Russia's Pearl Harbor

Politico

2 days ago

Presented by
With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine
IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD IT ALREADY: My wonderful Playbook colleague Dasha Burns launched her new Sunday show podcast 'The Conversation' yesterday, kicking off her inaugural show with TV star turned MAGA world fave Dr. Mehmet Oz. They covered Medicaid cuts; drug pricing, AI medtech and more. 'One thing that surprised me was the way he talked about government employees — with real reverence,' Dasha tells me on this morning's edition of our daily Playbook Podcast. 'That stuck out at me in the era of DOGE, when government workers have been so vilified.' Watch it on YouTube, or or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
A BLEAK START TO THE MORNING — LATEST FROM BOULDER: America is today processing the horrific scenes in Boulder, Colorado, where a weekly parade marching in solidarity with the Israeli hostages in Gaza was attacked by a man wielding a flamethrower and Molotov cocktails. Eight people were injured in what the FBI called a 'targeted terror attack' as they marched past an outdoor shopping mall. The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, shouted 'Free Palestine' before being taken into custody by police. More from the AP.
Footage posted online showed scenes of chaos, with victims rolling on the floor and passers-by flapping coats and throwing water to douse the flames. Two were airlifted to a serious burns unit in Aurora, the Denver Post reports. Among the many shocking facts — most of the people hospitalized were senior citizens, police said, the eldest 88 years old. 9News in Colorado reported that one was a Holocaust survivor.
America, 2025: The attack follows the murder last month of two young Israeli Embassy staffers in downtown D.C. by another man shouting 'Free Palestine.' And in April, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, saw his family home firebombed by an assailant who cited Shapiro's position on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Senior politicians and plenty of others last night decried the spike of violence and warned of rising antisemitism.
But there's more: Citing multiple DHS sources, Fox News reports the suspect in Boulder is an Egyptian national who overstayed his visa but was given permission to remain under Joe Biden's presidency. The report — yet to be confirmed elsewhere — was immediately seized upon by MAGA figures both inside and outside the Trump administration as further evidence that Biden dangerously lost control of immigration. 'The Biden Admin granted the alien a visa and then, when he illegally overstayed, they gave him a work permit,' wrote White House policy guru Stephen Miller on X. 'Immigration security is national security. No more hostile migration. Keep them out and send them back.'
Needless to say … for all of the above reasons, this attack will dominate political conversations today. It surely won't be long before Donald Trump weighs in.
In today's Playbook …
— How Ukraine humiliated Vladimir Putin … and changed the rules of modern war.
— Trump to speak with Xi Jinping this week after China trade talks stall.
— Senate returns from break as spending bill deadline looms.
DRIVING THE DAY
PUTIN'S HUMILIATION: Ukraine's delegation arrives in Istanbul for a second round of U.S.-led peace talks with Russia today after pulling off one of the most astonishing military attacks of the modern era. Around one-third of Vladimir Putin's strategic cruise missile carriers were hit in yesterday's coordinated drone strikes on airfields across Russia. The stunning videos of destruction are a humiliation for Putin, who has sought to create an air of inevitability about this war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, it seems, holds more cards than Trump gave him credit for.
The facts are astonishing: More than 100 drones were smuggled deep into Russia by Ukrainian spies and hidden in the rooftops of specially constructed wooden cabins. These roofs then opened remotely at the moment of attack, with the drones swarming out and striking more than 40 bomber jets parked at Russian airfields across the country. One of the targets — the Belaya airfield in Siberia — is 3,500 miles from Ukraine (the same distance as D.C. is from your author's house in south London). Yet Russia never saw it coming.
Experts agree: This is a game-changing moment in modern warfare, with repercussions for every serious military on the planet, including here in America. At relatively little expense — although with jaw-dropping audacity — a small-ish nation has delivered a major strategic setback to one of the most powerful militaries on earth, deep inside its own territory. The U.S., China and others will be intently watching. Russian pro-military bloggers called it 'our Pearl Harbor' — though this was no unprovoked attack.
