Marco Rubio on his Many White House Roles. Plus a chat with Trump's ‘Chief Twitter troll'
Marco Rubio joins POLITICO's Dasha Burns for an exclusive interview to discuss his dual roles as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor as he navigates the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
Burns is later joined by Alex Bruesewitz to discuss his rise from very online Trump supporter to close adviser to the president, and why vigorous online debate has helped, not hurt, the MAGA coalition.
Plus, POLITICO diplomatic correspondent Felicia Schwartz at The Hague during the NATO Summit discusses the diplomatic efforts underway amid ceasefire talks between Israel and Iran.
Listen and subscribe to The Conversation with Dasha Burns on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Politico
6 hours ago
- Politico
White House eyes Kentucky state senator for Massie challenge
White House officials will host Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks for a discussion about challenging GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in next year's Republican primary, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private plans. President Donald Trump and his political operation have been searching for a candidate to challenge Massie over his opposition to the president's 'big, beautiful bill' and his strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump political advisers Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio have launched a super PAC directed at defeating Massie that's already running a TV ad attacking the seven-term incumbent. Massie is embracing the challenge, fundraising off MAGA's slights and telling reporters last week he raised $120,000 in a single day off of Trump's threats to campaign 'really hard' against him. Massie — who previously endorsed Reed for state Senate, and whom Reed in return had called 'one of America's greatest Congressmen' — did not immediately return a request for comment. Reed, a former Navy SEAL, was first elected to the Kentucky state house last year.
Politico
6 hours ago
- Politico
This Silicon Valley founder broke up with Elon Musk. He has a warning for Donald Trump.
SAN FRANCISCO — A former longtime friend of Elon Musk has a word of caution for President Donald Trump about the tech mogul: He doesn't really move on. Philip Low, an award-winning neuroscientist who partnered with the late, legendary cosmologist Stephen Hawking as a test subject, learned that the hard way in 2021 when he fired Musk, one of his early investors, from the advisory board of the Silicon Valley startup he founded. Over an hour-long interview, Low weaved something of a psychological portrait of his former adviser, casting him as obsessive, prone to seeking revenge, power hungry and in constant search of dominance. He suggested Musk aims to explore every available avenue to establish competition with and ultimately overshadow bitter rivals. Low has known him for 14 years but doesn't believe Musk has matured over time, and he's convinced he never will. Though the two continued to speak for years after Low fired him, Low felt that Musk carried a grudge and their bond was permanently altered. It finally snapped in January when Low joined other critics in accusing the billionaire on social media of performing Nazi salutes at Trump's inaugural rally. Musk brushed off the public backlash as 'sooo' tired. 'I've had my share of blowouts with Elon over the years,' Low told POLITICO in a rare interview since Musk's ugly spat with Trump. 'Knowing Elon the way I know him, I do think he's going to do everything to damage the president.' Musk did not respond to multiple requests for comment directed to him and his businesses X, Tesla and SpaceX. A spokesperson for his super PAC, America PAC, declined to comment. Musk and Trump's made-for-TV breakup erupted earlier this month over the president's megabill that is still moving through Congress. Complete with threats, nonstop X posts and conspiracy-laced insults, their feud hit a peak after Trump mused about canceling the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's government contracts. In response, Musk unloaded on the social media platform he owns by trashing the president's megabill, floating support of a third party, chiding him for 'ingratitude,' taking credit for his election win and even insinuating in a now-deleted post that records of the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein 'have not been made public' because Trump is in them. (While it has long been public that Trump and other prominent figures are referenced in documents released in cases surrounding Epstein, Trump is not accused of any wrongdoing linked to Epstein.) Both sides now say tensions have cooled. The White House is eager to move on, with Trump telling reporters he'll keep Starlink internet and wishing Musk well. Musk, for his part, admitted some of his posts got out of hand and offered an apology a week later. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement, 'Politico's fixation on another palace intrigue non-story is laughable and fundamentally unserious. The President is focused on Making America Great Again by securing our border, turning the economy around, and pursuing peace around the globe.' But Low, who considers himself a political independent, said that Trump and the American public shouldn't be fooled. Simply put: Any reconciliation with Musk will be 'purely cosmetic' and transactional. 'He has been humiliated,' Low, 45, said of his old friend. 'The whole idea that Elon is going to be on his side and help woo Congress and invest in election campaigns for right-wing judges — Elon might do all of that, but deep down, it's over.' Low has observed that Trump, on the other hand, 'tends to make up with his former sparring partners like [Steve] Bannon a bit more easily than Elon does,' though the president is known for returning to his grievances as well. As he tells it, Musk and Low became fast friends after first meeting in 2011 at a social occasion in Paris. Their relationship deepened over late nights in Los Angeles — where Musk lived at the time — spent hanging out, attending each other's parties, texting frequently and trading stories about personal struggles. Musk asked to invest in the company Low built around a non-invasive brain monitoring device used to detect conditions like sleep apnea and neurological disorders. He participated in NeuroVigil's 2015 funding round and joined its advisory board. Low had already gained attention as a young innovator, launched a NASA satellite lab and demoed how his technology could translate Hawking's brain waves into speech. Musk gave Low some pointers as the neuroscientist was preparing to visit the White House for the first time, as a guest of former President Barack Obama. 'He said 'he's a human being like anybody else,'' Low recounted. 'He views Trump sort of the same way, just a human being.' During Trump's first term, as Musk was also grappling with how to balance Tesla's business interests against policy disagreements with the administration, Low returned the advice and recommended he step away from White House advisory councils he served on to protect the automaker's brand. Musk ultimately did in 2017 after Trump ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. A few years later, in 2021, Musk was looking to pull out of another business arrangement. He wanted off NeuroVigil's advisory board. Instead of letting him resign, Low said he fired Musk, which prevented him from exercising his stock options to hurt NeuroVigil. 'Let's cut ties here,' Low wrote in an email message to Musk at the time, viewed by POLITICO. Musk by then had launched his brain implant company Neuralink and had long been dreaming of colonizing Mars. 'Good luck with your implants, all of them, and with building Pottersville on Mars. Seriously, don't fuck with me,' Low wrote. Musk, of course, went on to donate $288 million during the 2024 election, which cemented his place in MAGA politics and status as the largest and most prominent individual political donor in the country. His America PAC once vowed to 'keep grinding' at an even more audacious political playbook ahead of the midterms. But Musk scaled back his 2026 ambitions, promising to do 'a lot less' campaign spending in the future, shortly before his public clash with Trump. With Musk's allegiance to MAGA called into question, Low predicted he could seek revenge behind the scenes — 'it's not a question of if, it's a question of when' — a possibility Trump has openly pondered. The president warned of 'serious consequences' if Musk funds Democratic challengers against Republicans who back his 'big, beautiful bill'— the legislation that would enact Trump's domestic policy agenda, but that Musk has scorned as wasteful pork-barrel spending. However, if there was any lingering notion that Musk would completely retreat from politics, he dispelled it on Saturday by renewing his attacks on the bill ahead of a critical vote. Unlike his old pal, Low prefers to keep a lower profile. The Canadian neuroscientist wore aviator sunglasses indoors throughout the interview. When POLITICO first reached out, an automated reply from Low's email robot came back, noting that he was 'completely off the grid' and providing a math puzzle to solve to get on his calendar. POLITICO didn't solve the problem, perhaps because it's not solvable, but he replied anyway. Low spoke to the press infrequently between the early 2010s, when his company partnered with Hawking, and when he posted the takedown that ended any remaining friendship with Musk earlier this year. One of the rare exceptions was a 2013 fireside chat where Low, in an 'Occupy Mars' shirt, spoke next to Musk at the Canadian Consul General's Residence in Los Angeles. Low sees little daylight between the Elon he knew before and the one who fractured his relationship with the president. 'A lot of people close to him will say that he changed. I don't believe that to be true,' he said. 