Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren When President JOE BIDEN asked the nation’s governors who had gathered privately in the East Room last week if they had any questions, GREG GIANFORTE stood up. The Montana Republican said he had a letter from himself and other GOP governors demanding additional measures to secure the border. TOM PEREZ, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, tried to intercept the manila folder but the president brushed him away and started to read the letter, according to an official in the room. After digesting the gist, Biden shot back coolly that the things the governors wanted were all in the bipartisan border legislation that congressional Republicans refused to consider. The sharp rejoinder reflected a broader, attempted strategic shift from a president who has long projected a public image as a reconciliatory figure. There is a clear effort underway inside the White House to get into a more offensive posture on a range of subjects, with immigration being the most notable. After three years of largely tuning out the unceasing chorus of Republicans hammering him about the border, Biden is suddenly eager to lean in on the issue. The president and his team have used the GOP’s rejection of a bipartisan border compromise that provides funding for law enforcement, affected municipalities and tightening asylum policies as a campaign cudgel in recent weeks. And Rep. TOM SUOZZI’s victory in a special election in New York earlier this month after taking a more hawkish approach on immigration gave the White House more confidence about following suit. Biden’s hastily scheduled trip Thursday to Brownsville, Texas, reflects the administration’s efforts to turn around the politics of the issue — and an unwillingness to cede it to former President DONALD TRUMP, who is making his own visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday. Opening her gaggle Monday with reporters aboard Air Force One, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE teased that Biden planned to visit with Border Patrol agents to get a better sense of the situation on the ground. She also went out of her way to emphasize other topics where the administration is leaning in — like hammering Republicans for attempting to “shamelessly erase” their own records on abortion following an Alabama court ruling last week endangering in vitro fertility treatments. The abortion issue, in particular, is a central pillar of the president’s reelection effort. And both the White House and Biden campaign see the Alabama court ruling as an effective way to keep the public focused on the various consequences of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, according to a person familiar with the strategy. In the wider universe of Democrats concerned about Biden’s poll numbers and age, the president’s more forceful approach is likely a welcome and somewhat overdue development. But even a president has only so much control over the events that shape an election — such as a protracted war between Israel and Hamas. Still, the Biden team is trying now to shape events (and perceptions) as much as respond to them. They’re trumpeting an economy outperforming global competitors, attacking House Republicans for an impeachment effort that took a major hit last week when a key witness was indicted for lying in his testimony, and even hammering the New York Times in campaign memos and social media missives. The shift has been building since Biden’s Jan. 5 Valley Forge speech, an opening campaign salvo that mentioned Trump some 44 times. It continued Feb. 8 in Biden’s defiant evening press conference hitting back at the report from Special Counsel ROBERT HUR and his descriptions of the president as an “elderly” man with a “poor memory.” The president’s visible anger that night signaled he was done sitting idly by in the face of constant attacks. But it also showed the pitfalls that can come with a posture that requires, on occasion, more public appearances: the president called the leader of Egypt the president of Mexico. And despite the new, aggressive posture, there is little evidence as of yet that the public is being won over. Biden’s approval rating remains stagnant. Still, the White House may get more fodder this week when House Republicans must pass a bill to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. Biden is set to meet Tuesday at the White House with Speaker MIKE JOHNSON and other top congressional leaders. But he and aides are unlikely to ease up when it comes to hammering the GOP for shutdown brinkmanship or hypocrisy on border reforms or abortion. In a memo last week, deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES blasted Johnson for suggesting Biden was “appeasing Iran,” pointing out that the GOP’s “inaction” on Ukraine aid was “benefitting [Russian President Vladimir] PUTIN and the Ayatollah.” Jean-Pierre on Monday noted that several Republicans now decrying Alabama’s ban on IVF are sponsors of the Life Begins at Conception Act that, if passed, would throw the use of IVF into question nationwide. And the expectation is that the president will bring up the stalled border deal bill when he visits Texas on Thursday. “They’re finally getting aggressive on some of these issues, like going to the border, and that helps us down-ballot,” said one national Democratic strategist. “It’s what Suozzi did in New York. You don’t have to spout Republican talking points on the border. You just have to talk about the border, about immigration.” MESSAGE US — Are you ALYSSA CHARNEY, director for lands and climate-smart agriculture? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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