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| | | | |  | | By Alex Thompson and Eli Stokols | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Eli DREW CONTRERAS has one of the trickiest jobs in the world: he’s the personal trainer for the 79-year-old president. Many mornings from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m., Contreras, a physical therapist, joins Biden for a workout at the White House gym. “I’ll tell you what, he works me,” JOE BIDEN told the hosts of the podcast “Smartless,” which released an interview with the president this week. While Biden didn’t name Contreras, two people familiar with the matter confirmed his identity to West Wing Playbook. Actor and “Smartless” co-host JASON BATEMAN jokingly asked Biden about his routine: “Are we blasting back and bi’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays?” “Yes,” the president retorted, “as a matter of fact.” The interview offered a rare glimpse into the world of presidential fitness that is perceived as crucial given Biden’s standing as the oldest president in history, one whose 80th birthday is just weeks away. Contreras, who has a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a physical therapist in the Army, was also the in-house White House physical therapist for President BARACK OBAMA for seven years. And his time with Biden appears to precede the current administration. When Biden was officially declared the election winner in November 2020, Contreras posted a gym picture of himself working out with Biden, along with a campaign bumper sticker signed by the president (see below).
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President Joe Biden and physical therapist Drew Contreras. | Courtesy | Contreras did not respond to several messages and phone calls. The White House declined to comment. Both the president and first lady JILL BIDEN are fitness buffs. On the campaign trail during the 2020 primary, Biden made sure to block off time to work out in hotels or ride his Peloton bike. Both Contreras and Biden’s personal physician, KEVIN O’CONNOR, are Peloton riders as well. The first lady, on the other hand, is big on barre classes. “It's no secret that Dr. B. is an exercise enthusiast,” her former press secretary, MICHAEL LaROSA, told West Wing Playbook. “Even when we were traveling with a full schedule, flying to multiple states or multiple cities in one day, and returning to the White House at night, she still signed up for a 7 a.m. barre class” the next morning. LaRosa added that his first ever barre class was with the first lady in New Hampshire during the primary campaign. A former college swimmer, he thought it would be easy. “I can remember chugging water and gripping the stairway railing for dear life after the workout because my hamstrings and glutes were dead,” he recalled. “As we left the studio, I heard Dr. B. complain out loud, ‘Ugh, that wasn't very challenging. I barely broke a sweat.’" The president himself told “Smartless” that at his age, he doesn’t like to miss workouts: “If I let it go for a week, I feel it,” he said. “I used to be able to go for a week and nothing would change.” Biden and fellow septuagenarian DONALD TRUMP vary widely in their exercise regimens, although they share a predilection for junk food and abstain from alcohol. After college, Trump largely gave up athletics after comparing the human body to a battery with a limited supply of physical energy. But Biden has brought on a trainer who takes presidential fitness very seriously. Contreras said in an interview with a wellness podcast earlier this year that during his time in the Obama administration, people would call him and say they wanted his job as White House physical therapist, to which he would respond: “Okay, that’s great that you’re interested. I need to know if you’re okay with this — you will not have any vacation days throughout the year. Zero. You can never buy a ticket that’s nonrefundable to anything. You must be okay giving up attending any sort of family event, kids sporting games, whatever it may be.” Intense! He added: “I will forever hold Barack Obama responsible for the fact that we both started there with black hair and ended up with gray hair.” MESSAGE US — Are you JILL BIDEN’s barre instructor? We want to hear from you! Seriously! And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com .
| | | | NEW AND IMPROVED POLITICO APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. With a fresh look and improved features, the sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. Already a POLITICO app user? Upgrade today! DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID . | | | | | | | | This ones from Allie. Which president “was so honest that if you turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it”? (Answer at the bottom.)
