| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Ryan Lizza and Eugene Daniels | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | THE AMLO RULES — “Meet the World’s Most Successful Populist Leader,” by Matt Kaminski: “Mexican President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR’s ability to command the stage explains a lot about DONALD TRUMP — and offers lessons for JOE BIDEN.” JUST POSTED — “Wife of Justice Alito called upside-down flag ‘signal of distress,’” by WaPo’s Justin Jouvenal and Ann Marimow: “The wife of Supreme Court Justice SAMUEL A. ALITO JR. told a Washington Post reporter in January 2021 that an upside-down American flag recently flown on their flagpole was ‘an international signal of distress’ and indicated that it had been raised in response to a neighborhood dispute. … The Post decided not to report on the episode at the time because the flag-raising appeared to be the work of MARTHA-ANN ALITO, rather than the justice, and connected to a dispute with her neighbors, a Post spokeswoman said. It was not clear then that the argument was rooted in politics, the spokeswoman said.”
|  Donald Trump is taking his message to the Libertarian National Convention today. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | TRUMP ENTERS HOSTILE TERRITORY — We all know how much Trump loves an adoring crowd. Back when he was in the White House, aides would schedule rallies just to boost his mood. On the campaign trail now, he still feeds off the cheers of the MAGA faithful. Trump will see nothing of the sort today when he addresses the Libertarian National Convention this evening. The former president will likely be met with boos, obscenities and outright hostility as he tries to woo a crop of voters who could make or break his presidential campaign. On the ground at the Washington Hilton, the party’s decision to even allow Trump to address their ranks has “split the organization” apart and even erupted into physical violence this weekend, our colleagues Alex Isenstadt, Peder Schaefer and Brittany Gibson report. One delegate ignited a brawl after he moved to bar Trump from the speaking lineup, yelling, “I would like to propose that we go tell Donald Trump to go fuck himself!” As the crowd cheered, punches started flying. “Any libertarian worth their stripes who has looked at Donald Trump’s record will see that he barely aligns with the conservative camp and is a far cry from the Libertarian Party,” STEVEN NEKHAILA, a director at large for the Libertarian National Committee, told our colleagues. One delegate from Arizona, NATHAN MADDEN, predicted Trump “could get booed off stage.” So why would Trump put himself through all the trouble? One name: ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. The independent isn’t universally adored by the Libertarian faithful, but he’s piqued their interest with his anti-war and anti-vaccine positions. He won huge cheers from the crowd yesterday when he pledged to pardon EDWARD SNOWDEN and drop all charges against JULIAN ASSANGE. And he won chuckles and claps with this dig at Covid-era lockdowns (and his own health): “Maybe a brain worm ate that part of memory, but I don’t recall any part of the United States Constitution where there is an exemption for pandemics.” Meanwhile, the threat that potential independent, Libertarian Party and other third-party voters pose to Trump is very real. As our colleagues note, 2020 Libertarian nominee JO JORGENSEN garnered more votes in key swing states than the margin that separated Biden from Trump. Yet Trump’s courting of Libertarians has its challenges, to say the least. His White House moves restricting free trade, embracing tariffs and cracking down on immigration and the border all fly in the face of the party’s traditional beliefs. That hasn’t stopped Trump allies from trying to make inroads. RICHARD GRENELL, Trump’s pugnacious national security aide, and libertarian-leaning Sen. MIKE LEE (R-Utah) have both tried to play mediator. One notable person who hasn’t: Kentucky Sen. RAND PAUL, whose dad, RON PAUL, is king in the libertarian movement and who has flirted politically with Kennedy in recent months. The backdrop to all of this is an ongoing civil war in the Libertarian Party — one that started following the deadly, 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, as WaPo’s Meryl Kornfield reports in a deep dive this morning. In short, the party is bitterly divided between traditional proponents of less government and more individual liberty and a newly empowered governing class that’s curiously eyed Trump and the alt-right. Those two factions will face off as they actually choose their nominee this weekend, which likely won’t be Trump or Kennedy. But the internal tensions and the presence of the other, better-known candidates underscore just how many votes are up for grabs.
| | | | A message from INVEST IN OUR LAND: In 2022, Congress supported our nation's hardworking farmers with a $20 billion investment in conservation practices. These funds strengthen family businesses by lowering costs and helping farmers prepare for extreme weather.
Now, some want to direct these funds toward less effective practices that threaten farmers’ ability to weather storms, grow healthy soils through climate-smart farming, and pass on their land to the next generation.
