| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade | Presented by the Financial Services Forum | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | FOR YOUR RADAR — “Helicopter carrying Iran’s president suffers a ‘hard landing,’ state TV says, and rescue is underway,” AP TRENDWATCH — “A New Centrism Is Rising in Washington,” by NYT’s David Leonhardt: “A defining quality of the new centrism is how much it differs from the centrism that guided Washington in the roughly quarter-century after the end of the Cold War, starting in the 1990s. That centrism — alternately called the Washington Consensus or neoliberalism — was based on the idea that market economics had triumphed. … The new centrism … is a recognition that neoliberalism failed to deliver.” TRAGIC NEWS — ALICE STEWART, the veteran GOP strategist and political commentator, has died at age 58. CNN reports that her body was found outdoors in Fairfax County’s Belle View neighborhood: “No foul play is suspected, and officers believe a medical emergency occurred.” CNN’s on-air tribute
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Donald Trump speaks at the NRA convention in Dallas on Saturday, May 18. | LM Otero/AP Photo | THREE SPEECHES DOMINATING TODAY’S NEWS … 1. Trump at the NRA: Yesterday, former President DONALD TRUMP addressed the NRA’s convention in Dallas in a speech that was perhaps most newsworthy for Trump’s suggestion that he could serve a third term as president — regardless of what the Constitution clearly states. “You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms,” said Trump, as our Myah Ward reports. “I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” Some of the folks in the crowd yelled back “three!” The riff does exactly what Trump wants: riles up his base with excitement and freaks out people worried about his autocratic leanings. Notably, Trump also continued his attacks on ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., depicting him as someone on the “radical left” amid ongoing concerns that the independent candidate could be a drag on the former president’s campaign. That same concern is driving Trump to escalate his hardline rhetoric about vaccines, as Lisa Kashinsky, Kimberly Leonard and Brittany Gibson report this morning: “Trump is threatening to ‘not give one penny’ to schools or colleges that mandate the Covid-19 vaccine. He is accusing Kennedy of being a ‘fake’ anti-vaxxer. And he is rarely mentioning what he once touted as ‘one of the greatest miracles’ of his presidency — his program to speed development of the vaccine.” Typically, presidential candidates “moderate their messages for a general election audience after winning primaries,” the trio write. But “Kennedy has forced the former president to continue guarding his right flank on Covid by attracting vaccine skeptics to his third-party campaign and skewering Trump’s support for early pandemic shutdowns.”
|  President Joe Biden speaks at Morehouse College on Sunday, May 19. | Alex Brandon/AP | 2. Biden at Morehouse: Since it was announced that President JOE BIDEN would deliver the commencement address at Morehouse — the only historically Black men’s college in America — the conventional wisdom was that student protests would repeatedly threaten to interrupt his speech. This morning, that wasn’t the case at all. The closest to anything resembling a rebuke came from class valedictorian DEANGELO JEREMIAH FLETCHER, who called for a cease-fire in Gaza: “It is my stance as a Morehouse Man — nay, as a human being — to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.” Biden, sitting behind him, applauded. As Biden himself spoke, a few students turned their backs to the president, including one who, according to the pool report, stood “completely still with … his right fist raised.” Even so, Biden addressed the elephant in the room, calling for an immediate cease-fire, condemning Hamas for the October 7 terrorist attacks and implicitly called out Israel for the lack of humanitarian aid that has been able to reach Palestinians. (The president also revealed for the first time that “many in his family” are angry about what’s happening in Gaza.) Biden’s speech was largely about keeping both faith and optimism through adversity. He began by talking about his grief from the death of his first wife and daughter and weaved the theme of faith and spirituality throughout. Biden world insisted that the speech would center on the graduates and their futures — and though it was, it was impossible to avoid implicit mentions of Trump. “This is what we are up against: Extremist forces, aligned against the meaning and message of Morehouse. And they peddle a fiction, a caricature of what being a man is about. Tough talk, abusing power, bigotry. Their idea of being a man is toxic,” Biden said. “Being a man is about strength of respect and dignity. It’s about showing up because it’s too late if you have to ask. It’s about giving hate no safe harbor.” There are a few reasons the expectations about protests failed to materialize at Morehouse. The president of the university vowed to shut it all down if the ceremony was interrupted. And in advance of the speech, Biden sent an emissary, STEVE BENJAMIN, to Morehouse to meet with students and faculty for two hours about what the administration has done for Black Americans and to discuss Biden’s policy on Israel. But there’s also a cultural difference in how HBCUs operate that has been lost in all this, as NYT’s Maya King smartly observed: “While H.B.C.U.s host a range of political views, domestic concerns tend to outweigh foreign policy in the minds of most students. Many started lower on the economic ladder and are more intently focused on their education and their job prospects after graduation.” The common thread running through Biden’s recent schedule is the clear effort underway to shore up his support among Black voters following a battery of anemic polling numbers that have spurred serious concerns about his campaign’s path to victory. After his speech, Biden is headed to Detroit for an NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund dinner as the keynote speaker.
