With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
Happy Sunday. Hello from Indianapolis, where my moribund Colts are definitely not taking the field in the NFL playoffs today. If you’re a Commanders, Eagles, Bills or Chiefs fan, good luck. Drop me a line:awren@politico.com.
DRIVING THE DAY
MESSAGING TEST — On Saturday, at their winter meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, Democrats will make their first consequential decision since their November drubbing: selecting a new chair of the DNC.
Then comes the hard part: settling on an anti-Trump message that resonates with voters in a country that has shifted right.
The first week of President Donald Trump’s second term has shown that is no easy task.
LET’S ROLL THE TAPE: In the opening days of the new administration, Democrats have struggled to frame Republicans, careening from the critique that Trump has surrounded himself with “broligarchs,” as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) put it, to whether Elon Muskmade a Nazi salute.
Senate Democrats have zigged and zagged on their Cabinet confirmation votes. Of course, not all nominees are equal. But they are clearly divided over tactics in responding to Trump’s program.
While no Democrats voted to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Andy Kim (N.J), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) all chose to back former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for DHS. She was confirmed yesterday in a 59-34 vote.
Soonafter her Thursday confirmation hearing, they’ll have to make similar decisions about Tulsi Gabbard as Trump’s director of national intelligence.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) argues that the major mistake President Donald Trump made was lining up tech titans in front of his own Cabinet at his inauguration. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
To assess how week one of Trump 2.0 went for Democrats, Playbook reached out to Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), the Iraq War veteran who won his D+1 district in Hudson Valley by 14 points — while outperforming Kamala Harris by double digits.
Ryan wrote a thread on X yesterday that struck a relatively optimistic note, at a time when he concedes his fellow Democrats “are feeling down right now.” He argued that his party “set the terms of the fight ahead.”
Ryan, who has espoused what he calls “patriotic populism” in response to the MAGA movement, argued that the major mistake Trump made was lining up tech titans in front of his own Cabinet at his inauguration.
“In his first week, Trump did absolutely fucking nothing to lower costs for anybody, and he gave a tremendous amount of love to his billionaire cronies, starting very much with I think what should be the defining and lasting image of his presidency, which is who sat in the front row swearing-in ahead of his own Cabinet,” Ryan told us.
Ryan said some of his own constituents, for whom his office worked to get tickets to the inauguration, were turned away.
“If you gave a million dollars and you flew in on probably a private plane, you were warmly welcomed to the VIP reception and front-row seats,” Ryan said. “That, to me, is the story here.”
Ryan’s suggestion for Democrats is to ride the same anti-elitist message that swept Trump into office the first time around.
He also recommends eschewing some of the histrionics of “the Resistance” in Trump’s first administration and focus on cost of living.
Fresh polling fromthe AP/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests Ryan may be on to something. Only a third of Americans have a favorable view of Musk — a share that’s down slightly since December. Even more worrisome for Trump: Just one in 10 voters say it’s a very or somewhat good thing that Trump is relying on billionaires like Musk for counsel.
It will likely take Democrats some time to figure out when and how to oppose Trump. “Democrats need to spend as much time understanding why Americans voted for Donald Trump as we spend criticizing Donald Trump,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has built a relationship with Musk and represents Silicon Valley, the place where many of those billionaires call home.
And yet all of this points to a sharply different tack Democrats may take in the weeks ahead as they wait for Trump to stumble.
“If post-2016 was like a sort of street fight — a little bit sloppy, a lot of wild swinging — then I think 2025 has to be more like the close -quarters combat that I learned in the Army,” Ryan said, “which is like a mix of jiu-jitsu and judo and a few other things where you’re using your enemies’ mistakes against them.”
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— VP JD Vance on Hegseth, on CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “I think Pete is a disrupter, and a lot of people don’t like that disruption, but … that disruption is incredibly necessary. … The main thing that we want Pete Hegseth to do is to fix the problems at the Department of Defense … We’ve gotten into way too many wars that we don’t have a plan for winning. We’ve gotten into way too many misadventures that we shouldn’t have got into in the very first place.” More from David Cohen
— Slotkin on Gabbard’s nomination as DNI, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I served with Tulsi Gabbard. We were on the Armed Services Committee together. She didn’t spend a lot of time showing up to hearings, so I didn’t get to see her in action all that much. But from what I understand from people who have been meeting directly with her — and she hasn’t asked to meet with me — is that she doesn’t show the competence, the understanding, the depth. … Having someone in charge of our intelligence organization that shows a preference for our adversaries, to me, is just right off the bat, a deep question.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Gabbard, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I’m inclined to be yes on everybody. But there are some questions she will be asked that I want to hear the answers to. … We’ll see.”
— Graham on whether Trump broke the law in firing inspectors general en masse: “Well, technically yeah. But he has the authority to do it. So I’m not, you know, losing a whole lot of sleep that he wants to change the personnel out.”
— Graham on Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “When you pardon people who attack police officers, you’re sending the wrong signal to the public at large. And it’s not what you want to do to protect cops. But he has that power. … If this continues, if this is the norm, there may be an effort to rein in the pardon power of the president as an institution.”
— Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Trump’s revocation of former officials’ security clearances, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I would encourage the president to revisit the decision for those people who are being targeted by Iran, as the president was targeted for assassination by Iran. As the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, I’ve reviewed the intelligence in the last few days. The threat to anyone involved in President Trump’s strike on Qassem Soleimani is persistent. It’s real. Iran is committed to vengeance against all of these people.”
TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
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9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
1. MASS RELOCATION FROM GAZA: Dominating headlines overnight was Trump’s Air Force One comment that he wants a million and a half Palestinians to relocate from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt. It wasn’t clear yet whether this represented a massive U.S. policy shift or if Trump was just shooting from the hip, but one Israeli analyst indicated that it might be the former, in coordination with Israel, per CNN’s Betsy Klein and Lex Harvey. “We just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said of Gaza. “I don’t know, something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.”
Also: The Trump administration is giving the green light to sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, after the Biden administration paused them over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, Axios’ Barak Ravid scooped. Now 1,800 such bombs will be delivered to Israel “in the coming days.”
2. MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s invited Trump to give a big speech to a joint session of Congress on March 4. It wouldn’t technically be a State of the Union, but if Trump accepts as expected, it could be a major moment for him to trumpet his deluge of early policy moves aiming to remake the government and the country — and to lay out legislative plans. More from Bloomberg
3. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — NOEM STANDS UP VANCE: The brand-new Homeland Security secretary was late to her swearing-in ceremony yesterday and ended up taking the oath not with Vance as planned, but with Justice Clarence Thomas, at Thomas’ home, our Daniel Lippman reports.
Noem was confirmed by the Senate yesterday morning. But when she didn’t arrive on time to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the VP left after 25 minutes to avoid derailing his schedule, according to two people familiar with the matter. Vance’s chief of staff, Jacob Reses, notified Noem that Vance had to leave.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Noem’s late arrival resulted from a delay in the arrival of her late father’s Bible; Noem was originally expected to win confirmation from the Senate today, not yesterday.
“Secretary Noem has used this sentimental bible to be sworn into every office she has ever held,” McLaughlin said. “Secretary Noem was honored to be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at his home with her dad’s bible. We are grateful to the Vice President and his office and are encouraged that POLITICO is finally paying such close attention to a Secretary of Homeland Security. We wish they would have for the last four years.”
Noem arrived 15 minutes after Vance left and was later sworn in by Thomas at his home. Vance’s spokesperson, Taylor Van Kirk, told Lippman the VP is excited “for the work she will do to bring much-needed change to DHS and to secure the border.”
4. UP NEXT: With Noem and Hegseth through, the White House still has some potential tough confirmation fights ahead for controversial nominees. And it’s playing hardball with reticent Senate Republicans: “There is a very well-funded consortium of outside groups and political actors that are sophisticated, smart and tough,” a top White House official tells NBC’s Garrett Haake, Sahil Kapur and Kristen Welker. “They’ll exact consequences.”
But but but: “We’ll only give so much,” warns one GOP senator who’s voted for all the nominees so far. “Because this is the future of the country. It’s not entertainment television.”
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5. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: “White House in talks to have Oracle and U.S. investors take over TikTok,” by NPR’s Bobby Allyn: “The Trump administration is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s global operations … Under the deal now being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance would retain a minority stake in the company, but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates will be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s web infrastructure.”
6. IMMIGRATION FILES: Trump’s crackdown on legal immigration keeps widening. Due to the halt on all foreign aid, Afghans approved for special visas to come to the U.S. have now had their flights suspended, Reuters’ Jonathan Landay scooped. That strands more than 40,000 people, the majority of whom are still in Afghanistan. Many fear for their safety due to retaliation from the Taliban for working with the U.S. military/government. One advocate says he thinks the pause may have been unintentional and hopes it will be reversed. Roughly 10,000 to 15,000 of that group had already been fully vetted and are devastated by the shift, NYT’s David Zucchino and Zia ur-Rehman report from Islamabad, Pakistan.
Around the world, other countries are trying to navigate the new U.S. stance on immigration. Brazilian officials yesterday denounced the handcuffing of deportees on a flight to Brazil, per Reuters’ Luciana Novaes Magalhaes. Haitian leader Leslie Voltaire told AP’s Trisha Thomas that Trump’s combination of policies on foreign aid and immigration will be “catastrophic” for his country. And India, the third-largest source of undocumented immigrants, is trying to cooperate with Trump on immigration to stave off his ire, NYT’s Suhasini Raj reports from Mehsana.
7. MORE FALLOUT FROM THE FOREIGN AID PAUSE: “The State Dept. halts global mine-clearing programs,” by NYT’s John Ismay: “It is unclear whether [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio or the president understands that the presence of unexploded munitions threatens the lives of Americans as well … The long-term effect of [Karen] Chandler’s request on the many humanitarian demining organizations her office funds is unclear.”
