| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | Presented by ExxonMobil | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | |  As his polling remains bleak, President Joe Biden is facing more predictions from top Democrats that he'll drop out. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images | The chorus of voices predicting — or, in some cases, hoping — that President JOE BIDEN will drop his reelection bid is growing louder today, even as most Democrats linger in the gray zone of not quite publicly calling for him to do so. The latest nudge comes from former President BARACK OBAMA, who is saying privately that Biden “needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy,” WaPo’s Tyler Pager and Michael Scherer scooped. And Axios’ Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen report that multiple senior Democrats now expect him to bow out “as soon as this weekend.” Even some Biden aides who wanted him to keep running after the debate now see the question as “when, not if.” The newest reasons for Democrats to freak out arrive in a new set of Emerson polls, which find DONALD TRUMP leading by 3 to 10 points in a multi-candidate field in each of the seven main swing states. And their survey of Virginia has us wondering whether that number should really be eight swing states: Trump leads by 5 with third-party candidates included. Arizona Democrats see their state slipping away, the Arizona Republic’s Stephanie Murray reports. And The Bulwark’s Sam Stein talks to Democrats who are switching from mere panic to terror. Sen. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D-Colo.) didn’t explicitly call for Biden to drop out, but told Reuters’ Jeff Mason that “certainly there’s more and more indications that that would be in the best interests of the country.” JOE SCARBOROUGH today blamed Biden’s “bubble,” and urged them directly to “help the man they love, and do the right thing.” And Rep. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-Minn.) pulled out one of the most powerful weapons in the Democratic Party: quoting “Hamilton,” with a pointed reference to GEORGE WASHINGTON’s decision not to run for a third term. But, but, but: It remains to be seen whether a Covid-stricken Biden will decide that it’s time to sit under his own vine and fig tree. Democrats can pressure him all they want, but barring a delegate revolt, it’s solely his decision to make. Polling deficits four months out are not necessarily insurmountable. His campaign today contacted delegates to keep them on board, per NYT’s Ken Vogel. Unsurprisingly, his team is holding the line: TJ DUCKLO called the Axios story “[b]aseless conjecture,” and QUENTIN FULKS said the campaign is not making plans for a change. “He is not wavering on anything,” Fulks told WaPo. “The president has made his decision. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know how many more times we can answer that.” Siren: “Biden allies retaliated against a Dem who called for him to step aside,” by Sarah Ferris, Ally Mutnick and Elena Schneider: “Democrats in Michigan cut off a vulnerable House Democrat [Rep. HILLARY SCHOLTEN] from a major part of campaign operations after she called last week for President Joe Biden to step down from the ticket. Officials reversed that decision Thursday, after facing questions from POLITICO.” CONVENTIONAL WISDOM — The main event tonight in Milwaukee is Trump’s big speech is to wrap up the Republican National Convention, which RNC Co-Chair LARA TRUMP told “CBS Mornings” would showcase a “softer version” of the former president. (She also said she doesn’t believe he’s on any medication for his wounded ear.) Before Trump, you can expect a lineup including HULK HOGAN, KID ROCK, DANA WHITE and multibillionaire megadonor DIANE HENDRICKS, who Philip Wegmann notes is listed as “an everyday American.” The full list Trump’s steamrolling of the party to draft its platform was the latest example of how good his team has become at efficiently getting their way, NYT’s Jonathan Swan, Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman detail. Trump personally dictated parts of the platform, confiscated delegates’ cellphones, instructed them to pass it and quickly succeeded. “It showcases a candidate who is increasingly confident of his own vision and who has surrounded himself with a team that knows both the rules and how to bend them.” His running mate, Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio), emphasized that the GOP will continue to be a welcoming home for social conservatives (despite the fact that they just lost a big platform fight) at a Faith & Freedom Coalition breakfast this morning, per Megan Messerly. “This is a guy who delivered for social conservatives more than any president in my 39 years of life,” he said of Trump. “I think he deserves a little bit of grace, and he deserves a little bit of trust, and I hope that we will all provide that.” The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo reports on the electoral strategy for picking Vance: hoping he can bolster Trump’s margins with white men back to 2016 levels. GRILL MARKS — At the CNN-POLITICO Grill today, whether Biden would be replaced was a big topic of discussion for leading Republicans:
- New Hampshire Gov. CHRIS SUNUNU told Eugene that Republicans need to start planning for facing off against a Biden-less (and more energized) Democratic ticket.
- And in conversation with Jonathan Martin, Trump campaign senior adviser CHRIS LaCIVITA already started slamming VP KAMALA HARRIS, saying she’d own the Biden agenda and the cover-up of his decline — and that replacing Biden would disenfranchise primary voters.
