With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
TOP READ — WaPo’s Ruby Cramer goes deep on Florida first lady CASEY DeSANTIS. She and husband RON DeSANTIS have together formed an “insular couple, who didn’t let people in, who made Tallahassee into an island of their own power, [and are] now asking to be seen and known.” Read on for details about … why Ron wears cowboy boots that hurt his feet … Ron and Casey’s decision to disable text messaging on their phones … Ron’s double-sided “do not disturb” sign … and what people get wrong about Casey’s influence.
BIDEN’S HAPPY PLACE — It’s been nearly two months since President JOE BIDEN announced his reelection campaign with an online video. And for weeks, folks in Biden world have been clear this campaign will not — I repeat: not — be the campaign of a million political rallies carpet-bombing the nation. Instead, they’ll feature tentpole rallies organized around big policy issues central to his message.
Yesterday, we finally saw how that could look.
Biden was in his own personal Disneyland yesterday, speaking to more than 2,000 union members during his 13th trip to Philly as president — just one day after the AFL-CIO endorsed his reelection.
“Folks, it feels good to be home,” he said.
For many years, Biden has leaned on organized labor not just for campaign support, but for credibility on all things middle class. So it was fitting, perhaps, that he would use the occasion to preview the economic messaging you can expect to hear a whole lot of from his campaign over the next year.
The pitch: “We’ve created 13 million new jobs since I became president. The unemployment rate is down to nearly a 50-year low. I’ve seen record lows for Black unemployment and Hispanic unemployment as well. We’ve created 800,000 manufacturing jobs,” Biden said. “Inflation has come down 11 months in a row and is going to continue to come down. Today it’s less than half of what it was a year ago. This didn’t just happen. We made it happen.”
Notably, Biden spent no time talking about DONALD TRUMP — a conscious choice to keep the campaign’s head down, contrasting Biden’s no-drama approach to the White House with the chaotic and rhetorically nasty Republican presidential primary.
The Philly Inquirer’s Julia Terruso: “There was none of the rhetoric of a speech last September at Independence Hall, when he said former President Donald Trump ‘and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the foundation of our very republic.’ And there was no mention of Trump, the GOP front-runner, or of Trump’s most recent federal indictment.”
NYT’s Zolan Kanno-Youngs: “While Republican candidates bicker over the case of Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden hopes to showcase his governing. While his opponents attack — or promise to pardon — Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden would rather discuss infrastructure and cracking down on undisclosed fees.”
For Democrats antsy that Biden’s campaign hadn’t yet kicked into a higher gear, the event couldn’t come fast enough.
WaPo’s Matt Viser and Tyler Pager: “Biden’s operation is drifting ahead at a slower pace, betting that it can rely heavily on the Democratic National Committee’s infrastructure for support until later in the summer and into the fall. … This approach — in essence, campaigning without a campaign — allows Biden to stockpile money that he can spend later when the race heats up and he has a clear opponent. But the slow ramp-up may also make it harder for Biden to define his rivals early in the process, and it could be risky to rely on others to set up the ground operation for a reelection where turnout will be critical.”
THE GOOD OLD DAYS — A fun, nostalgic piece for your Sunday from Slate’s Dan Kois: “Young People Have No Idea What We Used to Do After Work. Let Me Regale You.”
BLINKEN IN BEIJING — Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s meeting today with Chinese Foreign Minister QIN GANG yielded plans for Qin to come to D.C. for additional talks, per the State Department.
Good Sunday morning, and happy Father’s Day. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
SUNDAY BEST …
— CHRIS CHRISTIE on federal abortion policy, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I’m pro-life. … People know where I stand on this issue. But we have argued as conservatives for 50 years that this should not be a federal issue, that Roe was wrong, and that [it] should be an issue decided state by state. We now have that opportunity to let states make that decision, state by state. Let’s see what the states do here, and see if they form a national consensus. Because there’s no way you’re going to get 60 votes in the Senate for anything unless you have formed a national consensus.”
— Sen. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) on whether he’d agree to VIVEK RAMASWAMY’s pledge to pardon Trump if elected, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I’m not going to deal with the hypotheticals, but I will say that every American is innocent until proven guilty.”
— MIKE PENCE on who his base of support is, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Well, look, I think that the people around the country, as I’ve traveled the last two years, have, in the main, very humbling views about me and my family. I mean, I’ve been stopped in airports and grocery stores and gas stations by Americans of every political persuasion who thank me for my service to the country.” Chuck Todd: “How many of them were wearing MAGA hats?” Pence: “And particularly thanked me for the stand that I took on that tragic day.” Todd: “But are people that wear MAGA hats doing that to you?” Pence: “Look, I know the people in our movement, and I can honestly tell you that they’re some of the best people in this country.”
— Sen. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-R.I.) on whether he’s still close with long-ago law school friend ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., on ABC’s “This Week”: “Not so much, particularly not since this political episode has begun. I 100% support President Biden. I don’t think that vaccines are a hoax or a scam or dangerous, and I strongly, strongly support the people of Ukraine in their bid for freedom under the onslaught of the Russian military, because I think that’s the frontier for freedom around the world.”
TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR
1. PRIMARY SHUFFLE: “South Carolina GOP votes to move back their 2024 primary: Sources,” by ABC’s Will McDuffie and Isabella Murray: “The South Carolina Republican Party voted unanimously on Saturday to hold their 2024 GOP presidential primary on February 24 next year … The designation, if approved by the Republican National Committee, would upend the usual cadence of the Republican nominating calendar by placing South Carolina after Nevada for the first time in cycles. It would also make South Carolina Republicans vote 18 days after Nevada’s scheduled primary, putting the first-in-the-South presidential primary state front and center in the race for more than two full weeks.”
