team's prep for which lawyers in or outside the administration will handle what. (They also considered ANDREW GOLDSTEIN for the spot.) IAN SAMS has also joined the White House as a spokesperson focused on oversight. 4. STOP, DROP AND POLL: Having struggled to collect accurate information in recent years, pollsters are making historic changes to their operations for the midterms, trying out new techniques with an eye on the 2024 election, Steve Shepard reports from the American Association for Public Opinion Research's annual conference in Chicago. "Pollsters are trying new ways to collect data, like contacting potential respondents by text message instead of phone calls, and seeking new ways of adjusting the data after to make it more accurately reflect the whole electorate." A multi-modal approach to reach people multiple ways, not just by phone, is increasingly de rigeur. And polling firms are trying to get more specific about accounting for who's not responding. 5. 2022 WATCH: The Minnesota GOP on Saturday backed frontrunner SCOTT JENSEN for governor, throwing the party's support behind a doctor who's drawn national attention for speaking out against public health restrictions during the pandemic and Covid-19 vaccines. Once seen as a moderate in the state Senate, Jensen has tacked much harder to the right of late, the Star Tribune's Jessie Van Berkel and Hunter Woodall report. Republicans have struggled to win statewide in the state, but it could be a close race this year against Gov. TIM WALZ. 6. DOWN BALLOT: Influential state supreme court elections are attracting growing attention and spending around the country, AP's Andrew DeMillo and Gary Robertson report . North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas and Illinois will play host to some of the most notable races, which could have major ramifications for everything from elections and redistricting to abortion. The "state judicial races [have] become increasingly politicized," they write, as well as "a magnet for spending by national interest groups."
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   ICYMI: Majority of Americans reject so-called government "negotiation". | | | 7. MORE PRE-TUESDAY READING: In Rep. MADISON CAWTHORN's (R-N.C.) district, NYT's Jazmine Ulloa reports that "it was clear that his support had weakened" in interviews with voters, but nearly everyone has a "visceral reaction" to him one way or another. … The North Carolina Senate race features a notable divide on abortion, WaPo's Annie Linskey reports: Democrat CHERI BEASLEY is spotlighting it on the campaign trail, while Republican Rep. TED BUDD steers clear. … Idaho's primaries this week will feature pitched intra-GOP divides between typical conservatives and "a growing group of far-right radicals," NYT's Mike Baker reports. 8. HEADS UP: Former Rep. ABBY FINKENAUER made it back onto the ballot in Iowa's Democratic Senate primary after briefly being kicked off, but AP's Tom Beaumont reports that the kerfuffle has "prompted some prominent Democrats to give another look to her chief primary rival, retired Navy admiral MIKE FRANKEN." Finkenauer is still the higher-profile candidate, but Franken's quiet approach has kept him in the June 7 race; there's not been much polling. 9. THE NEW HOLLYWOOD: If you've got a conservative movie coming out, the only place to premiere it these days is Mar-a-Lago, which Meridith McGraw reports "has become the Grauman's Chinese Theater for the Hollywood-hating crowd." From DINESH D'SOUZA to DAVID BOSSIE to MATT SCHLAPP, documentary makers help to maintain DONALD TRUMP's position "at the epicenter of modern conservatism" by opening films and holding other social events nearly every night at Mar-a-Lago. Meridith writes that the glitzy evenings feature guests noshing on hors d'oeuvres among chandeliered ballrooms, where one might spot KYLE RITTENHOUSE chatting with LARA LOGAN or JENNA ELLIS "holding an American flag-bedazzled clutch." 10. VAL DEMINGS' UPHILL BATTLE: In Florida, Newsweek's Adrian Carrasquillo dives into Democrats' effort to unseat GOP Sen. MARCO RUBIO by trying — for the umpteenth time — to do a better job with Latino voters. "In Demings, 65, Democrats see a candidate with a law enforcement background that plays well with Latinos who care about public safety," he writes. But the party's extensive recent history of taking them for granted or failing to mobilize/persuade them sufficiently hangs over her campaign. And on-the-ground canvassers say voters don't know her and are more focused on making ends meet. WAR IN UKRAINE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS … — The latest British military intelligence assessment of Russia's war effort is withering: The country's offensive in eastern Ukraine has "lost momentum," and about a third of the forces it put forth in February have now probably been lost, they said today. More from Reuters — Ukraine has launched a new counteroffensive, aiming to sabotage Russian supply lines in the Izyum area. More from the WSJ — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN met with his Ukrainian counterpart in Berlin to discuss military aid to the country and Ukrainian food exports.
| | | | DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED: Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Kamala Harris ran into a high school girls' crew team along the Georgetown waterfront. Brian Morgenstern and Teresa Davis are touting their citrus sangria cocktail recipe ahead of the release of their new book, "Vignettes and Vino: Dinner Table Stories from the Trump White House with Recipes & Cocktail Pairings." Rita Braver is marking 50 years at CBS. Ted Cruz, rightly, loves the Eagles' "Desperado." TRANSITION — Ali Noorani will be program director for U.S. democracy at the Hewlett Foundation. He most recently was president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. WEEKEND WEDDING — Jackie Rooney, head of internal strategic response at Meta and a Mitt Romney alum, and Halter Cunningham, a senior manager at 160over90, an Endeavor company, got married Saturday in a beachside ceremony at the Hillsboro Club in Hillsboro Beach, Fla. They met through his sister and began their relationship while on a skiing trip to Deer Valley in spring 2019. Pic … Pic of Team Romney … SPOTTED: Sen. Mitt and Ann Romney, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Tammy Haddad, Ryan Williams, Matt Rhoades, Ben Ginsberg, John McCarthy, Will Ritter, Rich Beeson, Garrett Jackson, Tucker Bounds, Beth Myers, Ron Kaufman, Felix Browne, Liz Bourgeois, Annie Lewis, and Jake Kastan and Jenna Sakwa Kastan. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: WaPo's Eli Saslow and Ruth Marcus … NYT's Elisabeth Bumiller and Nick Confessore … Jen Stout … Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet … Rob Simms … Anne Marie Malecha … Nick Papas of Airbnb … Jacqueline Cortese … Varun Krovi … James Glueck … Herald Group's CC Jaeger … Philo Hall … Rachel Kelly of Rep. Derek Kilmer's (D-Wash.) office … Aaron Morrissey … Billy Brawner of Brawner Communications … Jennifer Jose … Diane Cullo … POLITICO's Susannah Buckley-Green … Morning Consult's Annie Scalambrino … Tara Clinton … former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius … David Watts … Linda Hall Daschle … Donna Leinwand Leger … Barry LaSala … Dan Rothschild of GMU's Mercatus Center Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Bethany Irvine, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: According to a new poll , voters overwhelmingly support policies that would lower out-of-pocket costs and bring greater transparency and accountability to the health insurance system.
We need to make the cost of medicine more predictable and affordable. Government price setting is the wrong way. The right way means covering more medicines from day one, making out-of-pocket costs more predictable and sharing negotiated savings with patients at the pharmacy counter.
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