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Presented by Instagram: The unofficial guide to official Washington. | | | | |  | | By Ryan Lizza | | | With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross
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Former President Donald Trump speaks remotely to an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday, Nov. 19. | John Locher/AP Photo | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY — JOE BIDEN (8-0). TRAGEDY IN COLORADO — “Mass shooting at LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs leaves at least 5 dead, 18 wounded,” by CNN’s Andy Rose and Eric Levenson This is the 601st mass shooting in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive , which defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter. DÉJÀ VU — @realDonaldTrump is back on Twitter. (Though DONALD TRUMP hasn’t tweeted yet.) Establishment Republicans are speaking out against Trump. (The latest is PAUL RYAN: “With Trump, we lose.” ) And the presidential primary field is shaping up to be large and raucous, with low-polling potential contenders undeterred by the early frontrunners. (NIKKI HALEY, who previously said she would back Trump if he runs, now says she might run against him .) Let’s talk about Twitter first. Sifting through the coverage this morning, two thing jump about about ELON MUSK’s decision to use a Twitter poll to decide Trump’s fate: 1. Musk will likely continue to B.S. his way through running his new toy, making decisions on a whim and without regard to previous promises. Recall that in late October, Musk tweeted about the process he would use for deciding whether to reinstate accounts: “Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints. No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that.” The “content moderation council” never surfaced, and that tweet is now deleted . 2. The timing of Musk baiting Trump to return to Twitter could damage Truth Social. Trump is reportedly contractually obligated to “make his posts exclusively available on Truth Social for eight hours before he could share them elsewhere,” according to the WaPo . Despite that prohibition, Trump couldn’t help but nudge his fans to vote for his reinstatement on Musk’s rival platform. “Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere,” Trump wrote . “Truth Social is special!” But it’s not as special as he’d like. Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, was set to be taken public by Digital World Acquisition (DWAC). DWAC has been seeking a shareholder vote to extend the deadline for the takeover, but that vote has been delayed six times. It’s now scheduled for Tuesday. According to The New York Post , it’s not going well. If the extension vote fails, Digital World could be liquidated on Dec. 8. What does this have to do with Musk? DWAC’s shares, which have plummeted some 80% this year, have been highly sensitive to news about Twitter being more hospitable to Trump fans and Trump’s potential return to the platform. DWAC shares slid all week last week — and that was before Trump’s reinstatement. So Elon may know what he’s doing here if his goal is to cripple Truth Social and force Trump back onto Twitter. He seemed to hint that he believes Trump will come back when he tweeted today , “The most entertaining outcome is the most likely – my variant on Occam’s Razor.” As for 2024, there are two recent elections that offer models for what could happen: 2000 and 2016. Both of those were open primaries that came after eight years of a Democrat in the White House. In 2000, GEORGE W. BUSH , a big-state governor fresh off of a smashing reelection, consolidated widespread support from elite donors and elected officials during the so-called invisible primary period. The race narrowed to him and Arizona Sen. JOHN McCAIN and after a scare in New Hampshire, Bush won fairly easily. (If you’re familiar with the popular The Party Decides theory of how presidential primaries work, this is the poster child for it.) In 2016 … well, we all remember what happened. The party couldn’t decide on an alternative to Trump and he won despite almost universal opposition from GOP elites and elected officials. Then-Wisconsin Gov. SCOTT WALKER, the candidate who was hyped as the George W. Bush of the race, never made it to Iowa. WaPo’s Dan Balz looks at some of this history , and while acknowledging the key differences — Trump remains the frontrunner — suggests RON DeSANTIS could be akin to Bush in 2000 in important ways. This weekend at the Republican Jewish Coalition event in Las Vegas, where potential 2024 candidates — including DeSantis, MIKE PENCE, MIKE POMPEO, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CHRIS SUNUNU and Haley — all gathered and tried to distinguish themselves, DeSantis seemed to stand out. “No one generated more excitement than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis,” the Wall Street Journal wrote , “who had the prime-time speaking slot Saturday and walked on stage to a reception unmatched by others.” But that’s also what everyone said about Walker at this point eight years ago. Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line and tell us how you voted in Musk’s Trump Twitter poll: Rachael Bade , Eugene Daniels , Ryan Lizza .
