Playbook PM: Meadows pokes McCarthy in the eye

From: POLITICO Playbook - Thursday Nov 18,2021 05:56 pm

Nov 18, 2021

By Rachael Bade, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

Presented by

BREAKING — The CBO will complete its full assessment of the Build Back Better bill this afternoon.

TALK ABOUT A FLASHBACK TO 2017: This morning, former congressman and White House chief of staff MARK MEADOWS took some serious jabs at House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY, his longtime rival, on a pair of podcasts.

— First, he blasted McCarthy for losing control of his conference, blaming him for the fact that 13 House Republicans enabled the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill — a huge legislative achievement for President JOE BIDEN. He said McCarthy needs to cut these members off from NRCC campaign assistance.

“If you're going to be the speaker of the House, you’ve got to be able to control those members,” Meadows said on Rep. MATT GAETZ’s (R-Fla.) podcast, “Firebrand.” Olivia Beavers has more on Congress Minutes

— Then, Meadows suggested DONALD TRUMP, his former boss, should become House speaker if the GOP flips the House in 2022. Technically, the speaker doesn’t have to be an elected member of Congress. But McCarthy has been working toward the top spot for years.

“I would love to see the gavel go from NANCY PELOSI to Donald Trump,” Meadows said on STEVE BANNON’s podcast. “You talk about melting down, people would go crazy!” Bannon responded that he’d love to see Trump do that for 100 days — then launch his second presidential run.

LET’S BE REAL FOR A MINUTE: Trump becoming speaker is extremely unlikely, but that’s not the point. If the former president has dozens of Trumpian members refusing to back McCarthy for speaker, and instead voting for Trump, the California Republican could face the same math problem that led him to drop his speakership bid in 2015.

THERE’S A HISTORY HERE: Meadows was among the members who helped ensure McCarthy didn’t get the votes to be speaker in 2015. Their tense relationship continued even after the GOP took over Washington, as the pair jockeyed to influence Trump to move in often opposite directions, including over how to repeal the Affordable Care Act and whether to embrace government shutdown fights.

Clearly, they’re still at odds. The split is worth watching if the GOP flips the House in 2022 as expected.

NOT ALONE: Comments like Meadows’ are starting to reveal a growing frustration with McCarthy in Trump’s orbit. On Monday, Trump ally PETER NAVARRO essentially called McCarthy an idiot for removing all Republicans from the Jan. 6 committee, leaving Trump exposed and without allies to defend him.

“Kevin McCarthy made arguably the dumbest checkers move in a chess game I’ve ever seen,” Navarro told Yahoo News’ Jon Ward. “He lost control.”

Then on Wednesday, Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-Ga.) suggested McCarthy was “weak” for refusing to punish the 13 members who voted for the BIF.

A message from Facebook:

Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations

Rochelle is one of many experts working on privacy at Facebook—to give you more control over your information.

Hear from Rochelle on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet’s most pressing challenges, including federal privacy legislation.

TOP-ED — “A 2024 Harris-Buttigieg Primary Would Be Great for Republicans,” by Rich Lowry: “They exemplify the Democratic Party’s electoral deficiencies, while bringing their own personal political weaknesses to the equation.” Lowry also writes that Democrats should be rooting for ERIC ADAMS, possibly even for 2024: “[L]ike Biden in 2020, [Adams] has proved immune to fashionable left-wing causes. He not only defused a hot-button cultural issue, namely crime; he campaigned on it and made it a strength, an ability that most national Democrats have lost as the party has moved left since 2016.”

MEANWHILE, ON CAPITOL HILL …

HERE WE GO — A vote on the BBB bill may happen today, Pelosi said at her press conference this morning. Pelosi’s latest “Dear Colleague” to her caucus

— The speaker also defended the SALT provisions in the bill despite ongoing pushback from both progressives and moderates, saying it’s a “fight” she’s willing to have.

