| | | | |  | | By Lauren Egan, Myah Ward and Benjamin Johansen | | | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Few Democratic operatives have more of a reputation for being politically bullish than SIMON ROSENBERG. Last year, West Wing Playbook called him “the most optimistic Dem online” due to his rosy forecasts for Democrats. Amid a sea of bedwetters, he issued cheerful posts and tweets about President JOE BIDEN that were often shared on social media by then-White House chief of staff RON KLAIN. So yesterday, when Rosenberg wrote that the Biden campaign needed to “turn on,” it caught us by surprise. It also caught the attention of party advisers, White House staffers and campaign aides. Was one of the party’s biggest cheerleaders losing faith? West Wing Playbook called Rosenberg to find out. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
|  Simon Rosenberg | | Can you explain your tweet about the Biden campaign? Trump is going to win Iowa by very large numbers on Jan. 15. I don’t know that all of us have come to terms with the fact that the [Republican] primary is going to end in a few weeks. We have to get going. The Biden campaign would be wise to turn on fully, to get ready for the general election and to start giving Democrats all across the country something to do. Once that process begins, two important things will happen inside the Democratic family: One is that many of the people wandering from the Biden coalition will come home. The second is that it will quiet all the internal chatter because we’ll start channeling our anxiety about the election into concrete action. What does ‘turn itself on’ actually mean? It’s about having the tempo of knowing that you’re in the fight 24/7. And the engagement with Trump will have to become more direct. He’s going to turn to the general election in a few weeks and start attacking and we have to be ready. We’re going to be in a general election posture far earlier than we’ve been in any recent election. Are you still the “the most optimistic Dem online”? I’m actually much more optimistic about Joe Biden winning next year than I was about our chances in 2022. Joe Biden has been a good president. He’s going to have a strong case for reelection. The Democratic Party is winning elections all over the country. And they have Trump. Trump is the worst candidate to run for president in modern American history. I don't know how you dress up Donald Trump and make him look like a serious presidential candidate. It sounds like you think Biden needs to go more negative on Trump. It’s time to make our case and to remind voters about the things that Trump has done that I think make it virtually impossible for him to win the election next year. You feel good about 2024. But what explains Biden’s low approval rating? There’s no question that some sizable chunk of our coalition is wandering right now. It’s not unusual a year before the election. What I think is going to happen is that a very large chunk of our wandering coalition is going to come home and we will be up by three or four points in the election. But we won’t know that until we turn the campaign on and actually start talking to voters and making it clear that it’s time to saddle up and get going. MESSAGE US — Are you SOPHIE SAHAF, director of economic justice at the Domestic Policy Council? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes. | | | | | | | | | Which president hired LOUIS TIFFANY, the first design director of Tiffany and Co., for a massive renovation of the White House? (Answer at bottom.)
| | AN 11TH HOUR PLEA: Biden hosted Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY at the White House on Tuesday as Congress remains at an impasse on more funding for the war against Russia. During a joint press conference following an Oval Office meeting, Biden said he was open to a compromise on the border but stressed the need to find long term solutions. “Holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is not how it works,” Biden said. Biden also announced that National Security Adviser JAKE SULLIVAN would visit Israel this week to “emphasize our commitment to Israel as well as the need to protect civilian life and ensure more humanitarian assistance flows.” SURE SOUNDS LIKE A WARNING: During a fundraiser Tuesday afternoon in Washington, Biden warned Israel that international support for its response to the Oct. 7 attack was beginning to fracture in the wake of “indiscriminate bombing." It was his bluntest public critique yet of Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU’s handling of the conflict, Lauren reports. Biden also said Netanyahu “has got a tough decision to make” when it comes to his own government, which the president described as the “most conservative” in Israel’s history. Biden has been reluctant to criticize Netanyahu publicly, even as members of his own party have grown distraught with Israel’s bombing campaign in Palestine. But Biden’s comments on Tuesday were the clearest sign yet that his relationship with Netanyahu was shifting. AS FOR THE CONFLICT: Biden invited families of the American hostages being held by Hamas to the White House for a meeting on Wednesday, NBC’s MONICA ALBA reports. Biden had previously spoken to the families over Zoom, while senior administration officials including Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have already met some of them. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: November’s inflation report, which showed that despite consumer prices inching higher, inflation has slowed from its peak last summer. Gas prices had a significant impact on this cooling, dropping 6 percent from last month. In a statement, Biden highlighted the report, saying that it “demonstrates continued progress bringing inflation down and lowering costs for American families.” The president also took aim at Republicans saying that those in Congress, “don’t have a plan to lower costs for families,” and that they are fighting for the wealthy and big corporations. Communications director BEN LABOLT, deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES, senior communications advisor ROB FRIEDLANDER and National Economic Council deputy director DANIEL HORNUNG shared news about the report on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our BRAKKTON BOOKER, who reports on a poll showing support for Biden among Black Americans waning. According to a GenForward survey first shared with POLITICO, 1 in 5 Black Americans would vote for DONALD TRUMP, with 20 percent of respondents saying they would find an alternative candidate to both Biden and Trump. “Black adults backed Biden more than any other racial group in the survey, but the president notched just 63 percent among this bloc,” Booker writes. “It also represents a significant jump for Trump among Black voters overall. During the 2020 presidential election, AP VoteCast found Trump won 8 percent of Black voters, versus 91 percent voting for Biden." THE KISSINGER FILES, PART XVII: We at West Wing Playbook have been obsessing ever so slightly with the Biden-HENRY KISSINGER relationship in recent days, mainly because it was reported that the latter advised the former and we could find no evidence of it. Well, today Biden himself gave us a bit of intel at a fundraiser event in D.C. “When Dr. Kissinger — three weeks before he died, we — he and I had our real differences when he was active Secretary of State and I was a senator — but he called to tell me — he said — he asked me to call him, and I did,” recalled Biden. “He said that — he wanted me to know two things. One, not since Napoleon has Europe not looked at Russia with a — with fear in its eyes about what Russia would do, until now. Well, guess what? They are fearful of what we may do.” That was all Biden offered on the matter. But, hey, it’s something.
