| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
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Instead of owning up to failure, Kevin McCarthy appears to be looking for a scapegoat and has been trash-talking his own GOP colleagues behind the scenes. | Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | | | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | EYES ON NASHVILLE — Yesterday, we watched in real time as a procedural issue in a state legislature blossomed into a national flashpoint on guns, free speech, race and democracy itself. The lede, via the Tennessean’s Melissa Brown: “Ten days after a shooter unloaded 152 rounds inside a Nashville school and killed six people, Tennessee House Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers for breaking House rules and mounting a gun-reform protest on the chamber's floor.” Both lawmakers, JUSTIN JONES and JUSTIN PEARSON, are Black men in their 20s. House Republicans opted not to boot a third Democrat who took part in the demonstration, state Rep. GLORIA JOHNSON. Johnson is a white woman in her 60s. Asked to explain the difference in the outcomes, Johnson was blunt: “It might have to do with the color of our skin.” (Republican legislators justified the discrepancy by explaining that unlike Jones or Pearson, Johnson didn’t use a bullhorn.) More from Liz Crampton President JOE BIDEN slammed the move in a statement last night: “Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.” Worth your time: Jeff Greenfield’s latest analysis for POLITICO Magazine: “The Tennessee Expulsion Is a Glimpse of the Future” McCARTHY’S BLAME GAME — Within days of KEVIN McCARTHY clinching the speakership, some of his allies began to fret: How the hell was he going to live up to all the promises he'd made to conservatives to win their support? How, in particular, would he pass a budget that would balance within 10 years — a tricky feat even before he took cuts to Social Security and Medicare off the table? Now, McCarthy’s chickens are coming home to roost. Under pressure from Biden and a rapidly approaching debt limit deadline, Republicans are struggling to unite behind a fiscal blueprint. Some worry they may not release any budget — let alone one that balances in a decade, let alone one that can pass. Instead of owning up to failure, McCarthy appears to be looking for a scapegoat. Behind the scenes, he’s been trash-talking his own GOP colleagues, according to a blockbuster story by NYT’s Jonathan Swan and Annie Karni yesterday. — McCarthy has “no confidence” in Budget Chair JODEY ARRINGTON (R-Texas), whose TV appearances he mocks as “unhelpful,” and whom he regards “as incompetent, according to more than half a dozen people familiar with his thinking.” — And House Majority Leader STEVE SCALISE comes in for special scorn: “McCarthy has told colleagues and allies that he cannot rely on Mr. Scalise, describing the majority leader as ineffective, checked out and reluctant to take a position on anything.”
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Explore 30+ tools. | | | LET’S UNPACK THIS: After working the phones last night and talking to more than a half-dozen senior Republican lawmakers and aides, we can give you a bit of context this morning on the “Mean Girls” drama playing out in McCarthy’s leadership circle... There’s a reason McCarthy is singling out Arrington and Scalise — and it’s about more than just disagreements over policy or strategy. People close to McCarthy tell us that he perceives both men as disloyal (and we know from covering McCarthy for almost a decade that he holds grudges). McCarthy never forgave Scalise for an incident years ago when the Louisiana Republican refused to rule out challenging McCarthy for GOP leader. And he feels that Scalise didn’t do enough to help him win the gavel this year. As for Arrington, the Texas Republican privately floated Scalise for speaker when McCarthy was unable to lock down the votes for himself in January. We’re told that McCarthy allies won’t forget this anytime soon. McCarthy’s issues with Arrington have been apparent for a while. Several weeks ago, when Arrington suggested Republicans wouldn’t introduce a budget until May, McCarthy pushed back and said they’d do so in April — leaving Arrington’s staff scrambling to clean up the mess. Something similar happened when Arrington told reporters that Republicans were finalizing a debt ceiling offer of sorts, what he dubbed a “deal sheet,” for Biden. