White House Correspondents’ Dinner 2.0

Today on The Playbook Podcast, this weekend kicks off with take two of the White House Correspondents' Dinner, but what should be a celebration of the First Amendment has gotten a little complicated. Meanwhile, the DNC is debating which states will vote first in the 2028 presidential primaries, and Maine Democrats prepare to nominate their Graham-Plattner replacement less than four months from the midterms. Hello, I'm Megan Messerly. And I'm Adam Renton, and it's Friday, July 24th. OK, Adam, so tonight is the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner. You and I were both there back in April when the dinner was interrupted by gunshots. The president was rushed out of the room by Secret Service. We all dove under tables. We're both going to be there again tonight. Adam, how are you feeling about it? Yeah, I am going to be fascinated what the dynamic is like. It did feel in the beginning minutes of the last dinner like a kind of celebratory night. People were in a good mood. The pre-parties were alive with people again. It felt like there was a sense that the president was back and the dinner itself was back, Megan. But going in tomorrow, it feels very different with the subpoenas out to New York Times journalists. The tensions with the press in the White House seem to be a little peaked. And so it does feel kind of like a shadow of itself. And perhaps the mood is a little bit more downbeat than what it was earlier this year. I mean, that's exactly what I'm hearing in my conversations with folks as well. I mean, for one, obviously, a lot of folks who would have otherwise attended are going to be missing tonight's dinner. It falls right in the middle of summer vacations and weddings and things like that. That actually works out because there are only going to be about 700 attendees down from 2,600. But there are actually people who are going to be purposefully skipping the event, Dasha writes in this morning's playbook. So one White House reporter from a major media outlet told playbook that, quote, nobody wants this other than Donald Trump and the walk of board, end quote, citing the trauma around the first dinner and the broader climate between the administration and the press. You mentioned administration subpoenaed several New York Times journalists. The Department of Justice withdrew those subpoenas on Thursday. But obviously, that's still a cloud that is hanging over the dinner. So, Adam, I mean, there really is this sort of tension headed into the evening. But we do know a little bit about how the president plans to address it, right? Yeah, Megan, we do think it'll be a little different. We know from Caroline Levitt that the president is mostly going to stick to his remarks that he had planned earlier in the year, but also that the journalism awards that will be presented before Trump makes his speech, one of those are going to likely recognize the coverage that the president has personally attacked. That's, of course, the Wall Street Journal reporting on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. The president's body language, you know, does does speak volumes. Traditionally, he'll shake winners hands. The president will in this case and whether Trump, you know, will participate and that it's going to be the big question, I think, going into the night. Absolutely. You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Those visuals from the president are going to be extremely telling. And we should note as well, after concerns about security at the last dinner, security at this one is going to be very ramped up. Entry requires both a QR code and photo ID. And we should note that applies to press and cabinet members alike. Yeah, I'm going to be sure to get there early. Adam, I want to switch gears here. We get to talk about my favorite state, which, as you know, is. Well, I know what the state is, but I'm afraid it's it's Nevada. We can all say it together. Nevada as a podcast audience. And then my old boss, John Ralston, will not be shouting at people on Twitter. I've heard you guys matter. We do. We do. There's a little hashtag, you know, the hashtag we matter state, which is actually quite appropriate because Nevada, you know, has long been known as the first in the West state, meaning the first Western state in the presidential nominating calendar. Now it and South Carolina are actually running neck and neck to be first in the nation. Twelve states in total have applied here to be in Democrats early nominating window. The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee is now meeting in D.C. They're going to debate and potentially vote on which of the states should be part of this early primary window. They'll pick up to five, we think, and decide which order they should go in. And the order the committee approves, it will have to be fully approved by the full DNC at its planned summer meeting in August. So, Adam, I started my journalism career in Nevada. I was a baby political reporter covering the 2016 presidential election. I've been hearing from a lot of sources about this, especially my old Nevada sources. But walk me through what you're hearing. Yeah. So I had the chance to speak with the chair earlier last night, Danielle Monroe Moreno. We should say that the members of the 49-person DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee are literally