| | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza, Eugene Daniels and Rachael Bade | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | BIDEN’S SWAN SONG — What we found notable about President JOE BIDEN’s Oval Office address last night was that he never explained why he’s not running for reelection. While he said he was stepping aside “to unite my party,” he did not say that he believes he’s too old to run, or that he’s unable to take on a campaign because of any physical or mental limitations, or that he believes he could not defeat DONALD TRUMP. In other words, he did not concede any of the arguments Democratic leaders made to push him out of the race. Perhaps he thought those issues about his age and the bad polls were implicit, but it also suggests that he never came around to those views and only stepped aside because, in the face of the party revolt, he had to. “The prime-time address aimed to offer a deeper, more personal explanation to the country than his initial written letter,” write Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan, "as well as a rallying call of support for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS, his replacement as the Democratic nominee, and their shared legacy.” WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa says “Biden sought to show how he’ll be engaged until his term ends.” NYT’s Peter Baker calls it “the beginning of Biden’s long goodbye.” Our own John Harris writes that “Thursday’s Oval Office address highlighted why Democrats believed he needed to step aside.”
|  Some Democrats are starting to worry that VP Kamala Harris' campaign isn’t spending money fast enough to tell her story before it’s told for her. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | THE RACE TO DEFINE HARRIS — One of Harris' most frequently mentioned non-coconut-related quotes from her mother sounds like it could have come from a political consultant. “Don’t let anybody tell you who you are,” SHYAMALA GOPALAN was fond of saying. “You tell them who you are.” In campaigns, they call this defining yourself before your opponent does. And some Democrats we talked to yesterday are starting to worry that the Harris campaign, which has raised some $100 million this week, isn’t spending it fast enough to get Harris ads on the air in swing states to tell her story before it’s told for her. Trump is quickly trying to fill in the gaps. Yesterday, at a rally in North Carolina, he spent the top of his remarks on his new opponent. He called her “lyin’ Kamala Harris,” and the “most incompetent and far left vice president in American history.” He claimed that she “has been the ultra-liberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe. She is a radical left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets the chance to get into office.” He hammered her as President JOE BIDEN’s “border czar” and “the original Marxist.” He tried to tie her to allegedly unpopular criminal justice reforms she’s supported. “She wants no bail,” he said. “If you murder someone, just go home and relax.” This is the scenario Democrats are dreading. While Harris gets her campaign organized, Trump and affiliated PACs fill in the policy and biographical blanks about a vice president that the public doesn’t know all that much about. The AP breaks down the numbers: “Overall, Trump and his allies are outspending Harris’ team 25-to-1 on television and radio advertising — more than $68 million for Republicans compared to just $2.6 million for Democrats — in the period that began on Monday. … The stunning disparity reflects actual spending for this week and reservations for subsequent weeks, which will almost certainly change in the coming days.” Some members of the Harris campaign responded to these criticisms with a sense of are-you-kidding-me outrage. “We’re working to get up ads as quickly as we can (though it’s only been 3 days) and in the meantime she’s dominating earned media,” said one slightly exasperated campaign official. Filmmakers were on hand at Harris’ Tuesday rally in Wisconsin to capture footage for ads, and this morning the campaign will release its official launch video. (We got a look last night, but it’s embargoed until 7 a.m. We can say that the 79-second clip reminds you that Harris allows for some creative possibilities that just would not have worked with Biden.) The video is digital-only, not an ad for broadcast television, but it’s sure to get a lot of attention. To be fair, some outside strategists said they were not worried about the delay. “I think it’s lighting your money on fire to do ads when you’re getting the best and most earned media of the cycle,” said HILLARY CLINTON vet NICK MERRILL. But the delay is a real issue inside the campaign, and it’s related to the uncertain role of chief strategist MIKE DONILON, Biden’s longtime close adviser who controlled the Biden-Harris campaign’s ad-making operation. Yesterday, on their podcast, DAVID AXELROD and MIKE MURPHY discussed how they were concerned about the lack of Harris ads airing to respond to the MAGA attacks. Axelrod explained