Playbook: Why Biden’s blasé about campus turmoil

Presented by the Financial Services Forum

With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine

DRIVING THE DAY

FOR PETE’S SAKE — “Biden administration makes it easier for flyers to get refunds,” by Oriana Pawlyk: “Under the new rule, airlines can’t simply give the passengers a voucher for a future flight. The Transportation Department also issued a rule Wednesday intended to force airlines and third-party ticket bookers to disclose add-on fees for items such as checked bags. … It’s a significant advance for the administration’s tough-cop approach to the airline industry.”

CLICKER — “Inside Donald Trump’s Media Diet,” by Meridith McGraw: “Texts, Truths and Fox: How [DONALD] TRUMP consumes his news in 2024.”

STUDENT DISUNION — On Sunday, President JOE BIDEN couldn’t have been clearer: “Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.” On Monday — as unrest on elite universities continued to spread — he added a caveat: “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”

The apparent equivocation fueled furious GOP accusations of a “both sides” response and sent fingers scratching heads elsewhere in Washington. But back at the White House, the reaction has been downright serene.

Aides “say that there has been no shift,” Eugene and Elena Schneider report, with one official emphasizing that “Biden sees antisemitism on college campuses and the plight of the Palestinians as two distinct issues.”

More broadly, the Biden political brain trust just isn’t stressing out about what’s roiling the groves of academe — viewing it as an obsession of a subset of the electorate and a phenomenon that’s drawn a disproportionate amount of media coverage to its actual political relevance. As one campaign official who works on youth engagement put it, “It’s not going to be for the vast majority of young voters the thing that’s going to determine whether they vote or how they vote.”

Other Democrats are not so sanguine. “Anything that brings chaos to the Democratic brand is detrimental to the Biden campaign,” former DCCC executive director DAN SENA said, as Biden begins a stretch where he’s planning to deliver several commencement addresses as antiwar activists continue to organize with some eyeing mass disruptions to the Democratic National Convention in August.

A more particular fear is that anti-Biden views might be becoming increasingly entrenched inside the relatively small but crucial youth voting bloc — views like those of his Columbia University student who spoke to POLITICO about her eroding faith in the president: “I was excited to vote out a fascist from government [in 2020]. And in hindsight, I guess I see that I was just putting someone who’s a little bit less evil, but evil nonetheless.”

The Biden world counterpoint comes courtesy of the recent Harvard Youth poll, which found economic issues — not the war in Gaza — dominating the list of issues that matter to young voters. (Only 2% of respondents cited the “Israel/Palestine conflict” as their top concern.) Aides also note the campaign has launched a major youth outreach effort and that “the youth vote and the student vote are not synonymous.”

Harvard polling guru JOHN DELLA VOLPE agreed that there is little “evidence that this is on its way to being a cultural phenomenon.” But, he added: “How this evolves, who knows? … Hopefully things improve. But I would not be willing to write [the protests] off right now.”

The latest at Columbia … “University, student representatives to ‘continue conversations for the next 48 hours,’” Columbia Spectator: “The continuation of talks comes approximately six hours after University President MINOUCHE SHAFIK announced a midnight deadline for encampment negotiations in a Tuesday evening email to the University community.”

Happening this afternoon … “Mike Johnson to visit Columbia on Wednesday amid ‘troubling rise of antisemitism’ at colleges,” by the Washington Examiner’s Brady Knox: “Other House Republicans will travel alongside Johnson.”

DONE DEAL — Later this morning, Biden will bring a seven-month legislative saga to an end, signing the $95 billion package sending foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan following an overwhelming 79-18 Senate vote.

The legislation, Biden said in a statement last night, “send[s] a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression.”

It also represents the triumph of good old-fashioned bipartisanship and, as Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn report this morning, the culmination of a careful behind-the-scenes effort orchestrated by the top Senate leaders, CHUCK SCHUMER and MITCH McCONNELL, to keep the deal on track in the face of growing right-wing skepticism over Ukraine.

