| | | | |  | | By Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | Presented by ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA | 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 For most White House aspirants, focusing on the central paradox of American history — that a nation founded upon the ideal of freedom enshrined slavery into its Constitution — is not the sort of thing to dwell on when you’re trying to inspire hope, optimism and national pride. That’s why it’s so striking that, as president, JOE BIDEN has repeatedly seized on opportunities to illuminate that more complex reality of America’s past. “It’s extremely important. He is announcing his presence on the battlefield of the culture wars,” said EDDIE GLAUDE, a professor of African-American studies at Princeton University, who was among the historians who met with Biden in the Oval Office in January. “He’s telling the country we can orient ourselves to the past in a way that we can imagine ourselves differently. We can actually orient ourselves to the past in a way that doesn't require any kind of easy optimism, but rather a kind of, you know, what I might call a blues-soaked realism.” Biden, who came of age in the 1960s, said he was motivated to run for president in 2020 by the 2017 white supremacist march in Charlottesville. He took office months after the murder of GEORGE FLOYD sparked riots across the country. Five months later, he became the first president to ever travel to Tulsa, Okla. to commemorate the 1921 massacre that destroyed the city’s thriving Black business community. “Just because history is silent, it does not mean that it did not take place,” Biden said then, urging the nation to consider how “literal hell was unleashed” in a mob attack that left hundreds of Black people dead, an attack often left out of history textbooks. “We can’t just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know.” That overarching view and clear intent to force the country to grapple with the more painful episodes of its history has animated several other meetings and speeches Biden has given. In February 2023, he held a White House screening of a film about EMMETT TILL, the Black teenager brutally beaten to death in Mississippi in 1955. A year earlier, he enacted a federal ban on lynching named for Till, whose cousin and last living descendent, Rev. WHEELER PARKER, met with Biden in the Oval Office. During last year’s commencement address to students at Howard University, Biden spoke about how American history “has not always been a fairy tale.” In January, he traveled to Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, to decry racial hatred in the pulpit just steps from where nine people were gunned down by a white supremacist in 2015. A month later in the Oval Office, he marked Black History Month by convening the descendents of historic figures including IDA B. WELLS, ROSA PARKS, HARRIET TUBMAN, Till, MALCOLM X, SALLY HEMINGS and the Rev. JESSE JACKSON SR. In an interview with West Wing Playbook on Monday, STEVE BENJAMIN, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, recalled being in the room with Parker and the president. “As he sat with Mr. Till’s cousin, who shared with him the last time he saw Emmett as he left the house that night, I saw the impact it had on him — both as a father who’s lost a child and as a man of deep faith," he said. "He knows we can do better.” What stands out about Biden, however, is not just the sheer amount of time and focus he has placed on the wrongs of slavery, Jim Crow, racial discrimination and hate crimes, but that he is doing it at all, Glaude, for one, said. “There is no presidential precedent for what he’s doing,” Glaude said, noting that Biden is “historically positioned to do what he’s doing” by having served alongside former President BARACK OBAMA and, now, Vice President KAMALA HARRIS. “He can speak to this in a very direct way, and in a way others couldn’t.” Obama was far more constrained in bringing racial matters to the fore. In his memoir, he admitted that he was caught off guard by the backlash that ensued when he tried to, specifically around the arrest of HENRY LOUIS GATES at his own home. “Obama couldn't talk about race in certain ways, for fear of triggering people,” Glaude said. That Biden, an elderly white Catholic man, feels less hindered says something, both about the electorate and, perhaps, the progress Obama helped make even in his rhetorical restraint. Biden will dedicate multiple days later this week to marking the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. that struck down the legal segregation of America’s schools. On Thursday, he’ll welcome the plaintiffs from that case and their families to the Oval Office ahead of a speech on Friday, which is the anniversary of the ruling. Biden also plans to meet Friday with the leaders of the “Divine Nine” — the historically Black fraternities and sororities — and announce a permanent council of its members, an administration official told West Wing Playbook. That will coincide with an additional announcement of new HBCU funding, the official said, ahead of the president’s commencement address Sunday morning at Morehouse College. Biden’s agenda, Benjamin said, is influenced, at least in part, by his grasp of history. But he also understands that the president’s genuflection toward the past, however important, will not in and of itself allay the anxieties Black voters have in the present. With several polls showing a drop-off in Biden’s support among Black people, Benjamin pointed to a number of positive economic indicators specific to Black communities. “There are amazing accomplishments that are happening right now,” he said. But Biden’s repeated focus on more painful aspects of American history, he added, is also about inspiring a future that’s more just. “There’s a time for flourishes and trying to make difficult things look pretty,” Benjamin said, “and there’s a time when you really just have to tell the story clearly and historically so we don’t forget where we come from.” MESSAGE US — Are you MEREDITH GALANTI, deputy director of the office of management and administration? 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!