his understanding of the problem: “Mike Donilon — the way the ads worked before — the president's guy, Mike Donilon, would work with one producer, tell him his ideas, the guy would produce stuff and Mike would pick an ad and they put it on the air. They don't — Mike’s not there, I don’t think, anymore. And you know, they’ve got to very quickly build an operation to do this.” Donilon is still there, but his new role isn’t defined yet. A person familiar with the Harris campaign’s ad-making process confirmed to Playbook that this unusual setup described by Axelrod is indeed the situation that the new Harris team inherited and the cause of the delay. And some news on that front: the Harris campaign is in talks with JIM MARGOLIS, a longtime and much-admired Democratic admaker who worked for Harris’s 2020 presidential primary campaign, to serve in that role again. This is different from the new chief strategist that the campaign is searching for. (As of last night, Harris campaign sources confirmed that DAVID PLOUFFE was still being discussed for that role.) Good Thursday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | A message from Capital One: Capital One recently announced our historic, five-year, $265 billion community benefits plan in connection with our proposed acquisition of Discover to advance economic opportunity and financial well-being. This plan is twice as large as any other community commitment developed in connection with a bank acquisition and demonstrates that the combined Capital One and Discover will create an opportunity to provide more lending, investment, and services for underserved communities than the institutions would undertake on a stand-alone basis. | | | VP LATEST — The current list, according to various reports in the last 24 hours: Govs. JOSH SHAPIRO (Penn.), ROY COOPER (N.C.), ANDY BESHEAR (Ky.), TIM WALZ (Minn.), JB PRITZKER (Ill.) and GRETCHEN WHITMER (Mich.); Sen. MARK KELLY (Ariz.); Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG and Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO. Admiral WILLIAM McRAVEN has taken himself out of the running, per Karen Tumulty. Whitmer, who seemed to take herself out of the running, is reportedly still being vetted, per CBS News. Kelly, Shapiro, and Cooper top most lists as the likeliest choices, with Walz and Beshear making up the second tier. “Let’s just face it. There’s a lot of sexist, racist white dudes out there in America who don’t like Trump, but just need a little extra validation,” one person familiar with the campaign's thinking told NBC News. “And, bringing one of the people mentioned onto the ticket helps validate her among those constituents.” Politicians are starting to boost their favorites.
- And the NYT notes, “Former Representative BETO O’ROURKE of Texas, who grew friendly with Mr. Walz when they served together in Congress, reached out to a New York Times reporter to volunteer that he supported adding the Minnesota governor to the ticket.”
CBS News also reported that the “outside team conducting the vetting, led by former Attorney General ERIC HOLDER, began holding conversations Tuesday with some of the candidates.” The current timeline has Harris trying to wrap up her choice before Aug. 7 to satisfy the requirements of Ohio’s ballot rules. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — LiUNA, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, announced this morning that it is endorsing Harris’ presidential campaign following a unanimous vote of the union’s general executive board. Its backing means only two of the largest U.S. unions — the Teamsters and United Auto Workers — have yet to endorse Harris. “Vice President Harris has been a key partner in leading the most pro-union White House ever,” LiUNA general president BRENT BOOKER said in a statement shared exclusively with Playbook. “As President, Kamala Harris will continue to defend the building blocks of strong families: union rights, Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, secure pensions, economic growth, and more.” Full statement
| | | | A message from Capital One:   | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The Senate is in. The Appropriations Committee will mark up the Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-HUD bills at 9:30 a.m. The House will meet at 9 a.m., with last votes expected by 3 p.m. Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES will hold his weekly news conference at 9:45 a.m. 3 things to watch …
- A task force of 13 House members will investigate the assassination attempt on Trump after a 416-0 vote (!) last night. The makeup of the group is in the hands of Speaker MIKE JOHNSON, with the expectation that he will defer to Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES on six of the appointments. There was a brief dustup with the House Freedom Caucus publicly objecting to the potential appointment of Rep. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.), erstwhile chair of the Jan. 6 select committee. But Thompson later told The Hill’s Emily Brooks, “I don’t even want to be on it.”
