| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | Presented by ExxonMobil | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
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“Saturday Night Live” took a brutal crack at Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) for her overcoached SOTU response speech. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | If Saturdays are for the boys — indeed, President JOE BIDEN’s and DONALD TRUMP’s dueling campaign rallies drove the headlines yesterday — then apparently, Sunday mornings are for the ladies. The theme of the morning seems to be congressional Republican women — and how tricky it is to navigate politics in the age of Trump. Last night, “Saturday Night Live” took a brutal crack at Sen. KATIE BRITT (R-Ala.) for her overcoached SOTU response speech. This morning, the NYT dives deep into MAGA firebreather KARI LAKE’s attempt to “make peace” as the Arizonan seeks to join the ranks of the more moderate-minded Senate. And we’re still shaking our heads over news that Trump has endorsed Rep. NANCY MACE (R-S.C.), who was one of his biggest critics post-Jan. 6. Let’s unpack this … SNL SLAYS BRITT — “Tonight, I’ll be auditioning for the part of Scary Mom. And I’ll be performing an original monologue called, ‘This country is hell.’” That’s how SCARLETT JOHANSSON kicked off SNL’s parody of Britt’s speech, in which the Alabaman refers to herself as not just a senator, but “a wife, a mother and the craziest bitch in the Target parking lot.” The roast cracked fun at Britt for delivering her address in an empty kitchen (“women love kitchen,” she explained), and for the now-found-to-be-misleading story about a sex-trafficked girl. “Rest assured that every detail is real — except the year, where it took place and who was president when it happened.” Speaking of which … A CROCK OF BRITT: Under heavy scrutiny from the press, the story in Britt’s speech that tied a girl’s sex trafficking to border failures under Biden earned a whopping four Pinocchios from WaPo’s Glenn Kessler. The Fact Checker found that her account — which Britt’s office stands by — totally misled voters, since it had nothing to do with the U.S. or the past three years (the victim in question was trafficked in Mexico during the GEORGE W. BUSH administration). The White House is having some fun with this. This morning, they’re emailing around five stories of fact-checkers scrutinizing Britt’s claims. In a statement to Playbook, spokesperson ANDREW BATES slammed Britt for opposing the bipartisan border deal: “Instead of telling more debunked lies to justify opposing the toughest bipartisan border legislation in modern history, Senator Britt should stop choosing human smugglers and fentanyl traffickers over our national security and the Border Patrol Union.” This morning, SHANNON BREAM asked Britt about this misperception on “Fox News Sunday.” Britt’s response? That she didn’t mean to give any impression that the horrific sex trafficking story was Biden’s fault. Hmm. LAKE IS READY TO MAKE NICE — This morning, Kellen Browning gives Lake the Times treatment in a piece that declares that the Arizona senator is trying a “new tactic: mending fences.” While Lake achieved national recognition in 2022 for parroting Trump’s false stolen election claims and bashing the establishment as part of her 2022 gubernatorial primary bid, she’s now “courting former foes,” Browning writes. The pivot includes reaching out to people like former Gov. DOUG DUCEY, whom she once dubbed “do-nothing Ducey,” and her 2022 primary foes that she accused of trying to buy an election. There’s even an olive branch for MEGHAN McCAIN, after Lake mocked JOHN McCAIN’s legacy and invited his backers to “get the hell out” of Arizona. (Though, FWIW, McCain doesn’t seem interested in reconciling with Lake.) This is what Lake sounds like now: “Things have gotten so much worse under Joe Biden that we’re at a point where we don’t have time to have past arguments getting in the way of us moving forward as a country,” Lake told Browning, describing herself as — get this — a person who “enjoys … bringing people together.” The makeover covers up only so much, however. CNN’s Mel Zanona interviewed Lake as well, and finds that she’s still parroting conspiracy theories about a “rigged” 2020 election — even as Hill Republicans encourage her to stop looking backward and only speak about the future. “I think it was a rigged election,” Lake told Zanona. “I believe it was … I do continue to talk about it when I’m on the campaign trail in Arizona. … When I’m on the campaign trail, the people care deeply about it.” Still, Lake’s strategy shift appears to be working in some respects, as Browning notes: She has the backing of the NRSC and was campaigning with future GOP Whip JOHN BARRASSO (R-Wyo.) last month. She also met with Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL a few days ago, which is just … wow.