| | A message from Keep the Promise Coalition: President Biden, keep your promise to Native Tribes! Secretary Haaland is considering a decision that would pit some of our country’s most marginalized communities against each other and irreparably deprive several Tribes of significant revenues. A bipartisan coalition of senators, representatives, and governors, along with local elected officials and Tribal leaders, strongly oppose this decision, which would harm Tribes and open the floodgates for an explosion of gaming across the country. Read More. | | | | | JUST WHEN HE THOUGHT HE WAS OUT: BRIAN FALLON, who stepped down as head of the liberal judicial advocacy group Demand Justice earlier this year, is joining the Biden campaign as Vice President Harris’ communications director, WaPo’s TYLER PAGER scooped. MORE PERSONNEL MOVES: MING LEWIS is now the deputy director of emails and SMS for the Biden campaign, according to a post by Lewis on X. — The Treasury Department is hiring JEANETTE QUICK, a top official at California’s business oversight agency, to be deputy assistant secretary for financial institutions policy, our VICTORIA GUIDA and ZACHARY WARMBRODT report for Pro subscribers.
| | WHAT’S NEW: The Biden campaign on Tuesday railed at House Republicans as they begin to formalize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, NBC’s KATHERINE DOYLE reports. In a memo, Biden-Harris 2024 communications director MICHAEL TYLER said that despite many polls showing public opposition to impeachment efforts, House Republicans are only trying to appease former President Trump. “The only branch of government MAGA Republicans control is following through on Donald Trump’s promise to use the levers of government to enact political retribution on his enemies,” Tyler said. “You know, like the followers of a dictator.” HAVE THEY THOUGHT OF ASKING AI TO IMPLEMENT THIS EO?: On Tuesday, members of the Biden administration held their first artificial intelligence council meeting, The Hill’s REBECCA KLAR reports. At the meeting, the group — which included Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN, Secretary of Commerce GINA RAIMONDO and Human Services Secretary XAVIER BECERRA — discussed ways to implement Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence, as well as how to further prevent the risks posed by AI. The officials also received a classified intelligence briefing from the national security team to discuss the international challenges AI poses.
| | | | A message from Keep the Promise Coalition:   | | | | | Zelenskyy in Lilliput: Someone Shrunk Ukraine’s War Coalition (POLITICO’s Matthew Kaminski) A sharp indictment of Biden’s presidency – but a close race in 2024 (WaPo’s Philip Bump) Why the GOP Doesn’t Really Want a Deal on Ukraine and the Border (The Atlantic’s David Frum)
| | | VIVEK VISWANATHAN, special assistant to the president and senior adviser to the deputy chief of staff, is sort of a beast. Not only has he completed two Ironman triathlons, which for those not familiar, is a race consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run (one wasn’t enough?), he is a three time qualifier for the Boston marathon. During his 2018 run for California treasurer, Viswanathan completed a 625 mile set of runs throughout the state from Sacramento to the U.S.-Mexico border. Honestly, we can’t quite comprehend why anyone would do this.
| | A message from Keep the Promise Coalition: President Biden, keep your promise to Native Tribes! The Interior Department is considering a decision that would undermine your historic support of Native communities and commitment to advancing equity—both for and among Tribes.
Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to support Tribal communities through gaming revenues, while limiting the risks associated with gaming in communities across country. Now, one Tribe wants the Interior to help them circumvent the law and open more casinos, which would not only harm Tribes in Oregon, but open the floodgates for an explosion of gaming across the country. Read More. | | | | | CHESTER ARTHUR hired Tiffany to create designs for the White House that would transform the White House into an “elaborate and over-the-top spectacle you needed to see to believe,” according to the Daily Beast. Upon arriving at the White House, Arthur said in his well documented diva personality, “I will not live in a house like this.” The East Room, Red Room, Blue Room, and State Dining Room all got decked out in gold and silver, with classic stained tiffany splattered throughout. “There were disco-ball Islamic wall sconces, gold and silver splashed about, and a multicolored giant glass screen that glittered like a dragon’s hoard,” the Beast wrote. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.
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