Playbook Deep Dive
496 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★ - 1.1K ratingsWelcome to Playbook Deep Dive, the stories behind the power. From Congress and the White House to bar stools and back rooms, POLITICO Playbook’s Ryan Lizza brings you interviews with the most compelling and important figures who explain what’s really going on in Washington.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
LA wants to recall its most progressive prosecutor. Inside the DA’s hostile office
July 15, 2022 09:00 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBTHE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: GEORGE GASCÓN — Gascón was elected district attorney of Los Angeles County in November 2020 with 54% of the vote. “I won handsomely,” he reminisced Wednesday during a 90-minute conversation at the Hall of Justice in downtown L.A. “I got over 2 million votes.” It was a big victory for criminal justice reformers: the leading progressive prosecutor in the country taking over the movement’s top target, the largest county in the country and one that has long been hostile...
Why haven’t there been more Cassidy Hutchinsons?
July 01, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 82.9 MBThe question of why so few Republicans have stepped forward to testify about what they heard and saw in the Trump White House, is very much at the heart of much of the House Jan. 6 committee’s work — and of Tim Miller’s new book, “Why We Did It,” which, by chance, was released the same day as Hutchinson’s explosive testimony. Miller’s arc is, by now, somewhat familiar: At the dawn of the Trump era, he was an in-demand Republican strategist and a top aide to Jeb Bush. He watched in horror as ...
New Jan. 6 witness: Trump had mystery call with Putin
June 24, 2022 09:00 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBIf documentary filmmaker Alex Holder’s memory is accurate, Donald Trump was on the phone with Vladimir Putin just minutes after the news broke that the Russian president had dismissed Trump’s Hunter Biden allegations. Holder began filming former President Donald Trump in September 2020 during his campaign for reelection. In the runup to the election and continuing after they left office, Holder had extensive access to film and interview Trump, his inner circle and former Vice President Mike P...
Director’s cut: What else did Judge Luttig have to say about Jan. 6 in his interview
June 17, 2022 09:33 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBJ. Michael Luttig is the former federal appeals court judge who advised Vice President Mike Pence that the VP had no authority to reject electors on Jan. 6. Back in February, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza spent four hours interviewing Luttig for a Deep Dive episode that ended up being mostly about his extraordinary role advising Mike Pence on Jan. 6. Given the interest in Luttig this week, we went back through what was left on the cutting room floor to create a new show that goes deep on who ...
He defied Trump and still survived a GOP primary
June 10, 2022 09:00 - 44 minutes - 41 MBThis week in the GOP primary for South Dakota’s at-large district, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) defeated a challenger from his right who claimed he wasn’t aligned closely enough with former President Donald Trump, even though Johnson agrees with Trump on many policies. Johnson’s vote for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attacks and his support for Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to remain in House Leadership was cited as proof he is not an ally of the former president. Johnson also f...
Will the GOP control Congress for the next decade?
June 03, 2022 09:00 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBThere’s at least a few people in the Democratic establishment who have hope for the midterms. They’re the redistricting experts, people like Kelly Burton. She’s a long-time political operative and the president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, an organization that she leads along with other top party names like former attorney general Eric Holder. The NDRC is leading the Democrats’ charge against Republican gerrymandering during the 2022 redistricting cycle. So why are Bur...
Will ‘extremism’ fracture the GOP? Cheney vs. Trump in Wyoming
May 27, 2022 09:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBTrump-backed candidates have lost recently in Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina and Idaho. The biggest caveat about how the lessons of other states might apply in Wyoming is that in states where the Trump candidate lost, the non-Trump candidate was not anti-Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney’s political identity — at least, her identity on the national stage — is now defined by her criticism of the former president. The anti-Cheney effort in Wyoming has been led by Frank Eathorne, the Wyoming GOP chair a...
The GOP rancher trying to save Idaho from the far right
May 20, 2022 09:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBJennifer Ellis is the face of the movement that handed Donald Trump his biggest defeat of the year. She leads Take Back Idaho, a political action committee founded last year to beat back the growing tide of extremist candidates in Idaho. Ellis’s main target on Tuesday was Janice McGeachin, the state’s far-right lieutenant governor, whom Trump backed in her gubernatorial primary challenge to incumbent Gov. Brad Little. Trump’s candidate lost by almost 21 points. For this week’s episode of ...
