| | | | |  | | By Sam Stein, Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | | Presented by |  | | | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren When JOE BIDEN ran for president the first time in 1988, one biographical detail seemed to confound the press corps: How much had he protested the Vietnam War? Biden had harshly criticized America's involvement in that conflict. But he had never found himself moved to picket a campus or join a march over it. The reporters couldn’t quite relate, Biden recalled. And that friction stayed with him through the years. So much so, that he devoted a healthy chunk of his memoir towards it. Writing in "Promises to Keep," Biden recounted a conversation he’d had with The Washington Post’s PAUL TAYLOR about a memory from his time at law school. Biden, wearing a sports coat and on his way to get pizza, looked up at the administration building only to see people hanging out the windows of the chancellor’s office with SDS banners. “They were taking over the building. And we looked up and said, ‘Look at those assholes.’ That’s how far apart from the antiwar movement I was,” Biden wrote. Taylor, Biden added, retold the story to the rest of the press corps, confused by it. Thirty-six years later, Biden has not gone so far as to apply similar epithets to the current crop of campus demonstrators. Nor would the White House say if, in watching last night’s confrontations, he felt similar revulsion as he did as a law student on his way to get a slice. But what remains clear is that the president, while expressing empathy for Palestinians, has long been dismissive of the steps being taken by protesters in their name, as the New York Times’ PETER BAKER noted Wednesday morning. “President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful,” deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES said on Wednesday as police crackdowns dominated the news. “Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful — it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.” To wit, the White House announced Wednesday that the president’s first major public foray into the issue roiling college campuses would be a speech next week at the U.S. Capitol on the subject of antisemitism, one undercurrent of the recent unrest. Responding to that dynamic, which has left Jewish students fearing for their safety on several campuses, amounts to a “moral duty” for the country, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE told reporters Wednesday. But it is too simplistic to say that Biden, as a matter of principle, recoils at disruptive public protesting. In fact, there have been occasions where he has embraced it. But it has always been around domestic affairs. He has long talked about picketing and walking out of restaurants in protest of segregation, with his pride in that association sometimes leading to accusations of embellishment. Biden’s references to his own involvement in the civil rights movement during the 1960s were called into question during his 1988 run for the White House and again in 2020 by aides to Sen. BERNIE SANDERS on the eve of the South Carolina primary. Biden’s 1962 picketing of a segregated Wilmington movie theater is not in dispute. But his recountings of his activism gradually veered from the truth as the candidate suggested several times that he personally had joined civil rights marches, when he had not, according to RICHARD BEN CRAMER’s seminal account of the 1988 campaign, “What It Takes.” More recently, as president, he has shown a willingness to embrace protest culture in ways his predecessors haven’t. He was the first person in his office to ever walk a picket line during last year’s United Auto Workers strike. The campus protests by pro-Palestinian students present different political challenges. They divide Democrats and lend credence to Republican claims that the country is spiraling into chaos. And if Biden were to back a heavy-handed response by law enforcement, he would risk exacerbating his eroding support from young voters and progressives. But people close to Biden also point to another element that may be coloring his response to the current round of demonstrations: His politics are of a different era, one in which support for Israel was considered more sacrosanct, and where the Holocaust was a more proximate experience. That issue of generational divide was evident in “Promises to Keep,” too. The gap Biden saw between himself and the reporters covering his campaign was one of age. They were just a few years younger. But it made it hard for them to understand his point of view. “I hadn’t quite figured out how to explain that when I spoke about the generation of people who could reinvigorate the mission of the Democratic Party, I thought of the forty-year-old labor leader who had lost an eye while serving in Vietnam as much as I thought of the campus protestors or Peace Corps volunteers,” he wrote. “I was trying to say one thing. They were hearing something else.” MESSAGE US — Are you MONICA GORMAN, special assistant to the president for manufacturing and industrial policy? 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!
| | | | A message from Bayer: Food prices are already high, but without advanced agricultural products, like glyphosate, sold to farmers as Roundup® , farm yields will go down, farmers’ costs will go up, and food prices will rise even more dramatically. Farming has never been easy. If American farmers lose a critical tool like glyphosate based on the litigation industry’s actions, they will face even harder choices. Learn more. | | | | | What questionable food combination became a favorite of GEORGE W. BUSH? (Answer at bottom.)