| | | | A message from ExxonMobil: At ExxonMobil, we’ve captured more CO2 than any other company, so we have the expertise to help some of the most carbon-intensive sectors. With more than 30 years' experience, we’re a global leader in carbon capture and storage. Now, we’re advancing projects around the world, including in Louisiana and Texas, to help us and our customers reduce emissions. Let’s deliver. | | | Speaking of odd bedfellows … TRUMP ENDORSES MACE — Now that’s a headline we never thought we’d write. And yet, the former president backed Mace’s reelection on Truth Social yesterday afternoon, calling her a “strong conservative voice” who has “worked hard campaigning across South Carolina in support of our Record-Breaking WIN.” We’ll remind you that just a couple years ago, Trump backed a primary challenge to Mace after she criticized him for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and argued he should never hold office again. Mace survived, but ended up doing an only-in-politics U-turn when it comes to the former president, confusing her own staff and colleagues by moving to embrace Trump. She continued that ring-kissing pivot during the presidential primary, backing Trump over former South Carolina Gov. NIKKI HALEY — even as her district went to Haley over the former president. This morning on ABC’s “This Week,” Mace defended her reversal. “I listened to my voters in South Carolina, and they’ve moved beyond Jan. 6,” Mace told host GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, arguing that even if Trump is convicted, “it doesn’t affect the American people.” But Stephanopoulos pointed out another reason Mace’s endorsement is perplexing: Mace has openly talked for years about being a survivor of rape — and Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse. “You don’t find it offensive that Donald Trump has been found liable for rape?” Stephanopoulos asked in the contentious interview. Mace dished it right back. “I find it offensive that, as a rape victim, you’re trying to shame me for my political choices, and I’ve said again, repeatedly, E. JEAN CARROLL has made a mockery out of rape by joking about it.” (Mace continued the spat on X, referencing Stephanopoulos’ work for BILL CLINTON in the 1990s.) More from David Cohen The new Trump-Mace alliance presents a problem for former Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY, who’s trying to enact revenge on the members who ousted him from the speakership. McCarthy encouraged Mace’s challenger, her former chief of staff DAN HANLON, to run, WaPo reported. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) on Israel and Hamas, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I think Israel will be coming up with some sea corridor relief ideas. But the line that struck me the most in the State of the Union, [Biden] told Hamas, ‘If you release the hostages, the war will be over.’ I literally about fell out of my seat. Is the president saying that if the hostages are released by Hamas, they can stay in power? That ends the conflict? … They have to be destroyed militarily. They can’t be in charge. So I’m challenging the Biden administration today to clear this up.” — Sen. JAMES LANKFORD (R-Okla.) on saying “that’s true” during Biden’s State of the Union section about his immigration bill, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I could hear some of my colleagues around me saying, ‘None of that is true,’ and I was actually listening to the president and said, no, that part is actually true. It would have hired all of those additional agents. It would have expedited the process. It would have also changed the asylum standard … The problem is, the president also left out some of the things that he could do right now he’s choosing not to do.” — Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-Ga.) on whether Fulton County, Georgia, DA FANI WILLIS is still the right person to try the 2020 election subversion cases, on “State of the Union”: “I’m never surprised when I see Donald Trump attacking women, especially Black women. This is who he is. And I know that there are those who are trying to put their finger on the scale here. But this is what I’m going to do: I’m going to watch the American judicial process play out. Donald Trump deserves a hearing before a jury of his peers.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “The Brink,” by W.J. Hennigan for the NYT
- “The Miracle Weight-Loss Drug Is Also a Major Budgetary Threat,” by Brian Deese, Jonathan Gruber and Ryan Cummings for the NYT
- “Sonia Sotomayor Must Retire,” by Josh Barro for Very Serious
- “A CPAC Hero Threatens a Latin Democracy,” by Mary Anastasia O’Grady for the WSJ
- “The Myth of Israel’s ‘Moral Army,’” by Avner Gvaryahu for Foreign Affairs
- “It’s Past Time to Quit Hoping the Courts Are Going to Stop Trump,” by Rick Hasen and Dahlia Lithwick for Slate
- “Let AI remake the whole U.S. government (oh, and save the country),” by Josh Tyrangiel for WaPo
- “How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers,” by Abraham Wyner for Tablet
- “What Would Nancy Reagan Do?” by Gahl Hodges Burt for the NYT
- “We Need to Talk About This Republican Candidate’s Antisemitism,” by Michelle Goldberg for the NYT