| | | RAISE THE ROOF: The Biden administration is eyeing lame-duck action on debt ceiling and a possible lifting of it through the 2024 election, our ADAM CANCRYN reports . The talks have been sparked by a growing fear that one or two chambers of Congress will be taken over by Republicans who could then refuse to lift the debt ceiling unless major concessions are made. GOLD RUSH: The president made his way back to California on Thursday, where he’ll make a last ditch effort to campaign for Democrats just days before the midterms. While in San Diego, Biden also met with Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM, our CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO reports. The president is also set to visit Illinois, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, stumping for Democrats are up for reelection. The move indicates a strategy that Biden “can be most effective using the waning days before polls close to shore up support for Democratic candidates in areas that he easily won in 2020,” AP’s AAMER MADHANI reports . ARIZONA, AT LAST: Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.), desperate to hold onto his seat, will campaign Saturday with Biden — first lady Jill Biden, that is. Her office announced the trip Thursday. It will include three stops, two of them (a rally and then a fundraiser) with Kelly himself. The senator’s willingness to appear with the first lady makes his reluctance to appear with the president all the more glaring. President Biden has avoided Arizona on both recent west coast swings. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This story by NYT’s JIM TANKERSLEY highlighting Republicans' support for reducing the costs of Social Security and Medicare programs should they gain the majority after the midterms. Although “Republican leaders who would decide what legislation the House and the Senate would consider if their party won control of Congress have not said specifically what, if anything, they would do to the programs… Several influential Republicans have signaled a new willingness to push for Medicare and Social Security spending cuts as part of future budget negotiations with President Biden.” White House chief of staff RON KLAIN tweeted out a screenshot of the story in a physical newspaper Thursday morning that made the front page above the fold. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: STAN GREENBERG strikes again! The veteran Democratic pollster, who outlined his concerns about Biden’s campaign focus on Democrats’ legislative wins to West Wing Playbook last month, is out with another tough piece explaining how Democrats are “out of touch” on the issue of crime . Interestingly, Greenberg shows polling data suggesting that Biden himself landed on the most effective message in the face of GOP attacks – praising police and proposing to put more officers on the street in an effort to curtail rising crime. The problem, he concludes, is that Biden’s party, with a few exceptions, didn’t follow his lead. Maybe the White House wouldn’t mind that much if you read it. COURSE CORRECTING: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS has stayed away from Biden’s “ultra-MAGA” messaging while campaigning ahead of the midterms, and our CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO and EUGENE DANIELS report that the messaging move is her effort to maintain her own voice and carve out a lane for herself. The strategizing also comes during a moment of relative stability for the vice president after a rocky start since assuming the role. IN NEED OF BAD BUNNY TICKETS: In a recent interview , TV personality ROCSI DIAZ asked Harris about how she could score tickets to BAD BUNNY’s concert — was it a favor Harris could ask of the president? Harris laughed and replied: “I want Bad Bunny tickets. … Maybe he’ll see this and hook you up.” Harris also mentioned that she was keeping tabs on HBCU homecoming events, as an alumna of Howard University. “Howard just beat Del State in a significant way and I will tell you it was the subject of a conversation between me and the president,” she said.
| | | GETTING THE COLD SHOULDER: QIN GANG, China’s ambassador to the U.S., has gotten the cold shoulder from senior Biden administration officials — and the sidelining could complicate relations between the two countries , our PHELIM KINE reports. Upon his arrival in September 2021, Qin’s interactions were limited to a handful of U.S. officials – including KURT CAMPBELL, the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, and LAURA ROSENBERGER, the NSC’s senior director for China – despite requests with more senior officials. The White House pushed back on the premise. RELATED: The U.S. and China “are in for their next test , as the two governments try to arrange a summit between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month,” WSJ’s CHARLES HUTZLER and LINGLING WEI report. PERSONNEL MOVES: ALEJANDRA GONZALEZ on Friday will leave the White House, where she served as special assistant for the senior director of Western Hemisphere affairs at the NSC, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She will be special adviser to the deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations JEFF PRESCOTT.
| | | NEW BOOSTER DATA: The Biden administration was getting new data Thursday on the effectiveness of its updated Covid vaccines from manufacturer Pfizer-BioNTech , offering officials more insight into how the newest shots are standing up to the virus, our Adam Cancryn reports. EMHOFF, HYPE MAN: Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF joined a White House call with rural stakeholders Thursday afternoon and made a plug for the work his spouse, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS , is doing on abortion, Politico’s MEREDITH LEE HILL tells us (follow her here! ). Emhoff said women's rights “are on the line, especially in rural communities.” He added that “my wife, the vice president, has been traveling all across the country, meeting with leaders, doctors, advocates to hear directly from them about the implications the Supreme Court ruling has had on their communities.” CALLING A HUDDLE: Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense LEE JONG-SUP met Thursday with U.S. Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN at the Pentagon, after North Korea tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile , our LARA SELIGMAN and PAUL MCLEARY report.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S 2nd ANNUAL DEFENSE SUMMIT ON 11/16: The United States is facing a defining moment in the future of its defense, national security and democratic ideals. The current conflicts and developments around the world are pushing Washington to reshape its defense strategy and how it cooperates with allies. Join POLITICO for our second annual defense summit, “At a Crossroads: America’s Defense Strategy” on November 16 in person at the Schuyler DC or join online to hear keynote interviews and panels discussing the road ahead for America’s national security. REGISTER HERE . | | | | | | | | Biden’s Inflation Advisers: CEOs, Old Pals, Field Hockey Parents (Bloomberg’s Nancy Cook) Debt Limit Showdown Looms as White House Braces for a Divided Washington (NYT’s Emily Cochrane and Jim Tankersley) Brittney Griner, imprisoned in Russia, meets with U.S. Embassy officials (WaPo’s Mariana Alfaro) Ashley Biden finds her voice: ‘I know my worth’ (CNN's Kate Bennett)
| | | JAMES MONROE was “so honest that if you turned his soul inside out there would not be a spot on it," THOMAS JEFFERSON once said, according to the White House website. A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
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