últimas notícias

DRIVING THE DAY

BREAKING/AP: The prime minister of Iraq, Adel Abdul Mahdi, says he is submitting his resignation. AP

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP arrived at Palm Beach International Airport at 6:53 this morning, after a whirlwind trip to Afghanistan, according to the pooler, our own ANITA KUMAR. TRUMP switched planes at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.

ANITA’S LEADALL from Bagram Air Field: “Trump uses surprise trip to Afghanistan to promote new peace talks”: “It was his first visit to the country, and the president used the opportunity to pledge that he would be resuming ceasefire discussions with the Taliban, the insurgent force the U.S. originally invaded Afghanistan to oust. Trump made the announcement during a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

“‘The Taliban wants to make a deal — we’ll see if they make a deal,’ he said during brief remarks to reporters following his meeting with Ghani, who had only been notified of Trump’s plans hours earlier. ‘If they do they do, and if they don’t they don’t. That’s fine.’”

— ANITA TAKES US BEHIND THE SCENES: “President Donald Trump started his day like so many others at his south Florida resort: a relaxing round of golf, a few sharp tweets and then a White House announcement that he’d be staying in for the evening.

“But this particular Wednesday — the night before Thanksgiving — ended with Trump escaping Mar-a-Lago without the usual presidential motorcade spectacle, boarding a military transport to Washington and then embarking on a 13-hour Air Force One flight into the heart of America’s longest war.” POLITICO

— REUTERS: “After Trump’s Afghan visit, Taliban say they are ready to resume peace talks”

Good Friday morning.

FINALLY, the WSJ ED BOARD takes on something meaningful: “A Revolt Against the Colonials”: “Perhaps it was inevitable given political trends on American campuses, but at George Washington University students no longer want anything to do with the school moniker since 1926: the Colonials. Yes, America’s founding isn’t nearly woke enough, or something.

“In March students passed a referendum, with about 54% of the vote, calling on GW to ditch the Colonials. A petition argued that ‘no matter how innocent the intention,’ the name is ‘received as extremely offensive’ because it ‘has too deep a connection to colonization and glorifies the act of systemic oppression.’ And here we were taught that the American colonists fought against British oppression, but forgive our OK Boomer education.

“The GW administration seems to be adapting to the new history. Shortly after the student vote, the school said it was ‘following the conversation’ but had ‘no specific comment.’ This summer a remodeled space called Colonial Central was re-christened the Student Services Hub. Freshman orientation is no longer Colonial Inauguration. Last year the basketball rally Colonial Madness became GDub Madness.”

— FROM JAKE: As an alum, if the Colonials become the Hippos, I’m done.

L.A. TIMES’ MARK Z. BARABAK with the big picture from MESA, ARIZ.: “Trump has turned the suburbs into a GOP disaster zone. Does that doom his reelection?”: “For decades, there was an unvaried rhythm to life in America’s suburbs: Carpool in the morning, watch sports on weekends, barbecue in the summer, vote Republican in November.

“Then came President Trump. The orderly subdivisions and kid-friendly communities that ring the nation’s cities have become a deathtrap for Republicans, as college-educated and upper-income women flee the party in droves, costing the GOP its House majority and sapping the party’s strength in state capitals and local governments nationwide.

“The dramatic shift is also reshaping the 2020 presidential race, elevating Democratic hopes in traditional GOP strongholds like Arizona and Georgia, and forcing Trump to redouble efforts to boost rural turnout to offset defectors who, some fear, may never vote Republican so long as the president is on the ballot. …

“With 11 electoral votes, Arizona is a bigger prize than Wisconsin — a Midwestern battleground both parties view as a key to the election — and the Grand Canyon State is expected to draw lavish attention and a fortune’s worth of advertising over the next year. Visiting last month, Vice President Mike Pence said he and Trump ‘are going to be in and out of Arizona a lot.’” LAT

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID … BEN WHITE: “President Donald Trump needs two big achievements to keep markets and the economy as glittering assets in his challenging 2020 reelection bid: passage of a new NAFTA and a trade deal with China.

“But Democrats are stringing him along on the first — the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — and he’s engaged in a seemingly endless rope-a-dope with China on the second with no guarantee of success. That’s left the economy as a major wild card for next year.

“Businesses are sitting on cash instead of making investments. Growth is stalled at around 2 percent and expected to slow. Jobs numbers are decent but far from ‘yuge.’ And big campaign promises remain unfulfilled. Even Trump’s most ardent supporters acknowledge the president’s reelection bid would face enormous risks if the economy turns down next year.” POLITICO

— WSJ: “A Tight Job Market Insulates a Slowing Economy — and Perhaps Trump, Too,” by Shayndi Raice and Jon Hilsenrath in Rosendale, Wis.: “Two economic sectors especially exposed to President Trump’s trade confrontations — manufacturing and farming — have taken direct hits in Wisconsin and a handful of other politically important swing states in the heartland, contributing to slowing growth.

