Playbook: Cringe at the Gridiron — and on the Sunday shows

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With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine

DRIVING THE DAY

TRUMP PUTS GOP CANDIDATES IN HOT SEAT — Watching this morning’s Sunday shows, we can’t help but notice that we’re back to every Republican interview being about something DONALD TRUMP has said — causing the interview subject to squirm while generally either avoiding criticizing Trump and/or reiterating their support for him anyway.

Yesterday, Trump said something that we expect every major Republican elected official will — and, frankly, should — be asked about in the days ahead: suggesting that America will face a “bloodbath” if JOE BIDEN wins reelection.

“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it,” Trump said at a rally in Ohio. “It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.’”

Trump world has responded by suggesting that there’s a context for the comment: In the speech, he was talking about the auto industry and the potential for economic losses against China. That’s a fair point. But we’d note he also said “That’s going to be the least of it,” suggesting a wider lens than simply autos.

But there’s also a context for the entire speech, which came after an announcer directed the audience to “please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated Jan. 6 hostages.” Trump then saluted the audience, and the speaker system played a recorded version of the national anthem as sung by participants in the insurrection.

What they said on the Sunday shows …

  • Sen. MIKE ROUNDS (R-S.D.) on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I talk in a different format than what the former president does. It’s different than the way that he says it. … I’m endorsing the Republican nominee for the presidency. And if that’s Mr. Trump, then that’s the best choice of the two choices that we have got.”
  • Sen. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.) on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “You could also look at the definition of ‘bloodbath’ and it could be an economic disaster. And so if he’s speaking about the auto industry, in particular in Ohio, then you can take it a little bit more context. … The general tone of the speech is why many Americans continue to wonder, ‘Should President Trump be president?’”
  • Rep. MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio), who represents the Ohio district where Trump spoke yesterday, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I want to congratulate you, Martha, that you correctly identified that the president’s statements concerning ‘bloodbath’ were about what would happen in the auto industry. … I think certainly there are statements that he makes that many Americans would not agree with, and many Americans would agree with it.”

EXCLUSIVE: WH, GOP BORDER FUNDING TALKS DERAIL — Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Negotiations between the White House and House Republicans over funding for border-related matters are going off the rails.

Lawmakers have until Friday to fund the rest of the government and avert a partial shutdown. But this morning, the White House reached out to us to complain that Republicans were “playing politics” with appropriations for the Homeland Security Department, the thorniest of the six appropriations bills that remain.

“Republicans want to underfund DHS, which makes the border less secure and the country less safe,” a White House official said, arguing that Republicans are trying to “sow chaos on the border ahead of November” after tanking the Senate’s bipartisan border security bill.

Yesterday, we’re told, Republicans rejected a Democratic offer to funnel $1.56 billion in additional funding to secure the border — a request that comes as border officials are bracing for a surge this spring as the weather warms. White House chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS and counselor STEVE RICCHETTI, we’re told, “made it clear” to Speaker MIKE JOHNSON that Republicans proposed funding levels will cripple border security. The standoff raises the stakes that we could see yet another continuing resolution for DHS.

“This means less agents to secure our border, less officers to protect the traveling public, less people to go after drug traffickers than today, less detention beds than today, as well as diminished capacity to respond to disasters, cybersecurity incidents and national security threats,” the official said.

“Republicans have always said we will provide all the resources necessary for enforcement, but that that could never be a blank check to simply ‘manage’ people into the country and bail out sanctuary cities like New York,” a senior GOP House source said. We’re also told by a senior Hill aide that the White House rejected a DHS full-year CR last night.

Good Sunday morning, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

THE NO. 1 RULE OF POLITICAL COMEDY — We’ve sat through a number of these highbrow — often awkward — Washington dinners over the years. And after each one, we observe the same truism: When it comes to politicians doing comedy, self-deprecation is the name of the game.

Poke fun at yourself and your party? You’ll get the audience roaring. Lambast the other side too much? You just look mean-spirited.

Last night’s Gridiron dinner — featuring speeches from Republican Utah Gov. SPENCER COX and Democratic Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER — was the umpteenth example of that same lesson.

HOW TO DO IT — First up was Cox, who followed this golden rule to the letter.

He dove in by cracking jokes about his little-known reputation, suggesting he shouldn’t even be in attendance at the fancy dinner. He said he was the “second choice” for GOP speaker after Virginia Gov. GLENN YOUNGKIN — who, said Cox, is “six-foot-five, handsome, played college basketball, went to Harvard and is worth $300 million” — canceled.

“We’re basically twins — in a Schwarzenegger/DeVito sort of way.”