DREAMING OF 2023 — McCarthy said at his presser today that if Republicans retake the House majority, Greene and Rep. PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.) will be restored to their former committee spots (or “better” ones).

Good Thursday afternoon.

BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now.

THE WHITE HOUSE

IMMIGRATION FILES — WSJ’s Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti just published a big story on the Biden administration grappling with internal disagreements on immigration. The fundamental divide is between Biden campaign alums and progressives who want a major overhaul, and other top advisers/career officials who favor stronger deterrence and more arrests first (including RON KLAIN, JAKE SULLIVAN, CEDRIC RICHMOND and SUSAN RICE). “The lack of cohesion and mixed messages have persisted across several major immigration debates,” they write, and several top officials have resigned.

AT 1600 PENN — Biden signed three bills into law this morning aimed at protecting and supporting first responders, police officers and other law enforcement. He took the opportunity to both urge Congress to pass police reform and deliver an implicit rebuke of calls to “defund the police”: “When you look at what our communities need and what our law enforcement’s being asked to do, it’s going to require more resources, not fewer resources.”

— At the same time, DOJ announced it’s doling out $139 million in grants to hire 1,000 new police officers, per AP’s Michael Balsamo. The money is intended to expand community policing, mental health services and anti-violent crime efforts across 183 law enforcement agencies of all sizes.

PRE-BILATS READING — Biden will find plenty to agree on with Canadian PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU and Mexican President ANDRÉS MANUEL LÓPEZ OBRADOR as the North American leaders meet at the White House today. But Biden’s initiatives to promote American manufacturing at the expense of regional trade will be a thorn in their side, reports POLITICO’s own cross-border team of Gavin Bade and Andy Blatchford. Trudeau is especially concerned about a tax credit in the reconciliation bill for union-made electric vehicles (which aligns him with Sen. JOE MANCHIN!) And U.S. protectionism could strain these relationships, making cooperation more difficult.

— NYT has a roundup of the issues the three leaders will discuss, including the supply chain, vaccine sharing and migration (though not the controversial “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum-seekers).

VP IN THE SPOTLIGHT — VP KAMALA HARRIS has endured a spate of bad press lately, including stories that cited her allies as frustrated with the way some parts of the White House have treated her. In an interview today with George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America,” Harris shrugged off those concerns: “We’re getting things done, and we’re doing it together.” Stephanopoulos: “So you don’t feel misused or under-used?” Harris: “No, I don’t. I am very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished, but I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do, and we’re going to get it done.” Watch here

FIRST LADY FILES — WaPo’s Jada Yuan chronicles JILL BIDEN’s efforts to help military spouses find jobs, which the first lady portrays as not only an economic issue but a national security one. And a personal cause for her, too.

PARDON ME — The White House has introduced Peanut Butter and Jelly, the two turkeys that Biden will pardon Friday.

THE ECONOMY

THE UNEMPLOYMENT PICTURE — New jobless claims nudged down to 268,000 last week. That’s a drop of only 1,000 week over week, but Reuters highlights that these numbers are now approaching pre-pandemic levels in a positive demonstration of the labor market’s recovery.

PAGING THE WHITE HOUSE — Following a tough WaPo-ABC poll for Biden, ABC’s Meg Cunningham interviewed Biden voters who are disappointed with the economy — and heard concerns about inflation, the pandemic, legislative foot-dragging and a lack of effective leadership. One lifelong Georgia Republican whose distaste for Trump had her voting Democratic last year told ABC that she’s already done with the party: “I don’t think I would ever vote Democrat again. I really don’t think I would.”

POLITICS ROUNDUP

RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT — There’s an interesting wrinkle in the Ohio redistricting process: Voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2018 saying that legislators had to create new maps in a bipartisan manner, or else they’d take effect for only four years instead of 10. The state’s Republicans, though, have opted for the latter, reports Brittany Gibson : They’re plowing ahead with a rapid and brutal gerrymander that’s likely to limit Dems to just two of 15 congressional seats, and taking their chances on having to redraw the lines after two cycles.