2. ON THE TRAIL: “DeSantis targets the left, not Trump, at Northern Nevada Basque Fry,” by The Nevada Independent’s Tabitha Mueller, Jacob Solis and Sean Golonka: “The tightrope act was on full display Saturday, as voters waiting to hear DeSantis told The Nevada Independent that they still leaned toward Trump. … Still, DeSantis had strong support from attendees who framed him as an electable candidate.”
DeSantis’ opening: “Ron DeSantis leverages his Covid response for a foothold in Nevada,” by NBC’s Natasha Korecki in Gardnerville: “Some Nevada Republicans — still reeling from state closures during the pandemic — like the Florida governor’s Covid messaging.”
3. THE NEW GOP: “House GOP flirts with Jan. 6 extremism,” by Jordain Carney and Kyle Cheney: “[S]ome Republicans have stoked narratives that falsely pin blame for the attack on police, Democrats or far-left agitators — or downplay the violence at the Capitol. The latter approach has seen a noticeable uptick of late. And it’s not just far-right conservatives who fall in that group — some House GOP leaders and key committee chiefs have shown they’re willing to flirt with the fringe without an outright embrace.”
4. DOCU-DRAMA: “Trump lacked power to declassify secret nuclear arms document, experts say,” by Reuters’ Jonathan Landay: “Even when he was president, Donald Trump lacked the legal authority to declassify a U.S. nuclear weapons-related document that he is charged with illegally possessing, security experts said, contrary to the former U.S. president’s claim. … [T]he nuclear document is unique among the 31 in the indictment because the declassification of the others is governed by executive order.”
5. THE NEXT BIG STANDOFF: “Government shutdown warnings rise as Republicans seek deeper cuts in budget battle,” by AP’s Kevin Freking: “The emerging dynamic raises the potential for another round of economy-rattling brinkmanship in Washington just months after lawmakers narrowly avoided a damaging federal default.”
Related read: “Speaker McCarthy’s Next Trick: Averting a Government Shutdown,” by WSJ’s Natalie Andrews and Siobhan Hughes
6. IMMIGRATION FILES: “‘All we received was abandonment’ — Migrants sent to Sacramento by DeSantis speak out,” by the L.A. Times’ Mackenzie Mays: “They say they were duped by Florida officials and that, while they are grateful to be in America, their plans have been disrupted, with immigration hearings now spread across the country and job opportunities stalled. … [T]he smiles on the migrants’ faces in the viral video touted by DeSantis were real. But that’s because they were promised so much more, they said.”
7. MISSILE IMPOSSIBLE: “House lawmakers target Pentagon plan to ramp up missile production for Ukraine,” by Connor O’Brien and Lee Hudson: “Appropriators exacted more than $2.5 billion in reductions to sections of their Pentagon spending bill that deal with missile procurement across the military services, according to a draft committee report obtained by POLITICO … The shift in funding to other accounts by the influential spending committee is a blow to a major pillar of President Joe Biden’s defense plans laid out in his most recent budget proposal.”
8. BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE: “McCarthy visit to Orange County highlights GOP focus on immigration and crime,” by the L.A. Times’ Seema Mehta and Andrew Fry: “[T]he party’s leaders are emphasizing border control and public safety as they try to appeal to affluent suburbanites in traditional conservative strongholds like Orange County that have grown more moderate and are critical to their path to victory.”
9. AUTHORITARIANISM’S GLOBAL MARCH: “Activists say the human rights movement is failing,” by Nahal Toosi in Oslo, Norway: “[A] global movement that flowered post-World War II, and saw major victories amid the fall of the Soviet Union, now sees itself at a crossroads. If activists fail to find new methods, they say, dictators are likely to grow even more emboldened. … They know that while autocratic regimes are refining their methods, the countries that say they support human rights, such as the United States, can be unreliable when their own interests are at stake.”
Christie Vilsack christened the USS Iowa, a new Virginia-class submarine.
Joe Biden said he wouldn’t give Ukraine a shortcut to join NATO.
Nikki Haley’s husband, Michael, is deploying this weekend to Djibouti for a year.
OUT AND ABOUT — Former Education Secretary Rod Paige was honored with a big brunch tribute yesterday for his 90th birthday, at which Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner proclaimed the day Rod Paige Day in the city. Paige’s wife, Stephanie Nellons-Paige, hosted hundreds of friends and family at the event, which raised more than $100,000 for a scholarship fund in his name. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Al Green (D-Texas) issued proclamations on behalf of Congress, and video tributes came from George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arne Duncan, Margaret Spellings, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Reyes Tamez and Randy Best. Also SPOTTED: Rev. William Lawson, Texas state Sens. Royce West and Paul Bettencourt, and John Danielson.
TRANSITIONS — Mike Sistak has returned to the American Farm Bureau Federation as director of advocacy and political management. He previously was director of coalitions and engagement at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. … Shalini Avasarala is joining Weber Shandwick as manager of client experience/media relations. She previously was press secretary for Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Jenn Kiggans (R-Va.) and Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) … David Drucker … CNN’s DJ Judd … Robert O’Brien … Axios’ Nick Johnston … White House’s John McCarthy … Niall Stanage of The Hill … Jim Stinson … MPA’s Rachel Alben … the U.S. House’s Kate Knudson … Devan Cole … Clare Bresnahan English … Will Kinzel of Molson Coors … Bert Gómez … Tom Readmond … Narric Rome … former Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) … former Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) … Daniel Epstein … POLITICO’s Maya Swann … Fred Barbash … Debbie Shore of Share Our Strength … Derrick Honeyman of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ office … Joanne Lipman … RIMS’ Gary LaBranche (65) … Hattie Hobart of the American Conservation Coalition … Dina Powell McCormick
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