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Explore our tools and set them up today. | | | DISPATCH FROM THE HALIFAX FORUM — “U.S. lawmakers to foreign allies: Midterm results show our democracy is safe,” by Andrew Desiderio and Connor O’Brien SUNDAY BEST … — Former VP MIKE PENCE on whether Trump is fit to serve as president again, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I really do believe that's a decision for the American people. … I’ll keep you posted on whether I’m going to run or not. But I do think we’ll have better choices. But what I won’t do is I won’t join those that want to dismiss the four years of our administration and all that we accomplished for the American people.” On MARK MEADOWS’ tenure as chief of staff: “From very early on, when it was clear that he had talked the president out of White House coronavirus press briefings, in a very real sense I think his tenure as chief of staff did not serve the president well.” — Rep. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.) on his transition to Democratic leader, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “It’s an honor to stand on the shoulders of such an extraordinary group of leaders, JIM CLYBURN, STENY HOYER and, of course, NANCY PELOSI, a historic speaker, a legendary leader, someone who has left an incredible footprint for good, for change, for positivity, for progress for the American people.” On raising the debt limit: “I think we have to look at all options. But I certainly leave it to Speaker Pelosi and the existing leadership team. And we look forward to working in partnership with them to figure out what's the right approach prior to the end of this calendar year.” On his relationship with Republican leadership: “I haven't had a conversation with Leader [KEVIN] McCARTHY recently. I do have, I think, a much warmer relationship with STEVE SCALISE.” — Former Speaker PAUL RYAN on his view of Trump’s political future, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I was not a ‘Never Trumper.’ I governed with him and I’m proud of those days. I’m proud of the accomplishments: the tax reform, the deregulation, the criminal justice reform. I’m really excited about the judges we got on the bench, not just on the Supreme Court but throughout the judiciary. I am a never-again-Trumper, because I want to win, and we lose with Trump.” — Rep. ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.) on what kind of leader McCarthy will be, on “State of the Union”: “If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said a pretty good one. Now I think he has cut so many deals with bad people to get to this position that I think he's not going to be a leader at all. I think he will be completely hostage to the extreme wings of the Republican Party.” — Sen. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) on TikTok, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I think Donald Trump was right. I mean, TikTok is an enormous threat. … So if you're a parent, and you've got a kid on TikTok, I would be very, very concerned. All of that data that your child is inputting and receiving is being stored somewhere in Beijing.”
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces. Parsing the midterms …
2024 …
Tech …
Policy and ideas ...
| | BIDEN’S SUNDAY: The president has nothing on his public schedule.