There was more: “They don’t usually let farm kids like me into rooms like this,” he said, pausing. “Unless you count January 6th.”

Announcing that he hailed from Utah, Cox added: “Oh, I’m sorry. I should explain: Utah is a state between Tyson’s Corner and California,” referencing the ritzy Virginia suburb. “You might think, being from a small town in Utah, that I’m not very smart. But I promise that nothing I say tonight … will change your mind.

But the best part of the speech? He dragged his own party mercilessly over and over and over.

— On the modern GOP’s version of President BILL CLINTON’s famous “I didn’t inhale” quip: “Where I’m from, they say they went to the rally, but didn’t go inside.”

— On watching political experts try to understand rural voters’ obsession with Trump: “I recently watched a great documentary that I thought nailed it. It’s called ‘The Hunger Games.’”

— On Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL’s health issues: “I also reached [out] to my friend Mitch McConnell for some ideas, and he said … ” Cox trailed off, paused and didn’t move. The audience roared. “Anyway, thanks Mitch! You always know just what NOT to say.”

Then he twisted the knife. “In all seriousness, I spoke to Mitch and he said he was OK with that joke. Well … he implied it. … At least he didn’t say no.”

Don’t get us wrong: Cox had some lines that bombed. He also hit Dems a few times, and mocked Biden’s age. But overall, he nailed it.

HOW NOT TO DO IT — Then, there was Whitmer.

She actually started off strong, needling the Gridiron for not allowing women in for much of its history. “On a night when you have the first woman vice president and ‘that woman from Michigan,’ … we’re still starting with Cox and Balz,” she said, referring to the Utah governor and Gridiron Club President DAN BALZ.

But then, she fell flat, with jokes that took aim at Republicans, went easy on Democrats and punchlines that often fizzled out.

— On the Jan. 6 clash between Trump and MIKE PENCE: “The last president wanted to hang his vice president, but [Biden administration officials want] to hang with each other. That’s nice.”

— On KATIE BRITT’s much criticized SOTU response: “She outdid me. I did the response four years ago, and no one remembers it. Sen. Britt’s? No one will ever forget it.”

— On why Youngkin “loves his red vests”: “Your arms don’t get cold at book burnings, do they?”

Whitmer did make a few self-deprecating jokes. Kinda. She quipped that people mostly know her as that woman in Michigan who could someday run for president. “She joked about being 52 — “or as DON LEMON would put it … ‘past my prime.’” And, in fairness, she did have one of the best lines of the night: “As governor, I’ve been able to get a lot done by extending my hand across the aisle — and not in a LAUREN BOEBERT kind of way.”

But overall, as Whitmer spoke, the crowd was reaching for wine and trying to avoid eye contact with the GOP guests at their table — many who were roaring when Cox made fun of their own party, but didn’t take well when Whitmer did the same.

AS FOR THE PRESIDENT — President Biden also mostly followed that rule. While he didn’t speak long — and much of his address was quite serious, not funny — the president grilled himself as much as Republicans.

He said he got rave SOTU reviews because “the expectations were so low, I just had to show up and remember who the president is.” He joked that his speech, which started after 10 p.m., was “six hours past my bedtime.” And he said he hates to see McConnell — a year older than him — leave leadership “in his prime.”

On his way out the door, Biden chatted up a few reporters on the rope line — and suggested he might debate Trump. When CNN’s KAITLAN COLLINS asked if he’d take the former president on head-to-head, he said: “Let’s see if he’s serious.”

JMart asked Biden if he thought Trump really wanted to debate. “I don’t know what the hell he wants,” Biden said. And when Collins offered to hold the debate on her show and moderate, Biden joked that “that increases the prospects” he’d do it.

After he regaled Cox, telling him he did a good job, ASHLEY BIDEN stepped in to grab her dad’s hand. “I gotta take my date home,” she said.

More on the Gridiron from WaPo … WSJ … AP

SUNDAY BEST …

— Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, responding to Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER’s speech criticizing the Israeli government, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I think what he said is totally inappropriate. It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something that Israel, the Israeli public does on its own, and we’re not a banana republic. … This is a wake-up call to Senator Schumer. The majority of Israelis support the policies of my government. It’s not a fringe government. It represents the policies supported by the majority of the people. If Senator Schumer opposes these policies, he’s not opposing me. He’s opposing the people of Israel.” Watch the clip

— JOHN KIRBY on Schumer’s Israel speech, on “Fox News Sunday”: “The president believes it’s up to the Israeli people and the Israeli government to determine if and when there’s going to be new elections, but … as he said shortly after Leader Schumer’s very passionate speech, he recognizes that the leader was speaking for a lot of Americans who feel the same way about the way the war’s going.”

