| | | | |  | | By Sam Stein, Zack Colman, Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | | Presented by |  | | | 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 In the constellation of advocates in the progressive political universe, it is taken as a truism that President JOE BIDEN has made historic progress on their priorities. The question they’ve struggled with is, why don’t more voters of their ideological ilk seem to recognize it? They have several theories. But one of the more universally accepted ones is that there is just a general lack of awareness of what Biden has actually done. And nowhere does that seem quite as true as on the climate front. Most voters don’t rate climate change as an important issue for them. But progressives do. And yet, among those people who value the issue, few say they’re aware of the Biden administration’s accomplishments. In fact, in a recent CBS poll of those who said climate was a very important issue, the number who had heard “a lot” about what the Biden administration had done was a whopping 10 percent. In an effort to raise awareness of myriad green regulations and passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the top climate advocacy groups in the nation, is launching a new initiative — with a small twist. Rather than advertise with traditional political messaging, the group is enlisting climate influencers and scientists themselves to engage audiences with videos that look nothing like your usual political advertising (think: Instagram reels of coral reef clean-up diving with Fleet Foxes blaring in the background rather than baritone narration about greenhouse gas reduction). For now, the NRDC is planning to spend an estimated $500,000, with the potential to do more.
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| It’s the latest step in a gradual evolution among green campaigners who are looking to reach younger voters in particular. Groups like Climate Power have engaged with social media influencers such as CHRISTIAN MALDONADO and ELLE CORDOVA to boost Biden’s accomplishments among a voting demographic that cares deeply about climate change but that the president has struggled to energize. “Talking to young people is not as easy as running a TV ad that maybe you could do 30 years ago,” said HEATHER HARGREAVES, who is deputy executive director for campaigns with Climate Power and who was TOM STEYER’s 2020 presidential campaign manager. “That is part of the challenge that our organization, the Biden campaign and others are trying to address.” The NRDC campaign — which organizers are calling “Fighting Chance” — is, legally and technically, issue advocacy and therefore not political. But its launch is, to a small degree, an indictment of the Biden White House. A president who came into office pledging to not repeat the mistakes of the BARACK OBAMA years — particularly on Obama's inability to sell the Affordable Care Act and stimulus — has struggled himself on the salesmanship front. But the campaign is also an indictment of the media, which is increasingly not seen as a trusted source of information, or necessarily the main vector for it. A Tisch college survey found that 63 percent of people ages 18-29 trusted scientific research while 55 percent said the same for their peers and neighbors. Just 23 percent said they trusted major news media. Using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram “demonstrates a real commitment to connecting with young voters,” NextGen America President CRISTINA TZINTZÚN RAMIREZ said in a statement. The group polled 1,500 likely 18- to 35-year-old voters across battleground states and found more than two-thirds had heard about the Inflation Reduction Act, but they did not always connect it to Biden. She highlighted a TikTok video of ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ posted by the Biden-Harris HQ account touting the American Climate Corps, a new civil service program for young people Biden created by executive action, as an example of using “younger validators and trusted spokespeople.” But not everyone is impressed. STEVIE O’HANLON, spokesperson with the youth-led Sunrise Movement, argued that the messenger matters little if the actions don’t measure up to the science. Biden’s problem is policy, not communication, she stressed. “There’s only so far regulatory tweaks — no matter how important — are going to go on social media right now,” O’Hanlon wrote in a text. “To win support of young voters, Biden needs to make some bigger swings.” MESSAGE US — Are you NANA AYENSU, special assistant to the president for climate policy, finance and innovation? 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!
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| | NEW POD JUST DROPPED: Biden's SmartLess interview — along with Barack Obama and BILL CLINTON — came out on Monday afternoon. And, in classic fashion, it happened right at our deadline. Give it a listen and then send us your thoughts. NOT LOOKING GREAT: Not the West Wing Playbook office plant. That’s looking pretty amazing, considering where it started last week. We’re talking about border legislation. Last week, President Biden vowed to take another stab at border security compromise after a bipartisan bill was axed in February. But our MYAH WARD reports that administration officials and immigration policy experts say it’s highly unlikely anything materializes before November. “They pulled a rabbit out of a hat on Ukraine, but there’s no chance they’re getting anything out of Mike Johnson’s House on border security,” said an immigration advocate familiar with the White House’s thinking. Inside the White House, officials are not jockeying to restart talks, in part because they believe the migration crisis has temporarily stabilized, with illegal border crossings dipping to 137,000 in March. The White House has been weighing new executive actions on border security, but both the political optics of unilaterally moving forward and questions of whether these actions would survive legal battles leave the administration in limbo. VEEP’S ON THE MOVE: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS was in Atlanta on Monday, where she kicked off a multistate tour aimed at highlighting economic opportunities for Black Americans, Reuters’ NANDITA BOSE reports. A major focus of the tour is energizing and engaging Black men, a key demographic for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. While in the Peach State, Harris participated in a moderated discussion with Earn Your Leisure’s RASHAD BILAL and TROY MILLINGS. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by Axios’ EMILY PECK, who reports that household wealth for Americans under 40 has risen 49 percent from its pre-pandemic level, even after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress. Young Americans haven’t seen this stark an increase since the Federal Reserve first started tracking this data in 1989. Millennials saw their wealth double during this period, and CAP found that the average housing wealth rose $22,000 as homeownership and house prices soared. Communications director BEN LABOLT shared the story on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by CNN’s STEPHEN COLLINSON, who writes that memories of DONALD TRUMP’s chaotic presidency are fading, according to a new CNN poll. The poll found that 55 percent of all Americans see Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44 percent see it as a failure. This is a significant improvement for Trump. In a survey taken just days before he left office, 55 percent of respondents saw his presidency as a failure. Meanwhile, Biden’s not doing too hot. Sixty-one percent of Americans say Biden’s presidency has been a failure, while 39 percent see it as successful. Four years ago, Biden was able to campaign as the stable alternative, barely having to remind voters of Trump’s tumultuous time in office. That won’t be the case now. RUFFF: South Dakota Gov. KRISTI NOEM’s disturbing [you’re entitled to use your own adjective] revelation that she killed her 14-month-old puppy CRICKET was the buzz of the weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Association festivities. And it spilled over into Monday, when White House press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE was asked by NBC’s GABE GUTIERREZ about it during the briefing. “It’s very sad. It’s very sad,” Jean-Pierre said. "It’s a sad story. That’s all I have for you. It’s sad.”