'I've seen this side of Elon over the years, but I just think that over time, he got cozy with the idea of showing more of that, and now it seems to have affected him.' When Musk came under fire for his salutes at Trump's post-inauguration rally, Low, the son of a Holocaust survivor, said he first confronted his former friend with a private message. He said in the email viewed by POLITICO: 'I am so glad I fired your dumb ass' and warned him to learn from the fate of Rodion Raskolnikov, the central character in 'Crime and Punishment,' who convinces himself that extraordinary men are justified in committing crimes if they serve a higher goal. Four days passed without a reply, and Low proceeded to cut contact before letting it rip in a nearly 2,000-word open letter that went viral on Facebook and LinkedIn. 'I made my displeasure known to him as one of his closest former friends at that point, and I blocked him,' he said. That's a diplomatic description. Low in his letter delivered a blistering portrait of Musk as a narcissist whose 'lust for power' keeps driving him to undermine the very organizations that challenge his hold on it. Musk didn't respond publicly. According to Low, those tendencies put Musk 'in a league of his own' in Silicon Valley — where he locked into power struggles with many a co-founder, from PayPal's Peter Thiel to Tesla's Martin Eberhard to OpenAI's Sam Altman. And the predictable playbook followed him to Trump's side as first buddy, a role Low dubbed his former friend's greatest investment. 'Elon has his own pattern of trying to destabilize companies. He wants to take over, and if he can't take them over, then he tries to create a rival entity to compete,' Low said. 'They were absolutely on a collision course, and I think that Trump tried to gloss over it by making it look as if he wanted Elon to be as aggressive as he was.' Musk is back in industry mode, for now. Earlier this month, he addressed an artificial intelligence boot camp hosted by the startup accelerator Y Combinator in San Francisco, downplaying the importance of the Department of Government Efficiency by comparing his work on the commission to cleaning up beaches. 'Imagine you're cleaning a beach, which has a few needles, trash and is dirty. And there's a 1,000-foot tsunami, which is AI, that's about to hit. You're not going to focus on cleaning the beach,' Musk told the crowd of students and recent graduates of why he ultimately left. His attention has since shifted to Austin, Texas, where Tesla heavily promoted and launched its long-hyped robotaxi service last weekend. Of companies within Musk's business empire, the automaker took the hardest hit from his political entanglements, battered by consumer protests, tariffs, declining sales and dips in its stock price that allowed SpaceX to overtake it as his most valuable asset. Low looks back at the Tesla Takedown protests that sprung up in the months following his letter with satisfaction. It was proof, in his mind, that the message struck a chord: 'The audience was the world, and it worked.' While few peers in Silicon Valley have called out Musk to the same degree, Low added that several reacted positively to him in private for taking those criticisms public. 'Many of these people happen to have investors on their boards, who made money with Elon, so they felt that they were putting themselves at risk if they spoke out,' he said. 'A number of people did reach out and thank me, and they were in violent agreement.' Low said he had 'an armada' of lawyers at the ready in case Musk went after him. That possibility hasn't yet panned out. Although they no longer speak, Low still follows Musk's activities. He said he was busy during the Trump feud and had to catch up later. But during the interview with POLITICO, he would reference the occasional X post from Musk, including a recent one where he shared negative drug test results to dispute reports of his alleged ketamine use. To Low, the post was a sign the rift hasn't been fully smoothed over and that Musk is 'playing defense.' Bannon has called for a federal investigation into New York Times reporting that claimed Musk took large amounts of ketamine and other drugs while campaigning for Trump. POLITICO has not independently verified the allegations. 'The way I read that is that he is concerned that some government contracts could be canceled and that the drug use could be used against him, so he's trying to already build a moat,' Low said. As for Trump, Low has some advice for handling a potentially resentful Musk: 'Abide by the constitution,' and perhaps, listen to some of the tech titan's policy preferences. Low was especially outspoken against the administration's ICE raids and efforts to limit immigration, arguing they will cost America its advantage in technologies like AI by sapping Silicon Valley of the global talent that allows it to compete. Many in tech circles had hoped Musk's seat at the table would help the industry loosen barriers for high-skilled workers, a cause he once vowed to 'go to war' with MAGA Republicans over. That's something that Low, given his experience with Musk, thinks Trump should take seriously. 'Elon has wooed enough of Trump's supporters to be an actual threat politically,' Low said, arguing that Trump would better insulate himself by moderating his agenda. 'He doesn't realize the battle that he has on his hands, and one way to cut the support away from Elon is to actually adopt some of the things he is for.'
Politico
8 hours ago
- Politico
Can the GOP megabill hold together?