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” McCarthy quipped when asked about Arrington’s comments. That jab caught several senior Republicans off guard, not just because McCarthy was publicly rebuking one of his own chairs, but because the speaker was, in fact, already crafting an opening offer of sorts to Biden that was soon publicly released. McCarthy’s defenders say that Arrington, a fiscal conservative with a reputation for wanting to move quickly, is stirring up trouble in the conference. They argue that McCarthy has to protect his frontliners and that Arrington hasn’t been sensitive enough to their political needs. They also note that some in the GOP leadership have been unimpressed with Arrington’s private budget presentations. But Arrington’s defenders say it’s unfair for McCarthy to blame him. They note that it’s odd for the speaker to call him “incompetent” despite repeatedly asking him to give presentations on fiscal matters to Republicans at both the House GOP leadership retreat earlier this year and the full GOP conference retreat in Orlando a few days ago. (At the latter, there was little pushback on a menu of options Arrington presented, and some members even stood to praise his proposals.) Another Arrington defender noted that GOP leadership is typically involved in drafting the budget given how difficult it can be to muster support on the chamber floor — especially with a slim, five-seat majority like the Republicans currently have. And yet McCarthy has given little guidance to Arrington, according to a senior GOP aide. “Jodey has been working in good faith, and has largely been hamstrung by Kevin,” the aide tells Playbook. “He’s trying to find a way to fuck with Arrington because they need someone else to blame.” Republicans we spoke to found McCarthy’s lack of pushback on the NYT story to be quite conspicuous. McCarthy, they note, rarely speaks ill of his members in meetings, and if he does, it rarely leaks. His paltry response to the Times did not go unnoticed. “He made a bunch of promises during the speaker race that were always untenable, but he made them anyway,” one senior Republican aide told us. “At a certain point, a lot of that stuff is going to collide, and he’s getting nervous and looking for others to blame.” Senior Republicans always knew that passing a budget with a slim majority was going to be difficult. But the interesting part of all this palace intrigue is that it’s not factions inside the rank-and-file causing the problems; it’s McCarthy’s own leadership team that’s in disarray, which doesn’t bode well for House Republicans’ budget efforts — or their bid to extract concessions from Biden on the debt ceiling. And without a unified GOP front, Democrats won’t take Republican demands for spending cuts seriously. “Allies of @SpeakerMcCarthy trying to cast blame on others — before there is any actual blame to cast - doesn’t instill confidence House Rs are ready for primetime,” WaPo’s Paul Kane tweeted. Happy Good Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | A SCHMEAR CAMPAIGN — Sam Stein on how D.C. — finally! — became a “legitimate center of bagel excellence.” TALK OF THIS TOWN — Michael Schaffer’s latest column: “Bring Back Crossfire!: Jon Stewart was right: Cable-TV debate shows were like pro wrestling. And our political landscape is much worse without them.” LUCK OF THE IRISH — “How 27,000 bricks from Biden’s great-great-great grandfather helped build the cathedral where he’ll speak in Ireland next week: Deal made family $25K - before they sailed to the U.S. to start new life,” by the Daily Mail’s Rob Crilly NUMBERS THE WHITE HOUSE WON’T LIKE — “CNN Poll: One-third of Americans say Biden deserves to be reelected in 2024,” by Jennifer Agiesta THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: VIVEK RAMASWAMY — In one sense, the 2024 Republican presidential primary is off to a bit of a slow start. A few big-name candidates have entered the race: DONALD TRUMP, NIKKI HALEY and ASA HUTCHINSON. Several others — including Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS and former VP MIKE PENCE — are technically still on the sidelines. And almost every Republican senator who flirted with a possible run — TOM COTTON, TED CRUZ, JOSH HAWLEY, et al. — has passed, with the notable exception of TIM SCOTT, who’s been making stops in Iowa and New Hampshire. Into this vacuum steps … Vivek Ramaswamy. Who? You probably don’t know much about him — he’s a young entrepreneur from Ohio who’s never run for anything. But there are a few reasons to keep an eye on him. He has a half-billion-dollar fortune, and says he’s willing to spend millions on a presidential bid. He’s a regular on the Fox News Channel. And he seems to be assembling serious campaign pros.