— Alan Greenblatt takes stock of what’s changed with this round of redistricting nationwide for POLITICO Magazine : It’s always been “a political blood sport” in America, he writes, but never has it drawn this much attention from both parties and the voting public. The danger is that citizens will begin to believe they have no real say in selecting their representatives, especially as (mostly Republican) gerrymandering has gotten more ruthless than ever before in the past couple of decades.

— For the first time this cycle, a governor has vetoed a congressional redistricting map: Democratic Wisconsin Gov. TONY EVERS put the kibosh on GOP legislators’ 6R-2D plan this morning, though Dave Wasserman notes “it’s possible a court-drawn map could lead to the same result in 2022.” More from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

KNOWING JANAI NELSON — The incoming head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is stepping up from the No. 2 position to replace SHERRILYN IFILL after years working against gerrymandering and for equity in education. Nelson tells WaPo’s Jacob Bogage in a Q&A, “In order for there to truly be progress, we have to push the boundaries. If we allow the regression to intimidate us in our choices, intimidate us in what we believe is possible and feasible, that is when we go backward in a more permanent way.”

2024 WATCH — Sen. CORY BOOKER (D-N.J.) is heading to New Hampshire on Dec. 11 to headline a major Democratic fundraiser in downtown Manchester, per WMUR’s John DiStaso.

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

GOP STEAMROLLING IN FLORIDA — In Tallahassee, Gov. RON DESANTIS is getting everything he wants out of a special legislative session aimed at fighting vaccine mandates, without even appearing in person once to push his agenda, Matt Dixon reports. Democrats say Republicans are rolling over for the governor, while the GOP is eager not to slow DeSantis’ national political rise (or cross him).

TRUMP CARDS

JUST POSTED: “Judge rejects Bannon effort to slow walk contempt case,” by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney

UNRAVELING JAN. 6 — ProPublica’s Joaquin Sapien and Joshua Kaplan got their hands on text messages that show KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE seeming to say she raised $3 million for the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the deadly Capitol insurrection. It’s “the strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were directly involved in the financing and organization of the rally,” they write. But Guilfoyle’s attorney rebutted the reporting, saying her text wasn’t about the rally and it was taken out of context.

WHAT DAVID BERNHARDT WAS UP TO — A new GAO report says the Trump Interior Department’s decision (now reversed) to move the Bureau of Land Management from D.C. to Colorado drove out the majority of Black staffers and many of the bureau’s most experienced employees, leading to staffing shortages, per WaPo’s Joshua Partlow.

PLAYBOOKERS

We’re a couple of days late here, but this video from News4’s Pat Collins is the best local news clip we’ve seen in a while. (If you know who Mike is, or if you are Mike, let us know.)

MEDIA MOVES — Geoff Bennett is joining PBS NewsHour as chief Washington correspondent and anchor for the weekend broadcast, per Deadline’s Ted Johnson. He previously was White House correspondent for NBC News, for which he’ll remain a political contributor. The NewsHour’s weekend show is moving from WNET in New York to WETA in D.C.

— Josh Siegel is joining POLITICO as energy/climate reporter covering Congress. He most recently has been energy and environment reporter at the Washington Examiner.

TRANSITION — Matthew Hurtt has returned to the Leadership Institute as director of graduate programs. He most recently was doing freelance fundraising and has worked in various capacities in the conservative movement.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Nick Manetto, a principal at Faegre Drinker Consulting, and Carrie Manetto recently welcomed Caleb Maximilian on Oct. 28. He joins big siblings Paul, Patrick, Juliana, Maryclare and Dominic. Pic

— Adam Goldstein, a VP in Finsbury Glover Hering’s government relations practice, and Jessica Goldstein, an investment banker at Greenhill and Co., welcomed Benjamin Isaiah Goldstein on Tuesday. He came in at 7 lbs, 10 oz, and is named for his great-grandfather. Pic … Another pic