For these are — or were — the same bombers which carry the airborne proponent of Russia's strategic nuclear threat, one of the jewels in Putin's military crown. And planes like these have been relentlessly bombing Ukrainian cities for months — albeit not with nuclear warheads — as Ukraine tries in vain to shoot their missiles down. Speaking to the WSJ, defense analyst George Barros likens yesterday's attacks to 'killing the archers, instead of intercepting the arrows.'
In fact, forget Pearl Harbor: Israel's exploding pager attack on Hezbollah may be a better comparison — the novel deployment of cheap but ultra-modern technology to devastating effect. This is the reality of the 21st century battlefield, where drone power and remote attacks are suddenly key. 'This is exactly what wars of the future will look like,' Iryna Vereshchuk, a top official in Zelenskyy's office, said. The previous night Russia had launched its heaviest drone strike on Ukraine since 2022, with more than 470 drones attacking cities including Kharkiv.
None of this sets a tone for peace, of course, although Zelenskyy stressed he had targeted only military infrastructure to protect his people, in contrast to Putin's unprovoked attacks on civilian areas. Ukraine's delegation in Istanbul today will again reiterate its support for Trump's demand for an immediate ceasefire and call for the further release of prisoners and the return of thousands of children kidnapped by the Russian forces. But Russia has yet to even formally offer its demands — and no one is seriously expecting a breakthrough today.
GOP diplomacy: Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov yesterday — but realistically, nothing is going to change until Trump steps in. Among those fast losing patience is Trump's friend and golfing buddy Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is still in Europe after meetings with Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron. Graham has a hard-as-nails sanctions bill waiting to go — but will need Trump's signoff to get it into law. (Trump just gave Putin another two weeks to show he means business.)
Stalling for time: 'What I learned on this trip was [Putin] is preparing for more war,' Graham warned. 'We saw credible evidence of a summer or early fall invasion.' Graham's bipartisan bill 'would impose 500 percent tariffs on countries that continue buying Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations like China and India that account for roughly 70 percent of Russia's energy trade and bankroll much of its war effort,' AP reports. Graham called it 'the most draconian bill I've ever seen in my life in the Senate.' For now, all eyes are on Trump.
THE ECONOMY, STUPID
NICE TO XI YOU: Trump is due to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming days after his outburst last week accusing Beijing of violating an interim trade deal. Cabinet members confirmed yesterday that trade talks with China have slowed, but hinted the much-anticipated Trump-Xi chat will likely come this week. 'That's our expectation,' National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told ABC. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent agreed a call should come 'very soon,' telling CBS that China has slow-walked a critical minerals agreement.
While we're waiting for that: Another consequential week for the U.S. and global economies will kick off with Fed Chair Jerome Powell giving a speech at 1 p.m. today and run through the monthly jobs report coming Friday morning. In between, expect plenty of attention on the ongoing trade talks — as well as growing debt concerns with Republicans' reconciliation megabill.
Trading places: Stock market futures were down following Trump's latest move to amp up steel and aluminum tariffs Friday, per Bloomberg. Last week's back-and-forth court rulings over the legality of Trump's tariffs continued to make planning more confusing and life harder for some U.S. small businesses, CNN's Lisa Eadicicco reports.
Driving the morning: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will be on Maria Bartiromo's Fox Business Network breakfast show following his recent warnings about the state of the bond market. Dimon said the ballooning national debt could become a crisis for the U.S., which prompted a dismissal from Bessent on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' 'For his entire career, he's made predictions like this,' Bessent said. 'Fortunately, none of them have come true.'
Reconcilable differences: Despite his debt fears, Dimon said in advance excerpts from the Fox interview that Congress should 'get the tax bill done,' with the clock ticking down to the GOP's July 4 deadline. Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans have insisted the high-spending bill won't actually add trillions to the national debt, because it will grow the economy — but as AP's Josh Boak notes, '[t]he response so far from financial markets has been skeptical.'
Dynamics on the Hill: As the Senate returns to town today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he's talked with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries about coordinating unified Democratic opposition to the bill. But the main focus will be on Senate Republicans: Trump plans to talk with Majority Leader John Thune and amp up his calls for senators to fall in line this week, WSJ's Alex Leary and colleagues report. Hard-right senators and deficit hawks have made the most noise recently in their worries about the bill's debt impact. But POLITICO's Jordain Carney reports that it's really the 'Medicaid moderates' to watch — centrists and populists who want to pare back the bill's health care cuts.