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco Good afternoon. It's Zack Stanton in your Sunday inbox. Get in touch. DISPATCH FROM ASPEN: My Playbook colleagues Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns are out in Aspen this weekend along with POLITICO's own Jonathan Martin for the annual Aspen Ideas Festival, where they're moderating panels on everything from diplomacy — with Australian Ambassador Kevin Rudd — to the future of warfare and Ukraine. Jack's conversation last night with social media influencers and content creators Dean Withers, Brad Polumbo and Jayme Franklin focused on how TikTok and Gen Z are changing the political landscape — and it was standing-room only for the full hour. Watch it back here The vibe: Jack is blinking in wonder on his first trip to the Rockies. JMart is holding court, because of course he is. And Dasha is feeling the whiplash, flying in straight off a whirlwind week at the NATO summit. Do tune in to tomorrow's Playbook Podcast, which Jack and Dasha will be recording live from the beautiful Rocky Mountains. DRIVING THE DAY RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES: The Republican megabill that forms the crux of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda is inching closer to passage. Last night, 51 Senate Republicans voted to clear a procedural hurdle and allow consideration of the bill to move forward. Right now, the chamber floor is mostly empty, save for the clerks, who are roughly 13 hours into a marathon session reading aloud the 940-page bill. They're likely to finish some time before 4 p.m. today. Then, the Senate will start voting on amendments to the package as Majority Leader John Thune eyes a Monday passage for the megabill. Welcome to the vote-a-rama: 'Democrats are expected to try and put Republicans on the record on issues that could resonate in the midterms, including tax cuts for the wealthy, Medicaid cuts, and changes to food assistance for the poor, or SNAP,' as POLITICO's Katherine Tully-McManus and Nicholas Wu write. In doing so, 'Democrats could try to break the all-time record of 44 amendments set in 2008.' 'But Democrats aren't the only ones who could squeeze Republicans,' they continue. 'Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has vocally opposed the Medicaid cuts, plans to offer amendments, including to raise income taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pre-2017 levels.' At this 11th hour, the megabill is effectively duct-taped together. And the compromises and homestate concessions — the 2025 version of the 'Cornhusker Kickback' could perhaps be called the 'Blubber Bonus,' seeing as it benefits Alaskan whaling captains — leadership made to get to this point also risk the whole thing falling apart. Some of the key things we're watching … Will Republicans gut a key part of Obamacare? GOP leaders spent the bulk of yesterday trying to win over holdouts in the Senate. One of those conservatives, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), 'said they won a promise of an amendment vote related to the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act,' POLITICO's Jordain Carney reports. 'Their proposal would end the 90 percent federal cost-share for new enrollees under that arrangement, Johnson said — gutting a key feature of the law known as Obamacare.' Will Trump go along with that? 'Thune declined to comment on the concessions, but Johnson suggested Thune and Trump will support the amendment,' Jordain writes. Republican moderates are not keen on the idea, and if it somehow makes it through the Senate, its inclusion could imperil its chances of passage in the House. The cost of the tax cuts has ballooned: 'The cost of Senate Republicans' tax cuts has grown to $4.45 trillion, congressional forecasters said Saturday night,' POLITICO's Brian Faler reports — that's a $200 billion increase from their earlier draft of the plan. 'The growing price tag could be a problem for some Republicans, especially in the House where many lawmakers have been adamant that their tax cuts cost no more than $4 trillion, unless they find more spending cuts.' The Senate bill drastically increases the deficits: You're going to hear a lot of spin over the next 24 hours that the Senate bill will reduce budget deficits by $500 billion. That's true, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released last night — 'but only if you first assume that all the expiring tax cuts are extended permanently and have no cost,' as WSJ's Richard Rubin and colleagues write. 'On an apples-to-apples basis with the House bill, the Senate bill would likely increase deficits by about $3.3 trillion, up from $2.4 billion for the House version.' That could be a bridge too far for the House Freedom Caucus. So, where are the savings? In the red tape, as NYT's Margot Sanger-Katz and Emily Badger report: 'Instead of explicitly reducing benefits, Republicans would make them harder to get and to keep. The effect, analysts say, is the same, with millions fewer Americans receiving assistance. By including dozens of changes to dates, deadlines, document requirements and rules, Republicans have turned paperwork into one of the bill's crucial policy-making tools, yielding hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to help offset their signature tax cuts.' The megabill now taxes solar and wind projects: 'Senate Republicans stepped up their attacks on U.S. solar and wind energy projects by quietly adding a provision to their megabill that would penalize future developments with a new tax,' POLITICO's Kelsey Tamborino and colleagues write. 