hashing this out as we speak. Things could change. It's a fast-moving situation. But they're all sort of debating this. Kind of the outlines of what we're hearing is that it could be Nevada first on February 1st, 2028, followed by South Carolina. South Carolina would say that they have the votes to go first. So there's a tight race there. People are flipping their votes, going back and forth. But then after Nevada and South Carolina, we would see New Hampshire go and then Michigan in the Midwest. And then there's a contest right now and a decision, a debate about whether a fifth and sixth state will be named tomorrow. Right now, there's Virginia's former governor, Terry McAuliffe, told me in an interview for this morning's top. They're making a strong play for the fifth state. And you've got New Mexico potentially as a sixth state. So, I mean, this is the most consequential decision, Megan, that the party has made arguably since November 2024. This is going to shape the kind of nominee that they get. You know, there's some chattering that Nevada going first could favor a candidate like AOC. Of course, Bernie Sanders, you know, won in 2020 there. But that was a caucus, Megan. And as you know now, they've switched to a primary. So based on your knowledge of the state, I've got to ask, like, who does Nevada first going favored? All of the 2028 candidates have visited, I think, this year. Many of the potential ones are Kelly, Pete Buttigieg, Ro Khanna, a number of others. And so how does the makeup of Nevada shape who the nominee might be? It's a great question. I mean, and it goes a lot of different ways. I'll say the one name that comes up most in my conversations with folks in Nevada, both Democrats and Republicans alike, is Gavin Newsom. Obviously, as Nevada's next door neighbor, a lot of Nevadans also moved from California. So there is a lot of familiarity there. But also a lot of strong feelings about Gavin Newsom, not all of them positive. So he could prove to be a very well known but also very polarizing figure there. We've actually seen, you know, Republicans are trying to tie the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford there to Gavin Newsom because they believe he's so unpopular. So that will be a really interesting one. Beyond that, I think, to your point, anyone who really speaks to sort of working class issues, that's why we've seen a lot of residents with sort of more progressive type candidates in Nevada, Bernie, to your point, did, you know, extremely well in Nevada in both 2016 and 2020. It'll be interesting to see folks have already been coming through and sort of they have to come and and kiss the ring of the fabled culinary union, which, of course, represents hospitality workers on the Las Vegas Strip and across Las Vegas and even in northern Nevada as well. So it's gonna be really interesting to see sort of how candidates come and make these pitches. I have to say, I was getting a lot of texts about some of the nervousness here. This is something that Nevada Democrats have been talking about for literally more than a decade. Harry Reid was instrumental in making Nevada the first in the West states. I can only imagine that he would be thrilled that, you know, Nevada is here is sort of one of the top two contenders of being the first in the nation state for Democrats. But I will say, I think there's still some, you know, anxiety. Nevada Democrats are used to running tight races and they say nothing's over until it's over. But will be fascinating to see how this one shakes out, Adam. Yeah. And it sounds like we'll have a decision sometime today. So we'll be tracking that. And you can visit Politico dot com for more. I want to end with a mention that tomorrow is the main Democratic convention. Delegates will make their nomination for a critical Maine Senate race. Troy Jackson, the former Maine State Senate president, has effectively secured the nomination with more than two But identifying the Democratic nominee is only the first step in an uphill sprint to the November midterms. This candidate has less than four months till the election. Jackson has less than four months till Election Day. I mean, that is just not much time here to ramp up and run a full race. I can only imagine what those conversations are like with the main Democratic party behind closed doors. Adam, what are you hearing and watching for here? Yeah, you know, I think there is a question of whether or not Platner has fatally wounded the main Democrats and their chances of upsetting Susan Collins. Is Troy Jackson going to be able to assemble enough money and unite the party so late into the process? I think in some ways that's the question that Michigan Democrats are wondering, too. They have a late primary, August 4th, one of the later primaries, and it's going to be difficult. And so I think, you know, broadly, these two states, Maine and Michigan, put the Democrats on their back foot when it comes to potentially flipping the Senate. We should say our colleagues Irie Centner and Andrew Howard will be on the ground at the convention. So if you are not subscribed to the Playbook newsletter already, this is a perfect time to do so. Just head to Politico dot com slash Playbook. And that's all for today's show. Don't forget to click and subscribe to get the latest news from Washington. We'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend.