Playbook: Dems rev up 2028 travel

Politico

2 days ago

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DRIVING THE DAY
The 2028 shadow Democratic presidential primary is edging into the spotlight. Candidates are crisscrossing the country and delivering after-action reports about what went wrong with Joe Biden's presidency — even some who were involved in the administration.
And this weekend it's turning toward South Carolina, where state Democrats gather for their annual confab.
On Friday, at the Blue Palmetto Dinner, where Maryland Gov. Wes Moore delivered the keynote address, the rising star who has said he's 'not running' for president sounded a lot like he was running for president. As our colleague Brakkton Booker writes in a dispatch from Columbia, 'Moore's premium speaking slot before the state's well-connected party leaders does little to tamp down speculation he's kicking the tires on an upcoming presidential bid.'
FIRST IN THE SOUTH (AGAIN): Speaking at the World Famous Fish Fry, an annual political event hosted by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke of the missteps Democrats made last cycle, even comparing his time on the campaign trail to Taylor Swift's record-setting global tour, Brakkton writes into Playbook.
'I called it my 90-day 'Eras Tour' to seven states,' the former vice presidential nominee said, drawing a smattering of chuckles. 'I went to the same seven damn states over and over and over. You know what? People are pissed off in South Carolina, they're pissed off in Texas, they're pissed off in Indiana. And there's more of us than there are of the billionaires. So we need to change the attitude [and] compete in every district, compete for every school board seat.'
Today, moving toward center stage is Walz, who has quite the itinerary. At 10 a.m., in Columbia, he'll speak to South Carolina Democratic Party convention goers. Then, he'll jet to Anaheim, California, where he'll speak at the California Democratic Party Convention.
But as they search for a way back, Democrats like Walz, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and even former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg aren't just visiting reliably Democratic (or early primary) states. They're focusing on red states, where the party has endured significant setbacks. In fact, Walz has focused his travel on red states: Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio and West Virginia. And the South Dakota Democratic Party recently announced he will be the keynote speaker at the annual McGovern Day dinner on July 12 in Sioux Falls.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: 2028 Democrats aren't done with South Carolina. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will travel to the state to speak at the state's AFL-CIO convention on July 16. The following evening, he will also speak at the Georgetown County Democratic Party Dinner — a county Trump won in all three of his presidential bids.
But 2028 Democrats' more urgent issue is not where to go, but which direction. Populism? Abundance? A third way? So far, the party has been focused more on where to say what they are saying — the right types of podcasts — than on what they are saying. Their earliest steps out of the wilderness have been in reference to Trump, not the party's own values — whether they should accommodate him or fight him. At a leaderless moment for their party, Trumpism and their response to it has been the clearest organizing principle.
On Friday evening, Moore acknowledged that Democrats could learn from the unlikeliest of instructors: Trump himself. 'Urgency is the instrument of change. And do you know who understands that really well? Donald Trump,' Moore said. 'I want to be clear: We can — and we must — condemn Donald Trump's reckless actions. But we would also be foolish not to learn from his impatience.'
9 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US
1. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — IMMIGRATION FILES: The Trump administration's 'efforts to strip protections from more than half a million legal immigrants could devastate the health sector, endangering care for the elderly and worsening rates of both chronic and infectious diseases,' POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein reports.
By the numbers: 'Hundreds of thousands of health care workers, including an estimated 30,000 legal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, are at risk of being deported — worrying providers and patients who rely on them for everything from nursing and physical therapy to maintenance, janitorial, foodservice and housekeeping work.'
Another case study: The Trump administration has now 'admitted that it improperly deported another immigrant in violation of a court order — the fourth known case in which the administration deported someone erroneously or in breach of specific legal requirements,' POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reports.
The details: 'Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, had been in immigration detention since 2022 while deportation proceedings against him were pending. But on May 7, shortly after a federal appeals court ordered the government to keep him in the United States, immigration authorities deported him back to his native country.' Melgar-Salmeron's lawyer told POLITICO he intends to ask the court to order the government to return his client and to hold government officials in contempt.
On another note: 'Murkowski slams Trump administration revoking protections for Afghan immigrants,' by POLITICO's Ali Bianco
2. THE STAND OF OZ: CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, a Harvard alum, downplayed concerns surrounding Trump's efforts to ban his alma mater from accepting international students during an interview with Playbook's Dasha Burns for her new podcast, 'The Conversation.' Oz said he still believes Harvard will be able to recruit international students with vetting in the future.
What Oz said: 'I think that will happen over time, but this is a bigger discussion about what is Harvard willing to do to truly represent the best interests of its students and the American people. … We will continue to train the best and the brightest of other parts of the world. We want there to be a brain drain towards America from those nations. But there's been a change in my alma mater, Harvard, that anyone who went to school with me would have to acknowledge. We witnessed our school lose its way.'
For the full episode: Dasha's full conversation with Oz will be live tomorrow morning. Listen and watch on YouTube … Subscribe to the podcast … More from POLITICO's Katherine Long
3. IN DEFENSE: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a stark warning to Asian allies today, portraying the threat China poses to the region as 'real, and it could be imminent,' POLITICO's Paul McLeary reports. 'In his first speech to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth was blunt about Washington's view of the Chinese military buildup in the region and the threat it poses to Taiwan, calling on allies to spend more on defense while pledging continued American partnership and support.'
