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Presented by Delta Air Lines: Playbook is POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the day Nov 18, 2018 View in browser
By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman and Daniel Lippman

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DRIVING THE DAY
SNEAK PEEK ... THE PRESIDENT'S WEEK: Monday: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP and First Lady Melania Trump will participate in the delivery of the White House Christmas tree. The president and vice president will have lunch. Tuesday: TRUMP will participate in the presentation of the National Thanksgiving Turkey and then he will fly to Palm Beach, Fla.

SUNDAY BEST ... PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP sat down with CHRIS WALLACE on "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" ... He gave himself an A+ when Wallace asked him how he measures up with presidents like FDR, Abe Lincoln, George Washington and Ronald Reagan.

-- WALLACE: "There are a number of stories out there that you're angry about the midterms, about your treatment in the media, about the way you were treated when you were in Paris. One story even said that you were in a 'cocoon of bitterness and resentment.' ... We'll get in to all the details later but how dark is your mood?"

TRUMP: "It's very light, it's fake news, it's disgusting fake news. I read a front page story in the Washington Post, they never even called me, nobody ever calls me. You know, they hear - I don't even think they have sources I think they just make it up like it's fiction. And I will tell you I'm extremely upbeat, the White House is running like a well-oiled machine, it's doing really well, I have great people.

"I will make some changes but not very many. I'm very happy with my cabinet, other than, you know a couple of exceptions and even there I'm not unhappy. And I will tell you that it's so wrong, the reporting about me is so wrong. I'm loving what I'm doing, I did well in France, I did have a problem where I wasn't able to go to a cemetery because the Secret Service would not let me do it."

-- TRUMP on Mira Ricardel: "[S]he'll never be put in the United Nations, let me put it that way." WALLACE: "Meaning she's not too diplomatic?" TRUMP: "She's not too diplomatic, but she's talented."

-- TRUMP on John Kelly: "There are certain things I love what he does. And there are certain things that I don't like that he does -- that aren't his strength. It's not that he doesn't do -- you know he works so hard. He's doing an excellent job in many ways. There are a couple of things where it's just not his strength. It's not his fault, it's not his strength."

-- TRUMP on his decision-making process: WALLACE: "How, when you're sitting at the desk, how do you make decisions? I mean do you agonize over them, do you second guess yourself?"

TRUMP: "I don't think about it, I don't think about, you know, how I make them. I make what I consider the right decision, I have great people working at the White House, they don't get enough credit. I have some tremendously talented people and I will talk to them and sometimes I'll have them go at each other, I do like that, you know let them go at each other. And they do. They've very competitive people and at the end I make a decision and it's certainly - on the economy, a lot of things we've been - we've made a lot of good decisions and I want to keep it that way."

JAKE TAPPER spoke to SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-ARIZ.) on CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": TAPPER about a potential presidential campaign against President Trump: "When are you going to decide? When are you going to tell us in the media and the world what you're going to do?"

FLAKE: "Well, I've said all along somebody needs to run on the Republican side. If nothing else, to remind Republicans what it means to be conservative. What being a conservative really means and what it means to be decent, as well. I think that the future of the party is with people with an optimistic vision moving ahead. I don't think that will be me. I think there are better candidates out there. But somebody needs to run."

Good Sunday morning. NANCY PELOSI has sent out a list of groups that have endorsed her. The full list

-- REP.-ELECT JOE NEGUSE (D-COLO.) tells CBS' MARGARET BRENNAN on "FACE THE NATION" that he will support NANCY PELOSI: "Look I -- it's fascinating to me that it's the question that we got most often, at least the Democrats did, here during orientation, which is particularly interesting since there's no other candidate that I'm aware of that's running against Leader Pelosi.

"I intend to support her. You know I think that it's important that we have steady leadership right now. And I found it pretty heartening over the course of the last week some of the developments around it becoming clear that this leadership team is going to work to try to make sure that everyone has a seat at the table. You saw a message from Leader Pelosi's office by way of example around making sure that there is progressive representation on key committees in the Congress and the Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders endorsing her shortly thereafter so. So yeah, that's where I am."