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| On this week’s Deep Dive podcast, Ramaswamy tells Ryan about his plan to break out of the single digits and take down Trump and DeSantis. Is this wishful thinking, or could Ramaswamy be onto something? Find out on this week’s episode. Listen here … Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
| | BIDEN’S FRIDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ FRIDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule.
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Former Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Gloria Johnson and former Rep. Justin Pearson raise their hands outside the House chamber after Jones and Pearson were expelled from the legislature Thursday, April 6, in Nashville. | George Walker IV/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | MORE POLITICS THANKS BUT NO THANKS — “Why Gavin Newsom may give red state Democrats the blues,” by Lara Korte and Jeremy White in Sacramento NOT SLOWING DOWN — We wrote in yesterday’s Playbook about the political reckoning that recent Republican losses might force on the party’s abortion stance. But our colleague David Siders reports that no such reconsideration is coming: Even as some strategists warn of backlash, the issue remains a litmus test for base voters, and the GOP is moving forward with full force on new abortion bans or restrictions in states from Idaho to North Carolina. To wit: Florida is zooming forward on a near-total six-week abortion ban, which could pass the legislature as early as next week and head to DeSantis’ desk, Gary Fineout reports. CASH DASH — “Adam Schiff eclipses California Senate rivals with $6.5 million haul,” by the Washington Examiner’s Ryan King: It brings “his war chest up to $24.5 million in financial firepower on hand. … His campaign hailed the fundraising as ‘the most any Democratic Senate candidate has ever raised at this point in the cycle.’” — ADAM FRISCH, a Democrat running again to challenge Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-Colo.), raised more than $1.7 million in the first quarter. THE WHITE HOUSE PLAY BALL — The Education Department yesterday laid out new proposed regulations for transgender students’ participation in school sports. It was a nuanced set of guidelines that drew mixed reactions and very different framing from one news outlet to the next, leading the rules to be viewed alternately as a canny Biden pivot toward the center … or an assertive stance against Republican states … or a betrayal of trans kids. The guidance blocks blanket bans on transgender athletes participating on teams that align with their gender identity, which would run contrary to (and, the admin says, supersede) recent legislation in many GOP-led states. But in what the administration frames as a compromise, it offers especially high schools and colleges more wiggle room to limit trans students in specific circumstances — perhaps depending on age, sport and level of competitiveness. More from WaPo On the same day that the Biden administration left some transgender advocates disappointed, the Supreme Court offered a victory, declining to take up a petition from West Virginia to kick a transgender girl off her middle school track team. More from Bloomberg VETO PEN STRIKES AGAIN — “Biden vetoes bill that sought to toss EPA water protections,” by AP’s Matthew Daly CONGRESS THIS SKY AIN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US — Sens. STEVE DAINES (R-Mont.) and JON TESTER (D-Mont.) have a deepening and chilly rivalry as Tester runs for reelection and Daines, the NRSC chair, tries to unseat him, Burgess Everett reports this morning. It’s unusual for blood to run this bad between a pair of home-state senators. As Sen. JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) reflects, “None of this stuff’s easy. It’s not for sissies.” WILL THE BLUE SLIP GET THE PINK SLIP? — “White House pulls its punches over GOP judicial nomination blockade,” by Jennifer Haberkorn: “Biden aides are refusing to weigh in on whether Senate Democrats should continue to allow Republicans to use a procedural tool to clog the judicial nomination pipeline after Sen. CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R-Miss.) said she would not return the so-called blue slip on district court nominee SCOTT COLOM. … But it comes amid growing agitation among Democrats over the White House’s hands-off approach.” OVERSIGHT FIGHT — “Democrats allege Comer has withheld evidence, misrepresented witnesses,” by WaPo’s Jackie Alemany THE BIG PAYBACK — “House finalizes new expenses plan, bringing Congress more in line with the American workforce,” by Katherine Tully-McManus MARK YOUR CALENDARS — “South Korean president invited to address U.S. Congress,” AP: “McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and other leaders announced Thursday they have invited Republic of Korea President YOON SUK YEOL to address a joint meeting of Congress in honor of the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the U.S. and the Republic of Korea. The session is set for April 27.” TRUMP CARDS GUESS WHO’S BACK? — TUCKER CARLSON will interview Trump on his show on Tuesday at 8 p.m. THAT MUST HAVE REALLY HELPED — “Judge in Trump’s New York case appears to have donated $15 to Biden for President in 2020,” by NBC’s Ben Kamisar and Adam Reiss JUDICIARY SQUARE THOMAS FALLOUT — Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) told The Lever that if somebody doesn’t introduce articles of impeachment for Justice CLARENCE THOMAS soon, she will, in the wake of ProPublica’s bombshell reporting about his luxury vacations from a Republican megadonor. And the L.A. Times’ David Savage digs up a striking piece of his reporting from two decades ago, now cast in a new light: “Los Angeles Times reported about Justice Thomas’ gifts 20 years ago. After that he stopped disclosing them.”