“But in an era of severe worker shortages, people losing jobs when a plant or a farm closes are quickly getting scooped up by others. This provides a safety net in the broader economy by keeping incomes and consumer spending strong. Exceptionally low unemployment amid economic challenges could well be a buffer for the president in the 2020 elections.” WSJ

TWO NAIL-IN-COFFIN STORIES FOR KAMALA HARRIS …

… NYT’S JONATHAN MARTIN, ASTEAD HERNDON and ALEX BURNS: “How Kamala Harris’s Campaign Unraveled”: “In early November, a few days after Senator Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign announced widespread layoffs and an intensified focus on Iowa, her senior aides gathered for a staff meeting at their Baltimore headquarters and pelted the campaign manager, Juan Rodriguez, with questions.

“What exactly was Ms. Harris’s new strategy? How much money and manpower could they put into Iowa? What would their presence be like in other early voting states? Mr. Rodriguez offered general, tentative answers that didn’t satisfy the room, according to two campaign officials directly familiar with the conversation. Some Harris aides sitting at the table could barely suppress their fury about what they saw as the undoing of a once-promising campaign. Their feelings were reflected days later by Kelly Mehlenbacher, the state operations director, in a blistering resignation letter obtained by The Times.

“‘This is my third presidential campaign and I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly,’ Ms. Mehlenbacher wrote, assailing Mr. Rodriguez and Ms. Harris’s sister, Maya, the campaign chairwoman, for laying off aides with no notice. ‘With less than 90 days until Iowa we still do not have a real plan to win.’ …

“Representative Marcia Fudge, who has endorsed Ms. Harris and is a former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in an interview that the senator was an exceptional candidate who had been poorly served by some top staff and must fire Mr. Rodriguez. But she also acknowledged that Ms. Harris bore a measure of responsibility for her problems — ‘it’s her campaign’ — and that the structure she created has not served her well.” NYT

— WAPO’S CHELSEA JANES in Greenville, S.C. with quite the lead: “Harris faces uphill climb amid questions about who she is”: “Sen. Kamala D. Harris had everything she needed to make her pitch. Big yellow cutout letters spelled “Justice for the People” on the stage behind her. White folding chairs splayed out ahead of her, most of them filled, and their occupants seemed happy to see her. Nothing smelled of a flailing campaign.

“‘I’m spending a lot of time in what I am now thinking of and considering to be my second home, South Carolina,’ Harris told the crowd, drawing some nods of approval. ‘I’m also spending a lot of time in Iowa,’ she added.

“It was typical of Harris and her campaign, which has often displayed a desire to be everything to everyone that has instead left voters with questions about who she is, what she believes and what her priorities and convictions would be as president.

“As a result, her candidacy is now teetering, weighed down by indecision within her campaign, her limits as a candidate and dwindling funds that have forced her to retreat in some places at a moment she expected to be surging. After last week’s debate in Atlanta, where she won high marks, her advisers were simply hoping she did well enough to inspire people to donate enough money so that she could air a new ad. As of Wednesday, they hadn’t.” WaPo

UNLIKE SOME OTHER CANDIDATES, fizzling out just means that Harris goes back to the Senate, where she still has a massive perch.

NYT’S SYDNEY EMBER in Denison, Iowa: “O.K., Mayor: Why 37-Year-Old Pete Buttigieg Is Attracting Boomers”: “As Mr. Buttigieg, 37, looks to solidify his support in the remaining weeks before the Democratic primary season begins, he has found a wellspring of enthusiasm among a critical bloc of voters more frequently associated with Joseph R. Biden Jr.: older white Americans. …

“During a burst of campaign stops in Iowa this week, his first trip to the state since a Des Moines Register/CNN poll showed him with a commanding, nine-point lead here, Mr. Buttigieg repeatedly made appeals to older Iowans that were hardly subtle. ‘We’ve got to act not just to shore up Social Security but to make sure everybody can retire and live in dignity,’ he said at a rally on Monday evening in Council Bluffs, Iowa. ‘Call it my ‘Gray New Deal.’’ NYT

— “New Hampshire voters to Steyer: Make it stop!” by Trent Spiner in Manchester, N.H.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

• “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) … Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Panel: Jason Chaffetz, Jane Harman, Rich Lowry and Juan Williams. Power Player: Sandy Lerner.