|  Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) delivered a speech to Israeli lawmakers today slamming Biden. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 3. Stefanik in Israel: In a speech to a group of Israeli lawmakers today, Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.) slammed Biden for pausing congressionally approved aid to Israel over its conduct in Gaza, while praising Trump for his stance on the Jewish state. The speech “builds on the Republican political strategy to capitalize on Democratic divisions over Israel’s response to the terrorist attacks,” write NYT’s Michael Bender and Annie Karni. But there is, of course, another reason for the address: “Her remarks also appear designed to curry favor with former President Donald J. Trump, who has mentioned Ms. Stefanik … as a potential vice-presidential candidate. While a time-honored adage of American politics has held that partisanship ends at the water’s edge, Ms. Stefanik’s remarks may help strengthen her bona fides with the former president by paying little mind to the principle and decorum behind that unwritten rule.” The White House sent Playbook a response to Stefanik’s speech. “There has been no better friend to Israel than President Biden,” said ANDREW BATES, senior spokesman for the White House. “He was the first American president to visit Israel during war time — in the aftermath of the horrific October 7th terrorist attacks — and the first president to order the U.S. military to defend Israel from a foreign nation’s attack. “Unlike some figures on the right, President Biden did not rail against the Israeli government in the days after October 7, nor has he ever praised terrorist organizations like Hezbollah — and he will not be lectured by any person who was silent in the face of those offensive statements.”
| | A message from the Financial Services Forum: Basel III Endgame would have far-reaching impacts throughout the economy. As currently proposed, the restrictive capital requirements would make it harder to get loans, increasing the out-of-pocket cost of buying a house or car. See the research. | | | Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) on whether he supports Florida’s six-week abortion ban, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I support any bill that protects unborn human life. But I don't consider other people in the pro-life movement who have a different view to be apostate. They just have a different view about the best ways to approach this issue.” — Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.) responding to Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ’s (D-N.Y.) X post that was critical of him, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “That's absurd. I was just simply responding to the kind of chaos and everything that Representative [MARJORIE TAYLOR] GREENE started as well. And if everyone on the committee was proud of what they have produced, they’re entitled to their opinion, or if they feel that this is the kind of a video that you want to send to a classroom of eighth grade civics kind of students across America, again, that’s their choice.” On critiques over his support for Israel: “I can’t understand why being a very strong supporter of Israel, anybody would be upset with that. If somebody is very much supporting the pro-Palestinian view, that’s fine. It’s reasonable. But I just decided to be on the side for Israel on that.” — Sen. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.) on Biden’s plan to debate, on ABC’s “This Week”: “The challenge is always to boil down a huge amount of issues into a short amount of time. And you know, Joe, Joe Biden likes to explain things he likes to talk about his record, but in a debate, you got to really crystallize.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion and analysis pieces.
- “Time is up for neoliberals,” by Joseph Stiglitz for WaPo
- “Is the Republican Party Isolationist? It’s Complicated,” by Michael Allen and Ashley Barry for WSJ
- “Could Trump Take Over the Fed? It’s a Scary Thought,” by Bill Dudley for Bloomberg
- “J.D. Vance wasn’t just some hillbilly after all,” by Matt Bai for WaPo
- “A Russian weapon could wipe out US space edge,” by Clayton Swope for CNN
- “Mitt Romney Has a Point About Pardoning Trump,” by Matt Lewis for the Daily Beast
- “Exploiting Kids Isn’t the Way to Fix the Labor Shortage,” by Mary Ellen Klas for Bloomberg
- “Why school segregation is getting worse,” by Fabiola Cineas for Vox
- “As Bird Flu Looms, the Lessons of Past Pandemics Take On New Urgency,” by John Barry for NYT
- “Fox News Is Flipping Trump’s Trial Coverage on its Head,” by Jack Shafer for POLITICO
- “The child care cliff that wasn’t,” by Rachael Cohen for Vox
| | | | A message from the Financial Services Forum:   Basel III Endgame hurts consumers, retirees, and business owners. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden delivered the Morehouse College commencement address this morning. Now he’s traveling to Detroit, where he’ll participate in two campaign events, before heading to Wilmington, Delaware, at night. VP KAMALA HARRIS has nothing on her public schedule.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
