The Playbook Podcast

A handful of international fronts are simmering with tension as President Donald Trump’s foreign policy agenda expands. The president seemingly backed off taking action in Iran for now, telling reporters that the situation on the ground had improved. The standoff over Greenland is ramping up. Trump once again shifted blame for the stalled Ukraine-Russia negotiations. And the administration announc...

President Donald Trump is ramping up the rhetoric over Iran. Trump is considering a range of options as the death toll from the crackdown on protests in Iran grows higher. The different responses on the table range from the diplomatic to so-called kinetic options, which could involve the military. But the administration’s recent moves in the Western Hemisphere have hampered some of the immediate o...

The Justice Department’s investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell is still sending shockwaves through Washington and beyond. As President Donald Trump prepares to deliver a speech on the economy Tuesday, the headlines are still being dominated by Powell. Scores of Republicans are denouncing the move, and some inside the White House are concerned the push to target Powell is distracting from othe...

Jerome Powell is the latest target of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. The Federal Reserve chair confirmed that DOJ has opened a criminal investigation into his statements to Congress regarding Fed HQ renovations, marking the latest and sharpest escalation of Trump’s monthslong crusade against Powell. Though Trump denied having knowledge of the investigation, he has long pushed Powell...

Affordability was supposed to be the primary focus of 2026 as Republicans try to shore up voter support ahead of the midterms. Instead, nearly every day this year has been dominated by headlines surrounding President Donald Trump’s extraordinary intervention in Venezuela. Whether the Trump administration can successfully tell voters why they should care about the Venezuela action could go a long w...

The Trump administration is pushing forward with its oil-driven agenda in Venezuela. President Donald Trump is set to welcome oil industry executives to the White House later this week to talk about kickstarting production there again. Meanwhile, Trump appears to be easing up on some of the hardline stances he took against other countries in the wake of the shock military action to capture Nicolás...

President Donald Trump touted on Tuesday night that Venezuela’s interim government would turn over billions of dollars worth of oil to the U.S., just days after Nicolás Maduro was toppled. The U.S. plans to sell the oil at market prices, Trump said, adding that he would personally control the proceeds. Meanwhile, administration officials are delivering a bipartisan briefing to senators on the Vene...

President Donald Trump is speaking with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center today for what was originally intended to be a rally-the-troops gathering as a pivotal midterm year kicks off. But the topic driving the majority of headlines this week is Venezuela. Questions swirl about what comes next in the country as various corners of the administration divulge different details. Republican lawma...

President Donald Trump is taking hardline stances on a number of countries in the Western Hemisphere and beyond after the U.S. carried out a stunning military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The two are facing narcoterrorism charges and are due to appear in court on Monday. Meanwhile, Trump rattled the saber toward more nations that could see U.S. intervention o...

Few political stories dominated the headlines and displayed the sharp divisions across the country more in 2025 than redistricting. Under the demands of President Donald Trump, Republicans across the country set out to redraw maps to claw seats into their column as the party tries to protect its slim majority in the House. But Democrats have fought back — with a handful of potential presidential c...

Democrats are fretting about a certain candidate profile in red and purple states that’s giving some in the party heartburn. Much of their consternation is over what they view as ultra-liberal positions that are resistance relics of Trump 1.0 — ones they think won’t age well among median voters in states where Democrats already absorbed setbacks. The vetting intensified after Tennessee Democratic...

The coalition that sent Donald Trump back to the White House appears fragile as Republicans search for a successor who can unite the party once Trump exits the stage. New results from The POLITICO Poll reveal ideological fault lines that could threaten to break up the base of voters who any potential Republican presidential candidate will rely on in 2028. Vice President JD Vance, who many believe...

When President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law in November, he set off a 30-day deadline for the Justice Department to release all the files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now, that day has come as the Justice Department prepares to drop the long-awaited documents. But what the files actually hold remains unclear. Playbook’s Adam Wren an...

President Donald Trump delivered a live address to the nation from the White House in succinct fashion with a sharp focus on the economy on Wednesday night. During the roughly 20-minute speech — which was a far cry from the president’s meandering campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania last week — Trump touted the “progress” that his administration has made in addressing Americans’ cost-of-living con...

Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, set off a media storm on Tuesday after Vanity Fair published a deeply reported account of the White House’s inner circle of operators. The story featured candid comments delivered by Wiles over 11 interviews on a range of issues. Trump and other senior administration officials rushed to defend Wiles, while others privately questioned why she an...

Vice President JD Vance is headed to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to talk about affordability with voters who are feeling the pinch of cost-of-living concerns. Vance’s visit comes exactly one week after President Donald Trump delivered a speech on affordability in Pennsylvania — a sign that the administration is laser-focused on the all-important swing state ahead of the midterms, and perhaps an indica...

Negotiators are engaged in high-level talks to hammer out a peace plan for Ukraine in Berlin, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sounding like he’s ready to cut a deal. Though President Donald Trump did not attend the weekend negotiations with European leaders, he seems poised to swoop in once a legitimate plan is on the table. The question mark looming over the talks, though, is uncerta...

Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates joined POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on this week’s episode of The Conversation to discuss his continued support for vaccine philanthropy, the impact of government aid cuts in global health, AI, vaccine skepticism and much more. The interview took place shortly after the release of The Gates Foundation’s Goalkeepers Report projects, which predicts that child deaths...

The Indiana state Senate on Thursday rejected a proposed congressional map backed by President Donald Trump that would have all but guaranteed an additional two safe Republican seats, dealing a major blow to the president’s nationwide redistricting push. The rejection marks a rare loss for Trump during his second term, as state-level lawmakers flex their own political power in the face of an inten...

President Donald Trump has shaken up the way that America interacts with the rest of the world in nearly every way since he returned to office earlier this year. It’s a reality that is only becoming more apparent as Trump continues to navigate efforts to secure peace in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Longstanding alliances with Europe have taken precedent in the past, but that appears to no longer b...

President Donald Trump made an affordability push on Tuesday night in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, where he spoke for more than an hour-and-a-half. The speech was billed as a major opening salvo in an increasing affordability push from the White House ahead of the midterms. The president clung to the idea that the high day-to-day expenses many Americans are facing is the fault of former President J...

In this special edition of the Playbook Podcast, we're bringing you an interview with President Donald Trump. POLITICO's Dasha Burns sat down with the president for The Conversation to discuss his global influence, especially his involvement in trying to end the Ukraine-Russia war and his evolving relationship with America’s longtime allies in Europe and beyond. Plus, they discuss the situation in...

Major cases coming before the Supreme Court will force the justices to consider the extent of President Donald Trump’s power. Today, the high court will hear oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, which will determine whether a president has the authority to reshape independent federal agencies. And over the weekend, the justices indicated that they would take up the landmark case on birthright cit...

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is no stranger to President Donald Trump’s tariff-forward trade agenda. Greer served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative in Trump’s first administration. But now, it’s Greer who’s at the helm of the president’s tariff implementation strategy — one that has drawn both criticism and praise from surprising places.  “I've also...

The draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at noon today at the Kennedy Center. The event is to determine which countries will fall into each group for the 48-team tournament this summer. But it’s not only a monumental day in the sports world: amid all the typical pageantry will be plenty of politicking. FIFA is plying President Donald Trump with praise and prizes. And Trump will be shaking ha...