| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels | Presented by the Brennan Center for Justice | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | BIDEN SPEAKS — In an interview with CBS’ Robert Costa, President JOE BIDEN made his first extensive comments about the historic events that led to him stepping down as the Democratic nominee. Some highlights … On the two main reasons he stepped down, the vulnerability of House and Senate Dem candidates and reaffirming his previous pledge to be a transitional figure: “The polls we had showed that it was a neck-and-neck race, woulda been down to the wire. But what happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. “You'd be interviewing me about why did NANCY PELOSI say, why did so— and— and I thought it'd be a real distraction, number one. “Number two, when I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president. I can't even say how old I am. It's hard for me to get it outta my mouth. And— but things got movin' so quickly, it — didn't happen. And the combination was that I thought it — is the critical issue for me still, it's not a joke, maintaining this democracy. “But I thought it was important, because, although I — it's a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I — the most important thing you can do — and that is, we must — we must — we must defeat Trump.” On his health and skepticism about whether he’ll be out on the campaign trail: “All I can say is, ‘Watch.’ That’s all. Look, I had a really, really bad day in that debate because I was sick. But I have no serious problem … “I was talkin' to Gov. [JOSH] SHAPIRO, who's a friend. We have got to win Pennsylvania, my original home state. He and I are puttin' together a campaign tour in Pennsylvania. I'm gonna be campaigning in other states as well. And I’m gonna do whatever Kamala thinks I can do to help most.”
|  Kamala Harris in Nevada echoed a policy proposal that Donald Trump has floated. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | HARRIS PROPOSAL TRIGGERS TRUMP — At a rally last night in Las Vegas, KAMALA HARRIS unveiled a new policy. “When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said to a crowd that her campaign estimated at 12,000 people. More from the Nevada Independent Taxing tips is a huge issue in Nevada, which, Bloomberg notes, “has the highest proportion of food service and accommodation workers in the US.” Back in June, Trump targeted these tip-dependent workers by announcing the same policy at a Vegas rally, and it’s become a popular line in his speeches. He was not happy about Harris co-opting the issue. “Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” he wrote on Truth Social. “The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea - She has no ideas, she can only steal from me.” Since so much of the political conversation right now is about Republicans worried about Trump’s lack of discipline in the face of a more threatening competitor, we thought we would sample Trump’s feed overnight and this morning. Harris’ no-tips proposal seemed to have set him off. Some other things Trump posted about while you were sleeping: — “The first Debate with Kamala Harris, for President of the United States of America, will be with FoxNews on September 4th, 2024, LIVE from beautiful Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,” Trump proclaimed. “The second Debate will take place on Fake News ABC, home of George Slopadopoulos, to be anchored by DAVID MUIR, on September 10th, 2024, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third Debate will take place on NBC, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 25th, 2024, to be anchored by LESTER HOLT - Details to follow. I look forward to seeing Kamala at all three Debates! DJT” The reality: Harris has only agreed to the ABC debate on Sept. 10. — “The Failing New York Times, which is a crooked newspaper run by a Radical Left group of Lunatics, is losing readers at a record level,” Trump wrote. “Their stories about me are highly inaccurate, and their polling is even worse.” The context: The Times ran a piece this week about “the worst three weeks” of Trump’s campaign, which Trump apparently did not care for. — “Great visit to Montana and Wyoming, where I am leading BIG, and Colorado, whose Radical Left Governor has gone to all Mail-In Voting, making the State a POLITICAL CESSPOOL where, even if you were leading, it would make no difference!” Trump posted. The context: Republicans are relying on a well-funded and aggressive mail-in ballot effort this year and have repeatedly asked Trump to stop criticizing mail-in voting. — "A GREAT VICTORY FOR JUSTICE - RELEASE THE J6 HOSTAGES, NOW!!!" Trump demanded. The context: This was accompanied by a