— Rep. NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) on Schumer’s speech and Netanyahu’s reaction, on “State of the Union”: “The prime minister’s presentation proved the necessity of Chuck Schumer’s speech. Chuck Schumer’s speech was an act of courage, an act of love for Israel. … What is wrong with advocating for elections in a democracy?”

— Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on the TikTok bill, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I’d like to see the final language but I’m certainly predisposed to vote for it.”

On whether he would run on a No Labels ticket: “The answer is no.”

Asked whether he will endorse and/or vote for Trump: “At this point, all I’ll say is that I plan to vote for a Republican for the presidency of the United States.”

TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

At the White House

Biden hosted a St. Patrick’s Day brunch with Catholic leaders at 11:30 a.m. and speak at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at 5 p.m.

VP KAMALA HARRIS has nothing on her public schedule.

PLAYBOOK READS

9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR

1. BIDEN’S BITE: At a White House meeting in January, when Biden was notified of his sagging poll numbers in the battleground states Michigan and Georgia — a result of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war — the president “began to shout and swear,” telling the group present that he “believed he had been doing what was right, despite the political fallout,” NBC’s Peter Nicholas, Courtney Kube and Carol Lee report, citing a lawmaker familiar with the private meeting.

The episode is emblematic of the “rising alarm” among Democrats “as the sitting president struggles to gain ground against his defeated predecessor. Frustrations rippling through the party have reached the top, with Biden at times second-guessing travel decisions and communications strategies that have left much of the electorate clueless about his record, interviews with nearly 20 lawmakers, present and past administration officials and Biden allies show.”

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign announced this morning that it raked in a $53 million fundraising haul in February, our colleague Elena Schneider reports. Trump and the RNC haven’t yet released their February totals.

2. DISINFORMATION DIGEST: Trump and his vast network of allies have waged a “war over disinformation” in the years since he left office. What began mostly as a response to the fallout of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack has morphed into “a coordinated effort to block what they viewed as a dangerous effort to censor conservatives. They have unquestionably prevailed,” NYT’s Jim Rutenberg and Steven Lee Myers report. “Waged in the courts, in Congress and in the seething precincts of the internet, that effort has eviscerated attempts to shield elections from disinformation in the social media era.

“It tapped into — and then, critics say, twisted — the fierce debate over free speech and the government’s role in policing content. … While little noticed by most Americans, the effort has helped cut a path for Mr. Trump’s attempt to recapture the presidency. Disinformation about elections is once again coursing through news feeds, aiding Mr. Trump as he fuels his comeback with falsehoods about the 2020 election.”

Related read: “In on the Joke: The Comedic Trick Trump Uses to Normalize His Behavior,” by Michael Kruse for POLITICO Mag: “His destabilizing rhetoric has gotten even more dark. It’s what’s made the laughter all the more stark.”

3. VEEPSTAKES: NICOLE SHANAHAN is emerging as a top contender to take up the mantle of ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.’s running mate, Puck’s Teddy Schleifer reports. “Lots of buzz in @RobertFKennedy’s circle that Shanahan — a philanthropist and a native of Oakland, where the Kennedy VP announcement is soon to take place — that Shanahan could be the choice,” Schleifer writes, noting that no decision is official as of yet. Shanahan is the ex-wife of Google co-founder SERGEY BRIN.

A few more notes on Shanahan from Teddy: “Nicole was the big RFK donor behind the Super Bowl ad. $4 million. But she didn’t just pay for it. She thought of the whole idea. Shanahan has money to finance the campaign. I don’t know her net worth. But she used to be married to one of the richest people in the world! That matters to RFK’s team.”

4. PRIMARY COLORS: In Maryland’s Democratic Senate primary, Rep. DAVID TRONE is working from a unique angle. Routinely tabbed as one of the wealthiest members of Congress, Trone is “pitching himself to voters as a champion of criminal justice reform and advocate of giving second chances to those who’ve transitioned out of the penal system, while using his fortune to forge alliances among Black activists and local politicians,” our colleague Brakkton Booker reports from Baltimore. “Winning a Senate race in a state like Maryland, one of the most diverse in the nation, requires coalition building with groups of voters that may not be natural or obvious fits for their campaigns. But few are attempting to execute an effort as ambitious as what Trone is attempting to pull off.”

5. FED UP: “The Fed’s Challenge: Has It Hit the Brakes Hard Enough?” by WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “The Fed meets this week to decide whether, when and by how much it should cut rates later this year. A key question it must answer: Just how tight is its monetary policy?”