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH SECRET SERVICE SECRETS — “Probe widens into federal watchdog over missing Jan. 6 Secret Service texts,” by WaPo’s Lisa Rein POLICY CORNER CLIMATE FILES — “Biden Is Set to Propose Toughest-Ever Rules on Car Pollution to Spur EVs,” by Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dlouhy PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Inside the Cattiest Fight in D.C.,” by Slate’s Jim Newell: “Virginia and Maryland, once friendly rivals, have been locked in a quiet battle over the FBI. It’s getting a lot louder.” WAR IN UKRAINE LOOSE LIPS — “Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation,” by NYT’s Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt: “Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on social media channels … Biden officials were working to get them deleted but had not, as of Thursday evening, succeeded.” AMERICA AND THE WORLD PULLOUT FALLOUT — The NSC put out a summary of its major after-action review of the chaotic Afghanistan pullout yesterday as it sent the classified findings to Congress. But the Biden administration’s report lays a lot of the blame at the feet of the Trump administration, and ultimately validates Biden’s choice to withdraw. Still, the 12-page review admits some mistakes, finding that the U.S. should have started evacuations earlier and that intelligence painted a too-optimistic picture of what would happen. Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN told employees privately yesterday that State “could and should have” done more in Afghanistan, at times defending the administration or consoling his staff, Alex Ward reveals. The summary report attracted stinging GOP criticism. A Trump spokesperson said the Biden administration was gaslighting Americans, and that Biden was responsible for American deaths. And the House Oversight Committee announced another hearing on Afghanistan for April 19. CNN on the report … Read the summary DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS — “China sanctions Reagan library, others over Tsai’s US trip,” by AP’s Huizhong Wu: “China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the Reagan library and the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, were sanctioned for ‘providing a platform and convenience to Taiwan separatist activities.’ It said Chinese institutions were prohibited from having any cooperation or contact with them.” TAKING A BACK SEAT — “‘Win-win’: Washington is just fine with the China-brokered Saudi-Iran deal,” by Alex Ward EVAN GERSHKOVICH LATEST — “Russian Court to Hear Appeal on Detention of WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich,” by WSJ’s Ann Simmons THE ECONOMY GROWING THEIR ROLLS, SLOWING THEIR ROLL — “Higher March Jobless Claims Add to Signs of Cooling Labor Market,” by WSJ’s Gwynn Guilford MEDIAWATCH CATCH AND RELEASE — “No More Hush Money at National Enquirer, Its New Publisher Says,” by NYT’s Benjamin Mullin SUNDAY SO FAR … MSNBC “Symone”: Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. NBC “Meet the Press”: Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) … Jim Trusty. Panel: Brendan Buck, Laura Jarrett, Amna Nawaz and Symone Sanders-Townsend. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) … Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) … Kathie Lee Gifford and Rabbi Jason Sobel. Panel: Juan Williams, Josh Kraushaar, Morgan Ortagus and Marc Thiessen. MSNBC “Inside with Jen Psaki”: California Gov. Gavin Newsom. CBS “Face the Nation”: Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) … Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). Panel: Jon Meacham, Richard Norton Smith, Doug Brinkley and Lindsay Chervinsky. ABC “This Week”: Bill Barr … Jim Trusty … Rob Manfred. Panel: Chris Christie, Karen Finney, Rick Klein and Leigh Ann Caldwell.