screenshot of a tweet from late June by a supporter commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision in Fischer, which said that the DOJ could not use a section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 about obstructing “any official proceeding” to prosecute a January 6 defendant. In the ongoing internal debate in the GOP, Trump’s championing of the cause of people convicted of crimes during the riot at the capitol on January 6 is — A link to a 2021 document questioning the security of Georgia’s voting machines. The context: Republicans have repeatedly noted that Trump’s attacks on the integrity of Georgia’s voting system might have been the reason he lost the state in 2020 by 12,000 votes. “Mr. Trump also cost Republicans two Senate seats in special elections in January 2021 when he told his partisans that the November election had been stolen,” the WSJ recently added in an editorial. “Turnout was down in Republican areas of the state. Why vote if your candidate says your ballot won’t count?” — “We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government - Never a nice thing to do!” Trump said. The context: More on that here from Alex Isenstadt. OUTLIER OR TREND TO WATCH? — “Kamala Harris is more trusted than Donald Trump on the US economy,” by FT’s Lauren Fedor and Eva Xiao. “FT Michigan Ross poll shows Democratic candidate leading on the issue for first time in nearly a year.” Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from the Brennan Center for Justice: Supreme Court reform is an issue whose time has come. Public trust in the Supreme Court has plunged to the lowest level ever recorded, and term limits for the justices has broad bipartisan support. Congress must take action to establish 18-year term limits and bring regular turnover to the bench. The result? A Court with more legitimacy that better reflects American values. No one should have that much power for life. Learn more about term limits. | | | SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) on white nationalist NICK FUENTES’ attacks on his wife, USHA, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I think the guy's a total loser. Certainly I disavow him. … A lot of losers are going to attack me and attack my family. I think the proper response to them is to ignore them. Don’t feed the trolls, and they largely go away.” On Trump’s praise for Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN and Chinese President XI JINPING: “I think that President Trump gets along with world leaders, and there's nothing wrong with him complimenting them as people, if it makes him more effective diplomatically.” On Trump’s statement that VP picks rarely matter: “My job is to help govern once we actually get elected. … Most people are voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s just the way it is.” Vance on the Trump campaign’s mass deportation plan on ABC’s “This Week”: “I think it’s interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let’s start with 1 million. That’s where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there.” More from ABC’s Ivan Pereira — Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) on Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ’s service record, on “Fox News Sunday”: “First off, I want to say I respect the service of all veterans to include Tim Walz, who served for more than 20 years. But now even the campaign has acknowledged he's made past inconsistent statements about his service. I think you should answer questions about those statements. … But more than anything, we need to remember … Kamala Harris is at the top of the ticket. She's the one that needs to take questions.” — Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minn.) on Biden dropping out, on “This Week”: “I am not looking in the rearview mirror about who said what and who hurt whose feelings. For me this is about, as Kamala Harris has said over and over again, this is about moving forward and not going backward.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “There Is Still a Biden Scandal,” by Ross Douthat for NYT
- “Trump’s Crucial Power Has Been Neutralized,” by Jeff Greenfield for POLITICO Mag
- “Democrats Have Needed Someone Like Tim Walz for Decades,” by Sarah Smarsh for NYT
- “San Franciscans awaken to the cruelty — and futility — of homeless sweeps,” by Christin Evans for the San Francisco Standard
- “Biden Is Right to Tighten Asylum Policy,” by Barney Frank for WSJ
- “The Urban Family Exodus Is a Warning for Progressives,” by Derek Thompson for The Atlantic
- “A reality check on the ‘Tampon Tim’ meme,” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board
- “Kids Should Have the Right to Hug Their Incarcerated Parents,” by Maggie McDonald for Teen Vogue
