| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | |  President Joe Biden today decided to postpone a foreign swing through Germany and Angola that was slated to begin Thursday. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | BRACING FOR IMPACT — A day out from Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall in Florida, it’s all hands on deck to prepare for the potentially catastrophic storm in Washington and the Sunshine State. President JOE BIDEN today decided to postpone a foreign swing through Germany and Angola that was slated to begin Thursday. “I just don’t think I can be out of the country at this time,” he said. It isn’t yet clear whether and when the trip, which would have included the first time in nine years that a U.S. president visited sub-Saharan Africa, will be rescheduled, per Eli Stokols. “Evacuate now, now, now,” Biden said in remarks from the White House this morning, noting that he is surging federal resources and personnel to the region. He warned that Milton’s impact could be “devastating” and one of the most damaging natural disasters to hit Florida in a century. Though meteorologists said the hurricane had weakened slightly overnight, it is still one of the most intense ever recorded — and there’s a chance it could strengthen again before hitting land. Forecasters expect further weakening, but that’s not guaranteed. Biden largely kept the focus on preparations and warnings to evacuate, eschewing the political sniping that has poked through in recent days. The president said Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS has been a cooperative partner and VP KAMALA HARRIS has been helpful. But he did call out political figures who spread misinformation, which has become a major concern in the wake of Hurricane Helene, saying they “do it to try to damage the administration.” DeSantis criticized Harris on Fox News today: “It’s not about you, Kamala.” “Prepare for the worst,” DeSantis told Floridians at a briefing today, Arek Sarkissian reports from Tallahassee. TOP TALKER — Bob Woodward is back, and his new book, “War,” is already trickling out some eye-popping revelations about both Biden and Trump worlds, as CNN’s Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Elizabeth Stuart report. The buzziest revelations might be that DONALD TRUMP sent Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN a shipment of Covid tests to use personally during the pandemic — and that Trump has had “maybe as many as seven” calls with Putin after leaving the presidency. At one point this year, Trump told an aide to go away from his office so he could have a private call with Putin, per WaPo’s Isaac Stanley-Becker. The book largely focuses on Biden’s handling of various foreign wars. Woodward writes that the U.S. landed “an astonishing intelligence coup” in 2021 about Putin’s plans to invade Ukraine — and that the U.S. seriously feared he’d use tactical weapons in 2022, assessing a 50 percent probability at one point. There’s also reporting on Biden’s anger at Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU. And Woodward writes that Biden was furious over the Justice Department’s prosecution of HUNTER BIDEN, even saying he regretted picking MERRICK GARLAND as AG — a striking comment from a president who has publicly emphasized the importance of DOJ independence. BIG MONEY — The pro-Harris Future Forward super PAC is pumping $50 million into a new national ad campaign that aims to reach white, working-class men, Axios’ Hans Nichols reports. NOTABLE QUOTABLE — “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris said today on “The View” when asked what she would have done differently from Biden in his presidency. Later, she said one difference is that she’ll have a Republican in her Cabinet. NEW MEDIA — Trump will go on Ben Shapiro’s show today for the first time, per RealClearPolitics’ Philip Melanchthon Wegmann. POLL POSITION — In the little-surveyed New Jersey’s 7th District, an internal poll for Democrat SUE ALTMAN finds her down 2 points to GOP Rep. TOM KEAN JR., 45 percent to 47 percent, Matt Friedman scooped for Pros. That’s within the margin of error. Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
| | | | A message from United for Democracy: Banning IVF, abortion, and many types of contraception. Creating a national pregnancy registry. Criminalizing porn. Making you pay more for healthcare and housing. Sound like a nightmare? No - it's Project 2025. And if Trump is elected, it will be the MAGA movement's dream that the corrupt Supreme Court justices made come true. But we can vote to stop them – learn more at Project2025.wtf. | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | |  The Supreme Court sounded skeptical of a challenge to a ghost gun regulation. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo | 1. BREAKING A FEW EGGS: Key conservative Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical of a challenge to the Biden administration’s regulation of “ghost guns” at oral arguments today, indicating that the rule may have a good shot at surviving, CNN’s John Fritze reports. Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS challenged the comparison of assembling a gun kit to working on a classic car, and Justice AMY CONEY BARRETT questioned whether the kits could be seen as anything other than home assembly to create a weapon. But in one notable moment, Justice SAMUEL ALITO challenged the government: “I put out on a counter some eggs, some chopped up ham, some chopped up pepper and onions, is that a western omelet?” (Solicitor General ELIZABETH PRELOGAR responded that those ingredients could be used in multiple ways, unlike a ghost gun kit.) More SCOTUS news: CNN’s Joan Biskupic has new reporting that Roberts “was shaken” by the public outcry over his presidential immunity decision last term and the idea that he’d gotten tangled up again in Trumpian politics, despite his effort to emphasize that his ruling applied to all presidents. Roberts’ concern about his legacy could be important as the court stares down the possibility of hearing election-related cases this fall. 2. PIPE DOWN: Biden will hit the road in Wisconsin today to tout a newly finalized EPA rule for lead pipes that amounts to a landmark public health regulation, WaPo’s Amudalat Ajasa and Silvia Foster-Frau report. Under the rule, all lead pipes will have to be replaced in the next 10 years, and less lead will be permitted in drinking water. That could have a major impact on children, for whom lead pipes’ toxicity can cause a host of developmental and behavioral issues. But it could also cost tens of billions of dollars to replace the lead pipes serving an estimated 9 million homes. 3. DEMOCRACY WATCH: “Election officials who back Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ stir concern in swing states,” by Reuters’ Joseph Tanfani and Nathan Layne in Ann Arbor, Michigan: “Reuters documented 37 election skeptics on the election boards of the five most populous counties in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – including 20 who have voted in the past to not certify results. Many smaller county boards in those states also include election deniers. Wisconsin was the only swing state whose big county election boards appeared free of such skeptics.” 4. SURVEY SAYS: Reuters/Ipsos find Harris leading by 3 points nationally, down from their last poll, as Trump has an advantage on the cost of living and voters increasingly fall for discredited claims about criminal immigrants. But NYT/Siena clock a 4-point advantage for Harris, her highest lead yet from them, as she’s seen more as the candidate of change. They also have Trump up by 6 in Texas and by a whopping 13 in Florida — which could be evidence, Nate Cohn writes, that this year will look like 2022 and that a serious post-pandemic political realignment endures.
