| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | THE VIEW FROM IOWA — “Just three of the dozen or so GOP presidential candidates have announced plans to campaign in Iowa over this 4th of July holiday,” notes KIWA. A HEADLINE DeSANTIS WON’T LIKE — “Ron DeSantis wants to ax an agency that investigated Hunter Biden” by NBC’s Jonathan Allen and Matt Dixon SCOTUS BY THE NUMBERS — WaPo Robert Barnes’ breaks down how, despite the final thrust of controversial opinions, the Supreme Court actually delivered fewer opinions divided along ideological lines than it did last term. In fact, data from Empirical Scotus shows the 2023 term had the fewest “strict ideological splits” of any term in the last six years. WaPo: “A trio of ideologically divided, 6-3 decisions — rejecting affirmative action in college admissions, favoring the speech of the religious over anti-discrimination laws and torpedoing President [JOE] BIDEN’s plan to forgive student loan debt — showed the abiding dominance of the court’s conservative supermajority. But they were among only a handful of decisions — five, as opposed to 14 last term — in which those ideological lines held. … “‘I really do feel like that term was a tale of two courts — one that remains boldly conservative and willing to revamp its precedent to achieve long-standing conservative objectives, and another that is seeking to find common ground where possible and seemingly sensitive to the sustained attack on its legitimacy,’ said GREGORY G. GARRE, a Supreme Court practitioner who served as solicitor general under President GEORGE W. BUSH. ‘But on the most important questions to this court, it is the muscular conservative court that prevails.’”
|  Former President Donald Trump walks with his tie over his shoulder across the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday, April 28, 2018. | AP | SUNDAY NEWS QUIZ — Who said it? 1. “It is a spectacular combination of hubris and irresponsibility at a level that I have trouble even believing. They’ve made a financial and personal decision to destroy Joe Biden.” A. A Republican strategist on No Labels
B. A Democratic strategist on ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. and MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
C. A White House aide on SCOTUS 2. “He told me one time the reason he ties his ties so long is that it slenderizes him and I should do the same thing.” A. CHRIS CHRISTIE on DONALD TRUMP
B. RON DeSANTIS on Trump
C. ELON MUSK on Trump 3. “We’re going to love him. I know it’s half and half, but when I need some of those liberal votes, he’s always there to help me get them. We’ve got some pretty liberal people, but he’s good. We know the good ones.” A. KEVIN McCARTHY on HAKEEM JEFFRIES
B. Trump on LINDSEY GRAHAM
C. MITCH McCONNELL on CHUCK SCHUMER 4. “Every time I hear ‘Hail to the Chief,’ I turn around and look for you, wondering where the hell you are.” A. Trump during a recent meeting with MIKE PENCE
B. Biden during a recent meeting with BARACK OBAMA
C. Biden during a recent meeting with RON KLAIN 5. “I'm going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled up shirtless bodybuilders.” A. KARI LAKE on the new Netflix documentary about ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
B. An NYT review of Sen. JOSH HAWLEY’s book, “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs”
C. PETE BUTTIGIEG on a new DeSantis campaign video 6. [I was] “on the phone with those two until 12:45 in the morning … They both want to do it.” A. DNC Chair JAIME HARRISON on RFK Jr. and Williamson debating Biden
B. RUPERT MURDOCH on Trump and DeSantis attending the first GOP debate
C. UFC President DANA WHITE on MARK ZUCKERBERG and ELON MUSK fighting in a cage match 7. “An email to Twitter’s communications department seeking comment was returned with a poop emoji.” A. An NYT reporter in a story about whether Musk would fight Zuckerberg
B. An NYT reporter in a story about Musk rationing tweets
C. An NYT reporter in a story about Musk suggesting farming has “no meaningful impact on climate change.” 8. “I’m not interested in perfectly behaved men or women. I’m drawn to the ones who feel a bit dangerous.” A. Lindsey Graham during a rally with Donald Trump in South Carolina
B. LUNDEN ROBERTS on HUNTER BIDEN
C. Actress PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE, co-star of the new “Indiana Jones” movie Answers below, after birthdays.
| | | | A message from Meta: Augmented reality glasses will give you new ways to experience history.