- “A Trump Victory Would Mean Transition Chaos,” by David Marchick for Bloomberg
- “Tim Walz’s Masculinity Is Terrifying to Republicans,” by Francis Wilkinson for Bloomberg
- “The Last Survivors of an Atomic Bomb Have a Story to Tell,” by Kathleen Kingsbury, W.J. Hennigan and Spencer Cohen for NYT
| | | | A message from the Brennan Center for Justice:   | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden has nothing on his public schedule. On the trail Harris is in San Francisco, where she and Walz will reportedly attend a big fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel at 2:55 p.m. Eastern (along with Rep. NANCY PELOSI). Harris will later return to Washington.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
|  As Harris and Walz wrap their introductory tour, everyone is watching whether they can keep the momentum up. | Jae Hong/AP Photo | 1. WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS: Harris and Walz yesterday marked the final stop on the ticket’s introductory tour in Las Vegas, a town that is “often roiled by economic uncertainty,” Megan Messerly reports from the ground. “As excitement over her candidacy gives way to the realities of the final stretch of campaigning, Democrats are divided over whether Harris is making a clear enough case to independent voters on those issues — and that it just has yet to reach all the ears it needs to — or whether her message itself needs strengthening. Her speech in Nevada previewed her evolving economic policy platform, which she told reporters Saturday is coming next week.” The MAGA view: “Do Trump Fans Believe the Harris Hype? Not a Chance,” by NYT’s Shawn McCreesh in Bozeman, Montana: “In interview after interview, Mr. Trump’s supporters expressed a kind of cocky equanimity about the state of things. It was a decidedly optimistic rendering of the political reality, nurtured by the man for whom they plan to vote, that appeared to be contributing to a creeping sense they have that, if this race does not go their way in November, it will have been another stolen election.” 2. CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Ahead of the Democratic Convention next week, preparations continue for potentially disruptive pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Just outside of Chicago, a community of Palestinian Americans known as “Little Palestine” are “determined to protest in large numbers” outside the DNC, WaPo’s Yasmeen Abutaleb writes. “Organizers say tens of thousands will show up, creating scenes of fury and dissent at a moment when Democrats will be working to project unity.” In the community, “many residents have direct ties to Gaza and the West Bank, and have lost family members or heard stories of loved ones facing repeated displacement.” 3. VENEZUELA LATEST: “In Secret Talks, U.S. Offers Amnesty to Venezuela’s Maduro for Ceding Power,” by WSJ’s Juan Forero, Patricia Garip and Kejal Vyas in Bogota: “The U.S. has discussed pardons for [Venezuelan President NICOLÁS] MADURO and top lieutenants of his who face Justice Department indictments, said three people familiar with the Biden administration deliberation. One of the people said the U.S. has put ‘everything on the table’ to persuade Maduro to leave before his term ends in January. Another person familiar with the talks said the U.S. would be open to providing guarantees not to pursue those regime figures for extradition.” Related read: “Amid Venezuela tumult, U.S. wants Latin American countries to lead in finding a solution,” by WaPo’s Karen DeYoung and Samantha Schmidt 4. WHAT TRUMP WILL SOON BE POSTING ABOUT: “Atop ABC, a Personal Connection to Kamala Harris,” by NYT’s Michael Grynbaum and Brooks Barnes: “On paper, the potential for a conflict of interest seems obvious: ABC News, the host of next month’s high-stakes presidential debate, falls under the purview of a top corporate executive at Disney who happens to be longtime friends with the Democratic nominee. The executive, DANA WALDEN, first met Kamala Harris in 1994. … The Waldens — ‘extraordinary friends,’ per the vice president — have donated money to Ms. Harris’s political campaigns since at least 2003, when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco.” The response: “ABC News says that any perception of a conflict involving Ms. Walden is not reality. The company says that the executive, who oversees 18 businesses across the sprawling Disney empire, is only involved in the news division’s corporate matters (like budgets and staff size) and that she has no say in editorial decisions.” While NYT notes that media executives have long donated to political figures, “rare is the genuine, enduring friendship like that between Ms. Harris and Ms. Walden.”