What Hegseth said: 'There's no reason to sugarcoat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent,' Hegseth said. Any Chinese military move on Taiwan 'would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,' he added.
4. ON THE AGENDA: Despite a week that delivered several blows to his trade agenda, Trump is 'digging in on his vow to impose steep tariffs by any means necessary — and stick it to those who question his strength and think he's bound to 'chicken out,'' POLITICO's Megan Messerly and colleagues report. 'He and administration officials have said that negotiations with other countries will continue, are insisting they'll win their current tariff battle in court and are even preparing back-up strategies for new tariffs in case they don't.'
The resolve: 'Trump's determination to move fast could slow implementation of his tariff regime. It also threatens to cost him credibility with businesses he's counting on to invest in the U.S. and world leaders whose buy-in he needs to negotiate trade deals. Still, few expect a different posture from a famously intransigent president or any second-guessing following the Wednesday ruling from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which briefly halted most of the tariffs.'
About last night: Trump said that he plans to double his tariff on steel to 50 percent, from 25 percent currently, to prevent billions of dollars worth of foreign steel from continuing to enter the United States, POLITICO's Doug Palmer reports. 'At 50 percent, they can no longer get over the fence,' Trump said during a speech at a U.S. Steel facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania last night.
5. BUILDING OUT THE BUDGET: Trump's 'skinny' budget is filling out. Federal agencies began sending the nitty-gritty of Trump's budget proposal to Congress yesterday, detailing which programs he wants Republicans to cut deeply — or wipe out entirely — when they vote to fund the government in September, POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes reports.
The details: 'In 'budget in brief' documents, agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, along with the departments of Education and Health and Human Services, detailed their requests to cut billions of dollars from their budgets. … Among the proposed cuts to most federal departments, the administration is asking Congress to slash $12 billion from federal education programs, $5 billion from agriculture efforts and a total of more than $60 billion from health, housing and community development work.'
6. THE MEDIA MELEE: PBS yesterday sued the Trump administration in an effort to 'block his order stripping federal funding from the 330-station public television system, three days after NPR did the same for its radio network,' AP's David Bauder reports. 'In its lawsuit, PBS relies on similar arguments, saying Trump was overstepping his authority and engaging in 'viewpoint discrimination' because of his claim that PBS' news coverage is biased against conservatives.'
From the suit: 'PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,' lawyer Z.W. Julius Chen wrote. 'But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS's programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.'
Meanwhile: 'California lawmakers ask former CBS leaders to testify on proposed settlement with Trump,' by POLITICO's Blake Jones
7. ATTENTION TO DETAIL: DNI Tulsi Gabbard is 'exploring ways to revamp [Trump's] routine intelligence briefing in order to build his trust in the material and make it more aligned with how he likes to consume information,' NBC's Courtney Kube and colleagues scoop. 'One idea that's been discussed is possibly creating a video version of the PDB that's made to look and feel like a Fox News broadcast. … According to his public schedule, since his inauguration Trump has taken the PDB 14 times, or on average less than once a week, which is less often than his recent predecessors.'
8. FOOTING THE BILL: Wall Street is 'privately warning the Trump administration that the tax bill moving through Congress could stoke investor anxiety about rising deficits, push up U.S. borrowing costs and damage the broader economy,' WaPo's Andrew Ackerman and Jeff Stein reports. 'Most have been reluctant to raise their worries publicly, instead passing them along in smaller meetings or through trusted confidants.'
Buried in the BBB: A 'retaliatory measure on foreign governments tucked into President Trump's tax bill has investors on edge,' WSJ's Richard Rubin and colleagues report. 'The proposed change would give the U.S. power to impose new taxes of up to 20% on foreigners with U.S. investments, hitting governments, individuals and companies with U.S. outposts. It's being called a 'revenge tax' because it's specifically designed to apply only in cases where other countries are deemed to be imposing unfair or discriminatory taxes against U.S. companies.'
9. SPLIT SCREEN: 'Inside the split between MAGA and the Federalist Society,' by POLITICO's Hailey Fuchs and Daniel Barnes: 'The president's allies had been sowing discontent with [Leonard] Leo's operation long before Trump publicly turned on his onetime adviser. Frustration had been growing among Trump and MAGA loyalists as a series of court rulings have hampered elements of Trump's second term agenda … and by judges Trump installed on the bench during his first term with Leo and the Federalist Society's guidance. Now conflict is openly breaking out among the constellation of conservative judicial leaders that used to operate alongside one another.'
CLICKER — 'The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics,' edited by Matt Wuerker — 18 funnies
GREAT WEEKEND READS:
— 'Does Trump Actually Think He's God?' by POLITICO Magazine's Michael Kruse: 'The president's messianic rhetoric has soared since the assassination attempt.'
— 'The New Dark Age,' by The Atlantic's Adam Serwer: 'The Trump administration has launched an attack on knowledge itself.'
