Keep the enemy closer

By Sam Stein, Tina Sfondeles and Alex Thompson

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With Allie Bice.

Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Tina

Democrats are embarking on an aggressive comms operation in hopes of selling the president’s recent legislative achievements and reverse his plummeting approval ratings.

But what if their approach is calibrated wrong?

That question is top of mind for a slew of party operatives as they watch President JOE BIDEN and his team go out and pitch the infrastructure bill that he signed into law on Monday and the social spending package that passed the House today. In particular, there is concern that a comms strategy that relies on paid TV advertising, earned media from district visits, and local and cable interviews won’t move the dial; that the White House, and Democrats more broadly, need to find ways to penetrate media ecosystems where their critics are defining the debate for them.

“We should bring our message to audiences that don’t already agree with us. Roads and bridges are for everyone,” said Rep. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Maloney, more than any other Democrat, has been pleading with Biden to do more press. And while he acknowledged that attempts to engage conservative media could prove frustratingly fruitless — “you’re assuming Fox’s more caustic hosts would invite us on to have a respectful policy discussion” — he said it’s worth trying. “There are plenty of folks over there who I’d sit down with,” said Maloney.

The debate over how much Democrats should engage Fox News and like-minded conservative press is a perennial in the party. There is a camp, led by liberal media watchdogs, who insist it is folly; that Democrats get slandered and distorted when they go on those airwaves and that the only outcome is the legitimization of that outlet as a respectable news source.

On the other side are operatives who argue that added engagement doesn’t legitimize those outlets, but neutralizes them. They point to the successes of politicians like Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (he did a Fox News town hall in 2020) on these platforms and the losses Democrats have had with rural and white working class voters and ask: How can we win them back if we’re not talking to them? Fox News garners both the largest conservative audience and independent audience too, according to Nielsen/MRI Fusion data.

“We have to go to people where they are,” said one top Democratic donor, who is exploring whether media acquisitions may be the simplest way to reverse the party’s deficits on cable and elsewhere.

The issue has taken on added importance during the Biden years, with media ecosystems becoming more closed off and harder to penetrate. Biden’s team does engage Fox News. White House Deputy Press Secretary ANDREW BATES noted that they’d given the network “an exclusive on the law enforcement bill signings yesterday.”

But one-off stories, Democrats fear, are no match for the firehose of information — not just from Fox News but a host of other conservative-minded outlets — that have sharpened the culture war fault lines, elevated economic fears, and portrayed Biden as hopelessly out of his depth.

“The right now has, in addition to Fox and everything else, 2-3 million more people every day amplifying their stuff,” said longtime Democratic operative SIMON ROSENBERG. “There is no analogue to any of this on our side. We don’t have any kind of organized amplification networks. We have never asked millions of Democrats to be part of the daily information war the way Republicans have asked their followers to be part of the daily information war.”

Rosenberg is an interesting case study in how and in what fashion Democrats can engage conservative media. He estimates that he has done hundreds of appearances on Fox News, often in thankless roles. But he stopped going on air recently, saying that the network changed following the death of its longtime leader ROGER AILES. His final appearance was, well, fairly dramatic.

“When he was removed and Trump put so much pressure on the network, the network changed,” said Rosenberg. “The level of antipathy from the anchors was intense. When an anchor turns on you, your life is in danger. I had death threats. I had people saying Hitler should have finished the job…. The difference was, instead of getting 25 of those, I was getting thousands of those within minutes of leaving the air.”

And yet, Rosenberg still thinks Biden and his entire Cabinet can’t ignore conservative press or the larger flow of conservative information; nor can they tinker on the edges of it. They need to engage them directly and build up something comparable in stature, he insists, because the current strategy isn’t working.

“I don’t know if anyone’s noticed,” said Rosenberg, “but he’s dropped 23 points in the polls.”

Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you ADITYA KUMAR, senior adviser for operations?

We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: westwingtips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here . Or you can text/Signal Alex at 8183240098.

From the University of Virginia’s Miller Center

Which president's chief of staff said his boss "was emotionally incapable of firing anybody"?

(Answer at the bottom.)

Cartoon by Rick McKee | Courtesy of Counterpoint

Every Friday, we’ll feature a cartoon of the week — this one is courtesy of RICK MCKEE. Our very own MATT WUERKER also publishes a selection of cartoons from all over the country. View the cartoon carousel here.

ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS — Vice President KAMALA HARRIS made history today when she assumed the powers of commander in chief as Biden went under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy as part of his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

This was our favorite lede of the day, courtesy of L.A. Times White House reporter CHRIS MEGERIAN: “It was the colonoscopy that made history.” H/t to MARK Z. BARABAK.

Bloomberg’s JENNIFER JACOBS notes that Harris was the first woman to be “acting president” but not the first female president.

“After Woodrow Wilson was partially paralyzed by a stroke in 1919, First Lady EDITH WILSON pre-screened executive matters for her husband after Vice President THOMAS MARSHALL refused to assume the duties of the presidency out of concern for the precedent it would set,” Jacobs wrote.

A White House bio of Edith Wilson notes that she “pre-screened all matters of state, functionally running the Executive branch of government for the remainder of Wilson’s second term.”

THE ACTUAL HEALTH: The White House did send out a current health summary from the president’s longtime doctor on Friday afternoon. It noted that he had good cholesterol levels, remains active (“works out at least five days per week”), and is “fit for duty.”