- House Republicans did not get totally blanked in their bid to pass eight appropriations bills this month. A late-night 210-205 vote on the Interior bill yesterday allowed GOP leaders to leave town holding a teensy fig leaf. But once again, big talk about passing all 12 appropriations bills evaporated in a cloud of intraparty recriminations, meaning when the House returns on Sept. 9, attention will immediately turn to writing a continuing resolution to keep the government open past Sept. 30 and through the first months of fiscal 2025.
- Sen. JON TESTER (D-Mont.) was caught yesterday dodging questions about Harris’ coast to the Democratic nomination (before a crucial save from Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER). But what is most remarkable is how Tester stands alone among vulnerable Senate incumbents and all but a handful of House incumbents in keeping his powder dry on Harris. Top GOP targets all swiftly fell in line behind Harris. (Heck, Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN (D-Wis.) appeared at Harris’ first presidential rally Tuesday.) The rush is a testament to how Democrats see party disunity, not Harris’ record, as the bigger threat to their quest for congressional majorities.
At the White House Biden will have a bilateral meeting with Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU at 1 p.m., after which they’ll both meet with families of Americans held hostage by Hamas. Harris will give the keynote speech at the American Federation of Teachers’ national convention in Houston at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Afterward, she’ll return to Washington, where she’ll meet with Netanyahu at 4:30 p.m.
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|  The DNC’s rules committee yesterday officially gave any VP Kamala Harris challengers only until Saturday to declare their candidacy. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | HERE COMES HARRIS — As Harris consolidates Democratic support and heads toward the general election at dizzying speed, here’s the latest news you need to know: Road to the nomination: The DNC’s rules committee yesterday officially gave any Harris challengers only until Saturday to declare their candidacy, Elena Schneider reports, heading for a virtual roll call vote as soon as next week. NYT’s Shane Goldmacher has the inside look at how Harris cleared the field, thanks to a dominant political operation and Biden’s quick endorsement (and money). The general election: A Harris-Trump matchup is quickly coming into view, as Fox News offered to host a debate Sept. 17, per Jared Mitovich. A new CNN poll found Trump still narrowly ahead, but Harris slicing Biden’s deficit from 6 points to 3. And Harris hit the stage again in an Indianapolis address to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, where she rallied loyal supporters to “make history,” per Elena. Her wealthy Wall Street backers made plans yesterday to raise big bucks for her candidacy, CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. Harris has some Democrats hopeful that she can reverse Republicans’ recent inroads with Black voters, NBC’s Char Adams writes. Adoration for her is growing in the once-skeptical California political class, Melanie Mason reports from LA. More top reads:
- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Priorities USA is launching a new YouTube ad across several swing states, backed by $250,000, that contrasts Harris and Trump directly on abortion with the story of a woman who was denied one in Arizona post-Dobbs. Watch it here
- FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Anti-Psychopath PAC, led by GEORGE CONWAY, is launching a new six-figure ad campaign that highlights Trump’s gaffes, insults or off-the-wall comments and says he’s not “right in the head.” It’s running on Fox News, ESPN and the Golf Channel in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Bedminster, New Jersey, around Trump’s properties. Watch it here
MEDIAWATCH ‘SUCCESSION’ IN REAL LIFE, WITH HUGE STAKES — “The Secret Battle for the Future of the Murdoch Empire,” by NYT’s Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Mahler: “The trust currently hands control of the family business to the four oldest children when [RUPERT] MURDOCH dies. But he is arguing in court that only by empowering LACHLAN to run the company without interference from his more politically moderate siblings can he preserve its conservative editorial bent, and thus protect its commercial value for all his heirs. Those three siblings — JAMES, ELISABETH and PRUDENCE — were caught completely off-guard by their father’s effort to rewrite what was supposed to be an inviolable trust and have united to stop him.” HEADS UP — “Judge Refuses to Dismiss Trump’s Defamation Lawsuit Against ABC, George Stephanopoulos,” by The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies AMERICA AND THE WORLD
|  President Joe Biden today is expected to urge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a cease-fire and hostage release deal quickly. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | BIBI’S BARN-BURNER — Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech to Congress yesterday, vowing that Israel would “settle for nothing less” than “total victory” against Hamas, and urging the U.S. to keep supporting the war on a bipartisan basis, per ABC. Netanyahu praised both Biden and Trump. But with a substantial portion of Democrats skipping the address, many of those who attended didn’t applaud amid anger over the killing of 39,000 Palestinians. (CNN’s Zeena Saifi fact-checks Netanyahu’s false claim that almost no civilians were killed in Rafah.) What’s next?
