| | | | |  | | By Eli Stokols, Elena Schneider, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | 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 In the days since Vice President KAMALA HARRIS has taken over the campaign against former President DONALD TRUMP and his running mate JD VANCE, Democrats are leaning into a new attack line against the Republican ticket: that they're just really weird. Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ, a potential Harris running mate who’s been using this description for months, said it during his first viral TV appearance of the week, and then in others. The Democratic Governors Association, which Walz leads, amplified it on social media. And the Harris campaign has adopted it as well, incorporating the label repeatedly this week in press releases and posts on X and TikTok. As this simple and quintessentially Midwestern description of Trump and Vance catches on, it marks a notable rhetorical shift — away from President JOE BIDEN's apocalyptic, high-minded messaging toward a more gut-level vernacular that may better capture how many voters react to far-right rhetoric of the kind Vance in particular trades in. “It perfectly describes the uneasiness people feel. It’s how people who don’t live and breathe politics every day react to hearing the Republican vice presidential candidate denigrate people without children,” said TIM HOGAN, a Democratic strategist who worked on the 2020 presidential campaign of another Minnesotan, Sen. AMY KLOBUCHAR. “It’s simple. It’s how you might talk to your neighbor about the crazy political climate we’re living in.” Walz’s post of his interview clip on X — captioned: “I’m telling you: these guys are weird.” — had 4.6 million views as of Friday afternoon. And when the Harris campaign sent out a memo on Thursday responding to Trump, or what they described as “a 78-Year-Old Criminal’s Fox News Appearance,” they included this among a list of takeaways: “Trump is old and quite weird?” On Friday, the Harris campaign used the term in multiple press releases. One focused on Vance’s anti-abortion stance, which called him “creepy” in the subject line, began with a simple declaration: “JD Vance is weird.” That followed another release highlighting negative coverage of Trump’s running mate in which Harris campaign spokesperson SARAFINA CHITIKA asserted that Vance had “spent all week making headlines for his out-of-touch, weird ideas.” And others are picking up the cues. Sens. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-Hawaii) and CHRIS MURPHY (D-Conn.) posted a video on X reacting to Vance’s past comments about limiting the political power of Americans who don’t have children, which Murphy called “a super weird idea.” Schatz then chimed in to underscore the point: “It’s quite weird, but it’s also offensive.” Harris replacing Biden atop the Democratic ticket has rejuvenated the party, triggering an avalanche of enthusiasm, endorsements and energy around a more competitive candidate. And as her campaign apparatus reshapes itself to adapt to her profile, it is adjusting its messaging strategy using the template Walz and others have provided — to talk about Trump and Vance in a different, more relatable way. “Joe Biden, president of the United States and 81-year-old man, can’t authentically call his opposition ‘weird.’ And his campaign’s tone reflected his,” said AMANDA LITMAN, co-founder of Run For Something, a progressive group that recruits young people to run for office. “It’s definitely a younger [tone], but I think it’s more about being free from the obligation to speak in Biden’s voice.” Biden and his senior adviser MIKE DONILON, who conceptualized nearly every one of Biden’s TV ads, both believed deeply in making the issue of democracy a central theme of the campaign. But the president’s remarks on the subject often featured a grave tone and a heaviness that, more than three years after the January 6, 2021, insurrection, the country had seemingly tuned out. Polls showed voters rated Biden and Trump roughly evenly on questions of which candidate would be better to protect democracy. Suddenly, there’s no more talk of “inflection points” or saving “the soul of the nation.” No exhortations from on high to “meet this moment of national and generational importance.” The Harris campaign’s first digital video, released Thursday, featured a BEYONCÉ soundtrack and a more subtle tweak to the democracy message that had been central to Biden’s vision, reframed around a more optimistic vision of freedom. And in her own speeches since taking over, she has cast Trump through her own lens, referencing her career as a prosecutor who’s taken on perpetrators of matching transgressions: "Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain," she said on Monday during remarks at her campaign’s Wilmington headquarters. "So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type." That more relaxed, more conversational approach to describing Trump mirrors the way Walz and others have successfully attacked the former president and other Republican candidates who’ve made themselves in his image, defining them as outside the bounds of normalcy. During the 2022 midterms, Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.), who is, like Walz, being vetted by Harris’ team as a potential running mate, summed up his GOP challenger, BLAKE MASTERS, with one devastating debate line. “I think we all know guys like this,” Kelly said of Masters. “You know, guys that think they know better than everyone about everything. You know, you think you know better than women and doctors about abortion. You even think you know better than seniors about Social Security.” Describing Trump and Vance as “weird” also serves as something of a catch-all, given the former president’s penchant for vicious personal attacks, incendiary language and off-topic riffs about HANNIBAL LECTER, shower head pressure and the comparative dangers of electric boats and sharks. It allows Democrats to characterize Vance’s own controversial statements about “childless cat ladies” — and to even nod at other, stranger memes shooting around the internet — without going into the details or even referencing them directly. Indeed, Vance’s “childless cat ladies” drew a rebuke from actress JENNIFER ANISTON, who rarely weighs in on politics. (Another “childless cat lady” is currently on tour in Europe, and her sought-after endorsement could activate the suburban women that Republicans desperately need to win back.) “Using new words gets people’s attention. [It’s] so easy to tune out the political language,” said Democratic strategist MARTHA MCKENNA. The “weird” label, she added, fits not just the candidates but the broader MAGA movement. “It’s the first word that came to mind when I saw the white bandages on the ears of delegates at the RNC: ‘That’s weird.’” To continue reading the rest of this story, CLICK HERE. MESSAGE US — Are you A MODERATE SUBURBAN CAT? Were you satisfied with JD Vance’s apology?? 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!