“Schumer and McConnell made two consequential agreements” that kept a deal alive, they write: “keeping Ukraine assistance bound to Israel aid, and eventually moving forward together on a package without a border security component.” They also worked closely to get the new speaker, MIKE JOHNSON, on board.

Said Schumer: “We never deviated. … We talked to each other every other day about strategy or what to do or what could happen. And it shows you when you have a bipartisan force, it can get things done.”

Added McConnell: “It’s not personal. We just happen to agree on the issue.”

TikTok (really) on the clock … It managed to sail under most headlines, but the package includes legislation forcing the Chinese firm ByteDance to part ways with or shutter TikTok’s U.S. business within a year — though that timeline will be subject to the litigation that will almost certainly now ensue. Notably, Christine Mui reports, the massive user backlash that some on Capitol Hill were expecting never really materialized: “On TikTok itself, it’s not clear how many users are actually following the news on the platform, or care about a potential ban, or are likely to protest its fate in time to make a difference.“ More from the NYT on next steps

What’s next for Ukraine … The Pentagon is readying $1 billion in new military assistance, Reuters’ Mike Stone and Steve Holland scooped: “The aid package includes vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 millimeter artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank munitions and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield.”

Quite a testament … “When you’ve been here as long as I have, you’ve had a few big moments. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bigger one than this in terms of the level of importance to our own country and to our place in the world,” McConnell told Ursula Perano and Burgess.

The roll call … Nine Republicans came around to support the bill after opposing the package in February. Sens. JEFF MERKLEY (D-Ore.), BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) and PETER WELCH (D-Vt.) joined the 15 remaining Republicans in opposing the bill, while Sens. RAND PAUL (R-Ky.), TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) and TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-Ala.) did not vote. Notably, of the eight senators currently seeking one of the five elected GOP leadership positions next Congress, only Sen. JOHN BARRASSO (Wyo.) voted no.

Good Wednesday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

WHISKEY TANGO — “Foxtrot Is Closing Its DC-Area Stores,” Washingtonian

ABOUT LAST NIGHT — There was little surprising about the primary results in Pennsylvania’s marquee races: Biden, Trump, Democratic Sen. BOB CASEY and GOP challenger DAVID McCORMICK all won easily. But keep an eye on the margins: NIKKI HALEY pulled a 17% protest vote against Trump, despite the fact that she’s out of the race. And Pennsylvania has a closed primary, meaning those are all registered Republicans. Her numbers were even higher in important suburban counties outside Philadelphia. By comparison, Rep. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-Minn.), the main option for Democrats to vote against Biden, got 7%.

Down the ballot, progressive Democratic Rep. SUMMER LEE and moderate Republican Rep. BRIAN FITZPATRICK easily dispatched challenges on their right. JANELLE STELSON won a contested Democratic primary to take on GOP Rep. SCOTT PERRY. And Republican RYAN MACKENZIE pulled out a close race to challenge Democratic Rep. SUSAN WILD.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: With the primaries over, you can expect the Casey-McCormick battle to really start heating up. McCormick’s campaign today is launching a new digital attack ad, backed by a five-figure spend. It features Casey repeatedly hammering RICK SANTORUM in 2006 for voting with GEORGE W. BUSH 98% of the time — and then points out that he’s done the same with Biden. Watch it here

And the DSCC launched a new YouTube ad yesterday tarring McCormick as an out-of-touch, out-of-state millionaire.

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

On the Hill

The Senate and the House are out.

