| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker and Jesús A. Rodríguez | With help from Jesse Naranjo, Alexander Nieves, Rishika Dugyala, Ella Creamer and Teresa Wiltz
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POLITICO illustration/Photo by Getty Images | What up, Recast family! The president is set to sign the Respect For Marriage Act at the White House today, Kyrsten Sinema's party switch shakes up the 2024 Senate map , and hate crime numbers drop as law enforcement agencies decline to report their stats . First, though, we'll take a look at the political fallout from the Griner-Bout trade. The decision caught Washington by surprise: In a grand bargain brokered by the Biden administration, decorated WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian penal colony last Thursday in exchange for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer nicknamed "The Merchant of Death." It ended almost 10 months of detention by Russian authorities for Griner on charges of possessing illegal vape cartridges containing hash oil. She pleaded guilty and was facing a nine-year sentence. It also cut short the 25-year sentence Bout was serving for conspiracy to kill Americans. Set for release in 2029, his part in the swap is being characterized as an act of clemency that White House officials described as both "painful" and "necessary to get this thing done." The unified celebration of Griner's safe return was fleeting. Critics of the deal fault the American government for failing to secure Paul Whelan's freedom. He's a former Marine who has been in Russian custody since 2018 on espionage charges, which Washington says are unproven.
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Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was arrested for alleged spying, listens to the verdict in a courtroom at the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 15, 2020 | Sofia Sandurskaya/Moscow News Agency via AP | What's least surprising about the aftermath of this high stakes prisoner swap is the willingness among some to use Griner's sexuality, her Blackness and her celebrity as a political cudgel. GOP Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) tweeted that the Griner-Bout exchange was "patently offensive." He later warned that Biden officials should keep their documents on the exchange handy because the incoming GOP House majority "is going to demand answers on this latest disaster."
|  Twitter | Even fellow athletes got in on the act. Dallas Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons tweeted : "it's crazy to me the President wouldn't bring him home too. I'm the furthest thing from a trump [sic] supporter but I'm not a fan of Biden either." In a series of tweets later that day, Parsons appeared to walk back some of his anger, saying he "should have been more educated on the topic and not tweeted out of emotion." The reaction may foreshadow attacks on the Biden administration in the run-up to 2024. "This will be used against them in domestic politics," Kimberly St. Julian-Vernon, a Ph.D. researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who studies Black experiences in the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine, says of the Biden administration. She adds that the juxtaposition of an American veteran remaining in Russian custody four years after being detained, compared to a hoops star held for less than a year, will be portrayed as though President Joe Biden was playing politics and could choose whom to free. Griner is a Black lesbian and is married to a woman. Both the Black and LGBTQ communities pressured the Biden administration for months to secure her release — and both are key constituencies for Democrats. "I think those things mattered to Russia in that it would help them get the most out of this prisoner swap, and it was successful," St. Julian-Vernon says. "They were able to get Viktor Bout." | 
Leonid Slutsky, the leader of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party, left, and Viktor Bout show Bout's membership card at the party's congress in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. | Aleksandr Sivov/Press Service of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia via AP | There's already evidence that Russian state-run television is propagandizing the ordeal. "His first problem is that he's white. His second problem is he is a man. His third problem: he is a heterosexual," said one Russian television presenter in a clip posted and translated on Twitter . The context of that message is playing out in less subtle ways in the United States, but it has the same intent: to sow division among Americans, says Joseph Dresen, a Russia expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Kennan Institute. "Griner gets arrested in February of this year. What else happens in February? [Russia] launches a war," Dresen notes. "She gets released after the midterm elections. So her use as a tool to sort of weaken support of African Americans for Democrats, you know, had an expired shelf life." For those Americans who think Griner got preferential treatment because of her race or her ability to hoop, her release plays right into a convenient Kremlin playbook, says Danielle Gilbert , a fellow at Dartmouth College who studies hostage diplomacy. "There are constituencies who want to make a difference between the Black, gay celebrity and the white, male veteran, and Vladimir Putin is well aware of that and is a master at manipulating U.S. public opinion in that way." Still, some LGBTQ rights advocates who pushed for Griner's release say they will now push for the release of other detainees abroad. Kierra Johnson , the executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, tells The Recast her group "won't let Paul Whelan's name collect dust."
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| Her broader message, though, is that our politics have to allow for both celebration and disappointment. "Our government didn't have an opportunity to choose," she says. "To have a conversation about [how] her celebrity and her being Black somehow won her a get-out-of-jail-free card is built on a false narrative." We'll keep tabs on how this swap shapes our politics moving forward. All the best,
The Recast Team
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| Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here .
| | | BIDEN IN SPOTLIGHT AT U.S.-AFRICA LEADERS SUMMIT Biden assumes the role of host as dozens of heads of state flock to Washington for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. The gathering, which wraps on Thursday, is expected to culminate in an announcement of the Biden administration formally endorsing the African Union's permanent membership to the G-20, which represents more than 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, right, meet with Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum during the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit 2022, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 in Washington. | Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP | While significant, the pending announcement comes after other nations such as France, South Africa and China all expressed similar sentiments in recent weeks, according to Gyude Moore, who served as minister of public works under former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. "It would have been an easier path for Africans if the U.S. had taken the lead and not come up behind," Moore tells The Recast, adding, "But again, we're gonna take out the good news whenever we can get it." Currently, the only African nation that has permanent membership is South Africa. The African Union includes 55 nations as members. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Africa and Global Health Policy Subcommittee, supports Biden's push to add the AU to the G-20. "African nations play a vital role in global affairs & should have more opportunities to weigh in on international challenges," Van Hollen tweeted . "That's why this decision by @POTUS to give them a seat at the G20 table is important. We must continue to deepen our partnerships with African countries."