- Meetings with Harris and Trump are also on the docket this week, though the Republican Jewish Coalition is going after Harris with a five-figure ad campaign for not presiding over his speech, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped.
- Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio), on the other hand, also missed the speech — and isn’t meeting with Netanyahu, per Jewish Insider.
The other big story in Washington was the protests. Thousands showed up to condemn Netanyahu and advocate for Palestinians. Though the bulk of the demonstrations were peaceful, smaller groups engaged in clashes with the police that drew lots of attention and condemnation, especially from the GOP, as Anthony Adragna reports. More than a dozen were arrested amid scenes of violence, flag-burning, pepper-spraying and vandalism, according to Reuters. Speaker Johnson led a group of U.S.-flag-toting House Republicans to the site outside Union Station where protesters had raised Palestinian flags, Olivia Beavers noted. Protesters also said they unleashed maggots and other bugs inside the Watergate hotel, where Netanyahu was staying, per CBS. MORE POLITICS THE NEW GOP — “‘Intellectual combat’: Inside the fight to upend GOP economics,” by Zachary Warmbrodt: American Compass has “spent the last four years challenging the GOP intelligentsia’s devotion to free markets and small government. … The group will also announce Thursday that it has hired MICHAEL NEEDHAM, the former chief of staff to Sen. MARCO RUBIO and the one-time leader of the Heritage Foundation’s advocacy arm, to be its chair and grow its Washington footprint. … The extent to which American Compass upends conservative economic policy will be an indicator of how durable economic populism is on the right.” DOWN BALLOT — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced $2.2 million more getting invested in state legislative races, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports. Michigan and Pennsylvania are at the top of the list.
| | A message from Capital One: Developed in partnership with a coalition of leading community groups, our five-year community benefits plan includes significant financial and programmatic commitments through community development, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), philanthropy and pro bono, consumer card and auto lending, small business and supplier diversity, and bank access. These commitments will aim to expand economic opportunity for underserved consumers, including those in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods, rural areas, and communities of color. It will also support increased access to best-in-class products and services for unbanked or underbanked consumers as well as consumers across the credit spectrum and expand access to capital and opportunity. | | | CONGRESS
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Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich) joined with Democrats to broker a sweeping measure that would bar lawmakers from trading stocks while serving. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | SUMMER SESSION — Not much legislating usually happens in an election year under divided government, but a couple of notable bills moved forward this week in the Senate — with their final outcomes still uncertain. In committee, some Republicans joined with Democrats to approve a sweeping measure that would bar members of Congress, presidents and vice presidents from trading stocks while serving. It advanced out of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on an 8-4 vote, Roll Call’s Justin Papp reports. This reworked version of the legislation, which wouldn’t take effect until 2027, is going further than other efforts to ban members’ stock trading — but it’s not yet clear whether congressional leaders will allow it to come to the floor. Several Republicans opposed the bill strongly. And the whole Senate unanimously passed the Defiance Act on Tuesday, giving people who are the subjects of non-consensual, pornographic deepfakes the right to sue creators and disseminators, NBC’s Kat Tenbarge reports. The legislation was bipartisan, introduced by Sens. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) and LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.). In the House, it hasn’t moved out of committee yet; Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) is leading the charge. TRUMP CARDS YIKES — A new memoir from Trump’s nephew FRED C. TRUMP III, “All in the Family” ($30), includes some damaging anecdotes about the former president. In a Time excerpt, he recounts the elder Trump saying in 2020 about profoundly disabled people, “The shape they’re in, all the expenses, maybe those kinds of people should just die.” (Trump didn’t respond to Time’s request for comment.) And in his book review, WaPo’s Manuel Roig-Franzia notes that Fred Trump writes about Donald Trump insulting Black people with the n-word in the 1970s. POLICY CORNER GET ME ROGER STONE — “Watchdog finds no improper influence in sentencing recommendation for Trump ally Roger Stone,” by AP’s Alanna Durkin Richer JUDICIARY SQUARE POLITICAL VIOLENCE WATCH — “Nevada man accused of leveling death threats at judges in DC, NY,” by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney. Among the targets of his alleged threats: LEWIS KAPLAN, JUAN MERCHAN, ALVIN BRAGG, BERYL HOWELL, REGGIE WALTON, CHRISTOPHER COOPER, JIA COBB and COLLEEN KOLLAR-KOTELLY. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Demand Justice is launching Moms for a Fair Court, a new initiative that is backing Harris and seeks to raise awareness about Supreme Court decisions that affect moms. The advisory board includes FATIMA GOSS GRAVES, KATIE PARIS, SKYE PERRYMAN, AI-JEN POO, KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, MINI TIMMARAJU and SHANNON WATTS.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Kerstin Emhoff hit back at JD Vance’s resurfaced “childless cat ladies” comment. Jennifer Aniston did, too. Jimmy Carter may have outlasted the Guinea worm. Gavin Newsom is now doing a podcast with Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson. Donald Trump is NOT brat. IN MEMORIAM — “Lewis H. Lapham, Longtime Editor of Harper’s, Dies at 89,” by NYT’s Robert McFadden: “Born into a patrician family, he used Harper’s and later his own Lapham’s Quarterly to denounce what he saw as the hypocrisies and injustices of a spoiled United States.” PLAYBOOK FASHION SECTION — “The dress that swept Capitol Hill,” by WaPo’s Rachel Tashjian: “An A-line tweed shift dress called the ‘Jackie’ by Tuckernuck has bipartisan appeal.” OUT AND ABOUT — Poder PAC and Voto Latino hosted a Latinas 4 Harris virtual fundraiser last night with more than 3,600 participants, raising over $100,000 in 24 hours. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Catherine Pino and Ingrid Duran organized the event, which was moderated by Maria Cardona and Maria Teresa Kumar. SPOTTED: Julie Chavez Rodriguez, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Reps. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.) and Norma Torres (D-Calif.), Hilda Solis, Ana Navarro, Janet Murguía, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, Wilson Cruz, Carmen Perez, Sindy Benavides and Rocio Sáenz. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Nate Hultman is now distinguished senior adviser for climate ambition at the State Department. He is director of the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, and is a John Kerry alum. MEDIA MOVES — Michael Gartland is joining POLITICO as a New York editor. He currently is a City Hall reporter for the N.Y. Daily News. … Kate Meeks will be general counsel at Fox News Media. She most recently was a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Harry Wingo will be deputy national cyber director. He previously was an assistant professor at the National Defense University. TRANSITION — Fred Ferguson will be president and CEO of the American Bus Association. He previously was VP of public affairs and comms at Vista Outdoor. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) … Alex Nguyen of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office ... Andrew Feldman of Feldman Strategies … Kirsten Sutton … USAID’s Alison Harding … Christine Quinn of Win … Sarah Benzing … Fox News’ Katy Ricalde … Daily Mail’s Kelly Laco … Victory Enterprises’ Christian Hulen ... Bloomberg’s Mike Nizza … The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum … Caroline Black Fanning … Liz Brown of the Children’s Hospital Association … Clio Grillakis … Robert Zoellick ... Brad Karp … Amy Holmes ... Ducks Unlimited’s Parker Williams … Rebecca Gale … POLITICO’s Maren Rincon and Taylor Cottle … WSJ’s Elise Dean … Jesselyn Cook … Ella Gunn … Alex Pfeiffer … Annie Lentz of the DSCC … Sydney Gart … Consumer Bankers Association’s Billy Rielly … Katie Martin … Jennifer Tiller of the House Agriculture GOP 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 political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