Protect funding for farmers. Learn more at InvestInOurLand.org. | | | Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza. SPEAKING OF GRENELL — If you need more evidence of just how much Trump prizes loyalty above all else, look no further than the rise of Grenell — who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence and is now on the shortlist to be his secretary of state should he win in November. In a detailed profile posted this morning, NYT’s Elizabeth Williamson leads with an eyebrow-raising example of Grenell’s devotion to Trump. Shortly after the 2020 election, the soon-to-be-ex-president personally dispatched Grenell to Nevada, where he led the charge filing lawsuits alleging false fraud accusations, “including one wrongly implicating hundreds of members of the military,” Williamson writes. All the while, he knew the entire effort was bogus: “It was all a sham, Mr. Grenell told the team in the war room, two G.O.P. operatives recalled,” she writes. “[H]e told the team that the goal was simply to ‘throw spaghetti at the wall’ … to distract the media from calling Nevada while the election battle in neighboring Arizona played out.” While critics view Grenell as unworthy of — not to mention, sorely unqualified for — a high ranking Cabinet post, Williamson reports that “Grenell has a good chance of landing a top foreign policy job in a second Trump administration — if not as secretary of state, which requires Senate confirmation, then perhaps as national security adviser, which does not.” CAN’T BUY PUBLICITY THIS GOOD — “As ‘The Apprentice’ Seeks Cannes Sale, Trump Team Sends Cease and Desist Letter to Block Film’s Release,” by Variety’s Brent Lang and Katcy Stephan
| | | | A message from INVEST IN OUR LAND:   America's farmers deserve to pass on their land and life's work to their children. Help protect farms from the effects of extreme weather.
Learn more. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden will deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York this morning. He will return to Wilmington, Delaware, in the afternoon. More on Biden’s speech from NYT’s Michael Shear VP KAMALA HARRIS has nothing on her public schedule.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US
|  Hillary Clinton is calling Democrats out for not protecting abortion rights. | AP | 1. HILLARY SPEAKS: HILLARY CLINTON in a notably candid interview with NYT’s Lisa Lerer and Elizabeth Dias “criticized her fellow Democrats over what she described as a decades-in-the-making failure to protect abortion rights, saying in her first extended interview about the fall of Roe v. Wade that her party underestimated the growing strength of anti-abortion forces until many Democrats were improbably ‘taken by surprise’ by the landmark Dobbs decision in 2022.” “Clinton said Democrats had spent decades in a state of denial that a right enshrined in American life for generations could fall — that faith in the courts and legal precedent had made politicians, voters and officials unable to see clearly how the anti-abortion movement was chipping away at abortion rights, restricting access to the procedure and transforming the Supreme Court, until it was too late. ‘We didn’t take it seriously, and we didn’t understand the threat,’ Mrs. Clinton said. ‘Most Democrats, most Americans, did not realize we are in an existential struggle for the future of this country.’ She said: ‘We could have done more to fight.’” 2. McCONNELL SPEAKS: Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL sits down with NYT’s Carl Hulse to talk about his party’s pathway to securing the majority in the Senate and his personal entreaties to West Virginia Gov. JIM JUSTICE that got him running for the Senate. “‘I’m pretty sure, barring some intervention, that’s No. 50,’ said Mr. McConnell, referring to the number of seats his party would control if all went according to plan. Democrats would need to hold everything they now have in the 51-to-49 Senate or pick up a Republican seat to stay in the majority next year, he noted. ‘They’re left with trying to have a perfect score.’ … McConnell also details his deputizing of JOSH HOLMES, a former aide and ally, who he set up as a liaison with the Trump campaign this cycle “to try to get the two sometimes warring camps on the same page when it came to Senate races.” And although McConnell trumpeted his own recruitment success, he “stopped short of guaranteeing a Republican majority next year, given that Democrats are defending incumbents in the most hotly contested races. ‘Say what you will about us unpopular incumbents,’ he said, ‘we usually win.’” 3. FETTERMAN SPEAKS: Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.) talks with WSJ’s Siobhan Hughes about the shift that has landed him in hot water among many in his own party. “He is lucky to be alive. His support for Israel is unshakable. He backs President Biden. He’s sticking to the hoodies. And he has no plans to change his party affiliation, even as many Democrats purse their lips when the freshman senator breaks with the party line on the most controversial issues of the day. ‘I might have a different view on things like Israel, and some other ones,’ Fetterman, 54 years old, said in a wide-ranging interview in his office. ‘I just consider myself a Democrat that calls balls and strikes.’ … “‘I’m not looking to ruffle anyone’s feathers,’ said Fetterman. ‘If that happens by just saying “Hey, I’m sorry, but this is what I happen to believe,” then I guess it’s unfortunate.’ Fetterman, who still has auditory processing issues and uses a captioning device to help him follow conversations, said, ‘It’s ironic that I had to relearn how to speak, and I never expected that my voice would be deemed so valuable and appreciated by Israel.’” 4. WHAT A GAG: Trump keeps testing the limits of the gag order in the hush money case. Prosecutors haven’t raised his most recent violations — but if he’s convicted, his continued defiance of the gag could come back to haunt him at sentencing, Ben Feuerherd writes. “For a while after the jail threat on May 6, Trump was better behaved in his public commentary. But as the trial nears its end — with closing arguments scheduled for Tuesday — he has resumed making comments that seem to dare the judge into taking further action. … “With the trial on a hiatus until Tuesday’s closing arguments, Trump has several days in which he’s not confined to the courthouse under the watchful eyes of [Judge JUAN] MERCHAN — or the eyes of his lawyers, who stay constantly at his side in and around the courtroom. Trump has a number of public events scheduled, including a speech on Saturday at the Libertarian convention. Prosecutors will probably be watching to see how conservative Trump is with his words.” Meanwhile in Florida: “Special counsel seeks court order limiting Trump’s false claims about FBI,” by WaPo’s Devlin Barrett: “In the filing to U.S. District Judge AILEEN M. CANNON, [special counsel JACK] SMITH argues Trump’s statements earlier this week exposed FBI agents involved in the case ‘to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.’” Related read: “How Donald Trump Still Lives in the 1980s,” by NYT’s Maggie Haberman: “The greed-is-good era was the last time his preferred public image was intact, and he’s been returning there in ways large and small as he sits through his criminal trial in Manhattan.” 5. INFLATION NATION: “Trump Voters Don’t Just Expect Higher Inflation — They Get It Too,” by WSJ’s Justin Lahart: “In new research, economists Carola Binder, Rupal Kamdar and Jane Ryngaert examined Labor Department inflation figures for U.S. metropolitan areas, and compared them with voting data. Their finding: Metro areas with more Republicans and independent voters tended to have higher inflation in 2022 than places where Democrats live. A Wall Street Journal analysis found a similar pattern at the state level. Inflation estimates provided by Moody’s Analytics, combined with voting data, show that states where Donald Trump garnered the most votes in 2020 have on balance experienced higher inflation.” 6. SCOTUS WATCH: Supreme Court Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR in a conversation at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University yesterday commented on her personal frustration with being a liberal on the bench surrounded by conservative justices. What Sotomayor said: “There are days that I’ve come to my office after an announcement of a case and closed my door and cried. … There have been those days. And there are likely to be more.” “The justice set a tone of optimism even as she voiced frustration with some of the court’s rulings, a possible signal that the end of the term, when the most high-profile decisions typically land, could bring more conservative victories,” NYT’s Abbie VanSickle reports from Cambridge, Massachusetts. “She urged a long-term view of pushing for the values she views as guiding principles — equality, diversity and justice.” 7. THE TORTURED JUSTICE DEPARTMENT: “It’s Taylor Swift’s World. The Government Is Just Suing Ticketmaster in It,” by WSJ’s Dave Michaels: “TAYLOR SWIFT wasn’t onstage at the Justice Department when top officials unveiled their lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. But she’s definitely part of the show. When Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND, a devoted Swiftie, announced the antitrust case against the merged companies Thursday, he dropped a reference to the singer in his remarks. ‘It is time to break up Live Nation Ticketmaster. The American people are ready for it,’ Garland said in a shout-out to the Swift song ‘Ready for It?’” Remember when: “Pearl Jam asked Bill Clinton to take on Ticketmaster 30 years ago,” by WaPo’s Alex Schiffer 8. RAP SHEET: “Trump appeared on stage at his Bronx rally with two rappers charged in a felony gang case,” by AP’s Adriana Gomez Licon and Jennifer Peltz: “MICHAEL WILLIAMS, better known as Sheff G, is a 25-year-old rapper whose songs and videos have millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams. He’s also a central figure in the gang case unveiled by Brooklyn District Attorney ERIC GONZALEZ over a year ago, while he was serving a separate attempted weapons possession sentence. TEGAN CHAMBERS, 24, who raps as Sleepy Hallow, has close to 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He faces conspiracy charges in the gang case. Both he and Sheff G have pleaded not guilty.” 9. HMM: “Israeli private eye accused of hacking was questioned about DC public affairs firm, sources say,” by Reuters’ Raphael Satter and Christopher Bing: “An Israeli private investigator sought by the United States over hack-for-hire allegations previously told colleagues that he had been questioned by FBI agents over his work for the Washington public affairs firm DCI Group, according to three people familiar with the matter. Federal law enforcement’s interest in DCI, which has not been previously reported, shows a years-long U.S. probe into cybermercenary activity is wider than publicly known.”
