With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
CHRIS LaCIVITA’S NEXT MOVE — The former Trump campaign strategist and pollster TONY FABRIZIO are both joining Building America’s Future as senior advisers, ready to help boost President-elect DONALD TRUMP from the outside, Fox News’ Julia Johnson scooped.
CLICKER — “The Men and Women Swirling Around Elon Musk,” by NYT’s Theodore Schleifer, Ryan Mac, Lily Boyce and Kirsten Grind: “A look at the people who influence the world’s richest man, and those who stand to gain from their association with him now.”
DEMS THINK SMALL — As official Washington departed the city for the holidays Monday afternoon, the Democratic National Committee quietly outlined the contours of the process that will shape its own future over the next five weeks.
Playbook has obtained a memo circulated yesterday to candidates for DNC chair outlining four sets of forums in January, ahead of the election at the committee’s winter meeting on Feb. 1:
- Jan. 9: Detroit, Michigan
- Jan.16: Virtual
- Jan. 23: Virtual
- Jan. 30: Washington, D.C.
To participate, a candidate for chair needs verified signatures from 40 DNC members by noon a week before each forum. So far, at least four candidates have hit that threshold: KEN MARTIN, the early frontrunner and head of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party; BEN WIKLER, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin; MARTIN O’MALLEY, Social Security Administrator and former Maryland governor; JAMES SKOUFIS, a New York state senator.
The memo notes that “details are subject to change based on the procurement of a media partner.”
Media coverage or not, what you likely won’t hear is much daylight between the candidates on big-picture topics. All four seemingly agree that the party needs to go everywhere to spread its message; that “everywhere” even includes outlets like Fox News, which Dems regularly dismiss as enemy turf; that the party needs a serious rebranding effort; and of course, that the party needs a 57-state-and-territory strategy.
And that is at the crux of a two-part complaint we’re hearing from some party insiders: (1) the candidates’ proposals are simply too small-bore given to the size of the party’s setbacks, and (2) that the small field of candidates for DNC chair and its lack of relative bold-face names is itself a sign of its perceived shrinking importance in the broader Democratic orbit.
“I think people are burned out,” one Democrat close to the DNC tells Playbook. “[They] don’t want to run for it, and don’t think it will do anything big.”
“There have been some DNC members who, when I’ve called them, one of their first responses to my introduction is, ‘What are you, crazy? Why in the world would you want this job?’” Skoufis tells Playbook. “So perhaps that’s part of it for RAHM EMANUEL and SHERROD BROWN and some others,” he says, citing two of the most prominent names that were earlier floated for DNC chair but opted not to run. (Two other big names that took a pass: MITCH LANDRIEU, the former senior adviser to President JOE BIDEN on infrastructure; and Michigan state Sen. MALLORY McMORROW.)
Asked why some of the flashier names hadn’t entered the race, Martin, in his friendly Minnesota accent, jokingly took exception. “Are you saying I’m not flashy? What the heck.” He added, “I take that as a badge of honor as a Midwesterner.”
But to other Democrats, the warp and woof of the race as constituted isn’t a laughing matter.
“It is a tremendous indictment of our party and a sad portent of what’s to come,” said STEFAN SMITH, the online engagement director for past DNC candidate PETE BUTTIGIEG’s presidential campaign in 2020, and head of digital engagement for the ACLU, speaking in his personal capacity.
To critics, the DNC race is being shaped by parochial, small-ball concerns, including:
- Thriftiness: Martin and Wikler, the ostensible frontrunners, are likely to battle over whose state apparatus was more financially efficient in the 2024 cycle. In Minnesota, Democrats spent about $19.44 for each KAMALA HARRIS vote, while in Wisconsin, it was about $58 per vote. (Wikler is quick to dismiss the validity of that comparison: “The relevant metric is how much each side is spending, and Republicans have poured a wall of money into Wisconsin,” he tells Playbook.)
- Where the chair will live: Another topic of private discussion comes over where the candidates would live if elected. Martin would move to D.C., and O’Malley, who an aide told Playbook had 48 delegates locked up and will shine in the forums, is already on the East Coast. But both Wikler and Skoufis tell Playbook they would remain residents of Wisconsin and New York, respectively — which they see as bolstering their outside-the-Beltway cred.
- State voter ID files: It’s the most valuable asset a state party has. Rolling Stone reported last week that there is concern over Wikler’s relationship with the billionaire LinkedIn cofounder REID HOFFMAN, who in the past floated privatizing the files. (“I believe unequivocally state parties should own the data, and that that’s essential to their work, their ability to ensure that elected officials and Democratic candidates work with the state party in a coordinated campaign, and their voice within the broader democratic ecosystem,” Wikler told Rolling Stone.)