'He absolutely betrayed me': Steve Schmidt tells all about John McCain
May 13, 2022 09:00 - 49 minutes - 45 MBThis week on “Playbook Deep Dive,” we sat down over Zoom with Steve Schmidt, the architect of the late Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential run, to hear what amounts to an untold chapter of that exhaustively chronicled campaign. It’s a story about regret and disillusionment that we are confident you will want to hear. Schmidt has long maintained that the roots of Trumpism, which he has spent the last seven years fighting, can be found in the movement that first gathered around Palin in 2008...
Lifting the curtain on SCOTUS with a POLITICO reporter who broke the Roe story
May 06, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 60.2 MBThis week on Playbook Deep Dive, POLITICO’s Peter Canellos talks with our own Josh Gerstein, who broke this week’s massive news that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has drafted an opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade. Peter and Josh nerd out on everything from the history of the court, to potential implications of the draft opinion — both for the country and the judiciary itself. Peter Canellos is POLITICO's managing editor for enterprise. Josh Gerstein is POLITICO's senior legal affair...
Haddad dishes on more than brunch
April 29, 2022 09:00 - 39 minutes - 31.9 MBThe White House Correspondents’ Dinner is back for the first time since 2019. Journalists, A-list celebrities and Washington’s power players will pack the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton. That means brunch is back too. On this week’s episode, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza gets a tour from Tammy Haddad at the site of her annual garden brunch, one of the most sought after invites of the weekend. Plus, insights from comedian and WHCD alum Elayne Boosler and Ed Solomon of Anthony's Tu...
Beltway, stars want an invite: How Tammy throws brunch
April 29, 2022 09:00 - 40 minutes - 55.4 MBThe White House Correspondents’ Dinner is back for the first time since 2019. Journalists, A-list celebrities and Washington’s power players will pack the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton. That means brunch is back too. On this week’s episode, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza gets a tour from Tammy Haddad at the site of her annual garden brunch, one of the most sought after invites of the weekend. Plus, insights from comedian and WHCD alum Elayne Boosler and Ed Solomon of Anthony's Tu...
‘You only win if you fight:' Will Gallego unseat Sinema?
April 22, 2022 09:06 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBThis week Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza is in Arizona to dig into a few big plotlines ahead of this year’s elections. Trump narrowly lost the state in 2020, Senator Mark Kelly – the Democratic incumbent – is one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection this year and strategists are already looking at the 2024 Senate election to see who will run against Kyrsten Sinema. On this week’s Playbook Deep Dive Episode, Ryan joins Rep. Ruben Gallego for a long dinner and a few drinks. They dis...
Biden’s pollster on the recipe for how to ‘not get our a---- kicked’ in the midterms
April 15, 2022 09:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBIn the coming weeks and months, the Playbook team will be out covering the key districts and states that will decide the outcome of the midterm elections. This week, co-author Ryan Lizza was in Las Vegas to interview John Anzalone, who is best known as President Joe Biden’s pollster, but who is also a top adviser to Gov. Steve Sisolak, who is up for reelection this year. In Nevada, two of the Democrats’ biggest political challenges collide: Democrats’ Hispanic voter problem is their working-c...
Biden’s pollster on how to ‘not get our a---- kicked’ in midterms
April 15, 2022 09:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBIn the coming weeks and months, the Playbook team will be out covering the key districts and states that will decide the outcome of the midterm elections. This week, co-author Ryan Lizza was in Las Vegas to interview John Anzalone, who is best known as President Joe Biden’s pollster, but who is also a top adviser to Gov. Steve Sisolak, who is up for reelection this year. In Nevada, two of the Democrats’ biggest political challenges collide: Democrats’ Hispanic voter problem is their working-c...
Ro Khanna had some BBB advice for the president. Biden called it ‘homicide.’
April 08, 2022 09:00 - 33 minutes - 30.5 MBCongressman Ro Khanna is one of the most influential progressives inside the house democratic caucus. He represents California’s 17th district – a large chunk of Silicon Valley. It’s wealthy, influential and home to companies like Apple, Intel, and Cisco Systems. Today, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza asks Representative Khanna what went wrong trying to pass Biden’s Build Back Better plan and what he thinks progressives’ influence on Biden has been. Khanna also suggests how Democrats can impro...
Think you understand suburban voters? Doug Sosnik has a 14-page memo betting otherwise.