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Evan Gershkovich has been named the National Press Club’s 2023 John Aubuchon honoree, its highest honor of press freedom. Sean Spicer is leaving Newsmax for “a new project.” Say goodbye to the Georgetown Transformers. The Library of Congress main reading room will be open to visitors starting Tuesday. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Jen Wlach is launching Maven Media Strategies, a new comms consulting firm. She previously was a partner at Mercury, and is an ABC News alum. MEDIA MOVE — Scott Bland is now a senior politics editor at NBC News. He previously was national politics editor at POLITICO. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — The White House office of legislative affairs’ Senate team has added David Bonine and Vernon Baker as special assistants to the president. Bonine previously was deputy assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the State Department and is a Chris Murphy alum. Baker previously was a legislative assistant for Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). TRANSITIONS — Sam Dubke is now deputy comms director and speechwriter for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He most recently was speechwriter/comms adviser for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. … Lawrence Montreuil is now director of government and external affairs at the Cato Institute. He previously was legislative director at the American Legion. … … Seth Levey is now head of U.S. government relations and corporate affairs at Glencore. He previously was head of public policy and sustainability at thredUP, and is an Equinor, ExxonMobil and KKR alum. … Howard Byck will be SVP of partnerships and head of development at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. He previously was SVP of corporate and sports alliances at the American Cancer Society. … Julien Rashid will be public affairs manager at Illumina. He previously was U.S. policy and advocacy officer at the Global Health Technologies Coalition. ENGAGED — Amie Stepanovich, VP for U.S. policy at the Future of Privacy Forum, and Adam Cumurcu, a data engineer at CGI, got engaged Wednesday night at the Lincoln Memorial. They met online, and on their first date went to frozen yogurt, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Midlands Beer Garden. Pics … Another pic WELCOME TO THE FAMILY — Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) and his wife Kelly adopted Jayna, 3, and Aliya, 2. The Des Moines Register has the full story. Pic — Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, and Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, welcomed Leya Vignarajah O’Mara on Monday. She came in at 7 lbs, 11 oz and 20 inches, and joins big sisters Alana and Riley. Pic … Another pic — Caroline Quat, director of federal government affairs and policy at AstraZeneca, and Seth Dolan, account manager at Amazon Web Services, welcomed Kendall Dolan on Saturday. He joins big brother Miles. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) … CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Noah Gray, Brad Parks and Cliff Hackel … POLITICO’s Daniel Lippman and Fernando Rodas … Cavalry’s Josh Holmes … Darren Samuelsohn … Meghan Green … DLCC’s Leslie Martes … Michael Meehan … former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels … Mike Abboud … John Caddock of Rep. Alex Mooney’s (R-W.Va.) office … HuffPost’s Paige Lavender … Maggie Severns … Giffords’ Brandi Porter … Katie Bailey … Michael Ciamarra of the Senate Appropriations GOP … Raymond Rodriguez of Rep. Mike Levin’s (D-Calif.) office … Richard Reyes-Gavilan … Tom Snedeker of the Herald Group ... Jessica Chasmar ... Eugene Kiely … Valerie Nelson … former Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) … Dana Gray ... Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli … Mother Jones’ Jeremy Schulman … Hodding Carter III … Rene Redwood … FWD.us’ Todd Schulte … Alan Hoffman … Bill McQuillen of Invariant … Sara Croom … Bridgestone’s Tom Lehner … Bill Bryant … former California Gov. Jerry Brown … Daniel Ellsberg (91) 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 DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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