What we’re watching … With the big foreign-aid fight now in the rearview mirror, some of Capitol Hill’s foreign policy hawks are now training their attention on Iran. The bill headed to the White House includes the MAHSA Act targeting Supreme Leader ALI KHAMENEI and other regime leaders from Rep. JIM BANKS (R-Ind.) and Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.), but Sens. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.) and DAN SULLIVAN (R-Alaska) want Biden to pave the way for additional sanctions against Tehran. The requests made in the wake of this month’s missile-and-drone attack on Israel include a crackdown on Iran’s “ghost fleet” of oil tankers and possible secondary sanctions on its business partners. Read the letter

At the White House

Biden will head to the Washington Hilton to speak at North America’s Building Trade Union National Legislative Conference at 12:30 p.m. There he’ll be endorsed by the union, CNN’s Isaac Dovere reports, in a big early show of support that will translate to organizing in key Rust Belt swing states — thanks in large part to his infrastructure agenda. Biden is also expected to sign the foreign aid package into law today and deliver remarks.

VP KAMALA HARRIS will travel to NYC to record an interview for “The Drew Barrymore Show” that will air Monday. She’ll then return to Washington.

PLAYBOOK READS

TRUMP CARDS

THE TRUMP TRIAL — Former National Enquirer publisher DAVID PECKER offered salacious testimony about his work to be Trump’s “eyes and ears” during the 2016 election at Trump’s criminal hush money trial yesterday. Pecker ran through his “catch and kill” strategy to bury negative stories about Trump and spread lies about his opponents — ranging from quashing a tip about a rumored love child Trump was alleged to have fathered to fabricating a photo of Sen. TED CRUZ’s (R-Texas) father meeting with LEE HARVEY OSWALD.

This all followed a secret 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where Trump and Cohen, alongside HOPE HICKS, asked Pecker to “help the campaign,” Pecker testified. Prosecutors are hoping the longtime Trump friend’s testimony establishes a pattern of batting down negative stories about his personal life that culminated in his effort to conceal an affair with STORMY DANIELS.

Trump’s defense argued that Pecker’s stories didn’t amount to crimes — and they took issue with the prosecutorial narrative that this was all a conspiracy to influence the election. Pecker will be back on the stand tomorrow, when his testimony will probably turn to the Daniels story, James Romoser writes. And as we await Justice JUAN MERCHAN’s decision on whether Trump violated his gag order, the Secret Service has started to plan for the (unlikely) event that he gets locked up over the matter, ABC’s Josh Margolin, Luke Barr and Aaron Katersky report.

Trump wasn’t happy about being cooped up in the courtroom while Biden hit the campaign trail, Meridith McGraw and Kimberly Leonard report. But here’s one thing that will make him smile: The trial is already proving to be a fundraising bonanza, with Trump pulling in $5.6 million in the trial’s first week, The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo reports.

More top reads:

ALL POLITICS

STATE OF PLAY FOR THE HOUSE — “Why narrow majorities and House gridlock are here to stay in 2024,” by Ally Mutnick and Steve Shepard: “The number of truly competitive seats numbers is roughly 30, split about evenly between Democratic and Republican-held districts, according to a POLITICO analysis based on fundraising data, candidate recruitment and interviews.”

WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE THE BARUCH VOLLEYBALL TEAM — Former Rep. GEORGE SANTOS announced he’s dropping his independent challenge to Rep. NICK LaLOTA (R-N.Y.), saying he didn’t want to split the vote and give Democrats a flip. LaLota, for his part, speculated that Santos had struck a plea deal.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — APIAVote is launching a $5 million campaign to educate, engage and turn out Asian American and Pacific Islander voters this year. The nonprofit will dole out $3 million to local groups in dozens of states. Its initiatives will include digital ads, a multilingual voter protection hotline, a presidential town hall and a direct mail campaign.

WHOOPS — “How an expensive bet by Emily’s List in an Orange County congressional race went awry,” by the L.A. Times’ Laura Nelson: “[T]he sheer amount of money that Emily’s List spent in support of [JOANNA] WEISS raised eyebrows. … Weiss finished third in the 47th District primary.”