April 01, 2022 09:00 - 27 minutes - 25 MBDoug Sosnik is a man whose deep dive political memos are considered essential reading in Washington. He's best known as a former senior adviser to then-President Bill Clinton. His latest memo dissects the new center of political power in America and argues that the most important battlegrounds are fought in the suburbs. Today, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza has dinner with Sosnik to find out why he thinks a lot of conventional wisdom about the politics of American suburbs is wrong. Ryan Liz...
'It's war and the enemy gets a vote’: The man advising Blinken
March 25, 2022 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBWhen you look at the major diplomatic events of the last thirty years, Derek Chollet has experienced them all. He’s worked with legends like James Baker, Strobe Talbott and Richard Holbrooke and served in some of the highest echelons of the White House, the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of State. From Bosnia to Syria — and now Russia — Chollet has helped to shape America’s approaches to its policy abroad. Today, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza sits down with Chollet, who’s currently the Cou...
Why a centrist Democrat is ditching Congress
March 18, 2022 09:00 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBRep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) pioneered the playbook that helped Democrats flip the House in 2018. Less than four years later, she announced her retirement. Her experience has raised alarms about the Democratic Party going forward. Today, Playbook co-author Rachael Bade sits down with Rep. Murphy to talk about how the Democratic House leadership’s insistence on absolute party unity is fracturing the Dems and putting their congressional majority at risk. Rachael Bade is a Playbook co-author...
The man fighting for Ukraine in DC
March 11, 2022 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.2 MBEven as President Joe Biden has emphasized that the U.S. and NATO do not want to engage with Russia militarily, Congress has pushed the administration to take a hard stance against Russia through unprecedented financial and economic sanctions. In recent years, behind the scenes, lobbyists representing Ukrainian interests pushed for sanctions on the other combustible issue, gas. Tonight, Playbook author Ryan Lizza has dinner in downtown DC with lobbyist Daniel Vajdich, on his strategy, be...
An insider’s look into Putin’s long game
March 04, 2022 10:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBMore than a week into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated his military offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rallied international support for a major resistance. And major Western powers have isolated Russia by imposing devastating economic sanctions that leave Putin without an obvious off-ramp. There is no end in sight to the war on the ground. But there’s another war being fought in parallel through news interviews, social medi...
Putin’s new war, inside and out
February 25, 2022 10:00 - 22 minutes - 18.3 MBIt’s an event that Russians, Ukrainians and the rest of the world have been thinking about, but one that many people didn’t think would actually happen: Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Tense warnings and attempts at diplomacy have been discarded, with airstrikes and resistance arriving instead. Today, Playbook author Ryan Lizza talks with two journalists — Nataliya Gumenyuk and Uliana Pavlova — about the events unfolding in Kyiv and along the Russian border right outside of the Donbas r...
The never-before-told backstory of Pence's Jan. 6 argument
February 18, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes - 25 MBFor most of his life, J. Michael Luttig has operated behind the scenes at the top of the conservative legal world. He started his career as a young aide at the U.S. Supreme Court, worked as an attorney in the Reagan White House, clerked for Judge Antonin Scalia before he was a legal icon, helped guide the appointment of two other Supreme Court justices, and was appointed to a federal judgeship by President George H.W. Bush. During Luttig’s time on the bench, one of his clerks was a young att...
The untold story of the former judge who beat Trump on Jan. 6
February 18, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes - 25 MBFor most of his life, J. Michael Luttig has operated behind the scenes at the top of the conservative legal world. He started his career as a young aide at the U.S. Supreme Court, worked as an attorney in the Reagan White House, clerked for Judge Antonin Scalia before he was a legal icon, helped guide the appointment of two other Supreme Court justices, and was appointed to a federal judgeship by President George H.W. Bush. During Luttig’s time on the bench, one of his clerks was a young att...
The Gen X activists upending Democratic politics
February 11, 2022 11:00 - 44 minutes - 35.6 MBFor months, the parental backlash against school closings has dominated headlines and driven speculation about a brewing electoral wave for Republicans. But what if the parents are part of the deep-blue core of one of the most heavily Democratic cities in the country? That's exactly what's happening in San Francisco, as the political collision between a liberal school board and a group of angry, just-as-liberal parents is earning national attention for what it tells us about the shifting and ...