|  Twitter | Days ahead of the summit, a White House senior official, who did not want to be identified, told reporters: "This summit is really about our relationship with the continent. It's not about other countries and their engagement." China's influence on the continent looms large over the summit. Beijing has invested billions on the continent over the past two decades, including massive infrastructure projects . African leaders will look to Biden to deliver on a promise to channel funds from a G-7 infrastructure investment program to projects in Africa. As POLITICO's Phelim Kine writes , Biden's key challenge is complicated: "He'll have to convince African leaders to choose the U.S. over China … without mentioning China." Another sensitive issue the Biden administration will face during the summit: The president has no plans to conduct one-on-one meetings with any of the visiting African heads of state. Some see this as a slight and that the U.S. does not view them as individual nations, but rather a singular bloc. Moore, who is a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, says he hopes the summit will produce a more regular cadence of summits in the future. "The U.S. is the only major power whose interest with Africa is haphazard," he said, pointing out that the EU summit has happened every three years since 2000 and China-Africa summits have taken place annually for more than two decades. | 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken greets Liberia's President George Weah during the "African and Diaspora Young Leaders Forum" at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 in Washington. | Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP | The previous U.S.-Africa summit was held in 2014. Then-President Barack Obama didn't schedule any bilateral meetings either, but hailed the gathering as an " extraordinary event ."
| | | BASS TAKES THE HELM
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Karen Bass, the first Black woman elected Los Angeles mayor, left, is sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime friend and former California attorney general in Los Angeles, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022 | Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo | Newly minted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is wrapping up a victory tour that culminated with a swearing-in ceremony conducted by Vice President Kamala Harris. And now she faces the reality of governing a city shaken by a homelessness crisis and local government dysfunction. The longtime congresswoman's first day leading her hometown started with her taking an action that many residents have been demanding for years: declaring that the city's massive homelessness problem is a state of emergency. If the city council approves that move, Bass will have more power to speed up housing development and hire service providers to conduct outreach efforts. Bass' move could fulfill a key campaign-trail promise to cut through red tape that helped her defeat billionaire Rick Caruso — who spent more than $100 million on the race. But it'll take a lot more than a state of emergency declaration to reach her goal of housing 15,000 people within her first year. "We must build housing faster, and we will," Bass said at a press conference. "We must coordinate shelter and services — and we will."
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signs a declaration of local emergency as she declares a state of emergency on homelessness, at the city's Emergency Operations Center in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. | Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP | Bass also must contend with the enduring presence of Kevin de León, the embattled council member who refused to resign after being caught on tape politically scheming in racist and insensitive terms. De León's attempted return to the dais on Friday cast the council into chaos; later that night, he brawled with a protester at a Christmas giveaway event. Bass has always touted her bona fides as a community organizer and unifier. De León will put those skills to the test.
| | | TIGER KING BILL
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A two-month-old Sumatran tiger cub sits in the grass with its mother, Leanne, in their enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, April 12, 2013. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | With the Congress on the verge of returning to a divided government next year, at least one bill brought lawmakers together — and it went a lot smoother than herding cats. The Recast's Jesse Naranjo breaks down the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which is awaiting the president's signature . The bill's main backer is none other than Carole Baskin, then antagonist of the hit Netflix show "Tiger King" whose catchphrase is, "Hey all you cool cats and kittens." Baskin, who heads the Florida-based Big Cat Rescue, successfully lobbied Congress to take up legislation banning private ownership of large felines such as tigers, lions and cheetahs and restricting their possession to zoos, sanctuaries and universities. The legislation is intended to tamp down on the "cub petting" industry, in which patrons pay money to pose with infant tigers and other cubs. Joe Exotic, Baskin's nemesis, ran the Oklahoma-based Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. It is now permanently closed. Animal rights advocates have long called for regulating or eliminating the cub petting industry, which they view as inhumane. Private individuals would also be prohibited from breeding the cats; the law also creates new rules governing how close humans can be to the animals in a display setting. The legislation cleared the Senate by voice vote earlier this month and passed the House 278-134 in July.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Las Vegas. | John Locher/AP Photo | Great Scott in 2024 — He won't talk about it, but his Senate colleagues will. GOP senators are buzzing about the prospects of a White House run by Tim Scott (R-S.C.). POLITICO's Marianne LeVine breaks down why . Why the GOP Can't Quit Trump — Former RNC Chair Michael Steele talks with POLITICO's David Siders about the Republican Party blame game after the GOP fell short of expectations in the midterms. 'Tis the Season — While this winter's Covid-19 season may be more mild compared to previous years, POLITICO's Megan Messerly reports public health officials are struggling , again, to get Americans vaccinated.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS " Scatterlings ," by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe, is out today. The historical fiction novel chronicles a family ripped apart by South Africa's 1927 Immorality Act, which decreed interracial sexual relations illegal. The eight-episode adaptation of Octavia Butler's 1979 novel " Kindred " — following an aspiring writer who is pulled back in time to an antebellum Maryland plantation — premieres tonight on Hulu.
|  | Manuela López Restrepo pens an essay for NPR on the increasing appropriation and warping of Latino culture on social media. South Korea's Stray Kids test how well they know each other .
|  | Discover the story behind the campus cafe dedicated to celebrating indigenous Ohlone cultural identity and providing a space for healing. SZA drops an angsty, black-and-white visual for " Nobody Gets Me ."
|  | TikTok of the Day: Deserves an Oscar
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