REP.-ELECT CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA.) also told Brennan she'd support Pelosi: "Right now she's the only person who's running so it would appear as though that's where my vote would go. And right now I believe that she's an effective person in that job. ... I believe right now it looks as though it's heading in the direction that she will be our speaker. I think she's a pretty powerful person and capable person."

-- PELOSI has to be feeling good. People keep coming out in support of her, while the "rebel" letter is nowhere to be found.

MAKING FRIENDS ... ALEX THOMPSON: "Ocasio-Cortez backs campaign to primary fellow Democrats": "Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Saturday threw her weight behind a new national campaign to mount primaries against incumbent Democrats deemed to be ideologically and demographically out of step with their districts.

"The incoming star congresswoman from New York again put the Democratic establishment on notice that she and activist groups on the left aren't content with a Democratic-controlled House: They are determined to move the party to the left. ... The incoming congresswoman's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, a co-founder of Justice Democrats, was blunter. 'We need new leaders, period,' he said on the call. 'We gotta primary folks.'" POLITICO

-- IT WILL BE INTERESTING to see if AOC will pay DCCC dues.

THE NEW HOUSE REPUBLICAN CONFERENCE: MEN ... WAPO'S PAUL KANE: "House GOP women confront a political crisis - their party is mostly men"


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TRUMP'S NEW REALITY ...

-- SABRINA RODRIGUEZ: "Trump's Mexico-Canada deal hits trouble in Congress": "Democrats, whose votes Trump needs to pass the deal in the House, say they want to see stronger protections against pollution and climate change, improved labor standards in Mexico and certainty that the U.S. will regain jobs lost to Mexico. And they want assurances the deal can be enforced.

"Meanwhile, a group of 40 Republicans is protesting new protections for LGBT workers that Canada insisted on, potentially imperiling some GOP support.

"If he's blocked in Congress, Trump will be facing a major setback on an issue where he's already been claiming credit for delivering on a campaign promise. He'll be left with the unattractive choices of leaving NAFTA in place, heading back to the negotiating table, or pulling out of the deal entirely, as he's repeatedly threatened." POLITICO

-- KYLE CHENEY: "Republicans battle to defend Trump from threat of impeachment": "The audition to become President Donald Trump's most visible defender in Congress - and lead the fight against any impeachment proceedings - is in full swing.

"One of Trump's fiercest allies, Rep. Jim Jordan, on Friday began flirting openly with a bid to serve as the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, the panel where a flood of Democratic-led investigations, and potential impeachment, will begin. ...

"Republicans' pick will be critical for Trump and his party. The new House Democratic majority has detailed a long list of targets for investigation, from Trump's business entanglements to his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. Even after Republicans were routed in the midterms, GOP leaders are vowing to aggressively defend against Democratic probes, which they've labeled 'presidential harassment.'" POLITICO

MARK MAZZETTI and MAGGIE HABERMAN SCOOP on NYT A25: "Top White House Official Involved in Saudi Sanctions Resigns": "A top White House official responsible for American policy toward Saudi Arabia resigned on Friday evening, a move that may suggest fractures inside the Trump administration over the response to the brutal killing of the dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

"The official, Kirsten Fontenrose, had pushed for tough measures against the Saudi government, and had been in Riyadh to discuss a raft of sanctions that the American government imposed in recent days against those identified as responsible for the killing, according to two people familiar with the conversations. Specifically, she advocated that Saud al-Qahtani, a top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, be added to the list, and he ultimately was." NYT

-- WAPO'S SHANE HARRIS and JOSH DAWSEY: "Trump speaks with CIA about Khashoggi killing, says there will be a report by Tuesday"

-- CHUCK TODD speaks with SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) on NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS" (Graham appeared from Kiawah Island): GRAHAM: "If [MBS] is going to be the face and the voice of Saudi Arabia going forward, the Kingdom will have a hard time on the world stage. They're an important ally, but when it comes to the crown prince, he's irrational, he's unhinged, and I think he's done a lot of damage to the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. And I have no intention of working with him ever again."