- “The New Rules of Online Campaigning,” by Sasha Issenberg for the WSJ
- “How do you cover a candidate everyone knows — and no one remembers?” by Cam Joseph for the Columbia Journalism Review
- “NATO Can Have Ukraine or the USA — Not Both,” by Mike Lee for the American Conservative
- “‘People Are Hoping That Israel Nukes Us So We Get Rid of This Pain,’” by Nick Kristof for the NYT
| | | | A message from ExxonMobil: The world needs ways to reduce carbon emissions. At ExxonMobil, we’re working on solutions in our own operations – like carbon capture and clean energy from hydrogen – that could also help in other industries like manufacturing, commercial transportation and power generation, too. Helping deliver heavy industry with low emissions. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS have nothing on their public schedules.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | |  President Joe Biden told MSNBC that he shouldn’t have called the undocumented immigrant charged with killing Laken Riley an “illegal.” | Shawn Thew/Pool via AP Photo, File | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. BIDEN’S BIG SPEECH: In the first 24 hours after his State of the Union speech, the Biden reelection effort pulled in a massive $10 million in contributions, NBC’s Kristen Welker and Scott Bland scooped. In other post-SOTU fallout, Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that he shouldn’t have called the undocumented immigrant charged with killing LAKEN RILEY an “illegal” — a regret that frankly would be more believable had he not stood by the term the first time he was asked Friday. 2. FOLLOWING THE MONEY: “One of the top donors to a pro-Biden dark-money group is a non-profit run by an early AI investor,” by CNN’s Casey Tolan: “The second-largest donation in 2022 to the non-profit arm of Future Forward, the primary Super PAC supporting Biden, came from a group run by JAMES McCLAVE and EMILY BERGER … The millions flowing through Future Forward is an example of how wealthy donors on both sides of the aisle are using dark-money groups to shape American politics while staying under the radar.” 3. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: Both Trump and Biden campaigned in Georgia yesterday, attacking each other in familiar terms over democracy, immigration, the justice system and more, as Reuters recaps. Biden blasted Trump for meeting with authoritarian Hungarian PM VIKTOR ORBAN and openly wanting to be a dictator. Trump’s speech — which NYT’s Michael Gold calls essentially his first of the general election campaign — made clear that he’s “not likely to temper the ominous and at times apocalyptic vision that has animated his campaign.” Trump once again called Carroll’s sexual abuse allegation false, despite the fact that doing so has cost him upward of $90 million for defamation; called the press “criminals”; made fun of Biden’s stutter; and vilified some immigrants as “monsters.” 4. HAITI FALLING APART: “U.S. military flies Marines into Haiti embassy, evacuating some staff in overnight airlift,” by the Miami Herald’s Jacqueline Charles and Michael Wilner: “The middle-of-the-night operation was conducted via helicopter by the U.S. military at the request of the State Department for embassy security, the U.S. Southern Command said in a statement. … Several nearby businesses have been looted and overtaken by armed gangs that today control more than 80% of the capital.”
| | | | A message from ExxonMobil:   | | | 5. WHAT WENT WRONG FOR KATIE PORTER: The Democratic congresswoman’s California Senate bid fell short because her incendiary campaign railing against the system (and the Democratic Party) worked less well in the primary than it might have in a November head-to-head, Melanie Mason and Chris Cadelago report from LA. The electorate last week “skewed far older, whiter and more conservative” than usual. While Democratic Rep. ADAM SCHIFF elevated Republican STEVE GARVEY as an opponent, Porter underestimated Garvey’s and Rep. BARBARA LEE’s staying power, and stuck to her guns when she could have used a pivot, sources tell Melanie and Chris. Now Porter’s political future is up in the air, AP’s Michael Blood reports. Her decision to give up a key swing House seat — and her initial comment saying billionaires had worked to “rig” the election — have incited a Democratic backlash. But the once-rising star might still end up in a national or state administration, or making another go at a campaign in 2026. 6. WHEN THE SWAMP WASN’T DRAINED: “How Trump’s Justice Dept. Derailed an Investigation of a Major Company,” by NYT’s Jesse Drucker: “Caterpillar appears to have defused the investigation at least in part by deploying a type of raw legal power that rarely becomes publicly visible. … Caterpillar had enlisted a small group of well-connected lawyers to plead the company’s case. Chief among those was WILLIAM P. BARR … [Trump nominated Barr as AG, and RICHARD] ZUCKERMAN then ordered the interview to be canceled and the inquiry halted … The sequence of events alarmed some federal officials and set off calls for an internal investigation.” 7. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: A U.S. military ship is now officially on its way to Gaza to try to build a pier that can receive maritime humanitarian aid shipments, per WaPo. It amounts to a new era for the U.S. military, which has pulled off efforts like this before — but rarely “for people who are being bombed with tacit U.S. support,” NYT’s Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt note. Biden told MSNBC that he still hopes a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war could come soon, but the talks are still stuck at deadlock ahead of Ramadan. Notably, Biden said that Israel invading Rafah would be a “red line” for him — but also that “I’m never gonna leave Israel.” Elsewhere in the region, the U.S., the U.K. and France shot down more than two dozen Houthi drones in the Red Sea as the Yemeni militants aimed at ships, U.S. Central Command said. More from Reuters 8. THE PROBLEM SOLVERS’ PROBLEM: “House centrists in both parties see their influence sapped by bitter internal tension,” by Olivia Beavers and Nick Wu: “Reps. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-N.J.) and BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-Pa.) had enjoyed a close relationship … But that changed last year … It’s a big problem for Ukraine aid … Two Problem Solvers from both sides of the aisle, Reps. SUSIE LEE (D-Nev.) and ANDREW GARBARINO (R-N.Y.), are working together on a system that they hope can help rebuild the group.” 9. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: The embattled app has a prominent advocate on the Hill: KELLYANNE CONWAY has been meeting with lawmakers in recent months to back TikTok, getting paid by the Club for Growth, Daniel Lippman scoops. Conway has argued that the bipartisan push to restrict TikTok is politically ill-advised and substantively unnecessary, telling Daniel that there are much better ways to take on China than this “draconian” approach.
| | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky reached a truce with Trump Media & Technology Group. Greg Gianforte is a YIMBY hero now as the movement grows more bipartisan. Jason Schultz and other GOP lawmakers have raw milk in their sights. Christopher Snow, a 33-year-old Ohio man, was arrested when he tried to bring a hammer into the Capitol and tussled with cops over it. SPOTTED: Secretary of State Antony Blinken at Politics and Prose yesterday. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party hosted by Susie Jakes, Jeff Prescott, Maggie Farley and Marcus Brauchli yesterday evening for Leslie Chang’s new book, “Egyptian Made: Women, Work, and the Promise of Liberation” ($30): Peter Hessler, Edward Wong, Mike Vickers, Bay Fang, Joyce Karam, Indira Lakshmanan, David Wessel, Jim Mann, Steve Weisman, Nancy Youssef, and Evan Osnos and Sarabeth Berman. — SPOTTED at a party celebrating Byron Tau’s new book, “Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State” ($32), at the Allbritton Journalism Institute on Wednesday: Tim Grieve, Josh Dawsey, Maggie Severns, Ryan Reilly, Ken Vogel, Sahil Kapur, Alicia Rose, Francesca Chambers and Michael Moroney, Dustin Volz, Del Wilber and Daniel Nasaw. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Adam Farris, chief of staff for Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and a Trump State Department alum, and Lila Nieves-Lee, Republican staff director for the Senate Banking Committee and a Trump USTR alum, welcomed Michael Adam Farris on Feb. 28. Pic … Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: CNN’s Jim Sciutto and Mike Callahan … Randy White … Jon Haber of Cascade Strategy … Bill Nichols … POLITICO’s Brad Dayspring, Chithra Subramanian, Jonathan Lai, Jordan Williams, Nicole Adams, Arek Sarkissian and Dylon Jones … Carrie Filipetti … States Newsroom’s Jane Norman … Jean Cornell … NPR’s Ron Elving … Vernon Loeb of InsideClimate News … Kevin McKeon … Alyse Nelson of Vital Voices Global Partnership … NYT’s Danny Hakim … Matt Morrison … Christie Roberts … Chris Corcoran … Matt Jessee … Alex Treadway ... Cary Hatch … Urban Institute’s Olivia Dunn … CNBC’s David Faber … Biz Stone … Bill Van Saun of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Dems … Talia La Schiazza … Julie Balter of the Alliance of Community Health Plans … John Murray of Monument Advocacy 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 Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from ExxonMobil: Heavy industry accounts for nearly 30% of global carbon emissions. For these businesses, setting and achieving meaningful carbon-reduction goals can be complex. At ExxonMobil, we’ve been working on reducing our own carbon emissions. At our Baytown plant, one of the world’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical operations, we’re working to deploy hydrogen power and carbon capture to reduce emissions by up to 30%. Now, we’re taking solutions like these to others in heavy industry. Using our technologies, we can help these businesses create a plan to make similar reductions. And together, we can deliver a lower-emissions future. Let’s deliver. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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