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Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | TRENDWATCH — “Swole The Vote: Why Politicians Love Doing Pushups,” by HuffPost’s Igor Bobic and Arthur Delaney Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line with your Sunday news quiz scores: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. SUNDAY BEST … — Former VP MIKE PENCE on why he made his trip to Ukraine, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I think President Biden has failed miserably to explain our national interest here. He's given these gauzy speeches about democracy, the reason we're there — look, we're there because it's in our national interest to give the Ukrainian military the ability to rebut and defeat Russian aggression.” On the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling and whether there is discrimination in college admissions, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I really don't believe there is. I believe there was. I mean, there may have been a time when affirmative action was necessary simply to open the doors of all of our schools and universities, but I think that time has passed. … And we'll continue to move forward as a colorblind society, which is really, the aspiration I believe of every American.” — Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) on congressional oversight of the Supreme Court, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “If Chief [Justice] JOHN ROBERTS will not come before Congress for an investigation voluntarily, I believe that we should be considering subpoenas. We should be considering investigations. We must pass much more binding and stringent ethics guidelines where we see members of the Supreme Court potentially breaking the law, as we saw in the refusal with CLARENCE THOMAS to recuse himself from cases implicating his wife in Jan. 6. There also must be impeachment on the table.” — CHRIS CHRISTIE on the DeSantis anti-LGBTQ video, on “State of the Union”: “I'm not comfortable with it, and I'm not comfortable with the way both Gov. DeSantis and Donald Trump are moving our debate in this country. … It is a teenage food fight between Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. And I don't think that's what leaders should be doing.” — WILL HURD on whether he will abide by the RNC’s requirement for candidates to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee, on “State of the Union”: “I’m going to work toward hitting all the requirements, but I can’t lie to get access to a microphone. I have taken one oath, and that’s to protect the Constitution. I take one pledge. That’s when I put my hand on the heart and pledge to the flag of the United States. And I have recently taken one vow. That’s to my awesome, beautiful wife. I’m not going to support Donald Trump.” — NIKKI HALEY on her poll numbers, on “Fox News Sunday”: “We can look at past presidential elections and understand that national polls just don’t matter right now. … We’re not doing shortcuts. We’re doing it the old fashioned way, the hard way, and I am confident that by fall, you’re gonna see those numbers are completely different than what they are right now.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “Why Are Gen Xers Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley Running Like Grumpy Old Boomers?” by Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher
- “For Republicans, ‘Bomb the Mexicans’ is the new ‘Build the Wall,’” by LAT’s Jean Guerrero
- “The Post-Cold War Consensus Is Dead. What Will Take Its Place?” by Marco Rubio in The American Conservative
- “The Supreme Court Doesn’t Care That the Gay Wedding Website Case Is Based on Fiction,” by TNR’s Melissa Gira Grant
- “Skyhorse Publishing, the House of the Canceled,” by WSJ’s Daniel Akst
- “Why Democrats still need Joe Biden,” by WaPo’s David Byler
- “There’s a Time Bomb in Progressives’ Big Supreme Court Voting Case Win,” by Rick Hasen in Slate
- “Win or Lose, Chris Christie Is Running the Best Campaign Against Trump,” by The Daily Beast’s Matt Lewis
- “Jersey Boy Takes On Florida Man,” by NYT’s Maureen Dowd
- “The Next Battle Over Racial Preferences,” by Wai Wah Chin in City Journal
- “Elite Multiculturalism Is Over,” by The Atlantic’s Xochitl Gonzalez
- “Saudi Arabia’s PGA Golf Merger Is Proof Its Monarchy Is Untouchable,” by Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic
- “One of the Most Effective Political Fundraising Pitches Is Actually a Scam,” by Tim Griffin in Politico Mag
- “Conscience and Catholic Health Care,” by Jacqui Oesterblad in Commonweal
- “The Case for Responsible Partisanship,” by Julian Zelizer in Democracy