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The increase in threats of political violence has altered how politicians do their jobs. | Julio Cortez/AP | 1. THE VIOLENT ENDS: Threats of political violence have seen a marked increase in recent years — and although they do not always lead to action, they are changing how politicians campaign and perform their duties, NYT’s Danny Hakim, Ken Bensinger and Eileen Sullivan write in a stepback piece. “From City Hall to Congress, public officials increasingly describe threats and harassment as a routine part of their jobs. Often masked by online anonymity and propelled by extreme political views, the barrage of menace has changed how public officials do their work, terrified their families and driven some from public life altogether. “By almost all measures, the evidence of the trend is striking. Last year, more than 450 federal judges were targeted with threats, a roughly 150 percent increase from 2019, according to the United States Marshals Service. The U.S. Capitol Police investigated more than 8,000 threats to members of Congress last year, up more than 50 percent from 2018. The agency recently added three full-time prosecutors to handle the volume. More than 80 percent of local officials said they had been threatened or harassed, according to a survey conducted in 2021 by the National League of Cities.” 2. THE SQUAD UNDER FIRE: Rep. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-N.Y.) is stuck on a “political island” as he fends of a wave of spending on behalf of challenger GEORGE LATIMER, a pro-Israel Democrat with high name recognition in suburban New York City, Nick Reisman and Emily Ngo report. “The money allows Latimer — a challenger running like an incumbent — to all but avoid mentioning Israel as he digs into issues closer to home, while keeping Bowman on his heels as he seeks his third term. “The primary for the House district that encompasses diverse, working-class cities and wealthy towns on the Long Island Sound is one of the most closely watched in the nation. And in an area with a large Jewish population, the fight is viewed as a bellwether for voters’ fervency over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war — a fast-changing conflict that President Joe Biden is contending with as he tries to court young progressives.” 3. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: National security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN is in Israel today, where he is scheduled to meet with PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU. “The war in Gaza, now in its eighth month, will be a focus of the talks in Israel, as well as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave and negotiations over a cease-fire deal to free the remaining hostages, [NSC spox ADRIENNE] WATSON added. Sullivan is set to meet with Israeli national security adviser TZACHI HANEGBI, followed by Netanyahu and security officials,” WaPo’s Niha Masih and Jennifer Hassan report. 4. UP FOR DEBATE: “Biden and Trump Hunt for Breakthrough Moment in Stagnant Election,” by WSJ’s Catherine Lucey and Aaron Zitner: “For many Americans, the race between two universally known but widely disliked candidates has had the low drone of background noise. Many have rushed to their political camps, pretty much sure of how they will vote this fall despite their displeasure with the choice before them. But the campaigns are eager to make sure their core supporters are fully engaged and committed to voting — and they want to move sooner rather than later to reach the approximately one-third of voters who remain persuadable and up for grabs.”
| | | | A message from the Financial Services Forum:   Basel III Endgame will make it harder for businesses to hire and invest in growth. | | | 5. TAKING THE TEMPERATURE: “Americans are down on the economy (again), with inflation topping election concerns,” by WaPo’s Abha Bhattarai: “Consumer sentiment, a gauge of Americans’ economic perceptions, is at a six-month low, according to a closely watched index by the University of Michigan. The measure notched its biggest drop since 2021, reflecting the persistent tug of inflation on household budgets and fueling fears that rising prices, unemployment and interest rates could all worsen in the coming months. That pessimism is altering consumers’ spending habits. … “Polls consistently show that Americans favor former president Donald Trump over Biden on economic issues. In April, some 36 percent of Americans said the economy is the country’s top issue, up from 30 percent in February and March, Gallup polls show. More people also cited inflation and high cost of living as larger concerns than they did the previous month.” 6. COMING SOON AT THE TRUMP TRIAL: “As Trump Trial Nears Its End, the Law May Give Prosecutors an Edge,” by NYT’s Ben Protess and Jonah Bromwich: MICHAEL COHEN’s “testimony that Mr. Trump ‘approved’ the plan could give prosecutors what they need. It might not matter that he did not accuse Mr. Trump of personally falsifying the records or explicitly instructing anyone to do so. Under the New York law that Mr. Trump is charged with violating, prosecutors need only show that he ‘caused’ his company to file false records. The prosecution has another legal card to play: The law holds a defendant accountable even when he does not carry out the crime himself, so long as he ‘intentionally aids’ it.” Related read: “A Trump Conviction Depends on Proving More Than a Hush-Money Coverup,” by WSJ’s Jacob Gershman 7. ABORTION IN THE STATES: “Ohio voters approved reproductive rights. Will the state’s near-ban on abortion stand?” by AP’s Julie Carr Smyth: “A county judge could rule as early as Monday on Ohio’s law banning virtually all abortions, a decision that will take into consideration the decision by voters to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. The 2019 law under consideration by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins bans most abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women are aware.” 