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Presented by Charter: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day in Washington Nov 02, 2018 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Daniel Lippman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

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THINK ABOUT THIS ... THE ECONOMY added a quarter-million jobs in October, and pretty much all that's coming out of the White House is talk of a plan to militarize the southern border with Mexico, a change asylum laws, build a border wall and make immigration into the U.S. far more restrictive. There's a lot of Republican head-smacking going on this week.

BRENDAN BUCK (@BrendanBuck), Paul Ryan's counselor, at 8:52 a.m.: "Were going to spend all day and weekend talking about the strong economy, right?"

THE PRESIDENT TWEETS ... @realDonaldTrump at 9:46 a.m.: "Wow! The U.S. added 250,000 Jobs in October -- and this was despite the hurricanes. Unemployment at 3.7%. Wages UP! These are incredible numbers. Keep it going, Vote Republican!"

THIS IS, quite literally, the economy that almost any president would pray for in a midterm election. The noise, however, makes it tough for this message to break through.

-- THE DETAILS, via Ian Kullgren: "The report gives Trump an opportunity to argue that the economy, under his leadership, is exceeding expectations. The rapid increase in wages - the largest year-over-year gain since 2009 - could also undermine Democrats' argument that economic gains under Trump have left behind working-class voters. ...

"October's 250,000 new jobs created was a significant improvement on the 118,000 in September. The 3.1 percent increase in wages was up from 2.8 percent in September." POLITICO

... AND AT NOON:


NAHAL TOOSI and VICTORIA GUIDA: "Trump aides warn Iran of looming pain as oil sanctions snap back": "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration intends to keep pressing ahead with sanctions and other efforts to starve the Iranian regime of access to global funds. The Cabinet officials acknowledged that at least eight 'jurisdictions' will be given waivers that allow them, for now, to keep importing oil from Iran without facing U.S. penalties.

"But two of the exempted jurisdictions will ultimately fully cut imports as part of their agreements with the U.S., while the other six will import 'at greatly reduced levels,' Pompeo said. He emphasized that the deals would be temporary and said the Trump administration had demanded 'much more serious concessions' than had been extracted by the Obama administration for such exemptions." POLITICO

BLOOMBERG'S SALESHA MOHIN: "U.S. Lifts Sanctions on Turkish Officials After Pastor's Release": "Turkey's Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu, who had been sanctioned for their roles in organizations responsible for the arrest and detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson, were removed from Treasury's sanctions list early Friday. ...

"U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen were removed from Turkey's sanctions list, the foreign ministry said in an emailed statement." Bloomberg

Happy Friday afternoon. CLICKER ... BOOOOO ... WASHINGTONIAN: "Javanka Handed Out Apple Cider on Halloween"

WAPO FACT CHECKER: "President Trump has made 6,420 false or misleading claims over 649 days"

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2018 WATCH -- NYT'S LISA LERER in Little Rock, Ark.: "No One Wants to Campaign With Bill Clinton Anymore": "The absence of Mr. Clinton is a notable shift both for a man who's boosted Democratic candidates in every election for the past half century and for a party long defined by the former first couple. Hillary Clinton has slowly become a more visible presence in the 2018 election ... but she is also a frequent Republican target and a burden to Democrats in some parts of the country.

"In an election shaped by the #MeToo movement, where female candidates and voters are likely to drive any Democratic gains, Mr. Clinton finds his legacy tarnished by what some in the party see as his inability to reckon with his sexual indiscretions as president with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, as well as with past allegations of sexual assault. (Mr. Clinton has denied those allegations.) Younger and more liberal voters find little appeal in Mr. Clinton's reputation for ideological centrism on issues like financial regulation and crime." NYT

-- TIM STARKS: "DHS secretary on midterms: 'Most secure election we've ever had'"

-- RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH: "Former Sen. John Warner endorses Spanberger in contest against Brat"

-- BUZZFEED'S ZAHRA HIRJI: "In Florida, Republican Candidates Are Talking About Climate Change - Because They Have To": "Senator Bill Nelson, the Democrat incumbent, and Governor Rick Scott, the Republican challenger, are attacking each other for not doing enough about an environmental scourge that's hurting beachfront business: toxic algae.