-- TRUMP told Chris Wallace he won't listen to the tape of Khashoggi being killed. TRUMP: "Because it's a suffering tape, it's a terrible tape. I've been fully briefed on it, there's no reason for me to hear it, in fact I said to the people should I? They said: 'you really shouldn't, there's no reason.' I know exactly - I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it."

BREAKING ... BRENDAN BUCK, chief counselor to Paul Ryan, and REBECCA BERG of CNN wed yesterday in a small ceremony at the Inn at Little Washington with their families in attendance. NYT appears to have gotten the scoop -- unforgivable, Brendan -- but he sent us an email, so Playbook at least gets to tie. NYT announcement ... Wedding pic by Tom Williams ... Another pic

-- MORE RYAN-WORLD WEDDING NEWS ... JENNA SAKWA and JAKE KASTAN got married yesterday at Franklin Hills Country Club in Franklin, Mich. Jake is Ryan's political director, and Jenna is director of media affairs. Dan Senor led the hora in his New York Jets kippah.

SPOTTED: Speaker Paul Ryan and Janna Ryan, Dan Senor and Campbell Brown, Tommy Andrews and Mollie Thorsen, Mike and Dr. Kristen Ricci, AshLee Strong, Doug Andres, Cat and Mike Reynolds, Zeke Miller, Jenna Gibson, Olivia Perez-Cubas, Kevin Seifert, Jeremy Adler, Lauren Fine, Corry Bliss, Colton Malkerson, Chris Marroletti, Eli, Jenna, Henry, and Nate Miller, Garrett and Suzanne Jackson, Chris Riklin, Jackie Rooney, Matt Borges, Doug Preisse, Vanessa Day, Daniel and Mary Kroese, and Jonathan Carroll. Pic from the wedding ... NYT announcement ... Two pics of Paul Ryan with his staff

-- OBAMA ALUMNI: Steve Krupin, a managing director at SKDKnickerbocker and a former Obama WH and State speechwriter, and Clare Doody, a senior editor and speechwriter at Pivotal Ventures, Melinda Gates' executive office, got married last night at the National Women in the Arts Building in Washington. Pool report: "The late night queso fountain and frozen margaritas stole the show." Wedding pic ... Pic with all the Obama alumni ... NYT announcement

SPOTTED: Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer, Liz Kenigsberg, Adam Hodge, Max Gleischman and Rachel Racusen, Brent Colburn, Max Lesko, Allison Zellman, Dan Kanninen, Cody Keenan, Kristen Bartoloni, Buffy Wicks, Paulette Aniskoff, Diana Doukas, Jeremy Bird, Betsy Hoover, Tom Reynolds, Kip Wainscott and Amy Dudley, Dan and Meg Reilly, David Duberstein, Cara Camacho, Sam Brown, Stephanie Epner, Carlos Monje, Chris Wyant, Lauren Kidwell, Dave Wilkinson, Mary Sotos and Nick Conger.


DEPT. OF LATE BREAKING RESULTS ...

-- O.C. REGISTER'S JORDAN GRAHAM: "Democrats control all Orange County House seats as Gil Cisneros wins 39th Congressional District, completing blue sweep": "The 39th was the last to flip of the five Southern California Republican-held seats targeted by Democrats this cycle. ... Cisneros, a Navy veteran and former Republican whose life changed when he won a $266 million jackpot in 2010, will represent a district spanning Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. The seat is currently represented by 13-term GOP Congresswoman Ed Royce, who in January opted to retire." OCR

-- MARC CAPUTO in MIAMI: "DeSantis wins Florida gubernatorial race as Gillum concedes": "Andrew Gillum, the Florida Democratic Party's first African-American candidate for governor, officially called it quits Saturday and congratulated Republican Ron DeSantis as the governor-elect of Florida. ... The 39-year-old mayor of Tallahassee came closer than any other Democrat in 20 years to beating a Republican candidate for governor. Gillum's unlikely win in the Democratic primary and his dynamic speaking style earned him a national fan base, and signaled that he's likely to run for office again because, he said, his campaign was part of a 'movement.'" POLITICO