- Entrenched status within the Democratic operative class:. “It is a lot harder to advance major reform and overhaul of an organization if you’ve been part of the apparatus for years, if not over a decade,” Skoufis, who calls himself the outsider candidate, tells Playbook — a shot at Martin and Wikler.
To an outside observer, all of it may seem solipsistic that a party that just lost the White House, Senate and fell short of retaking the House is obsessed with such relative minutiae.
For his part, Martin says that while the chair race is an important decision, there are limits to what anyone can do in the role.
“What I would say is there’s no savior coming in to save the DNC,” Martin tells Playbook. “People have this sort of savior mentality, that somehow the next DNC chair is the only person responsible for actually putting ourselves in a position to win. It’s going to take all of us.”
Good Tuesday morning. Happy Christmas Eve! Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop me a line at [email protected].
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NARRATIVE CORRECTIVE — “Inflation was the cause, not the result, of the ‘hot’ labor market, research shows,” by CNN’s Alicia Wallace: “Maybe it wasn’t even a hot labor market at all.”
BIG READ — “What has Biden wrought?” by Jessie Blaeser, Benjamin Storrow and Kelsey Tamborrino: “Biden had just a single term to try to transform the nation’s approach to energy, climate change, technology and jobs. What does he leave behind? … [T]he core of his domestic legacy stands unfinished, with hundreds of billions of dollars left to deploy, and imperiled as Donald Trump prepares to take office. … [There are] signs that his efforts could leave a lasting mark, but also ways in which his agenda has yet to take hold.”
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On the Hill
The House and the Senate are out.
What we’re watching … The casualties of last week’s spending drama included a small but consequential provision in the original, ultimately discarded bipartisan spending deal that would have delayed a requirement that millions of small businesses register ownership information with the Treasury Department. No harm, no foul, the thinking probably went, since the mandate was already under injunction by a federal judge. But an appeals court lifted that injunction yesterday, and with business groups warning that tens of thousands of business owners could soon find themselves criminally liable, the Treasury Department extended its Jan. 1 deadline by two weeks — giving time not only for filers to act but Congress, as well.
At the White House
Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief in the morning.
Harris has nothing on her public schedule.
CONGRESS
GAETZ-GATE — Reps. DAVE JOYCE (R-Ohio) and ANDREW GARBARINO (R-N.Y.) were the two House Ethics votes that flipped to defy GOP leaders and make the MATT GAETZ report public, Axios’ Andrew Solender revealed. The release yesterday of the report — which found that there’s significant evidence to conclude Gaetz committed statutory rape, hired prostitutes and used illegal drugs — raised a whole new host of legal and political questions. Gaetz has denied any legal wrongdoing, while acknowledging that he used to party too hard.
There are clues in the report indicating why the federal sex-trafficking probe into Gaetz didn’t yield any charges, experts tell Josh Gerstein, Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney. Notably, there was no interstate component to Gaetz’s alleged sex with a 17-year-old, which is a key part of the main federal law, and the report says she didn’t tell Gaetz her age. It also says the statute of limitations has passed for state charges.
Politically, the signals are mixed. Former House Ethics Chair CHARLIE DENT (R-Pa.) tells ABC’s Diane Macedo that the report is “really powerful stuff” and “a real problem” for Gaetz — and that the panel might have recommended his expulsion had Gaetz stayed in Congress. Some Florida GOP politicos tell The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey that the report could seriously imperil Gaetz’s chance at political resurrection (senator, governor, etc.) after his selection as AG already tanked. But allies like STEVE BANNON believe in Gaetz’s future and are urging him to double down, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury report. And in his old district, some supporters still stand with him, NYT’s Kalyn Wolfe, Eduardo Medina and Emily Cochrane report.
More top reads:
- KAY GRANGER fallout: In the wake of the news that the retiring Texas Republican congresswoman has dementia, bipartisan concern shows that today’s Congress may not be so content with elderly members serving past the point of being able to do the job, Anthony Adragna reports.
- What fell out of the CR: “Money for 9/11 Health Care Was Dropped from Year-End Spending Bill,” by NYT’s Lisa Friedman and Maggie Haberman: “The initial legislation included a provision that would have ensured care through about 2040 for victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, as well as the police officers, nurses, firefighters and volunteers who inhaled toxic fumes, dust and smoke at ground zero.”
