| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels, Rachael Bade and Ryan Lizza | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | THE CLASS OF ’24 — “The first graders who survived Sandy Hook will vote in their first presidential election,” by NBC’s Melissa Chan: “‘I’m casting a vote for the 26 who can’t,’ [LILLY] WASILNAK said.” NEW POLL — New polling from ABC News/Ipsos finds KAMALA HARRIS with a six-point lead over DONALD TRUMP among likely voters, 52%-46%. Takeaways:
- Harris won the debate: “Americans by 58-36% say Harris won the debate,” writes ABC’s Gary Langer.
- But the debate didn’t move the polls: “Vote preferences haven't moved meaningfully. This poll finds the race at 51-46%, Harris-Trump, among all adults; 51-47% among registered voters; and 52-46% among likely voters. Each is within a percentage point of its pre-debate level in ABC/Ipsos polling.”
- Though it did affect how viewers personally feel about the candidates: “Thirty-seven percent say the debate made them feel more favorably toward [Harris], vs. 23% less favorably. There was no such benefit for Trump: People by nearly 2-1 say the debate made them see him less favorably.”
YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN — @realDonaldTrump on Truth Social at 10:44 a.m.: “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
|  Republicans are worried that Donald Trump's connection to Laura Loomer could hurt him with voters. | Matt Rourke/AP Photo | FRUIT OF THE LOOMER — Trump’s ties to LAURA LOOMER have burst onto the national stage, a source of deep worry for mainstream Republicans and Trump allies concerned about the far-right activist’s influence on the former president — especially in the wake of her traveling to the presidential debate aboard Trump’s plane and accompanying him 9/11 memorial services this week. Now, some Trump supporters warn that unless disavowed, Loomer could cost him “votes in key battleground states,” NBC’s Kristen Welker and Alexandra Marquez write. At issue: blatantly racist remarks she made this week about Indian Americans and VP Harris, in which Loomer wrote that if Harris wins the election, the “White House will smell like curry & White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.” Several key swing states have large Indian American and Hindu populations, as Welker and Marquez note: “Georgia has the highest share [of Indian Americans] of any 2024 battleground at about 1.5% of the state population, followed by Pennsylvania and Michigan at 1.2% and North Carolina at 1.1%.” Asked this morning about Loomer’s remarks, Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” this morning, “I don't like those comments.” Pressed on whether they personally offended him and his wife USHA, who is Indian American, Vance said that he doesn't “look at the internet for every single thing to get offended by.” "What Laura said about Kamala Harris is not what we should be focused on,” Vance told moderator Kristen Welker. “We should be focused on the policy and on the issues.” Vance may not like it, but this is an issue. Who has the would-be president’s ear and what they say into it matters — especially when, like Loomer, (A) that person has a history of virulent statements about race, religion and immigration, (B) has given voice to baseless conspiracy theories and (C) when the would-be president in question has been hesitant to disavow her remarks, as Trump has. Asked about Loomer’s comments on Friday, Trump claimed to be unfamiliar with what she said. “She is a strong person, she’s got strong opinions, and I don’t know what she said, but that’s not up to me,” Trump said. “Laura’s a supporter. I don’t control Laura, Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit.” But voters will say what they want, too. And the large Indian American and Hindu populations in battleground states may well decide that they can’t support a candidate who continues to listen to someone like Laura Loomer. It’s worth noting that two of the Republicans who’ve been most vocal in disavowing Loomer are from battleground states with large Indian American populations — and that their politics span much of the GOP’s ideological spectrum. — From North Carolina: “Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans,” Sen. THOM TILLIS (R-N.C.) posted on X on Friday. “A DNC plant couldn't do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump's chances of winning re-election.” — From Georgia: “This is appalling and extremely racist. It does not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA,” Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) posted on Wednesday, referencing Loomer’s recent racist post. “This does not represent President Trump. This type of behavior should not be tolerated ever.” The question now is whether or not Trump himself will tolerate it — and whether Loomer will continue to have his attention. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Novo Nordisk: At Novo Nordisk, our majority shareholder is a charitable foundation committed to improving people’s health and the sustainability of society and the planet. That lets us invest in early science and take risks for the benefit of patients as we drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases. | | | WILD STORY — “The Kids Who Didn’t Know Their Parents Were Russian Spies,” by WSJ’s Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw SUNDAY BEST … — Vance on the baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana, because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast. … It comes from firsthand accounts from my constituents. I say that we're creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.” On whether he regrets his comments in light of the recent threats facing the town, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “You can condemn violence on the one hand, while also saying that there have been terrible problems caused by Kamala Harris’ open border in Springfield. You said that these are false rumors. Well, I’ve heard about a dozen things from my constituents in Springfield, Ohio. Ten of them are verifiable and confirmable.” On his past comment that Trump would veto a national abortion ban, which Trump declined to commit to during the debate, on “Meet the Press”: “I think that I've learned my lesson on speaking for the president before he and I have actually talked about an issue.” — Ohio Gov. MIKE DeWINE on whether Trump and Vance are to blame for the threats in Springfield, on ABC’s “This Week”: “This discussion about Haitians eating dogs, it’s just not helpful. And again, these people are here legally. They're here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working. And when you talk to the employers, what the employers tell you is, you know, we don't know what we would do without them. … This discussion just has to stop. We need to focus on moving forward and not dogs and cats be eaten. It’s just ridiculous.” MORE ON SPRINGFIELD …
- How we got here: “How the False Story of a Gang ‘Takeover’ in Colorado Reached Trump,” by NYT’s Jonathan Weisman: “Before Springfield, Ohio, before the misinformation about devoured pets and the memes of Mr. Trump rescuing ducks and kittens, there was Aurora, pop. 404,219, supposedly overrun by the violent Venezuelan street gang, Tren de Aragua.”
TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
- “America’s Weakness Is a Provocation,” by H.R. McMaster for the Free Press
- “The Real AI Threat Starts When the Polls Close,” by Matteo Wong for the Atlantic
- “Harris Can Win on the Economy, but She Needs a Stronger Message,” by Jedediah Britton-Purdy for NYT
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has Sabotaged Early Voting in a Critical Swing State,” by Mark Joseph Stern for Slate
- “Trump Has Not Been ‘Sane-Washed,’” by Paul Farhi for the Atlantic
- “Donald Trump and the Meaning of a Raised Fist,” by Liz Magic Laser for NYT
- “These people have seen Harris in the Situation Room. Here’s what they have to say,” by David Ignatius for WaPo
- “There is an intellectual sickness on the American right,” by Sohrab Ahmari for the New Statesman
- “My former friend JD Vance has aligned with something far worse than MAGA,” by Sofia Nelson for MSNBC
- “Ignore the Defeatists. America’s Strategy Is Working in Ukraine,” by Michael Kimmage for WSJ
| | | | A message from Novo Nordisk:   Through revolutionary research, Novo Nordisk is transforming the lives of Americans with obesity and diabetes. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House President JOE BIDEN and Harris have nothing on their public schedules.
| | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
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Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has been a key piece of Trump's recent run at the Supreme Court. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | 1. ROBERTS’ RULES: “How Roberts Shaped Trump’s Supreme Court Winning Streak,” by NYT’s Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak: “In a momentous trio of Jan. 6-related cases last term, the court found itself more entangled in presidential politics than at any time since the 2000 election, even as it was contending with its own controversies related to that day. [Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS] responded by deploying his authority to steer rulings that benefited Mr. Trump, according to a New York Times examination that uncovered extensive new information about the court’s decision making. “This account draws on details from the justices’ private memos, documentation of the proceedings and interviews with court insiders, both conservative and liberal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because deliberations are supposed to be kept secret. The chief justice wrote the majority opinions in all three cases, including an unsigned one in March concluding that the former president could not be barred from election ballots in Colorado.” 2. WHAT BIDEN IS UP TO: As Biden enters the waning days of his presidency, he is determined to use the tailend of his political career to overcome public skepticism and defend his economic record — both for his sake and for Harris’, Adam Cancryn reports. “The president is putting together a national campaign to persuade voters who have so far resisted his efforts to argue that his administration achieved what will one day be viewed as major economic progress, even if most voters don’t believe it because of the huge spike in prices that followed the pandemic.” “In swing-state speeches, White House events and a social media push, Biden plans to cast the last four years as a turning point that altered the U.S.'s trajectory and expanded benefits for a generation of voters — even if, to Biden’s frustration, most say they don’t yet feel it. The multi-state travel in coming weeks — a mix of official and campaign events — aims to show off neighborhoods and communities where Biden believes his policies are finally making a measurable difference, while doubling as a supplement to Harris’ own stretch run to November.” 3. PROFILE OF A DEMOGRAPHIC: “How the Last Eight Years Made Young Women More Liberal,” by NYT’s Claire Cain Miller: “In 2001, young men and women had similar political ideologies. Women were more likely to be liberal than men, but just by a little — and through George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s presidencies, that didn’t change much. Then, around 2016, something shifted, a new analysis shows. Women ages 18 to 29 became significantly more liberal than the previous generation of young women. Today, around 40 percent identify as liberal, compared with just 19 percent who say they’re conservative.” 4. THE RIPPLE EFFECT: “Kamala Harris helped shut down Backpage.com. Sex workers are still feeling the fallout,” by Josh Gerstein and Paul Demko: “The charges Harris brought against Backpage never went to trial. But they sparked a nationwide crackdown against the site, including a follow-on federal case that has been making its way through the courts for nearly a decade. Last month, after a meandering legal saga in that follow-on case, the website’s 76-year-old co-founder was sentenced to five years in prison on a federal money-laundering charge. … But some advocates on the left see Harris’ approach to Backpage — and to sex work more broadly — as overly punitive.”