DAMAGE CONTROL ... NYT'S MIKE ISAAC in SAN FRANCISCO: "Zuckerberg Defends Company in Friday Meeting With Employees": "In an hourlong video conference broadcast to Facebook offices around the world, Mr. Zuckerberg responded to questions from employees on a range of topics, from Facebook's behavior over the past 18 months to how it should handle leaks to the media, according to three people familiar with the discussion but not willing to discuss it publicly because it was a private meeting. The idea that Facebook tried to 'cover up anything' was dead wrong, an impassioned Mr. Zuckerberg said, using an expletive in his response, according to these people. Some employees responded with muted
applause and cheers." NYT

-- YIKES! -- BLOOMBERG: "Facebook Woes Sap $17.4 Billion of Zuckerberg's Wealth This Year"

SNL LAST NIGHT -- "Message from Jeff Bezos": "Jeff Bezos (Steve Carell) responds to President Trump's criticisms about the locations of Amazon's new headquarters." 3-min. video

PLAYBOOK READS


PHOTO DU JOUR: California Gov.-elect Gavin Newson, FEMA Director Brock Long, President Donald Trump, Paradise Mayor Jody Jones and Gov. Jerry Brown tour the Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park in Paradise, California on Saturday. | Paul Kitagaki Jr.-Pool/Getty Images

CARLA MARINUCCI in LOS ANGELES, "RIP, California GOP: Republicans lash out after midterm election debacle: 'There is no message. There is no messenger. There is no money. And there is no infrastructure,' says one top Republican": "In the wake of a near-political annihilation in California that has left even longtime conservative stronghold Orange County bereft of a single Republican in the House of Representatives, a growing chorus of GOP loyalists here say there's only one hope for reviving the flatlining party: Blow it up and start again from scratch.

"That harsh assessment comes as Republicans survey the damage from the devastation of a 'blue tsunami' in California which wiped out five GOP-held House seats - with more still threatened - while handing every statewide seat and a supermajority to the Democrats in both houses of the state legislature this week." POLITICO

WRAPPING UP ... "Abrams plans suit to seek cure to problems in Georgia's voting process," by Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Tia Mitchell and Greg Bluestein: "Her campaign for governor may be over, but Stacey Abrams is not going away. She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she's not ruling out a run for another public office, perhaps as early as 2020.

"But before she considers a new campaign, she is throwing her energy behind a new federal lawsuit alleging mismanagement and malfeasance at nearly every level of Georgia's electoral process. 'That does not happen in a functional democracy, and this cannot be repeated in any future election,' she said Saturday. 'Georgia is too important of a state, and democracy is too core to who we are.'" AJC


BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- "The 'Madman' Behind Trump's Trade Theory," by Annie Lowrey in December's Atlantic: "Peter Navarro-a business-school professor, a get-rich guru, a former Peace Corps member, and a former Democrat-is among the most important generals in Trump's trade war." Atlantic

-- "The President's Coal Warrior," by Jeff Goodell in Rolling Stone: "Inside EPA head Andrew Wheeler's highly effective campaign to sacrifice public health in favor of the fossil-fuel industry." Rolling Stone

-- "How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet," by Bill McKibben in the New Yorker: "With wildfires, heat waves, and rising sea levels, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. But the fossil-fuel industry continues its assault on the facts." New Yorker

-- "The Plan to Sell Texas to Great Britain," by Mark Sussman on JStor.org - per Longreads.com's description: "When Texas was still an independent republic, abolitionist lawyer Stephen Pearl Andrews tried to sell Texas to Great Britain in order to free Texas's slaves. The thing is, he had no authority to do so." JStor

-- "The Price of Cool: A Teenager, a Juul and Nicotine Addiction," by NYT's Jan Hoffman in Reading, Mass.: "E-cigarettes may help tobacco smokers quit. But the alluring devices can swiftly induce a nicotine habit in teenagers who never smoked. This is the tale of one person's struggle." NYT ... NYT's companion piece, "She Couldn't Quit Smoking. Then She Tried Juul".