Why Stephanie Cutter says Dems need a new SCOTUS strategy
February 04, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBNow that Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, the Biden Administration is racing to select the perfect nominee to be his replacement. According to one Democratic strategist, the rules for confirming a Supreme Court justice have changed and Democrats need a new strategy. The confirmation of a justice is no joke — at best, it’s a wild and bumpy ride filled with intense vetting, “murderboards” and senatorial grillings. Each SCOTUS nominee is appointed a guide by the White House. Today, Playbook a...
A former NATO ambassador gets inside Putin’s head
January 28, 2022 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBMore than 100,000 Russian troops are mobilized along the Ukrainian border. What is Vladimir Putin’s ultimate goal? Today, Playbook author Ryan Lizza talks to former US Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker — who led Trump’s Ukraine negotiations — about how President Biden is responding to the Ukraine threat, and how he would counter Putin’s strategy. Plus, journalist Uliana Pavlova joins us from Moscow to describe the sentiment on the ground. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Kurt Vo...
Cedric Richmond on Biden's turnaround plan
January 21, 2022 10:00 - 23 minutes - 22 MBPresident Joe Biden’s first year in office has been tumultuous, marked by domestic and international challenges that have overshadowed the administration’s wins. Playbook author Eugene Daniels talks with Cedric Richmond, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, about Biden’s plans for a rebound and checks in with White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López to assess the new strategy. Eugene Daniels is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Cedric Richmond is the Director of the ...
What Joe Manchin told Steve Clemons at dinner
January 14, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 57 MBSteve Clemons is a DC institution — an operator who connects some of the biggest power players in the Capitol. He also happens to be the confidant of the most powerful senator in Washington, Democrat Joe Manchin. Playbook author Ryan Lizza joins Clemons for breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown to dish on what's motivating Manchin behind the scenes, and what he might do next. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Steve Clemons is Editor At Large of The Hill Kara Tabor ...
Jamie Raskin's plan to hold Trump accountable
January 07, 2022 11:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBOne year later, the ripples of the Jan. 6th riot continue to reverberate throughout American politics. For Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who led the second impeachment of Donald Trump, bringing the people responsible for the attack to account has become his driving priority. Today, Playbook author Rachael Bade talks to Rep. Raskin and congressional reporter Olivia Beavers about the continued fallout from the Capitol siege. Rachael Bade is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Olivia Beavers is a ...
Joe Biden's inflation whisperer
December 17, 2021 10:00 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBUnemployment is dropping and the economy, by many measures, is humming. But spiraling inflation is creating a serious drag on the economic recovery and hurting President Joe Biden's approval ratings. This week Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza chats with Jared Bernstein, a member of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, and POLITICO’s Kate Davidson about Build Back Better and the administration’s response to rising costs throughout the economy. Jared Bernstein is a member of the White House Coun...
Has Twitter warped politics?
December 10, 2021 10:00 - 32 minutes - 25.9 MBCan Twitter carry a politician to victory in an election? Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels and deputy editor Zack Stanton talk to Republican digital strategist Eric Wilson, former Andrew Yang presidential campaign manager Zach Graumann, and Aaron Smith, director of the Pew Research Center’s Datalab, about the role of social media in political campaigns and the limitations of the platforms. Eugene Daniels is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Zack Stanton is Playbook's deputy editor. Zach Gr...
Houses on the Hill aren't for living. They're for lobbying
December 03, 2021 10:00 - 24 minutes - 19.9 MBFrom their lofty offices along K street, Washington lobbyists have spent decades trying to pull the levers of power. But changing times sometimes call for changing scenery, and these OG influencers are trading luxurious office space near the White House for quaint, intimate townhouses right across the street from Congress. Today, Playbook co-host Tara Palmeri with lobbyists Brian Bell and Scott Eckart and POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs on why lobbyists are flooding Capitol Hill townhouses, and wheth...
Kiss your swing districts goodbye
November 19, 2021 10:00 - 34 minutes - 31.4 MBGerrymandering: Depending on where you stand, it’s either the cause of, or solution to, many of America’s political problems. Here’s what that fight looks like — from the outside looking in, and from the inside looking out. Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza dives into the subject with GOP strategist (and former gerrymanderer) Jeff Timmer, Common Cause North Carolina executive director Bob Phillips and Politico’s Ally Mutnick. Jeff Timmer is a senior advisor for the Lincoln Project. Bob Phillips...