| | | | A message from Bayer: Food prices are already high, but without advanced agricultural products, like glyphosate, sold to farmers as Roundup® , farm yields will go down, farmers’ costs will go up, and food prices will rise even more dramatically. Farming has never been easy. If American farmers lose a critical tool like glyphosate based on the litigation industry’s actions, they will face even harder choices. Learn more. | | | | | GET OFF HIS LAWN: Veteran Democratic strategist JAMES CARVILLE went on a rant Sunday, tearing into the frustration of young voters towards Biden. “You little fucking 26-year-old, you don’t feel like ‘the election’s important to me. They’re not addressing the issues that I care about.’ … My advice to tell these young people is to get off your motherfucking ass and go vote,” Carville said. Look, regardless of how you feel about the guy, Carville continues to give the best quote. That’s not disputable.
| | SHAKE UP AT THE NEC: ROB FRIEDLANDER has been promoted to chief of staff at the National Economic Council, Bloomberg’s JOSH WINGROVE reports. White House spokesperson MICHAEL KIKUKAWA will succeed Friedlander as senior communications adviser for economic messaging. HE’S ONE OF US: Imagine you’re on your X9 bus commute this morning and Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG hops on with his two kiddos. Well, that's what some residents were treated to this morning. In typical D.C. fashion, the bus broke down around North Capitol and all the passengers had to get off and cram onto a second bus. “I gave up my seat so he could sit down,” a passenger wrote in to PoPville. “Really cute and happy to see him on a real bus experience!” Pete, now try taking the green line train from L’Enfant Plaza around 6 P.M. It definitely won’t be sardine-level crowding!
| | | | A message from Bayer:   | | | | | HELP ME HELP YOU: During his first stop in a three-day swing through the Middle East, Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN said Monday that Israel has presented an “extraordinarily generous” hostage deal that could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza, urging Hamas to accept it soon, AP’s MATTHEW LEE reports. “I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision and we can have a fundamental change in the dynamic,” Blinken said while in Saudi Arabia. During the visit, Blinken also continued to press Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. On Sunday, the president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU and said the onus is on Hamas to accept the deal. LATEST DISSENT: A group of lawyers domestic and abroad — including at least 20 that work in the Biden administration — are calling on President Biden to halt military aid to Israel, our JOSEPH GEDEON reports. In a letter shared with POLITICO, the lawyers argued that Israel likely violated U.S. statutes including the Arms Export Control Act and Leahy Laws as well as the Geneva Conventions prohibiting disproportionate attacks on civilian populations. While the group is still collecting signatures, more than 90 people have signed on, including current attorneys from the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. KIND OF IMPORTANT: The Food and Drug Administration rolled out a long-awaited plan on Monday regulating laboratory-developed medical tests, a step health officials say will help ensure that test results for diseases such as cancer are reliable, our DAVID LIM reports for Pro subscribers. Without greater regulations, the FDA says patients could be more likely to start unnecessary treatment or delay the treatment they need. The new rule includes a four-year phaseout of the agency’s current approach and includes “targeted enforcement discretion policies” for certain tests like LDTs, which are made and run within a single laboratory.
| | | | An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India (WaPo’s Greg Miller, Gerry Shih and Ellen Nakashima) The Plot to Wreck the Democratic Convention (The Atlantic’s David Frum) Poll: Biden and Trump supporters sharply divided by the media they consume (NBC’s Ben Kamisar)
| | | | A message from Bayer: For over 160 years, Bayer has stood at the forefront of health and safety while producing some of America’s most trusted and iconic brands. One such product is the herbicide glyphosate, which, sold to farmers as Roundup® , is one of the most important inventions in agriculture in the last 50 years. It has enabled millions of American farmers to have better yields and lower their weed control input costs. Despite the clear science behind Roundup’s safety and benefits, thousands of lawsuits persist in courts across the country, fueled by over $100 million dollars in expansive marketing and TV ads by the litigation industry to recruit and accumulate plaintiffs.
Bayer is the only domestic manufacturer of glyphosate. If this keeps up, farmers will be left with two options – grow less food or rely on foreign supplies of the product. See what’s at stake. | | | | | Bush is actually distant cousins of Playboy founder HUGH HEFNER. Distant might be an understatement. They’re ninth cousins twice removed, sharing the same pair of great-grandparents. Funny enough, they’re both also cousins with JOHN KERRY. “Well I feel closer to Senator Kerry,” Hefner said in 2004. “I suppose that it is not a big surprise but it is certainly unique to be a relation to both candidates,” he added in the midst of the 2004 presidential campaign between the two relatives. 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 and Rishika Dugyala.
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