- “No Labels Is Chasing A Fantasy,” by FiveThirtyEight’s Geoffrey Skelley
| | BIDEN’S SUNDAY — The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SATURDAY — The VP has nothing on her public schedule. | | | | | | 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. | | | | | PHOTO OF THE DAY
|  A police officer stands in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Baltimore on Sunday, July 2, where a number of people were killed and dozens were injured during a block party just after midnight. | Julio Cortez/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. TRUMP’S SOUTH CAROLINA ROMP: Trump built his 2016 campaign on the ability to pack supporters into arenas and fields. Yesterday, in the home state of two of his 2024 competitors, he commandeered the equivalent of a small city, Natalie Allison writes from Pickens, S.C — a “movie-set-like Main Street of a town of 3,300,” where roughly 50,000 supporters turned out for a rally in “a show of force not only in his stronghold of rural America, but in an early primary state where he remains dominant.” The local coverage: “At rally in SC’s reddest corner, Trump lashes out at indictments,” by the Post and Courier’s Alexander Thompson 2. A TALE OF TWO FAMILIES: Hunter Biden's daughter in Arkansas is aware of her relation to the president and his son, but she has not met either of them. Hunter and the child’s mother recently put an end to a yearslong court battle over the child that will see Hunter provide financial support. The saga “is a tale of two families, one of them powerful, one of them not,” NYT’s Katie Rogers reports from Arkansas. “But at its core, the story is about money, corrosive politics and what it means to have the Biden birthright.” 3. SCOTUS STUNNER: WaPo’s Victoria Bisset and Jaclyn Peiser confirm a report in The New Republic that one of the central figures at the heart of the LGBTQ rights case out of Colorado that the Supreme Court ruled on this week was a fabrication. “The court filing in STEWART’s name has left many baffled, including Stewart himself, who said he was concerned that the case had proceeded without anyone verifying if the request was authentic. ‘There is a responsibility on the part of LORIE SMITH’s lawyers and legal representatives to do their due diligence and make sure that this evidence is accurate,’ he said.” Read the original New Republic report 4. THE DEBATE DEBATE: The first Republican primary debate is on the verge of implosion as candidates struggle to reach the requisite targets for campaign donors and polling strength — and waffle over the pledge to back the eventual GOP nominee. “A stage that was once expected to be as sprawling as it was in the 2016 GOP primary could end up a slimmed-down affair, with the longshots not qualifying and the frontrunner following through on his threats to boycott,” Natalie Allison and Alex Isenstadt write. “In all, the events could draw far fewer viewers than in years past — and take on far less significance in altering the outcome of the campaign.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | 5. McCARTHY’S MESSY MAJORITY: Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY could throw a major wrench into negotiations over the National Defense Authorization Act if he caves to conservatives by “letting them load up the bill with provisions that strip Biden-era personnel policies out of the military,” our colleagues Connor O’Brien and Joe Gould write. To state the obvious: The more that Republicans needle Biden through amendments, the less bipartisan support there’s likely to be for the bill. “The dilemma underscores the balance GOP leaders must strike between lawmakers on their right, many of whom rarely vote for the defense bill, and the Democrats they’ll ultimately need for any bill to become law,” write Connor and Joe. The wide-angle view: “House Republicans Demand Deep Cuts to Spending Bills They Rarely Support,” by NYT’s Catie Edmondson, Carl Hulse and Alicia Parlapiano 6. SPACE TO WATCH: “‘Parental rights’ group Moms for Liberty plans nationwide strategy for school board races in 2024,” by AP’s Ali Swenson in Philadelphia: Co-founder TIFFANY JUSTICE’s pledge that the influential group will put PAC money into school board races “confirm that Moms for Liberty, which has spent its first two years inflaming school board meetings with aggressive complaints about instruction on systemic racism and gender identity in the classroom, is developing a larger strategy to overhaul education infrastructure across the country.” 7. GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER: Former President BARACK OBAMA was back in the spotlight this week, visiting his former VP at the White House, popping into the Biden social media channels and soliciting donations for the reelection campaign. The flurry of activity is no coincidence, Myah Ward and Sam Stein write. “Confidantes and aides expect Obama’s political appearances to be strategic, with an emphasis on leaning in at opportune moments and with an eye on tackling some of the political work that Biden has trouble with. That means reaching out to younger voters, enlisting the next generation of Democratic leaders and spreading his and Biden’s message on unconventional platforms in addition to the campaign events, fundraisers and rallies.” 8. IMMIGRATION FILES: “U.S. explores refugee program for non-Mexican asylum seekers in Mexico,” by Reuters’ Ted Hesson and Dave Graham: “The program would likely be open to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan refugees in Mexico, the sources said. Migrants would need to show they were in Mexico before June 6 to qualify, one of the sources said.” 9. THE SUNUNU ALSO RISES: New Hampshire Gov. CHRIS SUNUNU has been a popular feature on the campaign trail despite his decision to skip a presidential run this cycle. Instead, his power rests in his perch. The rest of the Republican field has been “calling Sununu, or meeting with him when they’re campaigning in New Hampshire, asking for his advice and suggestions, and maybe even for his support down the road,” Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser writes from Manchester, N.H., adding that Sununu said he is open to a formal endorsement before the primary — a stance that Iowa Gov. KIM REYNOLDS does not share.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Chris Christie announced his willingness to make peace with Snooki. Larry Summers called for eliminating legacy preferences in admissions at elite colleges. Robert Garcia is curious about the identity of Maxwell Frost’s freshman bestie. John Adams’ letter to a teenage bride-to-be sold for $40,000 this week. TRANSITIONS — Giancarlo Mandato is now a staff and press assistant for Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.). He most recently was an intern for Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.). … Julianne Heberlein is now comms director for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.). She most recently was senior media relations associate at SIFMA. … Daphne McCurdy is joining the State Department’s Office of China Coordination as a senior adviser. She previously was foreign policy adviser for Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). WEEKEND WEDDING — Colin Campbell, editorial director at Yahoo, and Sarah Jorgensen, a producer at CNN, got married in their home of Beacon, N.Y., yesterday. Hunter Walker was the best man and gave a toast describing how he introduced the couple after meeting Sarah in a pandemic group chat dedicated to “90 Day Fiancé.” Polo Sandoval, Sarah’s longtime field partner at CNN, delivered a toast about how she broke their “Covid bubble” to go on a first date with Colin in late 2020. Sam Ro officiated the ceremony. Pic … SPOTTED: Sharon Weinberger, Dan Klaidman, Pam Engel, Allan Smith, Pilar Melendez, Michael Kelley and Patricia Guerra. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Micah Stockett, senior director of external comms at GE and a Bob Corker alum, and Clay Stockett, an entrepreneur and alum of FourBridges Capital Advisors, on Thursday welcomed Reed “Mac” McLellan Stockett. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Playbook’s own Setota Hailemariam … Jonathan Capehart … Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Randy Weber (R-Texas) (7-0) and Mike Collins (R-Ga.) … Eric Fanning of the Aerospace Industries Association … Brad Todd of On Message … The Verge’s Brooke Minters … Scott McGee of Kelley Drye … Derek Gianino of Wells Fargo … Matthew Dybwad … Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots … Courtney Geduldig of Micron Technology … Snap’s Gina Woodworth … Arkadi Gerney ... Sam Nitz ... Emily Stanitz … Reed Howard … former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu … former Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) … Luci Baines Johnson … Jeremy Garlington (54) … NBC’s Tom Llamas and Keith Morrison … Abbey Rogers of DDC Public Affairs … Billy Constangy of Rep. Richard Hudson’s (R-N.C.) office … Collin Davenport of Rep. Gerry Connolly’s (D-Va.) office … Chuck Nadd … Katherine Lehr Answers to Sunday News Quiz: 1: A, 2: A, 3: B, 4: B, 5: C, 6: C, 7: B, 8: C 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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