| | | | A message from United for Democracy: Project 2025 is a policy blueprint created by the far-right Heritage Foundation meant to gut America’s system of checks and balances. Their goal? Take control of the government… and our lives.
If MAGA extremists win this fall, they will pursue Project 2025 policies like banning IVF and setting up a national abortion and pregnancy registry to force states to report abortion data. While raising taxes on middle-class Americans, they’ll also remove many environmental protections so companies can pollute our air, soil, and water with known cancer-causing toxic chemicals.
You think the Courts will save us?! LOL. The six MAGA Supreme Court Justices are already implementing some of Project 2025’s worst ideas.
In fact, they already deemed a president immune from all criminal acts they deem “official,” and stripped women of their reproductive freedom.
Learn more at Project2025.wtf, before it’s too late.
Paid for by United for Democracy. | | | 5. ELECTION BITS AND BOBS: The House GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund raised a record $81.4 million in the third quarter, and it’s spending another $11 million on new ads, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped. … Democratic Rep. COLIN ALLRED raised a whopping $30.3 million for his Texas Senate campaign, per The Texas Tribune’s Jasper Scherer. … The Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor shifted the Wisconsin Senate race from leaning Democratic to toss-up, as Republican ERIC HOVDE has pulled within the margin of error of Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN in much polling. … The Collective PAC’s new Vote to Live initiative is putting $4 million into turning out Black male voters, per NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor. 6. HOW TRUMP WINS: “Kamala Harris Struggling to Break Through With Working Class, Democrats Fear,” by WSJ’s Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey in Grand Rapids, Michigan: “Democrats have privately grown worried about Kamala Harris’s standing among working-class voters in the crucial ‘blue-wall’ states — particularly in Michigan. … Senior Democrats, including Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER, want a sharper economic appeal from Harris and have conveyed those concerns to her campaign … An internal poll done by Democrat Tammy Baldwin’s Senate campaign last week showed Harris down by 3 percentage points in Wisconsin.” 7. HOW HARRIS WINS: The national “Uncommitted” pro-Palestinian group made a significant shift toward Harris today, though it still didn’t endorse her. Instead, a statement across all its social media accounts declared that Trump and Project 2025 would be worse for Palestinians, emphasizing his advisers’ pro-Israel plans and saying that “we have to orient less toward who is the better candidate.” More from the NYT 8. ON THE ISSUES: “Arizona Voters at Breaking Point Over Cost of Electricity,” by WSJ’s Jeanne Whalen in Phoenix: “Rate increases, and a historic 113 consecutive days of temperatures peaking at or above 100 degrees in Phoenix, have generated record air conditioning bills and widespread consternation. … Trump has seized on the issue, promising in several campaign stops in Arizona to slash AC and other energy bills — something that is easier said than done.”
| | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | | Yoav Gallant is coming to Washington. Bentley Hensel made an AI chatbot version of Don Beyer to debate. Donald Trump’s company is working on a major project in Vietnam. Pete Stauber wants the “Miracle on Ice” team to get Congressional Gold Medals. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Serra Sippel has been named executive director of the Brigid Alliance, a national abortion access/support provider. She previously has led the organization on an interim basis, and is the former president of Change (Center for Health and Gender Equity). WEEKEND WEDDING — Adam Kay, senior manager of public relations at the American Gas Association, and Mary Stechschulte, who works at WilmerHale, got married Saturday near his childhood home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They started out as quarantine roommates when they graduated college and moved to D.C. in 2020, after their intended roommates all had job offers retracted due to the pandemic. Pic, via Allison Rebekeh Photography 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. | | | | 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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