| | A TIMELY SPEECH: As noted above, President Biden will deliver a speech on May 7 at the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony in the U.S. Capitol to address recent spikes in antisemitism, Sam and our JENNIFER HABERKORN report. It will be a major foray (and a rare public one for Biden) into a political thicket. But it will be done on turf the president is comfortable with. He spoke out forcefully against antisemitism shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks. It will be a major foray (and a rare public one for Biden) into a political thicket. But it will be done on turf the president is comfortable with. He spoke out forcefully against antisemitism shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks. HEY BIDEN... CAN WE TALK? Faculty members at Morehouse College remain apprehensive about President Biden’s commencement speech later this month, arguing that his presence could distract from the ceremony amid criticism over his Israel policy, NBC’s NNAMDI EGWUONWU and JONATHAN ALLEN report. Morehouse faculty were hoping for “direct engagement” from Biden ahead of his speech, similar to the town hall Vice President KAMALA HARRIS held during her visit to Morehouse last fall. “There was an opportunity for an exchange, and we all recognize that commencement is not that opportunity, so [we’re] trying to find and carve out space and time for that,” professor REGINE JACKSON said. Another professor, ANDREW DOUGLAS, said he had spoken to several faculty members who “under no conditions” will sit on the stage with Biden. Frankly, it’s tough to see how major fireworks DON'T go off here. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by WaPo’s CAROLINE KITCHENER, who gives readers a look into the impact of Florida’s six-week abortion ban, which went into effect Wednesday. At Florida clinics, women seeking abortions were desperate to get an appointment before May 1 hit. One 22-year-old mother of two walked into a clinic Tuesday morning, in hopes of ending her pregnancy before the deadline. But because of another Florida law that requires patients to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before their procedure, she was too late. “Oh no,” KRISTEN said, tears rolling down her cheeks. The nearest clinic that could help her was an 11-hour drive away in North Carolina — but that was completely out of the question. “I can’t afford three kids,” she said. “But I’m not going out of state. I can’t afford to go out of state.” Campaign spokesperson JAMES SINGER reposted the story on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by AP’s COLLIN BINKLEY, who reports how the botched rollout of Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, is raising fears that hundreds of thousands of students will forgo college entirely. One student, ASHNAELLE BIJOUX, said she had tried to submit the form repeatedly, but every time, it fails to go through. “I feel overwhelmed and stressed out,” Bijoux said. “I feel like I’m being held back.” A series of blunders by the Education Department has made applying for student aid harder than ever, and the number of successful FAFSA submissions is down 29 percent from this time last year. Most students usually decide which college they’ll be attending by May 1, but many have yet to receive financial aid offers and are stuck in limbo. ABOUT THOSE GIRLS ON THE BUS: After West Wing Playbook wrote yesterday about AMY CHOZICK’s new show "Girls on the Bus," we heard from the former New York Times political reporter and best-selling author. She took umbrage with us saying that the show failed to break free of the trope of female reporters sleeping with sources. Specifically, Chozick wrote that MALCOLM — a flak for one of the presidential candidates — was actually unemployed when he and main character SADIE slept together and that Sadie wasn’t using him to get a story. Also, there was some quibbling about whether the sex took place in Episode 1 or 2 (the first episode was a flashback to the past sex the two had). Ok. We will simply note that one plot point (SPOILER) is that Sadie has to undergo a performance review at her paper to determine if she should be pulled off the trail for this situationship. Chozick sent us the following: “The Hollywood trope is that female journalists sleep with a source to get the story. That is the opposite of what happens in our show. Sadie makes a mistake, with an ex- who was not a conflict at the time, and she pays for it dearly. If you don't think journalists have inappropriate romantic entanglements, then you've never lived in Washington or met a journalist.” On that point, we will give Chozick her due.
| | | | A message from Bayer:   | | | | | RUST BELT OR BUST: Biden’s path to winning in 2020 ran, in part, through the Sun Belt states of Arizona and Georgia. But as our STEVEN SHEPARD writes, that’ll be far trickier this time around. While polls in battleground states show the president consistently trailing DONALD TRUMP, the Rust Belt states are potential beacons of hope for the Biden campaign. Trump leads by just 1.2 points in Michigan, 1.8 points in Pennsylvania and 2.6 points in Wisconsin, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling averages. DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID?? The Biden campaign is out with a new video featuring the president responding to Trump’s answers on abortion in his recent TIME Magazine interview. Looking directly at the camera, Biden calls his comments “shocking” and says “there seems to be no limit to how invasive Trump would let the states be.” Vice President Harris traveled to Florida on Wednesday to further zero in on reproductive rights — hours after the state’s six-week ban took effect. During her remarks in Jacksonville, Harris mentioned Trump 21 times, the most direct mentions of the former president during any speech she's given this election cycle. Apparently the gloves are now truly off. WHERE THE TREES ARE JUST THE RIGHT HEIGHT: Later this month, President Biden will return to Michigan to speak at the NAACP Detroit Branch’s 69th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, Detroit News’ MELISSA NANN BURKE and MARNIE MUÑOZ report. The annual dinner is scheduled for May 19 at Huntington Place, Detroit's riverfront convention center. The NAACP will honor Biden with the James Weldon Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award and Sen. DEBBIE STABENOW (D-Mich.) with the Presidential Award.
