The Playbook Podcast

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. 

The former president was on a conference call with his advisers Monday discussing his favorite topic — revenge — when he was interrupted with an update on the Manhattan D.A.’s investigation. He would not be personally indicted, Trump was told — only Weisselberg and the Trump Organization would be. Trump was thrilled by what he saw as light charges, and according to one of the advisers on the call, his mind raced to 2024. 

“Just wait until 2024, you’ll see,” Trump said. The former president implied that the legal case would be seen as a political witch hunt that would backfire on Democrats.

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. 

Tallies released Tuesday afternoon indicated that New York City mayoral Democratic candidate Kathryn Garcia had come within 2.2 points of leading candidate Eric Adams after ranked-choice tabulations were processed. But, shortly after the results were released, reporters and campaign staffers noticed there were roughly 135,000 more votes counted than those reported on election night.

And, the president said something really important the other day and nobody noticed.

At his press conference celebrating the bipartisan infrastructure deal, Joe Biden suggested there would be no coming back for seconds: When it comes to spending on basic physical infrastructure (for roads, bridges, public transportation, etc.), the bipartisan deal is it. There will be no using the parallel, Democrats-only reconciliation package to spend more on those things than Republicans agreed to. 

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. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised Washington when her office announced Monday that she was open to appointing a Republican to fill one of her party’s spots on the select committee to investigate Jan. 6. So instead of eight Democrats and five Republicans on the 13-member panel, it would be a 7-6 breakdown.

So who will get the job?

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 GOP rebellion over President Joe Biden's Thursday veto threat of the bipartisan infrastructure bill seems to have been quelled. ICYMI, on Saturday the White House released a long and windy statement to mollify Republicans who supported the deal. Biden said he supported the deal “without reservation.” On Sunday, three of the five Republicans who negotiated it made it clear that the president’s walkback was good enough for them.

So does that mean it will pass? Well, no, not quite yet. Here are the landmines we'll be watching out for that could still derail the bill.

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.