| | | | A message from the Brennan Center for Justice:   | | | 5. KNOWING MEENA HARRIS: “‘Ambitious girl’: How Kamala Harris’ niece turned political proximity into a budding business empire,” by Ben Schreckinger: “During the early stages of Kamala Harris’ political rise, Meena Harris advised her aunt while moving between elite legal jobs and some of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies, before branching out into a T-shirt line that began as a charitable endeavor. … But Meena Harris has leveraged political adjacency to create a sprawling personal brand from scratch, then has taken it in inventive new directions.” 6. ARE MAGA DIEHARDS THE NEW DEADHEADS?: “Kid Rock Threw the Party. MAGA Faithful Brought the Joy, Rage and Smirnoff Ice,” by NYT’s Richard Fausset in Anderson, South Carolina: “What remained was a snapshot of a maturing American subculture, with unwritten conventions rivaling those of Deadheads or Swifties, and a dizzying mash-up of hedonism and piety, angry rebellion and beer-guzzling pursuit of happiness.” 7. MEDIAWATCH: “Bari Weiss Knows Exactly What She’s Doing,” by NYT’s Matt Flegenheimer: “With her news and opinion site … a popular podcast (‘Honestly with BARI WEISS’) and a lucrative turn on the speechmaking circuit, Ms. Weiss has amassed high status in what might be considered the no-tribes tribe of American power. She has created, or at least created space at, a cool kids’ table all her own, positioning herself as a teller of dangerous truths while becoming a kind of brand ambassador for the views and passions of her audience, which often seem to track neatly with her own: that elite universities have lost the plot; that legacy outlets have lost their minds; that Ms. Weiss knows the way forward.” 8. THE POST-ROE REALITY: “After Dobbs decision, more women are managing their own abortions,” by NBC’s Lauren Dunn: “As more states implement abortion restrictions, the number of women undergoing self-managed abortions is rising, according to a new study from the research group Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Researchers surveyed 7,000 women ages 15 to 49 and found that in the year before the Dobbs decision, 2.4% reported self-managing abortions. In the year after Dobbs, that percentage increased to 3.4%, according to the report published recently in JAMA Network Open.” 9. THE NEW NORMAL: “Former officials warn campaigns to ‘buckle up’ — more hacks are likely,” by Maggie Miller: “After POLITICO broke the news of the [Trump campaign] hack on Saturday, talk of it rippled through the DEF CON conference — one of the world’s largest gatherings of hackers, as it closed out its final day. … ‘Buckle up,’ CHRIS KREBS, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, posted Saturday. ‘Someone is running the 2016 playbook, expect continued efforts to stoke fires in society and go after election systems.’”
| | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Celine Dion snapped back at Donald Trump’s use of “My Heart Will Go On” at his rally. Betsy DeVos is open to serving in a second Trump administration. Igor Bobic had a surprising neighbor at the beach. IN MEMORIAM — “Steve Symms, senator who was voice of conservative ire, dies at 86,” by WaPo’s Brian Murphy: “Steve Symms, a former Republican lawmaker from Idaho who made staunch conservative views his political brand and rattled the 1988 presidential campaign by falsely claiming that the wife of Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis once burned an American flag, died Aug. 8 at his home in Leesburg, Va. He was 86. The death was announced by the office of Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R). No other details were given.” HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) … NYT’s David Brooks, Charles Blow and Lyndsey Layton … Matt Morgan of Barnes & Thornburg … POLITICO’s Toby Eckert and Michael Roberts … Rob O’Donnell … Chris Berry of iHeartMedia … Scripps News’ Liz Landers and Tara Ayres… Joanna Piacenza of Gravity Research … Precision’s Brian Krebs … Alex Siciliano of the National Association of Broadcasters … Lauren Maddox of Holland & Knight … Jesse Barba of Chegg Inc. … Chris Lisi … Kedrin Simms Brachman ... former USTR Charlene Barshefsky … DemList’s Kimberly Scott … Albert Morales … Marissa Secreto … DOE’s Colin Cunliff … ABCA’s Domingo Juan… former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) … former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) ... Thad Huguley … John Files … David Rubenstein … Greg Michaelidis … Ilana Drimmer … Meghan Dubyak … Luka Ignac of the Atlantic Council … Rachel Smolkin … Mitra Kalita of URL Media … Sam Myers Jr. 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 Brennan Center for Justice: In response to a cascade of ethics scandals laying bare a system in which Supreme Court justices wield tremendous power for decades with little accountability, President Biden has called for 18-year term limits and a binding code of ethics. These reforms have bipartisan support among a majority of Americans. Congress must take action to establish 18-year term limits and bring regular turnover to the bench. Doing so would save the Court from itself, helping to drain the toxicity from the confirmation process and restore balance to the bench. These are conservative ideas, resting on a foundational premise of accountability: nobody should hold too much public power for too long. The result would be a Court that better reflects American values. To learn more about the constitutionality of term limits, visit the Brennan Center’s term limits resources. | | | | | | | 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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