6. KNOWING JUAN MERCHAN: The New York judge goes under the microscope of AP’s Jennifer Peltz: “Yes, Merchan could become the first judge ever to oversee a former U.S. president’s criminal trial: Donald Trump’s hush money case. But on a recent morning, the judge was attending to a much less conspicuous cases in Manhattan’s once-weekly Mental Health Court, where selected mentally ill offenders agree to closely monitored treatment in hopes of getting charges dismissed and their lives on track. As Merchan talked with defendants about their progress, stumbles, jobs, families and even workouts, it was a far cry from the upcoming trial in which Trump will be at the defense table, but the judge also will be in a hot seat.”

7. THE LIMITS OF PROTECTION: “Some states are fighting to protect voters from doxxing. They’re losing,” by Alfred Ng: “The suits have turned American voter records into a politically charged flashpoint — a contest between bipartisan public officials who want citizens to have a measure of protection for their personal information, and conservative groups that see ‘election transparency’ as a goal that trumps privacy rights. They also highlight the unusual status of voter registration records in the U.S: they’re among the few pieces of personal information required by federal law to be publicly available.”

8. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: “As Gaza war rages, U.S. military footprint expands across Middle East,” by WaPo’s Steve Hendrix, Susannah George and Missy Ryan: “After the wind-down of the ‘forever wars’ in Iraq and Afghanistan, the administration had wanted to pivot and direct its foreign policy power toward countering Russian aggression and Chinese expansionism. But the morning of Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in Israel, changed all that. Now, the Pentagon finds itself increasingly involved in the region’s most intractable conflict, a widening role that reflects both Biden’s staunch support for Israel and his mounting frustration with how it has prosecuted the subsequent war.”

Related read: “Musk’s SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say,” by Reuters’ Joey Roulette and Marisa Taylor

9. KREMLINOLOGY: “What Another Six Years of Putin May Bring for Russia and the World,” by WSJ’s Ann Simmons: VLADIMIR PUTIN, “now 71 years old, doesn’t just want to win. Analysts who follow the country’s politics say he needs to win big if he wants a free hand in reviving what he says are Russia’s conservative Orthodox traditions and, ultimately, prevailing in Ukraine and in his broader confrontation with the West.”

Related read: “Russians Know Putin Will Be Re-Elected, but Many Worry What Comes Next,” by NYT’s Ivan Nechepurenko

PLAYBOOKERS

IN MEMORIAM — “Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Swope, age 79, passed away on March 9, 2024, of congestive lung failure. … Always known as a woman ahead of her time, Betty joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1967, looking for a career that allowed her to travel and to serve her country. She remained in the Foreign Service for her entire career serving with dedication and distinction in multiple countries including Portugal, Spain, Mexico, France, and Egypt. … Over the years, Betty was the recipient of a number of State Department awards and was an active member of Executive Women at State and the Mentor Program.” Read the full obituary

SPOTTED at a signing ceremony and celebration for the newly announced partnership between Northeastern University and Queen’s University Belfast on Capitol Hill on Thursday afternoon: James Applegate, David Madigan, Jack Cline, Andrew Ginger, Ian Greer, Margaret Topping and Eamon Deeny.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Lucy van Schaijik, senior director at White House Writers Group, and Nick van Schaijik, consultant at Boston Consulting Group, welcomed Bennett Jules van Schaijik on Friday. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) … Laurel Strategies’ Alan Fleischmann … former Reps. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) and Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) … Tim Burger … former CIA Director Michael Hayden … Eileen O’Connor of the Rockefeller Foundation … Hill+Knowlton’s Judy Stecker … Sarah Owermohle … Patrick Murphy of Murphy Strategics … Mark Paustenbach … Joe Hines of Stand Up America … CNN’s Kate Sullivan … Stefano Dotti … NBC’s Sally Bronston Katz … Carl Leubsdorf … NRDC’s Mark Drajem … Ben Miller of Convergence Media … Tiffany Mullon … Yahoo’s Dylan Stableford … Larry Farnsworth … Jon Blum … Mary Schaper … Anna Rafdal … Andrew Kovalcin of Advanced Advocacy … Adeline DeYoung of Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez’s (D-N.M.) office … Veronica Pollock … Alex Ball of Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-N.J.) office … Mike Goscinski … Angie Goff … GW’s Ethan Porter … Myrlie Evers-Williams (91) … 270toWin’s Allan Keiter … Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid’s Paula Short … American Conservation Coalition’s Luke Dretske … NewsNation’s Hank Butler … Hensey Fenton of Covington and Burling (3-0) … Jay Malak of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s (R-Pa.) office … Connor Foxwell … Trey Sherman

Send Playbookers tips to [email protected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.