"And in the race for a South Florida House seat, a new attack ad funded by national Republicans - yes, Republicans - alleges that Democratic candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell isn't doing enough on climate change and that her campaign is being funded by 'dirty coal money.' She's running against incumbent Representative Carlos Curbelo, one of the few House Republicans that has vocally supported solutions to climate change, such as a carbon tax. Every year, people debate whether environmental issues actually matter in elections. ... But in Florida in 2018, there's no debate: Hurricanes, rising seas, and algal blooms are influencing voters." BuzzFeed

CLICKER -- "'Fired Up' Voters in 18 States Are Outpacing 2014 Early Ballot Counts," by NYT's Audrey Carlsen: "Populous states like Texas, which has a closely watched Senate race and a handful of competitive House races this year, are giving a big boost to overall advance voting turnout. But early turnout is high even in some states without competitive elections, like Maryland and Louisiana." NYT

EARLY VOTERS! -- CBS' FIN GOMEZ (@finnygo): "NEW: @PressSec confirms to CBS that POTUS and FLOTUS voted a couple weeks ago by absentee ballot. (to NY) per @kkrawchenko."

ON THE BORDER ... "Troops Deploy to Parts of Border Where Migrant Caravans Are Deemed Most Likely to Go," by WSJ's Nancy Youssef in Washington and Alicia Caldwell in Yuma, Ariz.: "Almost 1,000 U.S. troops have been deployed near three areas along the U.S.-Mexican border where U.S. officials have assessed migrants and asylum seekers from Central America are most likely to try to enter the country in coming weeks.

"Troops are in place around McAllen and Brownsville, in Texas' Rio Grande Valley; San Ysidro, Calif., south of San Diego; and Nogales, Ariz. ... There are no troops deployed at any of the dozens of ports of entry between the two countries. Instead, they are in nearby staging areas." WSJ

HMM ... "Nigerian Army Uses Trump's Words to Justify Fatal Shooting of Rock-Throwing Protesters," by NYT's Dionne Searcey in Dakar, Senegal, and Emmanuel Akinwotu in Abuja, Nigeria: "Amnesty International as well as leaders of the protest said more than 40 people were killed at the march and two other smaller marches, with more than 100 wounded by bullets. A Reuters reporter counted 20 bodies at the main march. ...

"Early Friday morning, the ... Army's official Twitter account posted a video, 'Please Watch and Make Your Deductions,' showing Mr. Trump's anti-migrant speech on Thursday in which he said rocks would be considered firearms if thrown toward the American military at the nation's borders." NYT

ON THE WORLD STAGE -- WAPO'S SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN in Cairo: "Two days after U.S. call for cease-fire, Saudi-led coalition launches new attacks on Yemen": "Clashes erupted in a strategic Yemeni port city and airstrikes pummeled the country's capital on Friday, as the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition launched a fresh offensive ... Friday's assault comes two days after the United States called for a cease-fire and negotiations within 30 days to end the war. The fresh offensive could be designed to pressure the Houthis to come to the negotiating table, which the rebels have so far avoided." WaPo

-- NYT'S DECLAN WALSH in Cairo: "Yemen Girl Who Turned World's Eyes to Famine Is Dead"

IN PITTSBURGH ... Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette features a banner headline of the Jewish Kaddish, which is recited to mourn the dead and praise God at Friday night services. The front page

TRADE WARS -- "U.S. trade gap grew to $54 billion in September," by AP's Paul Wiseman: "Record imports expanded the U.S. trade deficit for the fourth straight month in September, as the politically sensitive trade deficit in goods with China hit a record. The Commerce Department said Friday that the gap between what America sells and what it buys abroad climbed to $54 billion, up 1.3 percent from $53.3 billion in August and the highest level since February. ... Despite his tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and on Chinese goods, the deficit so far this year is up 10.1 percent to $445.2 billion." AP

-- BLOOMBERG'S JENNY LEONARD, SALEHA MOHSIN and JENNIFER JACOBS: "Trump Asks Cabinet to Draft Possible Trade Deal With China"

-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST'S ZHOU XIN and WENDY WU: "Trump to dinner with Xi at G20 summit, but will there be a deal?": "The 'meeting plus dinner,' upgraded at Trump's request from the originally scheduled chat on the sidelines of the G20 summit, could offer more time and a better atmosphere for talks, people familiar with the arrangements told the South China Morning Post.