MUCK READ — “How Tammy Baldwin profits from the DC lobbyist ‘revolving door’ she often slams,” by the Washington Examiner’s Gabe Kaminsky

JUDICIARY SQUARE

TODAY’S BIG HEARING — The Supreme Court will take up Idaho’s near-total abortion ban at oral arguments today, the first time the justices considered the constitutionality of a state restriction since they overturned Roe v. Wade, Alice Miranda Ollstein and Josh Gerstein preview this morning. At issue is “whether federal law requires emergency room physicians in Idaho to perform abortions to stabilize pregnant patients experiencing a medical crisis” that is not life-threatening under the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.

Amid lots of confusion nationwide over when doctors are allowed to perform emergency abortions, the ruling could set a precedent for multiple other states that have no exception for the mother’s health. “Some legal experts expect the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to side with Idaho,” they write.

More top reads:

2024 WATCH

POLL POSITION — A new set of seven Bloomberg/Morning Consult swing-state polls this morning finds Biden’s post-State of the Union bump evaporating and Trump enjoying an overall 6-point lead in the battlegrounds. Trump leads Biden in all but Michigan, as voters remain extremely negative about the economy.

CASH DASH — “Donate on Repeat: Biden Pulls Ahead in Small-Dollar Fundraising,” by WSJ’s Tarini Parti and Jack Gillum: Their analysis finds that Biden has raised $89 million from small-dollar donors to Trump’s $84 million, in a reversal from 2020. … On the other hand, DAVID SACKS is talking about hosting a fundraiser for Trump in the Bay Area, Puck’s Teddy Schleifer reports.

FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK — “Alabama Senate passes bill to fix date so President Biden can be on ballot,” by AL.com’s Mike Cason

HEADING WEST — CORNEL WEST told WaPo’s Meryl Kornfield in a big sit-down interview that “both parties are beyond redemption” as he torched just about everyone else in the race, including Biden, Trump, JILL STEIN, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. — and even Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) for backing Biden.

POLICY CORNER

WORKING HARD — Two major labor policy moves from the Biden administration yesterday aimed to give more power to workers — and elicited corresponding outrage from business groups.

— New non-compete agreements will be banned for all workers nationwide following a 3-2 FTC vote along party lines, per HuffPost’s Dave Jamieson, while existing non-competes will be junked for everyone except senior executives. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pledged to sue.

— The Labor Department is also hiking the threshold for workers to receive overtime pay, which could give about 4 million people new ability to get paid for working extra, per CNN. Again, business groups are vowing to go to court.

If you’re wondering why so many new regulations have been pumping out from the administration lately (including this morning’s airline regulations and yesterday’s finalized fiduciary rule for retirement plan advisers), the American Prospect’s Gerard Edic has a helpful reminder: Any new rules promulgated after late May could be overturned via the Congressional Review Act next year, especially if Republicans control Washington.

CONGRESS

PIGS FLYING — “Inside Dems’ thinking on saving Mike Johnson,” by Nick Wu and Daniella Diaz: “More than two dozen Democrats told POLITICO they expect a swath of the party to step in and save the Republican speaker [if there’s a motion to vacate.] … ‘I don’t think we should penalize a speaker for doing the right thing,’ said Rep. STENY HOYER (D-Md.).”

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

MIDDLE EAST LATEST — “U.S. envoy says humanitarian situation in Gaza improved, but famine risk remains,” by Axios’ Barak Ravid: “The comments from DAVID SATTERFIELD … are the first significant public signal that the Biden administration sees Israel changing its course on aid into Gaza.”

MOVING ON — Satterfield will be replaced as special envoy for Middle East and Humanitarian Issues by U.S. Institute of Peace President LISE GRANDE, Akbar Shahid Ahmed scooped at HuffPost. Grande will arrive in Tel Aviv next week, a person familiar with the move tells Playbook, while Satterfield is expected to remain at State as a senior adviser on issues related to the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

PLAYBOOKERS

Joe Biden will give the commencement speech at West Point.

Mitch McConnell blamed Tucker Carlson for the GOP’s turn against Ukraine.

Thomas Massie was (briefly) in trouble for filming the House floor.

Uncle Luke filed papers for a House run.

SPOTTED: Jon Bon Jovi having lunch at P.J. Clarke’s yesterday.