| | | PERSONNEL MOVES: Longtime Democratic operative GREG HALE is joining the White House as director of presidential production, The Hill’s AMIE PARNES reports. Hale has worked on the presidential campaigns of HILLARY CLINTON, JOHN KERRY and AL GORE and been labeled a “master of events” and an “optics guru.” He’s also the founding partner of Markham, a progressive events management and production firm. — DAVID KOVATCH is joining Mission Strategies as head of its D.C. office. He previously was senior adviser at the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office, where he focused on critical mineral supply chains. — ELLIS COLLIER, who was previously in USDA’s Office of Congressional Relations, was promoted to senior policy adviser for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. MORE MOVES: A pair of Biden administration alums are joining the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator advisory committee, a new research and policy project led by GANESH SITARAMAN, who is a Vanderbilt Law School professor and former top aide to Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.). ELIZABETH WILKINS, former chief of staff and director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, and RONNIE CHATTERJI, former White House coordinator for CHIPS Implementation, are joining the VPA advisory committee. BIG WIN FOR DISNEY ADULTS: Have you ever had a burning desire to stay in the floating house from “Up”? Well RON KLAIN — chief legal officer at Airbnb — has you covered. Airbnb revealed Wednesday that people can now book the real-life version of the house from the movie... and risk being lifted up into the ether by millions of balloons. Kidding. It floats in the air with a crane, which makes it look much less appealing. It would be cool for like 30 minutes, but what do you do with the rest of your stay after you’ve posted it on Insta? You ain’t going for a walk!
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | NO CHANGING BIBI’S MIND: Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU privately warned Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN that Israel will move forward with its invasion into Rafah if Hamas continues to condition a hostage deal on ending the war, Axios’ BARAK RAVID reports. While in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Blinken reiterated the Biden administration’s stance against a military operation into Rafah, arguing that there are alternatives to a full-scale invasion. A MUCH DESERVED HAND: The Biden administration on Wednesday announced it would forgive more than $6.1 billion in student debt held by 317,000 borrowers who attended the Art Institutes — a system of for-profit colleges that closed the last of its campuses last year amid accusations of fraud. The Department of Education said that the schools misled students with “pervasive lies,” AP’s Collin Binkley reports. The DOE will automatically erase debt held by students who attended any Art Institute between January 2004 and October 2017. And no… these schools didn’t specialize in teaching kids art. SHOP LOCAL: The Biden administration will finalize new rules to limit a popular tax credit for electric cars as soon as Friday, Bloomberg’s ARI NATTER reports. The requirements would not allow the tax credit — up to $7,500 per vehicle — to be used for vehicles containing battery components or critical minerals from “foreign entities of concern,” government lingo for businesses controlled by U.S. rivals like China.
| | Time to Tune Out Biden's Media Criticism (POLITICO’s Jack Shafer) Opinion: Biden Is Not Winning. His Campaign Should Stop Acting Like It Is (NYT’s Ross Douthat) Meet the Woman Who Showed President Biden ChatGBT — and Helped Set the Course for AI (Wired’s Steven Levy) Trump's sit-downs with foreign officials are 'annoying' some in Biden's camp (NBC’s Jonathan Allen, Carol E. Lee and Katherine Doyle)
| | | | A message from Bayer: For over 160 years, Bayer has stood at the forefront of health and safety while producing some of America’s most trusted and iconic brands. One such product is the herbicide glyphosate, which, sold to farmers as Roundup® , is one of the most important inventions in agriculture in the last 50 years. It has enabled millions of American farmers to have better yields and lower their weed control input costs. Despite the clear science behind Roundup’s safety and benefits, thousands of lawsuits persist in courts across the country, fueled by over $100 million dollars in expansive marketing and TV ads by the litigation industry to recruit and accumulate plaintiffs.
Bayer is the only domestic manufacturer of glyphosate. If this keeps up, farmers will be left with two options – grow less food or rely on foreign supplies of the product. See what’s at stake. | | | | | Prepare your stomachs for Bush’s favorite homemade dinner: cheeseburger pizza, according to then-White House chef CRISTETA COMERFORD. “For dinner, the president loves what we call home-made ‘cheeseburger pizzas’ because every ingredient of a cheeseburger is on top of a margherita pizza,” Comerford said. Complete with mustard, ketchup, pickles, bacon and ½ pound of ground beef, we recommend you make this for your next dinner party. Seriously though, what is wrong with W.? 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 Sam Stein and Rishika Dugyala.
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