"A source said Trump would postpone his departure from Argentina to make the dinner happen, suggesting he was keen to reach a deal with Xi. The development comes after the two leaders spoke by telephone on Thursday." SCMP

CAITLIN OPRYSKO: "Judge rules in favor of Trump administration in California federal lands case"

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- "The VA Shadow Rulers' Signature Program Is 'Trending Towards Red,'" by ProPublica's Isaac Arnsdorf: "When senators asked Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie in September about the three Trump supporters who've been quietly shaping the agency's agenda from the president's Mar-a-Lago resort, he minimized his interactions with the trio, saying they'd had a single meeting on a seemingly dry subject: electronic medical records. As unexciting as that might seem, it is a subject that will shape the agency for decades to come. ...

"The Mar-a-Lago Crowd and the White House frustrated efforts to hire a qualified leader to run the project, according to interviews. The people now in charge have no experience in health care. They have gone against expert advice. And they have been consumed by infighting. A key lawmaker has called the program's leadership 'deteriorating and rudderless.'" ProPublica

AFTERNOON READ -- MICHAEL GRUNWALD: "How Everything Became the Culture War": "McCain is dead, bipartisanship is just about dead ... President Donald Trump has pioneered a new politics of perpetual culture war, relentlessly rallying his supporters against kneeling black athletes, undocumented Latino immigrants and soft-on-crime, weak-on-the-border Democrats. He reverses the traditional relationship between politics and governance, weaponizing policy to mobilize his base rather than mobilizing his base to change policy. And in the Trump era, just about every policy issue is a wedge issue ...

"As long as America keeps sorting itself into two factions divided by geography, ethnicity and ideology, pitting a multiracial team of progressives who live in cities and inner-ring suburbs against a white team of conservatives who live in exurbs and rural areas, this is what debates about public policy ... will look like. We will twist the facts into our partisan narratives. The self-inflicted wounds will infect more and more of our lives. And if you want something else to worry about, consider where it might be spreading next." POLITICO Magazine

AFTERNOON LISTEN -- BONUS WOMEN RULE PODCAST: As a potential new wave of female legislators may be headed to Capitol Hill on the heels of the midterm elections, ANNA recently talked to two women behind the women on Capitol Hill -- NATALIE ARMIJO, chief of staff for Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and CAREN STREET, chief of staff for Rep. Karen Bass, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

RHONDA FOXX, chief of staff to Rep. Alma Adams, teed up the conversation, and Sen. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND stopped by as well. "Everybody needs a voice from their community," Armijo said. "To have diversity in the halls of Congress is definitely needed." Listen and subscribe

MEDIAWATCH -- Don Peck and Denise Wills will be print editor and print deputy editor at The Atlantic. Peck previously was a deputy editor and Wills previously was features editor.

TV TONIGHT -- Bob Costa sits down with Jake, PBS NewsHour's Yamiche Alcindor, the Cook Political Report's Amy Walter and NYT's Carl Hulse on PBS' "Washington Week" at 8 p.m.

TV SUNDAY -- We mistakenly included inaccurate listings for this weekend's "Fox News Sunday" in this morning's Playbook. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and a panel with Brit Hume, Karl Rove, Marie Harf and Juan Williams will be on the show.

ENGAGED -- Billy Gribbin, communications strategist and chief speechwriter for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), proposed to Sondra Clark, director for digital marketing at the White House and adviser to Kellyanne Conway. Gribbin proposed on Halloween in between trick-or-treaters over a bucket of candy. Pic (h/t Trump alum Jessica Anderson)

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Amy Shuart, staff director for the Social Security Subcommittee on House Ways and Means, married Pete Gingrich, a senior manager for Accenture Federal Services. "The couple wed in Blacksburg, Va., on top of War Memorial Chapel on her grandparent's 67th and sister's 6th wedding anniversaries." Pic


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