- Quote of the day: “I just felt like, he tried to kill me once. I’m not available for it again.” That’s Rep. ANN McLANE KUSTER (D-N.H.) to Roll Call’s Justin Papp on Trump, the Jan. 6 insurrection and one of the reasons she decided to retire.
ALL POLITICS
IN THE WILDERNESS — “Dems finally get some good news: GOP dysfunction,” by Holly Otterbein, Brakkton Booker and Ally Mutnick: “Democrats are starting to cobble together a playbook for the second Trump era: Mock Republicans for their dysfunction, attack the incoming president for being a step behind ELON MUSK and keep praising themselves as the adults in the room.”
HUMBLE PIE — As Harris sought unsuccessfully to earn the Teamsters’ endorsement earlier this year, she told them, “I’m gonna win with you or without you,” union president SEAN O’BRIEN recounted on Tucker Carlson’s podcast yesterday.
HOW TRUMP WON — “A Pro-Trump Group’s Risky Bet on Infrequent Voters Seems to Have Paid Off,” by NYT’s Nick Corasaniti: “Hundreds of paid staff members worked to build enduring relationships with Arizonans whom Turning Point [Action] saw as friendly to Republicans, targeting a smaller universe of voters than traditional canvassing operations.” And new data shows that in Arizona, the GOP enjoyed an edge among infrequent and especially first-time voters, indicating that Trump could engage new voters rather than appeal to the center.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
THE ISOLATIONIST-EXPANSIONIST — Trump has generally steered the GOP away from greater involvement overseas, but his recent burst of interest in Greenland and the Panama Canal shows that MAGA isolationism has its unorthodox limits.
Trump transition officials have talked unofficially about making the Greenland idea reality, perhaps by signing a Compact of Free Association if it leaves Denmark, Reuters’ Gram Slattery and Tim Reid report. Greenland may not take kindly to the posturing. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” PM MÚTE EGEDE said in a statement, per CBS. “We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.” But the self-ruling island territory is interested in developing closer economic ties with North America.
Though Trump has been trolling lately about making Canada the 51st state, he’s more serious about a new era of “American territorial expansion” with Greenland and the Panama Canal, NYT’s David Sanger and Lisa Friedman write. His version of an America First foreign policy now looks more like an aggressive pursuit of national interests: Trump is unafraid to lob threats against allies, and open to combining THEODORE ROOSEVELT-esque muscle and dealmaking on the global stage. CNN’s Steve Contorno writes that “the ideas carry modern echoes of the 19th century doctrine of Manifest Destiny.” Nonetheless, this kind of needling of foreign countries has sometimes produced results for the U.S. under Trump.
More top reads:
- Feeling special: What’s with all the special envoys? Trump’s recent announcements of several people picked for fairly vague diplomatic posts, which could overlap with ambassadors, may create “turf battles and confusion over who’s in charge,” Nahal Toosi writes. The roles may yet be fleshed out more. But they could also allow Trump to put envoys in place for up to a year without Senate confirmation.
- Speaking of special envoys: Trump’s choice of MAURICIO CLAVER-CARONE as special envoy for Latin America elevates a Cuba hawk who’s been the subject of controversy, NYT’s Frances Robles notes: Claver-Carone was fired from the Inter-American Development Bank over allegations of an affair with (and special treatment for) a subordinate. But he denied it as an inaccurate smear campaign, and told the Times that he reached a settlement with the bank.
THE WHITE HOUSE
IT’S OFFICIAL — Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (while lamenting its restrictions on medical care for service members’ transgender kids) and vetoed the bipartisan bill to expand the judiciary by dozens of judges.
COMMUTATION FALLOUT — Biden’s decision to switch 37 federal death-row prisoners to life in prison has sparked mixed reactions from their victims’ families, ranging from approval to outrage, AP’s Jeffrey Collins and Ali Swenson report. Meanwhile, Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) floated the question of whether Biden’s moves are binding if he is “mentally incompetent.”
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POLICY CORNER
MAN OF STEEL — The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States deadlocked on the national security implications of Nippon Steel acquiring U.S. Steel, WaPo’s David Lynch and Jeff Stein report. The failure to strike a consensus conclusion in the committee’s final report, which was sent to the White House yesterday, could be the final step before Biden axes the deal. Though a pressure campaign is ongoing, Biden has publicly opposed the acquisition for most of the year. He has 15 days to act.
CFIUS’ report said lowering U.S. domestic steel production as a result of the deal could damage the country’s national security interests. But the committee was split over whether Nippon’s proposed solution of putting Americans in key leadership roles would be enough. The companies would be expected to sue if Biden kills the deal; their lawyers blasted the new evaluation as illogical, inaccurate and politicized. The stakes are high: “What happens next not only has consequences for the proposed deal worth nearly $15 billion,” Doug Palmer writes, “but also the credibility of the CFIUS review process and the U.S.’s reputation as a welcome destination for investors from around the world.”