But there were two notable addendums. The exam acknowledged that the president has a persistent cough and throat clearing that has “been more frequent and more pronounced." It attributed that to gastroesophageal reflux. It also was noted that Biden’s gait has become notably stiffer, which is attributed to “wear and tear,” a “mild sensory peripheral neuropathy of the feed” and “significant spinal arthritis.” There was not significant nerve root compression, at least not enough to warrant “any specific treatment."

Biden weighed in at 184 pounds and stands just shy of 6 feet tall. Finally, he had “no dental issues requiring any interventions.”

MEET THE PRESS-ISH: White House Press Secretary JEN PSAKI was met with skepticism when she said at POLITICO’s inaugural Women Rule Exchange earlier this week that President Biden takes 20 to 30 questions from reporters weekly and “has answered twice as many times at these events than President DONALD TRUMP did at this point in time.” Was she right?

According to presidential historian MARTHA KUMAR, Biden has actually engaged in informal question-and-answer sessions 180 times through Oct. 31 while Trump participated in 93 during that same time period in 2017. But Kumar added that while Biden engages frequently with the press, he actually takes fewer questions from them than his six predecessors. “He provides short answers with few follow-ups when he takes questions at the end of a previously scheduled speech,” Kumar wrote in a report she compiled. “He often takes one or two questions while his predecessors took more queries at fewer events.”

By comparison, BARACK OBAMA participated in 40 short question and answer sessions during that same time period, while GEORGE W. BUSH conducted 124 and BILL CLINTON did a whopping 216.

ONE CHAMBER DOWN, ONE TO GO — The House on Friday morning passed Biden’s $1.7 trillion social spending plan, sending it to the Senate where Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER is aiming to pass it before Christmas. But MARIANNE LeVINE writes that several obstacles stand in Schumer’s way, notably the chamber's long to-do list, its rules referee and — more likely than not — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.).

INTRACTABLE AS EVER: In recent weeks a series of Israeli actions against Palestinians have exacerbated tensions with the Biden administration while testing how serious the U.S. president is about respecting the rights of everyone in the conflict, NAHAL TOOSI reports.

The Israeli actions range from designating several Palestinian human rights groups as “terrorist” organizations to resisting Biden’s plans to reopen a consulate in Jerusalem that would engage with Palestinians. Renewed Israeli settler violence against Palestinians as well as Israeli plans to build more settlements in the West Bank have further frustrated the Biden team. The United States, meanwhile, has rankled Israel by imposing sanctions on an Israeli firm whose technology has been used to monitor and harass dissidents and others — including Palestinians.

NO OBJECTIONS — The Senate Thursday night confirmed Clinton White House veteran LEE SATTERFIELD by unanimous consent to be the assistant secretary of State for educational and cultural affairs. The lawmakers also confirmed CHARLES SAMS III by voice vote to be the National Park Service director — the first confirmed director since the Obama administration and the first ever Native American to lead the agency.

SURPRISE PACKAGE — Biden today announced plans to nominate two former federal officials, DANIEL TANGHERLINI and DEREK KAN, to the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board, replacing key allies of Postmaster General LOUIS DeJOY.

The Washington Post’s JACOB BOGAGE reports that “The move was a surprise to postal officials and even members of Congress, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, and casts doubt on DeJoy’s future at the agency. It potentially gives liberals on the panel two crucial votes to oust the postal chief, who can be removed only by the board.”

Fauci swamped by angry calls over beagle experiments after campaign that included misleading image (Washington Post’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Beth Reinhard)

Kremlin says second Biden-Putin meeting is in the works (Foreign Policy’s Amy Mackinnon)

Biden pardons Peanut Butter and Jelly in his first presidential turkey pardon (CNN’s Meagan Vazquez and Betsy Klein)

The two national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peanut Butter and Jelly, in the Rose Garden of the White House before a pardon ceremony. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo

He got his annual physical at Walter Reed National Medical Center in the morning. Later, he pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkeys, PEANUT BUTTER and JELLY, in the Rose Garden.

Later this evening, he heads to Wilmington, Del. for the weekend.

She traveled to Columbus, Ohio, where she toured the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189 and met apprentices. Labor Secretary MARTY WALSH joined her. The two also gave remarks touting the administration's success in passing the new infrastructure spending law.

Harris returns to the White House this evening.

One of FEMA Administrator DEANNE CRISWELL’s first jobs was as a firefighter with the Aurora, Colo. fire department, but she almost backed out of the application process.

After training, she went to take a written test in a room full of about a thousand people — nearly all of them men, she told 19th News in Oct. 2021. Other trainees tried to discourage her, she said: “They kept telling me, ‘Oh, it’s so hard to get on the job, you know, I’ve been trying for three years, I’ve been trying five years.’ … I almost got up and left. Then I decided, no, I’m just gonna stay — what does it hurt, right?”

Criswell stayed, “took the written test, did the physical agility test; I did the oral boards. And out of a thousand people, I came out Number 11.” She was the sixth woman ever hired by Aurora’s fire department, according to the 19th.

Smokey Bear would be proud.

RONALD REAGAN's chief of staff HOWARD BAKER, who served in the role from February 1987 to July 1988, said Reagan would hint at the need for a change, saying something like: "Now Howard, tell me, how long has that fellow worked for us?"

For oral history interviews from the Reagan administration and other resources on the presidency, visit millercenter.org/the-presidency

Got a better question? Send us your hardest trivia question on the presidents and we may feature it on Wednesdays. We also want your feedback. What should we be covering in this newsletter that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know.

Edited by Emily Cadei

Follow us on Twitter

Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Tina Sfondeles @TinaSfon Allie Bice @alliebice

Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings

This email was sent to by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

Please click here and follow the steps to .