• “State of the Union”: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) … Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.). Panel: Hillary Rosen, David Urban, Karen Finney and Doug Heye. (Dana Bash is the guest host).

• “Face the Nation”: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Book Panel: “Presidents, Patriotism, and Politics”: Michael Duffy, Ruth Marcus, Jon Meacham, Susan Page and David Rubenstein. Panel: Amy Walter, Ben Domenech, Jamal Simmons and Jeffrey Goldberg.

• “Inside Politics”: Dan Balz, Margaret Talev, Seung Min Kim and Lisa Lerer. (Nia-Malika Henderson is the guest host).

• “Meet the Press”: Panel: Betsy Woodruff Swan, David Brooks, Al Cardenas and Maria Teresa Kumar.

THE PRESIDENT’S FRIDAY … THE PRESIDENT returned to Mar-a-Lago from the airport at 7:18 a.m., per today’s pooler, the AFP’s Sebastian Smith. There is nothing on his public schedule today.

PLAYBOOK READS

HMMM … FROM “LUNCH WITH THE FT,” RONAN FARROW EDITION: “[W]hen word got around that Farrow was looking into the Weinstein story, he felt that his relationship with the [Hillary Clinton] — a beneficiary of donations from the producer — started to cool.

“Was that a painful revelation? ‘It’s remarkable how quickly even people with a long relationship with you will turn if you threaten the centres of power or the sources of funding around them,’ says Farrow evenly. ‘Ultimately, there are a lot of people out there who operate in that way. They’re beholden to powerful interests and if you go up against those interests, you become radioactive very quickly.’ Clinton’s spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.” FT

LITTLE ROCKET MAN — “How North Korea Soured on Donald Trump,” by The Atlantic’s Uri Friedman: “Kim Jong Un only wanted to engage with the president. Now he’s turning on him.” The Atlantic

ACROSS THE POND — “Black Friday backlash grows in Europe,” by Eline Schaart: “The U.S.-inspired sales day that has shops splashing big discounts to bring out the crowds is falling out of fashion in Europe.

“For many people, Black Friday is the best day of the year to buy a new phone, cheap flights or that coveted piece of clothing or furniture.

“But a growing chorus of environmental groups, policymakers and even retailers are encouraging people to boycott the shopping tradition — citing concerns that it breeds damaging consumerism and carries a terrible environmental footprint.” POLITICO Europe

CLIMATE WATCH — AP/BERLIN: “Global climate protests begin ahead of Madrid meeting”

TV TONIGHT — Bob Costa sits down with NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Time’s Jon Meacham for one-on-one conversations about the presidency and impeachment on a special edition of PBS’ “Washington Week” at 8 p.m.

PLAYBOOKERS

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

SPOTTED at the 33rd annual Pilgrims Charity Luncheon, hosted by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) at the Palm Wednesday: Terry McAuliffe, Virginia House Speaker designate Eileen Filler-Corn, Justin Fairfax, Mark Ein, Howard Gutman, Gerald McGowan and Raoul Fernandez.

BIRTHDAYS: Janet Napolitano is 62 … Rahm Emanuel is 6-0 … Ann Fishman … Mike Fitzgerald (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … L.A. Times’ Mark Barabak … Margaret Carlson … Emily Lenzner, EVP of global communications and public affairs at the MPAA … Joan Sass … Maggie Delahoyde … Hayley Dierker, COS of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee … Matt Hall, co-founder and partner at Harbinger, is 37 … Tom Doheny … Joe Sternlieb … CNN’s Pamela Brown … Ceara Flake … William Turner is 3-0 … Reuters’ Alissa de Carbonnel … Facebook’s Tomá Beczak … Christina Lee … Trent Spiner … Madeline Ryan … Cliff Hurst … Michelle Meadows … Chris Byrne … Bob Cardillo … Alexandra Ulmer … Dani Dayan …

… Shalom Lipner, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council … Liza Acevedo … Chris Frates, founder of Storyline and a SiriusXM host … former Indiana state Sen. Amanda Banks is 4-0 … Jemma York, speechwriter and communications adviser for Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) … former Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) is 68 … Robert Hedden … Ian Magruder … Louise Rothschild … Anastasia Szold … Jen Samawat … Sydelle Moore … Jonathan Hirshon … Cliff Wilkes … Gregory Ferenstein … Juri Jacoby … Sarah Venuto … Ryan Leavitt, partner at Barker Leavitt … Doug Wilson … Josh Stinn … Emily Hawkins

• Anna Palmer @apalmerdc
• Jake Sherman @JakeSherman

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