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA: Annuities deliver financial certainty like traditional pensions of old. They are a legally enforceable promise made by an insurance company to provide guaranteed monthly income throughout retirement. The Department of Labor’s fiduciary-only rule will shut down access to options for middle-income savers. It’s out of step with bipartisan support in Congress to expand access to guaranteed lifetime income. Congress needs to stand up for retirement savers. Protect retirement for all. | | | | | Who was the first president to pass away while in office? (Answer at bottom.)
| | WTF DID SHE JUST SAY? The use of a well-placed F-bomb by a vice president can be, well, a big effing deal, as Biden himself can attest. On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris went there herself. During a Q&A at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Legislative Leadership Summit in Washington, Harris got a tad blunt about what breaking barriers often requires: “We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won't, and then you need to kick that fucking door down.” As the crowd cheered, Harris laughed and said, jokingly, “excuse my language!” HAPPY INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK/YEAR/DECADE: The Biden administration launched its “Infrastructure Week” on Monday, sending top White House officials across the country to tout investments into projects such as roads, clean energy, drinking water and broadband. In an attempt to draw parallels to his predecessor’s futile “infrastructure weeks,” our CHRIS MARQUETTE reports that the White House hopes the effort will help convince Americans at a crucial time that Biden’s programs are improving lives. And because everyone now associates “infrastructure week” as a taunt against DONALD TRUMP, the White House and allies seem to be thinking bigger: touting a forthcoming “infrastructure decade” SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS AN EDITOR: In her new book, “Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World,” JEN PSAKI writes that President Biden never looked at his watch during the ceremony for soldiers killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. But Axios’ ALEX THOMPSON reports that Psaki’s claim is erroneous, contradicted by photos and firsthand accounts of Gold Star families. Following the report, Psaki told Axios that the “detail in a few lines of the book about the exact number of times he looked at his watch will be removed in future reprints and the ebook.” WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO LISTEN TO: This podcast episode of the New Republic’s “Daily Blast” with GREG SARGENT, who speaks with Third Way’s JIM KESSLER about how crime is down under the Biden administration — despite claims from Donald Trump that it has gotten out of control in the past four years. A new study from Third Way found that congressional Democrats secured substantially more funding for public safety projects than their Republican counterparts. “The entire crime narrative is wrong,” Kessler said. “And not only is it wrong, but it’s been working to the detriment of Democrats.” Communications director BEN LABOLT and senior spokesperson ANDREW BATES shared the episode on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This new poll from the NYT, Siena College and Philadelphia Inquirer, which found that Donald Trump continues to lead President Biden among registered voters in five crucial battleground states — Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania. Among likely voters, the lead narrowed, with Biden taking the lead in Michigan. Notably, Biden and Trump are essentially tied among 18-29-year-olds and Hispanic voters, with Trump garnering more than 20 percent of Black voters. In a frustrating finding for Democrats, nearly 20 percent of voters blame Biden more than they do Trump for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. In mid April, Morning Consult + POLITICO did a survey on public attitudes around abortion. In it we asked registered voters: “Based on what you know, how responsible, if at all, are the following for the ending of abortion rights in the United States?” For President Biden: 36% said he was responsible, 51% said he was not, and 14% said they had no opinion. For Trump: 58% said he was responsible, 28% said he was not, and 14% had no opinion. AND HERE COMES THE CHORUS: Several folks close to the White House and Biden’s campaign had thoughts on said NYT/Siena poll. Pollster TOM BONIER suggested Trump was just “riding high for the moment due to very people paying attention.” Obama 2012 campaign manager JIM MESSINA re-posted a message from Biden’s campaign account featuring MSNBC’s JOE SCARBOROUGH trashing the poll as “consistently slanted toward” Trump. SIMON ROSENBERG offered his usual “Hopium,” dismissing it as “one poll,” noting Biden’s improved performance when only likely voters are surveyed but noting the clear evidence of his “weakness with young people and people of color.” Nevada journalist JON RALSTON, by contrast, didn’t try to sugarcoat it, calling it “a very bad poll for Biden.”
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | HOLLYWOOODDDD, HOLLYWOOD SWINGING: The Biden campaign plans to host a major Los Angeles fundraiser next month with actors GEORGE CLOONEY and JULIA ROBERTS, as well as former President BARACK OBAMA, NBC’s MONICA ALBA and MIKE MEMOLI report. The event, scheduled for mid-June, will feature a contest between the two Oscar-winning actors on the campaign’s social media platforms to engage grassroots donors. Biden is also expected to hold a fundraiser with BILL and HILLARY CLINTON on the East Coast early this summer. And TMZ reports that actress EVA LONGORIA is also getting in the mix, organizing an event in Phoenix on Monday aimed at mobilizing Latino voters. RAMPING IT UP: A Democratic super PAC launched a three-week, $25 million ad blitz against Donald Trump on Monday, using voter testimonies to warn about the threat Trump poses to reproductive rights, WaPo’s MICHAEL SCHERER reports. The ads from American Bridge 21st Century target a group of 2 million persuadable voters throughout Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, including conservatives who are unhappy with Trump. The spots — delivered by television, radio, digital and mail through early June — are the first wave of the group’s $140 million ad campaign to reelect Biden.
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA:   | | | | | ANOTHER RESIGNATION: Maj. HARRISON MANN, an Army officer assigned to the Department of Defense’s Intelligence Agency publicly resigned on Monday, citing the administration’s “nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.” “As a descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the top of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing … where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ were oft repeated. I am haunted by the knowledge that I have failed those principles. I have hope that my grandfather would afford me some grace; that he would still be proud of me for stepping away from this war,” Mann wrote. THE LAW OF FUDGE: Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary MARCIA FUDGE, who stepped down from her post in March, is joining Taft Law as a partner and firmwide chair of public policy. “I greatly look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues in my role as Partner and Chair of Public Policy, which I am honored will allow me to return to my roots in Ohio, and maintain a strong presence in Washington, D.C.,” Fudge said. NO MORE SCHNITZEL: U.S. ambassador to Germany AMY GUTMANN will resign and return to the U.S. in July, she announced Monday in a letter to colleagues. Guttman wrote in the letter that she’s returning to be closer to her husband, MICHAEL DOYLE, after he “moved heaven and earth to live with me in Berlin” and whose job requires him to be in the U.S. STILL SNACKING: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN went to Fredericksburg, Virginia on Monday and did what she does: she ate local. Our MICHAEL STRATFORD reported that Yellen crushed a hot dog with slaw at Mason-Dixon Cafe, before moving on to Carl’s Frozen Custard, where she went for chocolate soft serve (in a bowl).
|  | | | TAKING AIM: This week, the Biden administration will announce that it will quadruple tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and significantly increase levies on other key industries, Bloomberg’s JOSH WINGROVE, JENNIFER A. DLOUHY and ERIC MARTIN report. After nearly two weeks of review, the White House will raise or add tariffs in the targeted sectors, with tariffs on Chinese EVs rising to 102.5 percent from 27.5, according to people familiar with the move. Biden will make the announcement at a White House event framed as a defense of American workers. KURT, UNPLUGGED: On Monday, the No. 2 at the Department of Defense said Israel’s “total victory” in Gaza is unlikely, our MATT BERG and ALEXANDER WARD report. Speaking at the NATO Youth Summit in Miami, Deputy Secretary of State KURT CAMPBELL said he doesn’t believe Israel’s current strategy against Hamas will be entirely successful. “Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they talked about mostly the idea of some sort of sweeping victory on the battlefield,” Campbell said. “I don’t think we believe that that is likely or possible.”
| | | | Pete Buttigieg’s view from the middle seat (WaPo’s Hannah Sampson) What a surly California governor’s race can — and can’t — tell us about the Biden-Trump rematch (LA Times’ Mark Z. Barabak) Nonprofits Are Making Billions off the Border Crisis (The Free Press’ Madeleine Rowley)
| | | | A message from ACLI, Finseca, IRI, NAFA and NAIFA: Annuities close retirement security gaps for workers.
They help people navigate anxieties about savings lasting throughout retirement amid economic uncertainty and market volatility.
Congress recognized the real challenges people are facing and the importance of annuities in addressing them. Bipartisan legislation in 2019 and 2022 made guaranteed lifetime income more accessible to savers.
The Department of Labor’s fiduciary-only rule undermines this good work by limiting access to options for a protected retirement. Congress needs to act to protect options for retirement savers. Protect retirement for all. | | | | | WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON died just 31 days after his inauguration. The White House was draped in mourning black and funeral services were held in the East Room, according to the White House Historical Association. To learn about funerals of major figures from the Civil War era and their impact, tune into White House History Live: Spectacle of Grief on May 14, 2024 at 5:30 PM ET. Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question — even though it was dark! A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Sam Stein.
| | | | LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today. | | | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
Comments
Post a Comment