CNN's Manu Raju vs. Jeff Flake: Cat and mouse
November 12, 2021 10:00 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBIt’s one of the most demanding jobs in Washington journalism: tracking down a lawmaker who’s in the news but doesn’t necessarily want to talk. For the Congress press corps, scoring that story-making quote might mean standing on a marble staircase for hours — if the senator or representative decides to talk at all. Playbook co-author Rachael Bade takes us inside the Capitol Hill media “scrum” — as reporters like CNN’s Manu Raju reveal their tricks of the trade… and former Senator Jeff Flake d...
The strategists who made the “Youngkin Republican”
November 05, 2021 09:00 - 28 minutes - 22.9 MBFor the first time in 12 years, a Republican won the governorship in Virginia. And it wasn’t just any victory — to claim the seat, Glenn Youngkin had to beat Terry McAuliffe, former governor and Democratic royalty. Ryan Lizza digs into the narrow win with Youngkin campaign strategists Jeff Roe and Kristin Davison, and the mistakes they think McAuliffe’s campaign made. Plus, senior politics editor Charlie Mahtesian on the significant places Youngkin gained the most votes. Ryan Lizza is a Play...
The activists outside Joe Manchin's houseboat
October 29, 2021 09:00 - 20 minutes - 19 MBAll summer long, activists have pressured Democratic leaders for a reconciliation package that delivers on all of President Biden’s promises. That means Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin faced protesters in their offices, homes… and bathroom stalls. Today, Playbook’s Tara Palmeri explores the new face of activism, and she asks POLITICO’s co-congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett on whether the activism is having its intended effect on Manchin and the latest on the Democrats messy re...
Meet D.C.'s 'Lobbyist Hunter'
October 15, 2021 09:00 - 26 minutes - 21.5 MB“Somebody’s gotta do it. It might as well be me.” So says Ivan Adler, the “lobbyist hunter” who plucks D.C.’s most idealistic Hill staffers and turns them into K Street top dogs. POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza pry open the revolving door between the Hill and K Street — one of the most controversial but everlasting features of Washington’s underbelly. Ryan Lizza is a co-author of POLITICO Playbook. Hailey Fuchs is a reporter at POLITICO covering money & influence in...
Push it to the (debt) limit
October 08, 2021 09:00 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBWhat actually happens if the nation defaults on its debt? Planes fall out of the sky, the streets run red with blood — OK, not literally. But the reality could be economic catastrophe: "Market chaos, economic chaos, all for absolutely no good reason," explains POLITICO’s Ben White. After a week of debt-ceiling drama in D.C., Ben joins Playbook co-author Eugene Daniels to unpack the partisan fights, doomsday hypotheticals and one of the most absurd twists so far: a trillion-dollar coin. Eugen...
The Biden family's secrets
October 01, 2021 09:00 - 30 minutes - 24.7 MBAfter seven Senate terms and three runs for president, Joe Biden has mastered his folksy image. But behind "the Delaware way" are secrets in Joe's family tree and son Hunter's foreign deals. National political correspondent Ben Schreckinger tells Playbook's Ryan Lizza about what he uncovered while investigating his book, “The Bidens: Inside The First Family’s Fifty-Year Rise to Power.” Ryan Lizza is a co-author of POLITICO Playbook. Ben Schreckinger is a national political correspondent for ...
Regulating crypto: The $2 trillion Rubik's Cube
September 24, 2021 09:00 - 27 minutes - 21.7 MBCrypto trading! Bitcoin! Dogecoin! Stablecoin! Even if lawmakers don't understand blockchain, Capitol Hill is finally waking up to digital currency — Congress has introduced more than a dozen bills on crypto and blockchain this year alone — as both sides of the aisle go head to head over the best way to regulate the $2 trillion market. Economics reporter Victoria Guida joins Playbook co-author Tara Palmeri to talk about lobbying around crypto and the time her dog ate her Bitcoin. Tara Palme...
Pelosi vs. everybody: Dems’ high-wire health care act
September 17, 2021 09:00 - 31 minutes - 25.5 MBAs Democrats' massive reconciliation bill makes its way through the machine, one item is getting all the attention right now: health care. It’s a fight that basically boils down to Nancy Pelosi versus … everyone else — with the legacies of Pelosi, Sanders and Biden at stake. Playbook co-author Rachael Bade and POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein take us to Capitol Hill, where the knives are coming out: leaders fighting behind closed doors about policies they've agreed on for years — or thought ...