| | | | Pro Briefing: Kamala Harris and the World. What we expect on foreign policy and trade. Join POLITICO Pro for a deep-dive conversation with our specialist reporters about the vice president’s approach to foreign policy. Register Now. | | | | | | | | | Why did former Russian President BORIS YELTSIN almost get detained by White House security during a 1994 state visit? (Answer at bottom.)
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President Joe Biden pauses before he addresses the nation about his decision to not seek reelection, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on July 24, 2024. | POOL/AFP via Getty Images/Evan Vucci | | | | | LET’S JUST CALL IT A FRIDAY IN LATE JULY… And not an early indicator of what the president’s final six months in office are going to look like. But Biden was not seen at all on Friday, aside from in this five-second video message of support for Team USA as the Olympic Games open in Paris. Given that all of his campaign travel for the week was pulled down after he opted to end his campaign, it’s somewhat surprising he didn’t opt to join first lady JILL BIDEN for the Opening Ceremonies. Also, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE did not hold a briefing on Friday. Which is odd because just two days ago, when reporters complained about her going nine days without doing a formal briefing, she explained that she was only following protocol. “We’ve always had a protocol here: When the president is not here, we don’t do a briefing,” she said on Wednesday. The president, it’s worth noting, spent all day at the White House on Friday and wasn’t scheduled to depart for Camp David until 5:45 p.m. Eastern. And yet: no briefing. So much for protocol. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This WaPo column by FAREED ZAKARIA declaring Bidenomics an under-appreciated but unqualified success. Zakaria credits the administration's FDR-styled investments during the pandemic for helping “trigger the strongest post-covid recovery of any major economy.” Also taking into consideration Biden’s foreign policy portfolio, specifically his work to strengthen NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his restoration of norms following the Trump presidency and his decision not to seek a second term, Zakaria concludes Biden may have a “special place” in the history books. “Joe Biden feels that he has been underestimated all his life,” Zakaria writes. “Judging by his tenure in the White House, he’s right.” Deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND and senior communications adviser for economic messaging MICHAEL KIKUKAWA posted the piece on X. And the White House press shop sent it out via email. AND THIS piece by Newsweek’s KHALEDA RAHMAN, who reports on a new WDIV/Detroit News poll of likely Michigan voters. The poll found that out of the likely Black voters surveyed, zero said they would be voting for Donald Trump. Among the Black voters surveyed, 82 percent supported Harris, 12 percent backed independent ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., and none supported Trump. DNC spokesperson SAM CORNALE shared the piece, writing, “Tough, but fair.” WHAT WILMINGTON WANTS YOU TO READ: This attempt at cleanup from JD Vance over his “childless cat ladies” comment, where he clarifies that he has no problem with cats. “Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats. ... People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance … and the substance of what I said, Megyn — I’m sorry, it is true,” Vance told MEGYN KELLY. Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika summed it up: “Vance making it clear that he has no problem with cats — just women.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This very DC piece by POLITICO Magazine’s MICHAEL SCHAFFER documenting the grumbles of Washington’s social set that Biden’s presidency made no imprint on the city’s culture. It’s a “strange paradox,” Schaffer writes, that “the most Washington president in decades… [will] leave behind a smaller cultural footprint than any president since GEORGE H.W. BUSH.” But it’s not really: Why expect someone so steeped in Washington to change it? “They brought almost nothing new with them,” says socialite SALLY QUINN. “Except calm.” Oh, just that? On second thought, the Biden White House is probably fine if you read this one, because it’s just a lot of folks who claim to represent the city’s power set telling on themselves, making clear that, without some exciting, new cultural phenomenon in whose glow they can bask, they’re just …not very interesting in their own right. Want to know why Biden goes back to Delaware every weekend? This is why.