'The new excise tax is another blow to the fastest-growing sources of power production in the United States, and would be a massive setback to the wind and solar energy industries since it would apply even to projects not receiving any credits.' Among those angry about it: Elon Musk. 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' he tweeted last night in regards to the renewable energy changes. 'Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.' He later added that the 'bill is political suicide for the Republican Party.' But Trump wants this bill to pass. Yesterday, he met senators at his golf club in northern Virginia, and followed that up by lobbying senators over the phone late into the night, Playbook is reliably told. Will he get it on his desk by this Friday? 'I mean I can't tell you that,' Trump said this morning on Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures.' 'I'd like to say yes, but the problem is if we're two days late or five days late, everybody says, 'oh, you had a tremendous failure.' Whatever it is, as long as we have it. It's very important.' One key question: Presuming this gets through the Senate, will Trump's support for it be enough to get House Republicans to swallow a bill that many of them are trashing in private? There are some real doubts. Yesterday, House Republicans held a 15-minute call during which a 'frustrated' Speaker Mike Johnson 'urged his members to keep their powder dry and refrain from weighing in publicly on the Senate's version of the bill, as so much of it is in flux — which means no posts on X,' CNN's Sarah Ferris and colleagues report. 'At least one Republican, Rep. David Valadao of California, posted publicly that he opposed the Senate bill because of changes to Medicaid. And another Republican who is closely watching the Medicaid provisions, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, told CNN: 'I don't like it. We had hit a sweet spot with our bill.'' The view from the Senate Democrats: 'This bill is a real piece of shit it and it would be excellent if that's all anyone talked about for the next few days,' posted Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). 'Super interested in your think piece about the NYC mayor's race but let's get to that after we try to stop the biggest wealth transfer in American history.' Speaking of … The smartest 30,000-foot analysis we've read on Zohran Mamdani's victory over Andrew Cuomo in NYC's Democratic mayoral primary comes from this insightful conversation between NYT's Ezra Klein and MSNBC's Chris Hayes on how the attention economy has fundamentally changed our politics in a way many longtime pols and Washington operators don't fully appreciate. (And which, frankly, can make it hard for nuanced policy discussion to take place.) Someone who does get it: Alex Bruesewitz. He's the media adviser behind Trump's campaign-season podcast blitz and MAGA world's constant online trolling as a way to steamroll through the news cycle. In this morning's episode of 'The Conversation,' Bruesewitz talks about that strategy with Playbook's Dasha Burns. More on YouTube … Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify SUNDAY BEST … — President Donald Trump spoke with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News' 'Sunday Morning Futures.' On finding the leakers of the initial intel assessment of the Iran strikes: 'They could find out if they wanted. They could find out easily. You go up and tell the reporter, national security — who gave it? You have to do that. I suspect we'll be doing things like that.' On a replacement for Jerome Powell: '[R]eporters ask me, do you have other names? Yeah, I do. Anybody but Powell. He's a bad person.' On who should be subpoenaed to testify on former President Joe Biden: 'I would say [former deputy Attorney General] Lisa [Monaco] … who was a big supporter of Andrew Weissmann.' On extending the July 9 tariff deadline: 'I don't think I'll need to.' On TikTok: 'We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I'll need probably China approval. I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it …. I'll tell you [the buyer] in about two weeks.' — Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for NYC mayor whom Jeffries said he has not endorsed, on ABC's 'This Week': 'We don't really know each other well. Our districts don't overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And so that's the next step in terms of this process, to be able to sit down, which we agreed to do, in central Brooklyn … 'Globalizing the Intifada,' by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing. He's going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.' — Zohran Mamdani's response on 'globalize the intifada' on NBC's 'Meet the Press': 'That's not language that I used. The language that I used and the language that I will continue to use to lead the city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights. … What I think I need to show is the ability to not only talk about something but to tackle it and to make clear that there's no room for antisemitism in this city.' — Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the damages from U.S. strikes and Iran's capacity to rebuild, on CBS' 'Face the Nation': 'The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that. … So if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.' TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces. 