'There will be Clarence Thomas jokes'

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Apr 26, 2023 View in browser   By Lauren Egan 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 Eli | Email Lauren Sometimes landing a gig is a matter of being in the right place at the right time. That was the case for comedian ROY WOOD JR. Wood was at the White House earlier this year shooting a segment for “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” when he bumped into White House Correspondents’ Association president TAMARA KEITH on the West Wing driveway. Keith struck up a conversation and mentioned she was looking for a comedian to host this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner and asked if he would be interested. “It was one of those things that was meant to be, or like a cosmic sign,” Keith said. West Wing Playbook caught up with Wood ahead of Saturday’s gala to talk about dinners past and present. Below is an edited version of our conversation. How does the comedy world view getting asked to speak at the Correspondents' Dinner? I don’t know if comedians really view the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as an honor as much as a necessary deployment.  You’re being asked to put together a set to entertain the most powerful people in the country. Half the room hates the other half of the room. And then there’s a third of the room who’s just there to report on the two halves that hate each other. And there’s also people watching at home with totally different comedic barometers. You don’t make it sound fun. Uh huh. But if you can survive that, it’s a hell of a medal to have on your shoulder.  Which comedians do you think have done an especially good job at the dinner? They all came at different times and different political climates in our country. So I think it’s very difficult to say. Cedric the Entertainer probably had one of the funniest ones. But it was the Bush administration. You have to remember that these comedians at these dinners — it's one thing on the day, and then weeks and years later people love you or hate you more. I’m sure Seth Meyers thought he did just fine until Trump got elected. Do you feel like there’s too much pearl clutching, especially if you look back at Michelle Wolf’s speech? People clutch pearls because outrage is a marketable commodity. The degree to which you all — and I say you all as the offended parties — ran around and talked about that speech forever was — I'm not gonna say a nothing burger, somebody was offended — but let's not make a whole meal out of this for weeks and weeks.  Same thing with Larry Wilmore and the “N word” thing. People were talking for way longer than they should about a man saying that word. The person he said the word to was not offended — so what are we accomplishing in the bigger scheme of things? You don’t think Washington is good at laughing at itself.   I don’t think Washington has a sense of humor.  I think the press has a sense of humor, so long as it's not about their network. Washington has less of a sense of humor because I’m asking them to laugh at people that tomorrow they have to try and pass a law with.  If you have a case going before the Supreme Court, when I crack that Clarence Thomas joke — and there will be Clarence Thomas jokes — god forbid the camera cuts to you laughing. What’s your writing process for this speech? There’s certain people I know that we will probably hit and certain people that we will probably leave alone. And then there’s other people that we will monitor to decide how much we really want to get into what’s going on. I do feel like there’s a degree of tranquility around just knowing that this gig is difficult because you cannot plan every single joke weeks in advance. It’s even harder to run the material anywhere because everybody has a phone and they’re recording. Where are the safe places for me to even put these jokes on stage?  How do you get your news? I’m more of a local news person because local news truncates national stories down to the bare bones, so I feel like I get just the essentials.  Two or three times a week I read a newspaper from another city.  I’ll also do TMZ, The Shade Room or Baller Alert, just for celebrity gossip. I try to stay up on that because sometimes it ties into the national conversation on bigger things. Do you have a go-to reporter on the White House beat? When Yamiche Alcindor was there for PBS. I also enjoy April Ryan and her perspective on things a lot.  There’s also this kid, Gabe Fleisher, who does this newsletter called “Wake Up To Politics,” and I’ve been reading that kid since he was like 14. His ability to break stuff down and just go, ‘here's what’s happening’ and remain as agnostic as possible — it’s just amazing.  MESSAGE US — Are you CLARENCE THOMAS? 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!    HAPPENING NEXT WEEK! GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from May 1-4. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World, will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat.     POTUS PUZZLER This one is from reader CHRISTOPHER COLLOPY. A toughie — which president’s retirement office was in a building featured prominently in a major Christmas movie? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval FINALLY, A PRESS CONFERENCE: President JOE BIDEN participated in a joint press conference Wednesday in the Rose Garden with South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL. Biden, who has largely shied away from these foreign leader pressers, warned that a nuclear attack by North Korea against the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action.” The presser was also the first time Biden spoke directly about his 2024 campaign, after launching his reelection on Tuesday. When asked by ABC’s MARY BRUCE about voters’ concerns about his age, Biden said “people are going to see a race and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it.” Our MYAH WARD has more about that here. The president and first lady are scheduled to host their second state dinner later this evening in honor of Yoon. The menu blends together classic American dishes with some Korean influences, including Maryland crab cake with a gochujang vinaigrette and beef short ribs with butter bean grits and carrots glazed with sorghum. (We are now quite hungry.) The WaPo’s EMILY HEIL has a breakdown of what’s being served. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: White House communications director BEN LABOLT’s statement going after House Speaker KEVIN MCCARTHY’s debt ceiling proposal. “House Republicans are selling out hard-working Americans in order to defend their top priority: restoring the Trump tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations at a cost of over $3 trillion,” LaBolt argues. “Budgets are a statement of values — and House Republicans have made clear who they are fighting for.” Deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES tweeted it out Wednesday. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by our JONATHAN LEMIRE and MERIDITH MCGRAW about how former President DONALD TRUMP and Biden are both, well, old: “Despite an age gap of only three years, the chatter around age looms larger for Biden, who moves noticeably slower than a few years ago. Members of his inner circle know the toll the job takes on any president, and they have seen him grow more easily tired. If elected, he would be 86 at the end of his second term, nearly a decade older than the U.S. male life expectancy.” PROMISES MADE, PROMISES _____: As a presidential candidate in 2020, Biden pledged to combat Covid-19, tackle climate change, overhaul immigration policies and more. Our ADAM CANCRYN assesses whether Biden has lived up to those campaign promises as he revs up his reelection effort. PRIORITIES’ PRIORITIES: Speaking of the 2024 election … Priorities USA, a top Democratic super PAC, plans to invest $75 million into the incoming race to target voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Myah Ward reports. Filling the Ranks MOVING FORWARD: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee voted Wednesday to advance the nomination of JULIE SU, Biden’s nominee to lead the Labor Department, making her one step closer to confirmation, our NICK NIEDZWIADEK reports for Pro subscribers. Her fate in the full chamber remains unclear, however, as a handful of Democrats remain undecided. Agenda Setting KEEPING IT CLEAN: Nearly 200 House Democrats signed onto a letter urging Speaker McCarthy Wednesday to move forward with a clean debt limit increase, backing the Biden administration’s take, our CAITLIN EMMA reports for Congress Minutes. The letter — led by House Budget ranking member BRENDAN BOYLE (D-Pa.), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) and New Democrat Coalition Chair ANNIE KUSTER (D-N.H.) — came ahead of the House’s vote on McCarthy’s debt limit proposal. The president reinforced his position Wednesday afternoon, saying he would meet with McCarthy, “but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended. That’s not negotiable.” Our Adam Cancryn and JENNIFER HABERKORN have more on that here. THE SITUATION IN SUDAN: The State Department is looking to “send a consular ‘fly away’ team to the Port of Sudan to help evacuating Americans get home,” our ALEXANDER WARD and LARA SELIGMAN report. “If a final decision is made to send the team, they would perform similar duties to consular officers who were sent to Afghanistan in 2021 during the evacuation of Kabul.” PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA: The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday the formation of the FAA National Airspace System Safety Review Team. The group will consist of “safety experts from outside the agency [who] will conduct an independent safety review over the next six months, following a spate of near misses at airports across the country,” our ALEX DAUGHERTY reports for Pro subscribers.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE 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. 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. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID.     The Oppo Book As Domestic Policy Council director SUSAN RICE is set to step down next month, we thought it’d be fitting to feature this particular moment from when she met her husband, IAN CAMERON.  When the pair introduced themselves and talked about where they’re from — Rice from Washington, D.C. and Cameron from British Columbia, Canada — Rice wasn’t exactly sure where British Columbia was. “My mind is going, British Columbia … Where is British Columbia?” Rice said during a 2017 discussion at Stanford University. “And I’m thinking, there’s Colombia in South America … There’s British Guiana and French Guiana … And I asked tentatively, ‘Is that in South America?’ Being an East Coast girl, I didn’t know my Western Canadian Provinces. But, 35 years later, we’re still best friends.” Happens to the best of us! What We're Reading Biden’s Biggest Advantage Has Nothing to Do With Anything He’s Done (Lis Smith for the NYT) Inside the fortified rooms securing U.S. secrets (WaPo’s Derek Hawkins, Adrian Blanco, Perry Stein and William Neff) The Washington gambler (WaPo’s Ben Terris) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER RONALD REAGAN’s post-presidency office in Fox Plaza in Century City, Calif., was featured in the original 1988 Die Hard film. According to The Hollywood Reporter’s ANDY LEWIS, “the 13,939-square-foot suite cost $18,000 a month, about 40 percent off market. Tastefully decorated in neutrals and polished wood, the office’s bookshelves were lined with statues of wildlife and the president’s favorite watercolors hung on the walls. Down the hall, wife Nancy had an office for her anti-drug foundation.” 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 Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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