| | | | THE MOST NATURAL ENDORSEMENT OAT: Former President BARACK OBAMA and first lady MICHELLE OBAMA endorsed Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign in a totally non-scripted, off-the-cuff phone call to the VP. “I can’t have this phone call without saying to my girl Kamala, I am proud of you. This is historic,” Michelle Obama said. The call, according to the former president’s X account, had taken place earlier this week. “We called to say we couldn’t be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election and into the Oval Office,” Barack added. THEY BROKE ZOOM: On Thursday night, a star-studded fundraising call titled “White Women for Kamala” — which featured singers PINK and CONNIE BRITTON, as well as soccer player MEGAN RAPINOE — was the largest Zoom call in the company’s history, with over 160,000 people joining the call. SHANNON WATTS, the founder of Moms Demand Action and the organizer of the call, said the call raised over $2 million in less than 90 minutes. The point of the call was to challenge white women to “answer the call” and forcefully show out for the vice president this November. FEELING LIKE WE’RE BACK IN 2020: Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF also joined a Zoom organizing call yesterday, surprising thousands of gay and queer Black men who were mobilizing for his wife, LAT’s KEVIN RECTOR reports. Emhoff pledged Harris would “be there” for the LGBTQ+ community in her administration. Emhoff also noted where he was when he heard the news of Biden dropping out — just finishing up SoulCycle with some friends in West Hollywood. “We’re out there having coffee, messing around and talking, and ... people are coming up to me, so it’s now, like, after the announcement has gone out, and my friend’s partner said, ‘Um, you need to look at this,’ and I said, ‘What?’” Emhoff said. “I didn’t have my phone, so I ran into our car, and of course my phone is just on fire, and it’s basically, ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ from everyone. And of course, the first thing she said was, ‘Where the … were you? I need you.’” READING BETWEEN THE LINES: The gun safety group Giffords is rolling out a $15 million campaign to help Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, NBC’s SAHIL KAPUR reports. The spending blitz will include paid TV and digital ads, direct mail in English and Spanish, new polls to help allies hone their messages and the deployment of staffers and surrogates, including a co-founder of the group, former Rep. GABBY GIFFORDS (D-Ariz.), to persuade and turn out voters. Notably, co-founder and Giffords’ husband, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), is being vetted by the Harris camp as a possible running mate. SAM STEIN, ARE YOU BEHIND THIS? There’s a new petition circulating around the Greater Boston metropolitan area pushing for former Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH to be Harris’ running mate, our KELLY GARRITY found. The website, titled draftmarty.com, lays out a pitch for Walsh, and asks visitors to sign a petition to “send a message.” The petition currently has “over 94” signatures, as of Friday afternoon.
| | PERSONNEL MOVES: ADHAM SAHLOUL has been named special assistant and adviser in the Office of Policy at the U.S. Agency for International Development, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. He most recently was special assistant in the White House Liaison Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and was Middle East country director during DOD’s post-October 7 crisis cell.
| | STAYING STEADY: Vice President Harris is pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year if she is elected in November, her campaign told our ADAM CANCRYN on Friday. That builds off a promise made by President Biden arguing that corporations and the wealthy should instead pay a greater share of the tax burden. It also likely rules out the prospect of Harris embracing more progressive policies as a candidate — such as massively expanding Social Security benefits — that would require raising taxes on a wider swath of Americans. A LESS MIGHTY WIND: The Interior Department on Friday canceled a proposed offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico due to lukewarm interest from wind companies in the region, where wind speeds are moderate, and developers have to compete with cheap fossil energy, E&E News’ HEATHER RICHARDS reports. But the department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management also said Friday it had been asked by a Chicago renewable company to sell two separate wind areas in the Gulf of Mexico — both off the coast of Texas’ Matagorda Bay.
| | Inside Kamala Harris’ bumpy ride from near political death to a rebound that has Dems hopeful (LAT’s Noah Bierman) ‘Kamala the cop’ or ‘soft as Charmin’? Rival narratives about Harris’ crime record could shape the election (POLITICO’s Dustin Gardiner and Myah Ward) Biden’s doctor defends ‘excellent’ mental acuity, insists prez doesn’t have Parkinson’s-related ailment (New York Post’s Steven Nelson)
| | Yeltsin and former President BILL CLINTON had their fair share of entertaining interactions. But in 2009, Clinton told TAYLOR BRANCH, the author of The Clinton Tapes, about a particularly noteworthy moment during Yelstin’s 1994 visit. “Secret Service agents discovered Yeltsin alone on Pennsylvania Avenue, dead drunk, clad in his underwear, yelling for a taxi,” Branch wrote. “Yeltsin slurred his words in a loud argument with the baffled agents. He did not want to go back into Blair House, where he was staying. He wanted a taxi to go out for pizza.” When Branch asked Clinton how the situation ended, the president shrugged and said, “Well, he got his pizza.” But the next night, Clinton recalled, the Russian leader tried to do it again. 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 Steve Shepard and Rishika Dugyala.
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