8. JOHN RATCLIFFE’S FIRST BIG MOVE: “C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins,” by NYT’s Julian Barnes: “There is no new intelligence behind the agency’s shift, officials said. Rather it is based on the same evidence it has been chewing over for months. The analysis, however, is based in part on a closer look at the conditions in the high security labs in Wuhan province before the pandemic outbreak … A spokeswoman for the agency said the other theory remains plausible and that the agency will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting.”
9. FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY: Trump’s onslaught of early executive actions aimed at federal employees has left many civil servants fearful and waiting to see if their jobs are safe, Liz Crampton, Nick Niedzwiadek, Kevin Bogardus, Nahal Toosi and Alice Miranda Ollstein report. “It’s too early to tell if a mass exodus of federal workers will occur. … But what is clear is that the new administration intends to follow through on its threats to purge and dismantle the federal bureaucracy.” The workforce of the nation’s largest employer, the vast majority outside D.C., is now “gripped with uncertainty” and shocked at the intensity of Trump’s changes, NYT’s Erica Green, Campbell Robertson and Noam Scheiber report.
For job applicants looking to join the Trump administration, meanwhile, there’s “a series of intense loyalty tests” ensuring MAGA allegiance that has critics worried competence and skill won’t be prioritized, AP’s Matthew Lee, Aamer Madhani and Jill Colvin report.
TALK OF THE TOWN
SPOTTED: Treasury Secretary-designate Scott Bessent having drinks at Butterworth’s on Friday night.
OUT AND ABOUT — At the black-tie Alfalfa Club dinner last night at the Washington Hilton, several prominent new members, or “sprouts,” were inducted: Justice Elena Kagan, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), James Coulter, Adena Friedman, Alex Karp, Justin Kennedy, Dale LeFebvre, James Taiclet and Michael Wirth.
The Alfalfa Club president this year was Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and the incoming president is Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). SPOTTED: Justices John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh, Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick, Education Secretary-designate Linda McMahon, Interior Secretary-designate Doug Burgum, Elon Musk, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Condoleezza Rice, Bret and AmyBaier, Robert and Elena Allbritton, Henry Kravis, Dina Powell McCormick, Eric Schmidt, Tory Burch, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, David Petraeus, Darren Woods, Ralph Reed, Mark Ein, David Rubenstein, Franco Nuschese, Kevin McCarthy, Norah O’Donnell, Wolf Blitzer, Joe Lonsdale, José Andrés, Rob Portman, Bob Corker, Kellyanne Conway, Rachel Pearson, Cal Ripkin, Bob Gates, George Will and Antonio Gracias.
— Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the Bastion Institute, retired Adm. William McRaven, Eric Schmidt, Alex Karp, Kellyanne Conway and Michael Allen hosted a pre-Alfalfa reception at the Jefferson hotel. SPOTTED: Commerce Secretary-designate Howard Lutnick, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Catherine and Wayne Reynolds, Greg and Andrea Abel, Mike Gallagher, Ryan McCarthy, Rachel Pearson and Lisa Goeas.
— At the Washington AI Network’s pre-Alfalfa power breakfast in honor of British Ambassador Karen Pierce, co-hosted by Ned’s Club, Tammy Haddad interviewed Pierce and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) gave a toast following a comedic video with tributes from Ted Sarandos, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Kellyanne Conway, Bret Baier, Kaitlan Collins and Mark Ein. SPOTTED: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, Joiwind Ronen, Walter Isaacson, Jane Harman, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Robert Barnett, Shannon Kellogg, Olivia Igbokwe, Cam Sadler, Lynda Carter, Karen Knutson, DeDe Lea, Kara Swisher, Arun Gupta, Richard Walters, Cal and Laura Ripken, Alexandra Veitch, Sally Quinn, Govind Shivkumar, Niamh King and Ed Luce, Pamela Brown, Symone Sanders, John McCarthy, Helen Milby, Andrea Mitchell, Dasha Burns, Keenan Austin Reed, Senay Bulbul, Bob Costa, Rory Gates, Nicoletta Giordani and Ryan Williams.
WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Victoria LaCivita is now comms director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She previously was comms director for the Trump campaign in Michigan and the Michigan GOP.
MEDIA MOVE — Fin Gómez has been named executive director of politics and White House at CBS News. He will remain political director.
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Lee Payne
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: former Speaker Kevin McCarthy … The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta … former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra … Jim Papa of Global Strategy Group … Axios’ Justin Green … Kayla Gowdy of The Washington Times … Mala Krishnamoorti Parker of the International Foodservice Distributors Association … NPR’s Isabel Lara … Matt Miller … WSJ’s Olivia Beavers … Cheri Jacobus … Layla Brooks of Rep. LaMonica McIver’s (D-N.J.) office … Brett Layson … Jen Hing … Lindsay Hayes … Margie Omero … former Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) … Christian Deschauer … former Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton … Montfort Group’s Max Castroparedes … Mason Zeagler of the Michael J. Fox Foundation … Michelle Shevin-Coetzee … Sheila Angelo … Rob Foreman … Alexis Coe … POLITICO’s Brian Cormier
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Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook misstated the group for which the Justice Department is scaling back prosecutions. It is protesters who block abortion clinics.
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