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. LOOMING CUTS: The mood for federal workers at the State Department is grim as we round the corner to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's July 1 timetable for thousands of layoffs — but they've still been clocking overtime helping Americans fleeing conflict in the Middle East, WaPo's Adam Taylor and colleagues report. More from Rubio on 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns' Next on the chopping block: the nation's only federal after-school program, which the White House budget proposal would ax as it consolidates funding for the Department of Education, WaPo's Terell Wright writes. Real-world impact: Community centers serving LGBTQ+ seniors at risk of poverty are running on empty as Trump's funding cuts have cost the centers millions of dollars, with organizers from one center telling NYT's Liam Stack that 'it feels like the dominoes could fall.' … After DOGE cut — and then restarted — contracts with a nonprofit that supplies food for starving children worldwide, 200,000 boxes of food are still sitting in Rhode Island due to the backlog, per the Boston Globe's Tal Kopan. … In Sudan, 'disease and famine are spreading unchecked' after cuts to USAID, WaPo's Katharine Houreld writes. 2. IMMIGRATION FILES: 'The Trump administration has agreed to release from prison a three-time felon and spare him from deportation in exchange for his cooperation in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego García,' WaPo's Maria Sacchetti scooped. 'Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to 'deadly conduct' in the Texas incident, and is now the government's star witness in its case against Abrego.' More immigration reads: DHS and DOGE are building a searchable nationwide citizenship database, designed to be used by state and local officials to ensure only citizens are voting, NPR's Jude Joffe-Block and Miles Parks scooped. … Meanwhile, more advocates are sounding the alarm on conditions in detention centers, with NYT's Miriam Jordan and Jazmine Ulloa reporting how immigrants are sleeping on floors as ICE is in overcapacity. 3. ABOUT LAST NIGHT: James Walkinshaw, the former chief of staff to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, won the Democratic nomination in yesterday's special election to fill Connolly's seat in northern Virginia, NBC's Dylan Ebs reports. Walkinshaw, who carried 59 percent of the vote, will face off in September against Republican nominee Stewart Whitson as a clear favorite to win in the deep-blue district. 4. ON THE DOCKET: Chief Justice John Roberts gave a rare public interview yesterday and didn't talk about Friday's blockbuster rulings — but he did denounce the growing threats against judges, calling it 'totally unacceptable,' NYT's Abbie VanSickle reports. He warned against political rhetoric that implies that 'a judge who's doing his or her job is part of the problem.' SCOTUS watch: SCOTUS' ruling on students opting out of LGBTQ+ material in schools is the latest win for the parental rights crowd. WSJ's Matt Barnum reports on how the movement has put parents at the forefront of legal challenges to public education. … Despite fielding insults for months being insufficiently supportive of Trump's agenda, Justice Amy Coney Barrett is back in MAGA's good graces for the time being after writing the opinion on nationwide injunctions that will boost Trump's agenda, per NBC's Lawrence Hurley. … Next up for consideration are a handful of cases on trans athletes in sports, CNN's Devan Cole and John Fritze write. The high court could set oral arguments for next term or punt back down to the lower courts as soon as tomorrow. 5. LIVE FROM NEW YORK: Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani headed to Harlem this weekend to make his case to Black voters, as he works to make headway after a stark reality was revealed in Tuesday's primary: '[Andrew] Cuomo dominated in precincts where at least 70 percent of residents were Black, more than doubling Mr. Mamdani's support, 59 percent to 26 percent,' NYT's Benjamin Oreskes reports. How Cuomo collapsed: CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere has the inside story on how Cuomo's campaign flopped. Among its failures was an inability to get the former governor to 'apologize for Covid-19 nursing home deaths or the accusations that he harassed women while governor.' Among his aides, some 'blame themselves for not confronting him to do more to make amends. [Longtime aide longtime aide Melissa] DeRosa, who most people involved thought was best positioned to reach Cuomo, does not. In fact, she told CNN, before asking to speak off the record, 'I didn't really work on the campaign.'' (POLITICO's Sally Goldenberg notes on X: 'She was repeatedly described to [Nick Reisman] and me as the de facto campaign manager.') The role of TikTok: 'How Social Media Videos Fueled Zohran Mamdani's Success,' by NYT's Dodai Stewart: 'As a