Biden’s abortion clash with the Catholic Church
September 10, 2021 09:00 - 31 minutes - 25.6 MBWhat does it mean to be the nation’s second Catholic president? Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza talks with senior staff writer Ruby Cramer about how Joe Biden balances a very public role with the “private matter” of his faith at a time of deep division over abortion, and among the bishops in his own church. Ryan Lizza is a co-author of POLITICO Playbook. Ruby Cramer is a senior staff writer at POLITICO magazine. Adrienne Hurst is a producer for POLITICO audio. Annie Rees is a producer for POLIT...
These Republicans are going...big government?
September 03, 2021 09:00 - 24 minutes - 19.9 MBThere's an intra-party fight on the right — and it's not (all) about Trump! For decades, conservatives have called for the government to take a hands-off approach to the economy. But now, a group of self-styled “common good capitalists” — like Sen. Marco Rubio — want to change that. And, they’re gaining power. It’s a divide not only over what policy approach is best, but what the most effective political strategy is for the GOP in the 21st century. Playbook co-author Tara Palmeri talks with a...
How Kamala Harris is embracing — and changing — the system
August 27, 2021 09:00 - 31 minutes - 25.3 MBKamala Harris entered law school as the daughter of activists and came out as a prosecutor — an evolution that shaped the politician she is today. Now, as the vice president grapples with some of the thorniest issues in politics and builds relationships with a wide array of Democratic allies — which she could leverage in both the administration and a future presidential campaign — even some of her closest allies admit she needs help fending off incoming fire. POLITICO Magazine’s Jesús A. Rodr...
The first true foreign policy test of Biden's presidency
August 20, 2021 09:00 - 23 minutes - 18.7 MBThe Taliban's return to power marks the first real foreign policy crisis of the Biden administration — and a rare moment of bipartisan criticism of Joe Biden. But will the bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan scramble American politics, or merely deepen long-building fissures across the political spectrum? On the right, attempts to save America's Afghan allies have resurfaced fierce divides over immigration and diversity. On the left, the pullout is reigniting a debate over the US's "forever w...
Vote-a-rama drama and the national debt
August 13, 2021 09:00 - 33 minutes - 26.9 MBNobody on Capitol Hill got much sleep this week. The Senate passed its infrastructure bill, stayed up all night in a vote-a-rama and provided foreshadowing for the set of fights yet to come. As Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza put it this week: “Threat of a government shutdown? Possibility of America defaulting on its loans? Dust off that Blackberry, fire off a manual RT, and put on some LMFAO. It’s feeling very 2011.” Ryan and POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes break down what’s ahead for Congress. R...
The Democratic ‘civil war’ in Ohio
August 06, 2021 09:00 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBThe Democratic establishment dealt a crushing blow to the progressive movement this week in Ohio, where tensions, bad blood and intraparty allegiances were on full display. What can we learn from a special congressional primary that quickly became a national spectacle? And what does it say about the direction of one of the most powerful political forces in Washington: the Congressional Black Caucus? POLITICO's Ally Mutnick performs an autopsy with Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza. Ryan Lizza is...
Strange but true: Bernie's pragmatic turn
July 30, 2021 09:00 - 27 minutes - 21.8 MBBernie Sanders is behaving a lot like a pragmatist (just don’t say it to his face). As the Senate Budget chair and a member of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s leadership team, the 79-year-old progressive is one of the most powerful people in Washington and finally has the opportunity he’s been waiting for his whole career: to pass a reconciliation bill with sweeping social reforms. If successful, the $3.5 trillion bill would be the biggest ever passed by Congress. The trick: Can he get it past the membe...
Inside Biden’s slow-walk on Cuba
July 23, 2021 09:00 - 27 minutes - 21.9 MBCuba’s sweeping protests — and sweeping crackdown — are historic. But the situation is a political hot potato for Biden, whose sanction orders came nearly two weeks after the unrest began. His go-it-slow approach has emboldened Republicans, while Florida Democrats fear the president could blow an opportunity to reorient U.S.-Cuba policy and improve the party’s political chances in a former swing state. POLITICO’s Sabrina Rodríguez and Marc Caputo unpack the political minefield with Playbook's...