| | | | A message from Novo Nordisk:   Novo Nordisk's revolutionary pharmaceutical research is transforming the lives of Americans with obesity and diabetes. At Novo Nordisk, we take the long view of health. | | | 5. A TALE OF TWO ISSUES: In New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, Rep. GABE VASQUEZ is trying to become the first Democrat in many years to win a second term in the swingy district by going big on abortion rights. His challenger, YVETTE HARRELL, is standing firm on her anti-abortion record while trying to make the race all about immigration. “For now, it’s not clear whether voters are focused on either of the topics Mr. Vasquez and Ms. Herrell have chosen to highlight,” NYT’s Maya Miller reports. “In recent interviews with nearly three dozen people in the district — a mix of Democrats, Republicans, independents and those who were unregistered or did not plan to vote — most said that abortion should be accessible and that the country’s immigration system and border needed fixing, but only a handful listed either issue as their top priority.” 6. GEORGIA ON MY MIND: “3 Georgia Women, Caught Up in a Flood of Suspicion About Voting,” by NYT’s Eli Saslow: “An election-monitoring organization called True the Vote, which promoted conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, has armed its volunteers with a web-based app that allows them to ‘identify ineligible records and report findings.’ The group says it has resulted in the filing of more than 640,000 challenges across 1,322 counties. “But few activists have been as prolific as [HELEN] STRAHL, who has won hundreds of challenges and left a trail of chaos in her wake: overwhelmed election officials who ran out of envelopes to respond to her challenges; confused voters who aren’t sure if they are eligible; enraged voting rights activists who allege voter suppression and intimidation, even as Strahl signs each of her emails with ‘respectfully’ and thanks election officials at county board meetings for their work.” 7. LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS: “Rich Americans Prep Fail-Safe Estate Plans Ahead of Election,” by WSJ’s Ashlea Ebeling: “With the presidential race in a dead heat, rich Americans are calling estate lawyers. The wealthy want to know if they should take steps to protect their fortunes from higher estate taxes. Should a change under the 2017 tax cuts expire as scheduled after 2025 — considered more likely with Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House and Democrats gaining the majority in Congress — the minimum wealth subject to the estate tax would be halved to roughly $7 million per person.” 8. HOUSE CALL: “Why the Pro-Housing ‘Yimby’ Movement Is Wading Into the Election,” by WSJ’s Molly Ball: “The ‘Yimbys for Harris’ convening attracted some 30,000 participants on a recent Wednesday night. It represented a breakthrough moment for the decade-old Yimby movement, which seeks to undo the zoning regulations and procedural requirements that make it difficult to build new housing. As home prices and rents have skyrocketed across the nation, experts have largely concluded that the problem is rooted in basic supply and demand — a lack of available housing at all price points. The Yimbys have spent years trying to force local policymakers to address the situation, battling intense headwinds from entrenched ‘not in my backyard,’ or Nimby, interests.” 9. KILLER HEAT: “Why the government lets extreme heat get away with murder,” by Thomas Frank: “At least a dozen government agencies oversee programs that ignore or minimize the threat of extreme heat as rising temperatures shatter historical records across the U.S., an investigation by POLITICO’s E&E News found. Disregard for the health dangers of heat is embedded in federal laws and regulations written decades ago, when home heating costs were soaring, air conditioning was rare and the risks of climate change were not widely understood.”
| | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’s being investigated for cutting the head off a whale. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at Juleanna Glover’s house last night for a party celebrating Sam Feist’s new job as CEO of C-SPAN: Josh Dawsey, Susan Glasser and Peter Baker, Wolf Blitzer, Kasie Hunt, Teresa Carlson, Robert Allbritton, Cathy Merrill, David Leavy, Craig Gordon, Margaret Talev, Geoff Morrell, Molly Levinson, Ben Haas, Catherine Bohigian, Julissa Marenco and Juan Otero, Chris Ullman, Caitlin and Alex Conant, Dave Weigel, Alex Thompson, Denise Couture, Jackie Kucinich, Erin McPike, Mark Murray and Robert Draper. BIRTHWEEK (was Wednesday): Tom Dreesen HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) … WaPo’s Ashley Parker … Chris Lehmann … NPR’s David Folkenflik … Ben Kamisar … Adam Aigner-Treworgy … POLITICO’s Kathy Wolfe and Katie Lund … Tiffany Haverly of Humana … Elizabeth Meyer … Sandra Alcalá of Avōq … Chandler Smith Costello of Firehouse Strategies … Ryan Nobles … Tony Mauro … Maggie Moore of Stand Up America ... McKinsey’s Max Berley … Wayne King of Old North Strategies … Sara Fagen of Tunnl … Christian Pinkston … John McConnell … former Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) … USAID’s Katie Thompson … Jill Moschak 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.
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