TRAIL MIX
THE CLOSER: With early in-person voting starting tomorrow in New Jersey, Trump will hold a tele-rally at 7 p.m. tonight for Jack Ciattarelli's GOP gubernatorial campaign, the New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein reports. Next week's primary looks fairly sewn up for Ciattarelli after he landed Trump's endorsement, but there's been scant public polling of his race or that of the Democrats, where Rep. Mikie Sherrill appears to be the frontrunner.
SCOOP — ROGERS GETS MORE BACKUP: As he races to stave off a possible GOP primary with Rep. Bill Huizenga in Michigan's pivotal 2026 Senate race, former Rep. Mike Rogers picked up the endorsement of Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, POLITICO's Adam Wren scoops. Trump hasn't yet decided who to endorse, and Barrasso's endorsement speaks directly to him: 'President Trump needs a fighter. Mike Rogers is a veteran, a lawman, and a fighter for America First. I will support Mike in every way possible.'
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is endorsing Democratic Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Levar Stoney, Adam writes in. 'As a fellow former mayor, I know that some of the best leadership comes from our local leaders, because mayors have to solve problems,' Buttigieg said of the former Richmond mayor in a statement to Playbook.
What Virginia Dems are watching: The party is optimistic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger will retain her big lead and flip the governor's mansion this fall, POLITICO's Liz Crampton reports from Norfolk. Democrats' big fear is that the party's toxic national brand will weigh her down. But if she can improve outside of Northern Virginia, expect Democrats nationwide to look at her messaging on high prices and federal government cuts as an exemplar.
What California Dems are watching: At party gatherings in California and South Carolina this weekend, there was a distinct lack of excitement — and in some cases much worse — for the political return of Kamala Harris, POLITICO's Melanie Mason and Brakkton Booker report. Harris is polling strongly and would be an initial frontrunner in either the gubernatorial or presidential race. But some South Carolinians sounded happy to let California have her, while some Californians fretted about whether she should really be running for governor.
2028 WATCH: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has a new PAC, American Mobilization Project, that's focused on drumming up opposition to the Trump agenda rather than supporting political candidacies, POLITICO's Holly Otterbein scoops this morning. Its early focus is voter registration and organizing against Medicaid cuts, but with plans to spend $2 million this cycle, the PAC is the latest indicator that Murphy could make a presidential run. … Maryland Gov. Wes Moore met with former Obama and Biden advisers in South Carolina, The Baltimore Sun's Sam Janesch reports from Columbia.
BEST OF THE REST
ON THE MENU: The only public item on Trump's schedule so far today is lunch at 1 p.m. with VP JD Vance.
NOT ADDING UP: Trump reportedly pulled Jared Isaacman's nomination as NASA administrator after being told about his donations to Democrats. But NYT's Maggie Haberman and Ryan Mac report that Isaacman actually already told Trump directly about them late last year.
CAPITULATION CORNER: 'The Law Firms That Appeased Trump — and Angered Their Clients,' by WSJ's Erin Mulvaney and colleagues: 'At least 11 big companies are moving work away from law firms that settled with the administration or are giving — or intend to give — more business to firms that have been targeted but refused to strike deals.' That includes Oracle and Morgan Stanley.
THE SCUTTLEBUTT FROM SINGAPORE: At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Australia to spike its defense spending much higher, to 3.5 percent of GDP from about 2 percent, per Bloomberg. There were also some tensions between the U.S. and Europe, which didn't take kindly to Hegseth's suggestion to focus on their own backyard, Reuters' Greg Torode and Fanny Potkin report.