-- "The Land That Failed to Fail," by NYT's Philip P. Pan: "The West was sure the Chinese approach would not work. It just had to wait. It's still waiting." NYT

-- "Mad Genius," by Reason magazine's Matt Welch: "The magazine you are reading was the brainchild of a 20-year-old Boston University student nobody had ever heard of named Lanny Friedlander, who stapled together and mailed out the first mimeographed issues from a hopelessly disorganized room at his mother's brick house in Brighton, Massachusetts." Reason

-- "'The Academy Is Largely Itself Responsible for Its Own Peril,'" by Evan Goldstein in the Chronicle of Higher Education: "Jill Lepore on writing the story of America, the rise and fall of the fact, and how women's intellectual authority is undermined." Chronicle

-- "I Found the Best Burger Place in America. And Then I Killed It," by Kevin Alexander in Thrillist -- per the description in Don Van Natta Jr.'s Sunday Long Read newsletter: "What happens when a well-meaning food critic singles out the best burger in America and sends fifty million a***hole burger tourists to a little restaurant incapable of accommodating them all? Nothing good." Thrillist

-- "Jose Mourinho's Last Stand," by Sam Borden in ESPN: "Deliberate isolation. Petty feuds. Constant turmoil. The Manchester United manager wouldn't have it any other way." ESPN (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- "The Voice of the 'Intellectual Dark Web,'" by Amelia Lester in the Nov./Dec. issue of POLITICO Magazine: "Claire Lehmann's online magazine, Quillette, prides itself on publishing 'dangerous' ideas other outlets won't touch. How far is it willing to go?" POLITICO Magazine

PLAYBOOKERS
SPOTTED: Michael Flynn at TD Garden Friday night watching the Celtics beat the Raptors 123-116 -- pic ... Mark Ein, Steve and Jean Case, John and Heidi Fahey and Russ and Norma Ramsey having dinner last night at Café Milano. John Rogers of Goldman Sachs and Susan Rice both came by the table to say hello ...

... John Kerry wearing Yale blue entering Fenway Park in Boston yesterday for "The Game." His team, the Yale Bulldogs, lost to the Harvard Crimson 45-27. ... Al Franken driving down Wisconsin Avenue near the National Cathedral yesterday in an SUV with Minnesota plates ... Rep.-elect Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) in first class on an American Airlines flight from DCA to Miami Saturday morning

BIRTHDAYS: NYT's Sheryl Gay Stolberg ... Megyn Kelly is 48 ... Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker ... NBC News' Heidi Przybyla ... ABC News' Gregory Simmons (h/t Devin Dwyer) ... NAM's Brian Forest ... Carrie Matthews of Hamilton Place Strategies ... Dan Sadlosky, policy adviser to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise ... Politico's Theo Meyer is 3-0 -- subscribe to Politico Influence ... Andrea Stone ... Cassi Gritzmacher, director of corporate comms at Away ... Robert Dougherty, senior LA for Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.) (h/t Samantha Greene) ... Cornyn comms. director Drew Brandewie is 34 ... Abby Tinsley ... Karen Dunn of Boies Schiller Flexner ...

... Tom Namako of BuzzFeed ... Trisha Farr ... Brian Knapp ... Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) is 47 ... Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) is 51 (h/t Tim Griffin) ... Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) is 54 ... former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) is 61 ... Nick Ragone ... Nima Faz ... Arshad Hasan is 38 ... Waldo Tibbetts ... Margaret Capehart ... Gregory Kallenberg ... David Frank ... Noelia Rodriguez ... Hanna Skandera ... Erica DeVos ... Jon Kaplan ... Meg Gage ... Ace Smith ... Jacob Cassady (h/t Brian Sansoni)


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