8. IMMIGRATION FILES: “A New Challenge for Asylum Seekers: Lawyer Shortages,” by NYT’s Edgar Sandoval: “Without professional legal help, many asylum seekers like the Duráns with legitimate claims face a real risk of deportation back to their home countries, where many of them face potential arrest, assault or even death. Only about 30 percent of migrants are now able to find a lawyer to represent them in legal proceedings, compared with 65 percent five years ago, according to an analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group at Syracuse University.” 9. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “Behind Putin Visit, Unease in Beijing Over His Potential Next Stop: North Korea,” by WSJ’s Lingling Wei, Ann Simmons and Timothy Martin: “Chinese leader XI JINPING has felt growing unease as ties between [Russian President VLADIMIR] PUTIN and North Korean leader KIM JONG UN — two of his most important but also most volatile international partners — have grown more intimate, the diplomats and officials said. A combined visit to China and North Korea by Putin could also have reinforced Western fears of a trilateral authoritarian axis, leaving Beijing diplomatically more isolated, they said.” Related read: “The Technocrat Who’s Taking Control of Putin’s War Effort,” by NYT’s Paul Sonne
| | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Rudy Giuliani received quite the gift for his 80th birthday. Jen Psaki, Vincent Gray and Jonathan Ledecky will be honored at GWU’s commencement today. IN MEMORIAM — “Moorhead C. Kennedy Jr., 93, Dies; Hostage Who Chided Foreign Policy,” by NYT’s Michael Rosenwald: “Supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took Mr. Kennedy and 51 others hostage. They were held for 444 days and subjected to psychological and physical abuse, including mock executions. The global crisis upended Jimmy Carter’s presidency and helped foment in the West an enduring distrust of the Islamic world. … In speeches, interviews and his 1986 book, ‘The Ayatollah in the Cathedral: Reflections of a Hostage,’ Mr. Kennedy contended that the American foreign policy establishment had taken an imperial, our-way-or-the-highway posture in the Middle East, and especially in countries governed by Islamic law, which he had studied in college and law school.” OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a dinner hosted by Italian Ambassador Mariangela Zappia at Villa Firenze last night to celebrate the publication of Frank Bruni’s “The Age of Grievance” ($28.99): Anthony Fauci, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Tanya Mayorkas, Maureen Dowd, Peggy Dowd, Nina Easton and Russ Schriefer, Tom Friedman, Sally Quinn, Olivia Nuzzi, Jackie Calmes, David Cicilline, Elisabeth Bumiller and Steven R. Weisman, Lisa Monaco and Scott Sloofman. OVERHEARD: Fauci discussing the rollout of his memoir on June 18 … Mayorkas talking about how Bob Woodward did some old-fashioned door knocking to try and secure an interview with him for Woodward’s next book … Sloofman and Peggy Dowd (Maureen’s sister) in a deep conversation about the Senate map. — SPOTTED at a birthday/white party hosted by Pascal Confavreux last night: Flore Confavreux, Tammy Haddad, Ashley Parker and Michael Bender, Josh Dawsey, John Hudson, Tyler Pager, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Rob Flaherty and Carla Frank, Jim Acosta and Liz Landers and Michael Wilner. WEEKEND WEDDING — Colin McCune, a House finance assistant, and Jessica Weiner, comms director and senior adviser for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), got married on Saturday in San Antonio. Banks and Rep. Jodie Arrington (R-Texas) both attended. The couple met at Texas Tech. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) (6-0) … Yebbie Watkins … Allie Brandenburger … POLITICO’s Marcia Brown, Catherine Chang, Daejah Fontain, Jacob Lewis and Kate Murphy … Brian McKeon … Sydney Simon of Rep. Seth Moulton’s (D-Mass.) office … Ernst & Young’s Bob Schellhas … Cynthia Alksne … Jessica Jennings of the National Association of Counties … Beth Rossman … Mary Hager of “Face the Nation” … Mike Reilly of MVAR Media … Poorvie Bishnoi of Monument Advocacy ... David Marin of Viatris … John Hlinko ... DSCC’s Margaret O’Meara … Carol Guthrie of the OECD … John Laufer … Cody Sargent of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) office … Texas Tribune’s Rebekah Allen … Bill Danvers … HHS’ Samira Burns … Keith Richburg … former Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) … Destine Hicks Lundy … Alliance for Justice’s Rakim Brooks … Charlie Spiering … Amanda Byrd ... Crosby Armstrong … Brendan Martin 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 the Financial Services Forum: Basel III Endgame would also make it harder for small businesses to secure loans. Without reliable access to credit, small business owners may struggle to pay their employees, buy goods, or expand.
Regulators' proposed capital requirements would take a toll on families, seniors, and small businesses already struggling to make ends meet. Washington: Scrap Basel III Endgame and start over. | | | | | | | 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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