It’s fair to wonder whether Caitlyn Jenner is running for governor of California or filming another reality show. Well, it turns out she’s doing a little bit of both. Jenner is showing up at campaign events and rallies with a film crew like famous candidates often do — but she’s also brought the crew to an interview with Sean Hannity and to an appearance at CPAC.

And, a pair of stories up from CNN and POLITICO spotlight Democrats’ upcoming gambit to back-door immigration reform through the reconciliation process — Senate parliamentarian be damned. “Top Democrats, with the support of the White House, are planning to tuck a handful of immigration measures into their forthcoming $3.5 trillion spending bill. The tactic — which just months ago seemed like a long shot even to liberals — is now widely seen as President Joe Biden's best shot at confronting one of Washington’s policy leviathans and delivering on a decades-long party promise."

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Back in 2019, when the House Intelligence Committee was about to kick off public hearings for Donald Trump's first impeachment, Trump and his allies pressed Kevin McCarthy to yank centrist Republicans from the panel and install the president’s most vocal allies instead.

McCarthy wouldn’t do it.

A year-and-a-half later, McCarthy is in essentially the same position: about to decide which Republicans to appoint to the special committee on the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer proclaimed Tuesday night that Democrats are “very proud” of the $3.5 trillion budget agreement he had just unveiled, before adding: “We know we have a long way to go.”

“Long” is one way to put it. “Painstaking” and “treacherous” are a few others. Here are the dynamics we’re watching as the whipping operation gets underway.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

It was after 9 p.m. on Friday, and staff for the bipartisan Senate infrastructure working group were hammering out legislative text over Zoom. Suddenly, the girlfriend of a staffer for Sen. Angus King walked into the room to announce they had a visitor. In walked the senator himself to thank those on the call for their hard work.

Thought No. 1: These people really know how to live it up on a Friday night.

Thought No. 2: This could all be for naught. Here’s why.

And, it's Groundhog Day for the Democratic Party when it comes to voting rights. Once again, civil rights leaders and the left are clamoring for President JOE BIDEN to nix or alter the filibuster in order to pass the party’s voting rights bills. And once again, Biden is likely to disappoint. 

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

The Uprising’s Hunter Walker scooped that the likely next mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, is headed to the White House today to meet with President Joe Biden, Attorney Garland Merrick Garland and other local leaders to discuss what the White House calls its “comprehensive strategy to reduce gun crimes.”

And, another story to keep an eye on this week: the ongoing struggle by the administration to break through vaccine hesitancy among the remaining third or so of American adults who’ve refused the shot. In a story that posted Sunday night, the NYT’s Tiffany Hsu called out Fox News — specifically Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson — for feeding into the problem. We know from our own conversations with White House officials that they see the anti-vax rhetoric as a real problem amid the spread of the Delta variant. 

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio. 

The White House is scheduled to issue an executive order Friday to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy in the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries.

And, It’s Donald Trump's most frequent complaint: people profiting off his name. The latest offender? His son’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. Aides told Playbook that Trump has been openly griping that Guilfoyle joined Eric Greitens' campaign for Senate in Missouri as national campaign chair, and he’s becoming increasingly short with Guilfoyle.  

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio. 

With Congress gone, Joe Biden, our low-key president, has been the main story in Washington. He’s already addressed two major issues this week: how to respond to the Delta Covid-19 variant, and attempting to sell the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework and his American Families Plan to Trump-voting skeptics in Illinois.

Today, he grapples with two big foreign policy dilemmas: He’ll receive an update in the Situation Room about Afghanistan and then address the public about the American withdrawal. He also told reporters Wednesday he would decide today what to do about the recent Russian cyberattacks.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio. 

Back when Biden’s aides were debating whether to have a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the pro-meeting side argued that if he ignored Putin, the Russian leader was more likely to act out and create headaches for the new administration. A little engagement and attention, the argument went, might forestall the worst behavior. So far, it’s hard to see how Putin has reined in anything since the Geneva one-on-one with Biden.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio. 

With the House and Senate on break, President Joe Biden will be at the center of political coverage this week — and the three big Biden stories are Afghanistan, Covid-19 and infrastructure.

All three issues share something in common: They are monumental policy and political challenges with enormous long-term consequences for America (and the world). Six months into his presidency, there has been major progress on all three issues, but no final resolution. In each case, a reversal of fortunes or outright failure is still possible.

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio. 

The Supreme Court’s ruling in a Voting Rights Act case Thursday may appear modest in scope and subdued in rhetoric, but it will have a sweeping impact — undercutting efforts to challenge a slew of new laws Republican-led states have passed imposing new restrictions on the ballot, lawyers and civil rights activists said.

"It will have a devastating impact on our ability, and other civil rights groups' ability, to protect the rights of voters through the courts,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

The 6-3 loss for voting rights advocates also resurfaced second-guessing of the Democratic National Committee’s decision to file the suit on which the justices ruled, targeting Arizona’s longstanding refusal to allow out-of-precinct voting and a 2016 law banning collection of mail-in ballots through a practice critics call “ballot harvesting.”

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.