| | | | A message from INVEST IN OUR LAND:   Invest In Our Land | | | CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 18 funnies
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Matt Davies - Andrews McMeel Syndication | GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza: — “They Bought a New DC Luxury Condo. It Could Collapse,” by Washingtonian’s Ike Allen: “When a pair of first-time homeowners moved into a sleek condo in Northwest, they were thrilled. Now they’re afraid their building ‘could fall over’ — and wondering why city inspectors failed to spot its many flaws.” — “Roanoke’s Requiem,” by Air Mail’s Clara Molot: “A grassroots effort attempts to make sense of a heartbreaking cancer surge among Roanoke College’s young alumni.” — “How Kid Rock Went From America’s Favorite Hard-Partying Rock Star to a MAGA Mouthpiece,” by Rolling Stone’s David Peisner: “The man born Bob Ritchie calls Trump his ‘bestie’ and spouts right-wing talking points. Many close to him wonder what the hell happened.” — “The Lynching That Sent My Family North,” by Ko Bragg for The Atlantic: “How we rediscovered the tragedy in Mississippi that ushered us into the Great Migration.” — “Benjamin Franklin Was the Nation’s First Newsman,” by Adam Smyth for Smithsonian Magazine: “Before he helped launch a revolution, Benjamin Franklin was colonial America’s leading editor and printer of novels, almanacs, soap wrappers, and everything in between.” — “The Breslin Era,” by Ross Barkan for The Point: “The end of the big-city columnist.” — “The Prophet Who Failed,” by Emily Harnett for Harper’s Magazine: “After the apocalypse that wasn’t.” — “Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe,” by ProPublica’s Sharon Lerner: “Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world.” — “America’s Monster: Who was Abdul Raziq?” by Matthieu Aikins for NYT Magazine: “Uncovering the brutal career of a crucial American ally. And the hidden truths of the war in Afghanistan.” — “Grizzly Bears Will Finally Return to Washington State. Humans Aren’t Sure How to Greet Them,” by Benjamin Cassidy for the Scientific American: “After decades of debate, grizzlies will be reintroduced to the North Cascades.”
| | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Steve Schwarzman is the latest megadonor to fall in line with backing Donald Trump. Ritchie Torres appears to be flirting with a gubernatorial run. Lloyd Austin underwent a procedure for a bladder issue. WEDDING — Melissa Frydman, director of integrated content development at CNN, and Sebastian Strauss, the global macro senior analyst in the office of the president at Eurasia Group and a Brookings alum, got married on May 18 at Oheka Castle in Huntington, N.Y. The couple met in D.C. on a dating app five years ago. Pic ... Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Corey Jacobson, senior adviser to the assistant secretary of defense for space policy and a Ted Lieu alum, and Annie Maco, graphics design manager for the U.S. Soccer Foundation, on Tuesday welcomed Camilo Lev Maco Jacobson, who came in at 6 lbs, 7 oz and joins big sister Mica. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan … Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution … Laurie Rubiner … Megan Van Etten of PhRMA … Savannah Haeger of FedEx … Kate Ackley Zeller of Bloomberg Government … CBS’ Stefan Becket … POLITICO’s Catherine Kim and Diana Hernandez … David Martosko … Savanna Peterson of Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) office … Anna Palmer … Annie Clark of Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) office … Interior’s Alexandra Sanchez … NRCC’s Peyton Vogel … Alliance for Justice’s Carolyn Bobb … former Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) … former Reps. Steve Russell (R-Okla.) and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) … DIA’s Margaret Dobrydnio Motes … Matt Lakin … Ron Nessen (9-0) … Courtney Joline … Mark Lutter … Natalie Morgan of Sen. James Lankford’s (R-Okla.) office … ABC’s Jay O’Brien … Haleah Lewis of the Washington Speakers Bureau … David Sacks … BlackRock's John Kelly THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here): NBC “Meet the Press,” with a special edition on threats to democracy: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt … Renee DiResta and Anne Applebaum … Peter Baker, Evelyn Farkas, Ben Ginsberg and Amna Nawaz. FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) … Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). Legal panel: Andy McCarthy and Trey Gowdy. Panel: Stef Kight, Mollie Hemingway, Howard Kurtz and David Tafuri. Sunday special: Ryan Manion. NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) … Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Steve Womack (R-Ark.). Panel: David Swerdlick, Megan McArdle and Mychael Schnell. CBS “Face the Nation”: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) … Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) … Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) … Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.). CNN “Inside Politics Sunday”: Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). Political panel: Sara Murray, Molly Ball, Mario Parker, John Bresnahan and David Weigel. Legal panel: Elliot Williams and Alyse Adamson. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) … Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz … Patrick J. Kennedy. Panel: Scott Jennings, Rahna Epting, Shermichael Singleton and Kate Bedingfield. MSNBC “The Weekend”: DNC Chair Jaime Harrison … Mitch Landrieu. 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.
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