millennial politician, Zohran Mamdani is a digital native … He is also the son of an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, with a sharp eye for aesthetics and moving images. … Before long, Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old assemblyman, was not just a politician. He was a vibe. He was a meme.' 6. CRUNCH TIME FOR TRADE DEALS: Trade talks with India and Taiwan are moving forward ahead of the July 9 tariff deadline. Taiwan has made 'constructive progress' in its second round of talks, per Bloomberg, and India's trade team stayed an extra day in D.C. to negotiate an interim deal, Bloomberg's Shruti Srivastava reports. As the deadline approaches, some experts and analysts see the global economy at a 'pivotal moment' of uncertainty, per Reuters' Marc Jones. Coming attractions: On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak on a panel at the European Central Bank's annual retreat in Portugal, where he'll be joined by economic leaders from the EU, Japan, South Korea and the UK. Front and center will be the whiplash from Trump's tariffs and fluctuating oil prices due to conflicts in the Middle East, Bloomberg's Craig Stirling reports. 7. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Overnight, Trump took to Truth Social calling yet again for a deal to end the Israel-Hamas war. But this morning, Israel ordered evacuations in northern Gaza, urging Palestinian residents to move south as military operations prepare to escalate, Reuters' Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports. … Earlier yesterday, Trump raged against Israel's prosecution of PM Benjamin Netanyahu and threatened U.S. aid if the trial isn't canceled. 'This is an unprecedented threat in the U.S.-Israeli relations,' Axios' Barak Ravid wrote. Meanwhile, Iran is throwing cold water on the idea that the Trump-brokered ceasefire with Israel will hold, with armed forces chief of staff Abdolrahim Mousavi saying today that they have 'serious doubts about the enemy's commitment to its obligations' and that they're prepared to strike back if 'aggression is repeated,' per Bloomberg's Arsalan Shahla. 8. BIG LAW VS. TRUMP: 'Inside the fallout at Paul, Weiss after the firm's deal with Trump,' by POLITICO's Daniel Barnes: 'After [Brad] Karp made a deal with Trump, at least 10 partners in the litigation department have resigned from the firm … A group of the departing partners have joined together to start their own firm where they will continue to represent tech giants like Meta and Google … Being the first firm to fold meant Paul, Weiss secured a better deal than those who came later, but it also turned the firm into a lightning rod for anger at Big Law's failure to stand up to Trump.' 9. HUSH HUSH: 'The first rule in Trump's Washington: Don't write anything down,' by WaPo's Hannah Natanson: 'A creeping culture of secrecy is overtaking personnel and budget decisions, casual social interactions, and everything in between, according to interviews with more than 40 employees across two dozen agencies … No one wants to put anything in writing anymore, federal workers said … Trump's own political appointees are also resistant to writing things down, worried that their agency's deliberations will appear in news coverage and inspire a hunt for leakers.' TALK OF THE TOWN Dan Abrams is preparing to launch a new restaurant in NYC called 'Danny's.' PLAYBOOK METRO — Every bus route in D.C. looks a bit different as of today, as WMATA's sweeping bus route redesign takes effect after two years of development. The routes are all being renamed, some of the routes are different and some stops have been retired, per Washingtonian's handy guide by Katie Doran. Here's DC's new bus map IN MEMORIAM — 'Longtime State Department spokesman, diplomat Richard Boucher, dies at 73,' by AP's Matthew Lee: 'Boucher had been the face of U.S. foreign policy at the State Department podium across administrations throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, beginning in the George H.W. Bush presidency and continuing through Bill Clinton's and George W. Bush's terms in office. Boucher served as the spokesman for secretaries of state James Baker, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.' WELCOME TO THE WORLD — James Braid, director of legislative affairs for the White House, and Melissa Braid, director of public affairs at the Federal Highway Administration and an alum of Senate Commerce, DHS and Interior, recently welcomed Victoria Rose Braid. She joins big brother Derek. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Playbook's own Garrett Ross … Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) … Hanna Trudo … Ropes & Gray's Amish Shah … Laura Rozen … White House's Robin Colwell and Marie Policastro … Josh Meyer … CNN's Evan Pérez … Carl Forti … former Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) … Ben Jarrett … Hal Brewster of Freshfields … Christina Pearson … Don Verrilli of Munger, Tolles & Olson … Max Virkus … Christian Marrone of Standard Industries … Jordan Davis … Roku's Kaya Singleton … Katie Zirkelbach … Vijay Menon of Sen. Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) office … Owen Kilmer … Kia's Christopher Wenk … Emily Spain … MSNBC's Kenny Reilly … Tony Salters … POLITICO's Caitlin Bugas Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