JUST POSTED: The guest on the latest episode of Greg Sargent's New Republic podcast 'Daily Blast' is a detained immigrant who recorded her audio straight from jail. Ming Li 'Carol' Hui — whose arrest after living in Kennett, Missouri, for more than two decades has spurred a local campaign to get her released — says of the outpouring: 'I was so shocked. I didn't know that many people loved me.' Listen to her voice for the first time here
THE WORLD ELISE STEFANIK BUILT: 'The First Casualty in the War Against Elite Universities,' by POLITICO Magazine's Evan Mandery: 'Liz Magill goes deep, for the first time, on how a congressional hearing on antisemitism fueled her resignation from the University of Pennsylvania — and launched a broader war on higher ed.'
TALK OF THE TOWN
John Fetterman and Dave McCormick are the latest participants in the Senate Project series at 9 a.m. today, with the Kennedy Institute, Hatch Foundation and Fox News' Shannon Bream.
SPOTTED: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 7th Street Burger in Georgetown yesterday. Pic
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — June is crunch time for many of the year's biggest Supreme Court decisions, which typically have much of Washington glued to social media for instant legal analysis. But a number of prominent commentators, experts and groups — including Dahlia Lithwick, Leah Litman, Stephen Vladeck, Jennifer Taub, Chris Geidner, Court Accountability and Public Citizen — are pledging to post to all other platforms before X. The 'X-last' strategy, led by Indivisible and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is an effort to shift discourse from Elon Musk's platform to Bluesky.
— Hunter Lovell is now press secretary for the Labor Department. He previously was comms director for Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and is a Steve Scalise alum.
MEDIA MOVES — Brett Bachman will be senior editor for breaking news at NOTUS. He previously was a news editor at The Daily Beast. … Elise Girard is now senior director of partnerships at The Atlantic. She previously was advertising director at The Hill.
TRANSITIONS — Sam Somogye is now press secretary for Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). He most recently was comms director for Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and is a Ted Cruz campaign alum. … Justin Vail has rejoined Protect Democracy as counsel and head of coalition advocacy. He previously was special assistant to the president for democracy and civic participation in the Biden White House. … Brian Reich and Eric Hollister Williams are now SVPs at One Strategy Group. Reich previously was deputy assistant secretary for strategic planning and director of speechwriting at HHS and is a Clinton White House alum. Williams previously was director of corporate comms at Apple. …
… Reilly McBride is now VP of policy and advocacy comms at JPMorganChase. She previously was deputy comms director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and is an Invariant alum. … Philip Bednarczyk is now director of the German Marshall Fund's Warsaw office. He previously was an adviser for Europe and Eurasia for the House Foreign Affairs Committee. … Christian Calvert is now press assistant for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He previously was SEC program officer for campus advancement at Young America's Foundation.
ENGAGED — Elizabeth Ralph, editor of POLITICO Magazine, and Alex Keeney, senior producer for podcasting at POLITICO, got engaged in Radnor, Pennsylvania, this weekend. They met the old-fashioned way: in the office.
WEEKEND WEDDING — Christine Delargy, a VP at Sunshine Sachs Morgan and Lylis and a WaPo and POLITICO alum, and Dave McKeown of the U.S. Secret Service got married Friday night at The Airlie in Warrenton, Virginia. Pic … Another pic … SPOTTED: Kiki and Tim Burger, Sara and Ron Bonjean, Mary Kathryn and Michael Steel, Sheena and Rodell Mollineau, Nick Massella and Brian Gill, and Elizabeth Thorp.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Mike Berg, chief of staff for Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and an NRSC and NRCC alum, and Eva Bandola Berg, a managing director at CGCN, welcomed George Kennedy Berg on May 14. Pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) … acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro … former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) … Alex Hornbrook … Mia Heck ... Mike Lynch … Crooked Media's Jon Favreau … Ian Byrne … Rich Ashooh ... Jen Tumminio … Ben Cassidy of the BLC Group … Clarence Page … Vanessa Day … POLITICO's Katie Wojcik and Patrick Caldwell … JP Schnapper-Casteras … Alex Joyce of the American Conservation Coalition … Zach Isakowitz of the Semiconductor Industry Association … Jason Rosenbaum … Darby McQueen-Dever of Rep. Michael Cloud's (R-Texas) office … Hannah Botelho of Kieloch Consulting … Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown … Edgar Barrios … Jane Meyer of Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) office … Chris Lehane
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