VP KAMALA HARRIS’ SUNDAY: Earlier today, the vice president hosted a roundtable discussion with environmental and clean energy leaders to discuss climate change and departed Bangkok, Thailand en route to Manila, Philippines. | | | | | | POLITICO APP USERS: UPGRADE YOUR APP BY DECEMBER 19! We recently upgraded the POLITICO app with a fresh look and improved features for easier access to POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Starting December 19, users will no longer have access to the previous version of the app. Update your app today to stay on top of essential political news, insights, and analysis from the best journalists in the business. UPDATE iOS APP – UPDATE ANDROID APP . | | | | | PHOTOS OF THE DAY
|  In this handout photo provided by The White House, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attend the wedding of Peter Neal and Naomi Biden Neal on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday, Nov. 19. | Adam Schultz/The White House via Getty Images) | | 
Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | 8 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. A NEW CLIMATE DEAL: “Nations reach long-sought agreement on payments for climate damage,” by Karl Mathiesen and Zack Colman in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt: “Governments from around the world agreed to have wealthy countries help pay vulnerable nations for the damage they’re suffering from climate change, a deal that overcomes decades of U.S. and European resistance. “The agreement, reached at the end of a 14-day U.N. climate summit on the Red Sea and announced to loud applause in the room, pushed the hardest decisions off until at least late 2023. Those include the exact mix of government and private financing that would go into the climate-damage fund, as well as U.S. and European demands that China and other middle-income countries contribute as well.” — But it’s not all rosy: “COP27 leaves world on dangerous warming path despite historic climate fund,” by WaPo’s Sarah Kaplan, Timothy Puko and Evan Halper: “The equivocal agreement, reached after a year of record-setting climate disasters and weeks of fraught negotiations in Egypt, underscores the challenge of getting the whole world to agree on rapid climate action when many powerful countries and organizations remain invested in the current energy system.” — Related read: “Success or COP-out: How do this year’s climate talks rate?” by AP’s Frank Jordans 2. INSIDE ARIZONA: “Leaked call shows clash between Kari Lake campaign and Maricopa County,” by WaPo’s Isaac Stanley-Becker and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez: “Hours before KARI LAKE was projected to lose her race for Arizona governor, attorneys for her campaign and for the Republican National Committee spoke by phone Monday to a lawyer for Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and more than half the state’s voters. The Lake representatives posed a series of questions about voting problems on Election Day, nearly a week earlier. “Then, toward the end of the phone call, an attorney for the RNC stressed the importance of rapid answers, according to the Maricopa attorney, TOM LIDDY, a lifelong Republican who heads the county’s office for civil litigation. Liddy recalled that the RNC attorney, whom he and others identified as BENJAMIN MEHR, told him that there were ‘a lot of irate people out there’ and that the campaign ‘can’t control them.’ Liddy said in an interview Friday that he considered those words a threat. … “TIM LA SOTA, an attorney for the Lake campaign who was present for the call, did not dispute Liddy’s characterization of the conversation but said he did not interpret Mehr’s comments as a threat. An RNC spokesman called Liddy’s account of the call ‘false’ and issued a statement attacking Maricopa County officials as ‘completely inept.’” — “Kari Lake Claims Her Voters Were Disenfranchised. Her Voters Tell a Different Story,” by NYT’s Charles Homans, Alexandra Berzon, Jim Rutenberg and Ken Bensinger: “The New York Times reviewed 45 accounts offered by voters and 20 additional accounts from poll workers and observers in legal filings, public meeting testimony, submissions to the Arizona secretary of state’s office and on social media posts associated with Lake, her campaign and her allies, in some cases interviewing the voters to clarify details. In 34 of the 45 accounts, voters acknowledged that, while inconvenienced, they had ultimately been able to cast their ballots.” 3. RUNOFF REPORT: “‘We cannot rest on our laurels’: Kemp aims to boost Walker in Senate runoff,” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein: “Gov. BRIAN KEMP on Saturday campaigned for the first time with Republican U.S. Senate hopeful HERSCHEL WALKER, the most significant effort yet to persuade voters who backed both the governor and Democratic U.S. Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK to return to the GOP fold for the runoff.” — “Georgia counties scramble to meet new deadlines as Senate runoff looms,” by WaPo’s Matthew Brown in Atlanta: “Many election staff report working 12 to 16 hours every day to finish a jumble of tasks on a compressed timeline required by the 2021 law.”