OUT AND ABOUT — Disney, Hulu and the Motion Picture Association hosted a screening of the first episode of “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” last night at the MPA. Jonathan Capehart moderated a conversation with Bon Jovi afterward. SPOTTED: Scott Mulhauser and Kara Carscaden, Adrienne Elrod, Brad Dayspring and Kelley Hudak, Sara Fagen, Eric Schultz, Joe Pounder, Michael Ahrens, Bill Bailey, Ellen Blackler, Caitlin Conant, Katie Rosborough, Chuck Todd, Urmila Venugopalan, Kevin Walling and Joe Welch.

— Gigi El-Bayoumi, a Georgetown doctor who founded the Rodham Institute in the name of Dorothy Rodham (her patient and Hillary Clinton’s mom), organized a 10-year anniversary fundraising event with Bill and Hillary Clinton last night at the residence of Egyptian Ambassador Motaz Zahran and Hala Youssef. The organization focuses on improving health equity in D.C. SPOTTED: Liz Cheney, Dana Bash, Cora Masters Barry, Donald Dunn, Meena Seshamani, Lyndon Boozer and Karen Anderson, Michael Collins, Melanie Campbell, Peter and Judy Kovler, Neil Grace, Martie Kendrick and Bob Nealon.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — A new A24 documentary will examine the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, including novel original footage from the day and interviews with Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.), former D.C. police chief ROBERT CONTEE and more. Directed by SEAN FINE and ANDREA NIX FINE, “The Sixth” will have its world premiere tonight at the U.S. Navy Memorial Visitor Center before going on demand May 3. Watch three exclusive clips here

MEDIA MOVES — Alec Dent is now an assistant editor on the national politics desk at WaPo. He most recently was a breaking news reporter at The Messenger. … Justin Peligri will be a senior producer and director of editorial outreach at NOTUS. He previously was an editorial booking producer at CNN.

TRANSITIONS — The Ex-Im Bank is adding Tom Reynolds as executive secretary to the office of the chair (previously at DLA Piper), Sergio Fontanez as national security adviser (previously at the Air Force) and Ben Widness as SVP of intergovernmental affairs (previously at USAID). … Carlos Monje is now head of the PolicyCenter at JPMorgan Chase’s corporate responsibility team. He most recently was undersecretary of Transportation for policy. … Jim Anderson is joining Mercury as an SVP. He previously was founder and CEO of Wholecrowd, and is an RNC and Bush administration alum. …

… Patrick Gallagher is now a director at Valcour LLC. He previously was a grants manager at the Middle East Institute and a public diplomacy officer at the Qatari Embassy. … Democratic lobbyist Jennifer Poersch is joining GuidePost Strategies as an equity partner. She previously was at Hannegan, Landau, Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy.

ENGAGED — Jason Pye, a senior policy adviser at FreedomWorks and director of rule of law initiatives at the Due Process Institute, and Emily Womble, who works for the United Network for Organ Sharing, got engaged Monday in Mexico during a cruise vacation. They’ve been together for two years, following a long friendship that began on LiveJournal 20 years ago. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) … Treasury’s Mike Gwin … The Hill’s Al Weaver … Vanity Fair’s Abigail Tracy … Andrew Kirtzman … Erin DeLullo … Zack Roday … Clark Packard … Ruth Guerra ... Terron Sims II … Hillary Lassiter … POLITICO’s Griffin Taylor, Miranda Wilson, Dellon Jones, Daniella Cheslow and Ellie Borst … Megan Sowards Newton of Jones Day … Conner Prochaska ... Kathy Duda … Stuart Chapman of Thorn Run Partners ... Megan Nashban Kenney … Robb Walton of BGR Group … Jameson Cunningham ... Megan Hannigan … GCI Health’s Luis Betanzo ... Smithsonian’s Gabriella Kahn … former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) … AIPAC’s Aubrey Lopez … Halee Dobbins of Firehouse Strategies

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.