— 'The Techno-Futuristic Philosophy Behind Elon Musk's Mania,' by Matthew Purdy for the NYT: 'From the White House to Mars, the tech billionaire has his sights set on the long term.'
— ''The Federal Government Is Gone': Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States,' by ProPublica's Hannah Allam: 'Some state efforts are robust, others are fledgling and yet other states are still formalizing strategies for addressing extremism.'
— 'Adam Friedland Could Be the Millennial Jon Stewart. But Does He Want That?' by GQ's Kieran Press-Reynolds: '[I]n the wake of an election that podcasters helped swing in Donald Trump's favor, he's fielding interview offers from politicians desperate to connect with disaffected young voters any way they can.'
— 'Jordon Hudson, Kash Patel and MJ's fax machine: Pablo Torre's 'terminal content brain' battles the algorithm,' by The Athletic's Zak Keefer
TALK OF THE TOWN
Joe Biden publicly spoke about his cancer diagnosis for the first time since it was revealed. 'The expectation is we're going to be able to beat this. There's no — it's not in any organ, my bones are strong, it hadn't penetrated,' he told reporters, per WaPo's Dylan Wells.
One of Barron Trump's NYU friends tells NewsNation that he has a girlfriend and comes off as 'pretty apolitical.'
TOP TALKER — Michael Schaffer pens his latest Capital City column on Trump's proposed National Garden of American Heroes, which he wants to feature 250 life-sized statues in time for the nation's 250th birthday next year. The big problem? Artists, curators and critics who have reviewed the idea say 'America doesn't have enough quality sculptors or museum-caliber foundries to make this happen on Trump's speedy timeline.' The other hang-up: 'The fine print forbids 'abstract or modernist' statues, and the biggest collection of artisans and fabricators working in Trump's preferred old-school realist style turns out to be in China, not the U.S.'
THE ARTS TAKEOVER CONTINUES — Trump said in a post on Truth Social yesterday afternoon that he was firing Kim Sajet as director of the National Portrait Gallery. 'She is a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position,' Trump wrote, promising that he would name a replacement 'shortly.' Trump is also targeting the Smithsonian in his budget request, which 'proposed a 12 percent reduction of the institution's budget and excluded funding for its Anacostia Community Museum and its forthcoming National Museum of the American Latino,' per WaPo.
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — 'Trump administration OKs expedited disposal of Greater Washington federal properties,' by the Washington Business Journal's Ben Peters
TRANSITIONS — Elisabeth Conklin is now legislative director for Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.). She previously was a senior professional staff member on the House Small Business Committee. … Julia Schechter is now senior manager of policy comms at Snap. She previously was a PR manager at Apple.
WEDDING — Justin Papp and Eloisa Melendez, via NYT: '[He's] now a Congress reporter at CQ Roll Call … [She] is the lead manager of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Care at the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood … On May 16, their five-year anniversary, Lauren Papp, the groom's sister, who became a temporary officiant in the District of Columbia, officiated on the couple's rooftop … In January, they plan to celebrate with family and friends in the mountains above Medellín.'
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jennifer Berlin … Charlie Meisch ... Debra DeShong … NPR's Deirdre Walsh … Julie Moos of The Forward … Clark Judge ... Elizabeth Dos Santos of Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart's (R-Fla.) office … Matt Berman … Amy Pfeiffer of Sen. Andy Kim's (D-N.J.) office … Michael O'Connor of Williams & Connolly … Marilyn Tavenner … CNN's Sara Sidner … former Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) … Dan Pino … former Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) (92) … Al From … DCI Group's Maegan Rosenberg … Erik Telford … Sara Carter … HSGAC's Allison Tinsey … Newsbusters' P.J. Gladnick … Susana Castillo of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office … Brad Bosserman … Bert Kaufman … Keith Fernandez … Jen Bristol of the Solar Energy Industries Association … Ali Noorani … POLITICO's Haseb Alim … Phil Elwood
THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):
POLITICO 'The Conversation with Dasha Burns': CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz.
NBC 'Meet the Press': Speaker Mike Johnson … Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). Panel: Lanhee Chen, Jeh Johnson, Jonathan Martin and Kelly O'Donnell.
CNN 'State of the Union': OMB Director Russ Vought … House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Panel: Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Scott Jennings, Jamal Simmons and Shermichael Singleton.
FOX 'Fox News Sunday': Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) … Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) … Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Panel: Marie Harf, Guy Benson, Horace Cooper and Meridith McGraw. Sunday Special: Modern Warrior Live.
ABC 'This Week': NEC Director Kevin Hassett … Cindy McCain. Trump family business panel: Evan Osnos and Chris Christie. Panel: Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus and Astead Herndon.
Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures': DHS Secretary Kristi Noem … Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) … Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) … Brad Gerstner. Panel: Peter Schweizer and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).
NewsNation 'The Hill Sunday': Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) … Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) … Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Panel: Amie Parnes, David Drucker, Jessica Taylor and Tia Mitchell.
CBS 'Face the Nation': Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent … FDA Commissioner Marty Makary … Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) … Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) … Michael Roth.
MSNBC 'The Weekend': Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) … Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) … James Carville … Karen Hao.
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