Stay tuned to politico.com/rnc for the latest from the convention, including Rachael’s big interview with Speaker MIKE JOHNSON this afternoon. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | 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. | | | | | 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  Under a Trump presidency and GOP control of Congress, climate policy could take a 180. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 1. THE STAKES FOR NOVEMBER: If Republicans gain full control of Washington next year, they could significantly change the nation’s climate policies, setting the country — and, in part, the world — on a different emissions track, WaPo’s Maxine Joselow reports. Among the policy goals could be unwinding rules that limit pollution, turbocharging fossil fuel production, slowing the electric vehicle transition and cutting funds for environmental agencies. And the historic Inflation Reduction Act, one of the centerpieces of Biden’s legacy, could be a target for outright repeal. The bigger picture: If Trump wins, he’ll be much better positioned than in his first term to stamp out dissent within the GOP and accomplish his most radical goals, from stocking the federal government with loyalists to carrying out mass deportations, Reuters’ Tim Reid, Nathan Layne and James Oliphant write. Many supporters would see him as a strong, perhaps divinely protected leader; critics warn of America’s first “imperial presidency.” 2. STUDENT LOAN LATEST: In the latest installment of the Biden administration’s piecemeal approach to student loan forgiveness, the U.S. announced today that it’s wiping out another $1.2 billion for 35,000 people. Today’s news covers public-sector workers via the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. And it brings the total number of borrowers who have seen debt get forgiven by Biden to about 1 in 10, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s refusal to allow Biden to implement broader loan forgiveness. More from CBS 3. MUCK READ: “Left-wing billionaires behind astroturfed ‘grassroots’ operation attacking House GOP,” by the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky: “Lower Costs California, Nebraska for Us, and Michigan Families for Fair Care all have a bone to pick with Republicans … [I]n actuality, these three groups are all one and the same — shadowy legal trade names of a recently formed nonprofit organization … Unrig Our Economy is itself hardly grassroots: every dime of its publicly available funding, $5 million during Unrig Our Economy’s last fiscal year, derives from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, … [which is] managed by Arabella Advisors, the largest Democratic-allied dark money network in the United States.”
| | | | CHECK OUT WHAT YOU MISSED IN MILWAUKEE!
Watch the full event from the CNN-POLITICO Grill at the RNC HERE.
The program featured Bayer’s Jessica Christiansen, senior vice president and head of crop science and sustainability communications, as well as a conversation with Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill for discussions about agriculture, food policy and how these issues will impact the November election. | | | | | 4. HOT ON THE LEFT: The Nation’s Bhaskar Sunkara sat down with Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) to talk about political revolution, his decades-long outsider journey in American politics, and how to win elections by talking to regular people. Sanders also reflects on why he has identified as a democratic socialist rather than just joining the Democratic Party: “When you call yourself a democratic socialist, you’re part of a tradition. I’m aligning myself with history. I’m aligning myself with a vision. I’m talking about international solidarity. … The system is broken, you need a new system, and you’re identifying what that is.” 5. HOT ON THE RIGHT: The Dispatch’s Steve Hayes sat down with Sen. MIKE LEE (R-Utah) in Milwaukee to talk about his journey from Trump skeptic to MAGA diehard, the Trump assassination attempt and Jan. 6. Lee weighs in on how he thinks about Trump’s ideology and accomplishments now: “He defies easy description. But let’s put it this way: Rather than describing him, I’d like to try to describe the things that he’s done. At the end of his four years, you can say that the net footprint of the federal government, as far as its intrusiveness into the lives of the American people, was lower than it was when he started.” 6. KNOWING KIMBERLY CHEATLE: “Kimberly Cheatle Has Two Reputations to Save: The Secret Service’s — and Her Own,” by WSJ’s Maggie Severns and Ryan Barber: “As a young agent, Cheatle was part of a team that secured Vice President DICK CHENEY on Sept. 11, 2001, working in the White House at a moment when many feared Washington was facing an imminent attack. She later served on Vice President Joe Biden’s protective detail, where she was assigned to JILL BIDEN and built a rapport with her through a combination of competence and affability … She now finds herself the public face of the Secret Service’s biggest crisis in a generation.”
| | | | Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Francis Ford Coppola, Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval, the Grateful Dead and the Apollo Theater are this year’s Kennedy Center honorees. Derrick Van Orden compared Matt Gaetz’s new look to an “AI powered inflatable sex doll.” Tucker Carlson says he’s not radical — the U.S. political system is. SPOTTED in Milwaukee: Vivek Ramaswamy dropping by the Sentinel Action Fund suite at the Fiserv Forum last night and chatting with fund president Jessica Anderson. Pic … Eric Trump walking to a radio interview in media row this morning. ... Roger Stone leaving media row yesterday. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a Munich Security Conference family and friends reception at the Republican National Convention at the Pfister Hotel on Tuesday: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Elbridge Colby, Metin Hakverdi, Jens Spahn, Thomas Silberhorn, Alexander Dobrindt, Florian Hahn, Suzanne Lynch and Kevin Baron. — SPOTTED at a GlobalWIN RNC brunch at Bacchus yesterday: British Ambassador Karen Pierce, Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, Dutch Ambassador Birgitta Tazelaar, Greek Ambassador Ekaterini Nassika, Irish Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Luxembourg Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, Monaco Ambassador Maguy Maccario Doyle, Singaporean Ambassador Lui Tuck Yew, Spanish Ambassador Ángeles Moreno Bau, Rosemary Banks, Tiffany Moore, Allison O’Brien, Hollyn Schuemann, Leah Graham, Senay Bulbul, Terri Fariello, Emma Rindells-Hill, Kristin Sharp, Nicole Vasilaros, Marissa Mitrovich, Helen Milby, Angeli Chawla and Andrea Mietus. TRANSITIONS — Dylan Smith is joining RH Strategic Communications as a senior public affairs strategist. He previously was comms director for Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), and is a Tom Suozzi alum. … Michael Fleischman is now an AI policy adviser at DLA Piper. He previously was legislative director for Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.). 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. Correction: Tuesday’s Playbook PM misgendered Corey Williams. She is legislative affairs director with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
| | | | A message from ExxonMobil: Today, heavy industry, power generation and commercial transportation account for nearly 80% of energy-related CO2 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 planning to deploy hydrogen power and carbon capture to reduce the site’s emissions by up to 30%. Now, we’re taking solutions like these to others in heavy industry. Using our technologies, we can help 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 politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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