| | | | A message from Instagram:   | | | 4. WELCOME TO 2024: “Democratic Senate Loss in Ohio Raises Bar for Sherrod Brown in 2024,” by NYT’s Trip Gabriel: “With the victory of J.D. VANCE over [TIM] RYAN fresh in mind — a Republican triumph in broadly disappointing midterms for the party — Ohio Republicans this week were sharpening knives in anticipation of taking on Senator SHERROD BROWN , the Democrat whose long-term credibility with blue-collar voters was a template for Mr. Ryan. At the same time, some Republicans cautioned that Mr. Brown would be a more formidable opponent.” 5. DEMOGRAPHIC DIVE: “GOP sees slight Latino vote gains, painful candidate losses,” by AP’s Adriana Gomez Licon and Acacia Coronado in Miami: “Overall, the House will see a net gain of at least eight Latino members, with seven of them being Democrats, according to a tally by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. With the additions, the Republican Party will now have 11 Latino House members, while Democrats will have 35, with one race featuring a Democratic Latino still undecided, NALEO said. That will bring the total Latino representation in Congress to 11%, lower than the 19% Latino population in the U.S.” 6. HOW IT HAPPENED: “How the Pelosi Attack Suspect Plunged Into Online Hatred,” by NYT’s Tim Arango, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Soumya Karlamangla and Holly Secon in San Francisco: “Bitter over the end of a long relationship, estranged from his children and working carpentry jobs to keep a roof over his head after a time living on the streets, DAVID DePAPE retreated into isolation, spending hours each day in the online worlds of gaming and chat rooms. “Mr. DePape, the suspect in the brutal attack on Speaker NANCY PELOSI’s husband, had an obsession with video games as a boy, and at some point in his adult life it appeared to metastasize into something darker. According to his blog posts, the online harassment campaign known as Gamergate, which began in 2014 as a backlash against female critics of the gaming industry and included misogynistic attacks and death threats, became a catalyst of his growing interest in right-wing conspiracy theories and the many rants against women that he posted on his blog.” 7. TALES FROM THE CRYPTO: “Washington watchdogs outgunned in crypto's Wild West,” by Sam Sutton and Declan Harty: “The epic collapse of FTX and founder SAM BANKMAN-FRIED’s investment empire has left Washington officials scratching their heads: Why didn’t U.S. regulators stop this mess before it took down the crypto market?” 8. FOR YOUR RADAR: “Rail union votes could force Congress to head off a strike,” by Alex Daugherty and Tanya Snyder: “The two largest railroad unions will decide Monday whether to ratify a contract with freight railroads — and a no vote could force Congress to step in to avert a rail strike just before the holiday season. A strike could happen as soon as Dec. 5 after the first cooling-off period ends for the 12 involved unions.”
| | | | GO INSIDE THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO is featuring a special edition of our “Future Pulse” newsletter at the 2022 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit from Dec. 6 to 8. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of health industry leaders and innovators solving the biggest global health issues to ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all. SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE . | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | SPOTTED at a reunion for campaign aides of former Rep. Bob Carr’s (D-Mich.) 1982 congressional campaign hosted by Doug and Fabiana Sosnik at their D.C. home on Saturday night: Bob Carr, Howard Edelson, Lynn Lockwood, Kim Ploussard, Karen Trevino, Carol Barnes, Paul Schwartz, Tom Boyd, Eric Schertzing, Eddie McDonald, Fred and Sheila Ritter, Doug Bauer, Mark Collatz, Natalie Goldring, Jo-Ellen Darcy, Chris Koepke, Ginny Terzano and the Sosniks’ two dogs. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Nick Solheim, COO at conservative staffing nonprofit American Moment, and Evie Solheim, account manager at District Media Group, on Thursday welcomed Margot Synnøve Solheim, who came in at 8 pounds. Pic ... Another pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: President Joe Biden (8-0) … Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) … POLITICO’s Sushant Sagar, Dan Goldberg, Jing Sun and Mayo Rives … Protocol’s Caitlin Wolper … Bloomberg’s Ian Kullgren … CNN’s Ryan Struyk … PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff … Ron Suskind … Google’s Courtney Corbisiero … Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report … John Bolton … Robert Edmonson of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office … Beverly Hallberg of District Media Group … SKDK’s Cecelia Prewett … Jayne Sandman of the Brand Guild … Jay Lefkowitz … Aaron Harison … Phil Ewing … Coleman Tolbert of Deloitte … Joe Wier Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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