More top reads:
- Fed up: The Fed opened the door to a big win for banks yesterday, as it considers easing up on the “stress tests” imposed after the 2007-2009 financial crisis, per Reuters’ Pete Schroeder. Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Amara Omeokwe has a handy guide to the new officials, and their views, coming onto the Fed panel that sets interest rates in the new year: SUSAN COLLINS (no, not that one), ALBERTO MUSALEM, JEFF SCHMID and AUSTAN GOOLSBEE.
- ROHIT CHOPRA’s not done yet: The CFPB sued Walmart regarding a payment program for workers, per Axios’ Ryan Lawler.
TRANSITION LENSES
THE LOAN LURCH — Some public-service workers who expected to get their student debt forgiven, sometimes in life-altering amounts, have seen Biden’s programs get tripped up in court and now face the prospect of losing out completely under Trump, WSJ’s Oyin Adedoyin reports.
KNOWING SCOTT TURNER — “Trump’s Pick to Lead Federal Housing Agency Has Opposed Efforts to Aid the Poor,” by ProPublica’s Jesse Coburn and Andy Kroll: “Turner would oversee billions in housing aid, but as a Texas state legislator he voted against protections for poor tenants and has called government assistance ‘one of the most destructive things for the family.’”
IMMIGRATION FILES — As the nation prepares for mass deportations under Trump, there are some early indicators that his administration will face real obstacles. Already, the number of deportation orders outstrips the overworked ICE agents tasked with removing people, AP’s Rebecca Santana reports from a ride-along in NYC. And there may be resistance from local governments in blue areas. San Francisco City Attorney DAVID CHIU, for one, tells the S.F. Chronicle’s J.D. Morris that he’s ready to fight in court over sanctuary city policies. But, but, but: Other San Francisco officials see fentanyl deportations as an area of cooperation with Trump, Bloomberg’s Eliyahu Kamisher reports.
Elsewhere around the country, many immigrant communities are getting training on their rights and how to react if ICE starts going into schools and churches, NBC’s Nicole Acevedo reports. Some lawyers tell CNN’s Catherine Shoichet that even immigrants who are here legally have reason to worry and plan.
STICKING THE LANDING — The ODNI landing team includes PATRICK WITT, JOE FRANCESCON and JOE KENT, John Sakellariadis and Daniel Lippman scooped in National Security Daily.
MEDIAWATCH
MUSCLE CARR — “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” incoming FCC Chair BRENDAN CARR wrote in a new missive to Disney CEO BOB IGER, CNN’s Brian Stelter reports. The letter is specifically about negotiations between ABC and its affiliates, but the language also seems “to signal that he intends to wield a heavy hand in the top FCC role.”
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
THE POWER STRUGGLE IN RALEIGH — “Stein and Cooper go to court to challenge GOP shift of elections power to NC auditor,” by The News & Observer’s Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi
BY THE BOOK — A controversial Arkansas law that could have jailed librarians who provide “obscene” books to kids was partially struck down by a federal judge, who called two provisions unconstitutional, per the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Ron Wood.
Bill Clinton was hospitalized due to a fever, but is “in good spirits.”
Ryan Routh’s trial was delayed to September.
Mike Lawler made pretty clear he’s eyeing a challenge to Kathy Hochul.
Fabio Ochoa was deported to Colombia and set free.
Michael McCaul is in the clear with House Ethics.
WEDDING — Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter at Punchbowl and a POLITICO alum, and Julia Schroeder, intellectual property attorney at Sheridan Ross, got married Dec. 13 in Miami. They met in college at GW. Pic … Another pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stephanie Ruhle … Sabrina Singh … Anthony Fauci … Gene Sperling … Dan Pfeiffer … Conexión’s Marsha (Catron) Espinosa … Walter Pincus … Ylan Mui … Emory Cox of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) office … Atif Harden … Charlie Liebschutz of SRCPmedia … NewsNation’s Anna Sugg … Samir Kapadia of the Vogel Group … NYT’s Brian Zittel … former AG Jeff Sessions … Corry Schiermeyer … former Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) … Jordan Valdés … Dorinda Moss Verhoff … AJ Sugarman … Dave Straka … Perry Thompson of the Supreme Court … Sharon Williams … Brian Marriott of ECU Communications … Philippe Etienne … Michael Brown
Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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