Trump’s Sunday morning Twitter tirade Presented by Amazon

Driving the Day

THE PRESIDENT’S WEEK … Monday: The president will lunch with VP Mike Pence and will host NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. at the White House. He also will attend the swearing in of Gina Haspel to be director of the CIA. Tuesday: South Korean President Moon Jae-In comes to the White House. Trump will speak at the Susan B. Anthony Campaign for Life Gala. Wednesday: The president will participate in an immigration round table. Thursday: The president will award the Medal of Honor. Friday: The president will go to Annapolis for the Naval Academy graduation.

FRONT PAGE of the JANESVILLE GAZETTE, Paul Ryan’s hometown paper: “Ryan’s power begins to ebb: House Republicans grow restive head of midterm elections.” http://bit.ly/2wtHAjd

WAPO’S DAN BALZ: “Has the political climate improved, marginally, for Republicans?”: “President Trump’s approval rating has ticked up from its lows of last year. The economy continues to grow. The unemployment rate is now below 4 percent. People feel more optimistic about the economy, and fewer people think the country is seriously off track. The gap between voting intentions for the House, which showed a big advantage for Democrats earlier this year, has narrowed.

“These are metrics that strategists monitor closely. A number of the statistics have been reliable indicators ahead of past elections, at least in describing the general parameters of the outcome. Just which ones are the most reliable is something strategists have long debated….

“Some Republicans see something unusual in today’s numbers. Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster, is one of them. ‘There’s a lot of stuff going on that we just haven’t seen before,’ he said. Newhouse sent along a chart that compares four previous wave elections: 1994, 2006, 2010 and 2014. In all cases, the percentage of people who, at the time of the election, said the country was heading in the right direction was just below 30. By his measure, it’s currently 39 percent. ‘Can you have a wave election if ‘right direction’ is 38 or 40 percent?” he said. “Is that possible?’” https://wapo.st/2kaERnp

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

THE BIG STORY … DON JR. BACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THINGS -- NYT’S MARK MAZZETTI, RONEN BERGMAN and DAVID KIRKPATRICK: “Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election”: “Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor.

“The meeting was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team, and it forged relationships between the men and Trump insiders that would develop over the coming months — past the election and well into President Trump’s first year in office, according to several people with knowledge of their encounters.

“Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump. ...

“The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign in the months before the presidential election. The interactions are a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III.” https://nyti.ms/2k9pBqL

-- WSJ’S BYRON TAU and REBECCA BALLHAUS: “The work of two of Mr. Zamel’s companies -- Wikistrat and the Psy Group -- has increasingly drawn the interest of the special counsel as part of the continuing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Little is known publicly about the work of the Psy Group. According to a person familiar with the firm’s operations, it did mainly private intelligence gathering work. ...

“According to the firm’s marketing materials reviewed by the Journal, Psy-Group offered clients an array of services—including ‘honey traps,’ a term used by spy agencies for an intelligence-gathering tactic using romantic or sexual relationships to extract information.” https://on.wsj.com/2IO5psD ... The marketing materials https://on.wsj.com/2KFF5Ow

LOTS ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at at 9:04 a.m.: “Things are really getting ridiculous. The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) @nytimes has done a long & boring story indicating that the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!” …

… at 9:11 a.m.: “....At what point does this soon to be $20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and two people who have worked for Obama for 8 years, STOP! They have found no Collussion [sic] with Russia, No Obstruction, but they aren’t looking at the corruption…” …

… at 9:19 a.m.: “...in the Hillary Clinton Campaign where she deleted 33,000 Emails, got $145,000,000 while Secretary of State, paid McCabes wife $700,000 (and got off the FBI hook along with Terry M) and so much more. Republicans and real Americans should start getting tough on this Scam.” …

… at 9:29 a.m.: “Now that the Witch Hunt has given up on Russia and is looking at the rest of the World, they should easily be able to take it into the Mid-Term Elections where they can put some hurt on the Republican Party. Don’t worry about Dems FISA Abuse, missing Emails or Fraudulent Dossier!” …

… 9:37 a.m.: “What ever happened to the Server, at the center of so much Corruption, that the Democratic National Committee REFUSED to hand over to the hard charging (except in the case of Democrats) FBI? They broke into homes & offices early in the morning, but were afraid to take the Server?” …

… 10:04 a.m.: “....and why hasn’t the Podesta brother been charged and arrested, like others, after being forced to close down his very large and successful firm? Is it because he is a VERY well connected Democrat working in the Swamp of Washington, D.C.?”

Good Sunday morning. REUTERS/RAMALLAH: “Palestinian leader Abbas hospitalised -- Palestinian officials” https://yhoo.it/2rZwjTA

THE LATEST ON NORTH KOREA -- REUTERS: “South Korea, U.S. to work closely on summit after Pyongyang’s about-face,” by Jeongmin Kim in Seoul: “South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump held discussions on Sunday to ensure that the North Korea-U.S. summit remains on track after North Korea threatened to pull out of the high-level talks. Moon and Trump spoke over the phone for about 20 minutes, and exchanged their views on North Korea’s recent reactions, South Korea’s presidential office said without elaborating.” https://reut.rs/2IxXxIg



A message from Amazon: Retail is a thriving, competitive, and highly-fragmented market where both buyers and small sellers have more choices than ever before. At Amazon, we welcome this competition. It sharpens our focus, feeds our creativity, and fuels our drive to innovate for customers. Learn more.

TRADE TALKS … “After talks, China makes vague pledge to buy more U.S. products,” by Doug Palmer: “China has promised to buy significantly more U.S. agriculture and energy products to help cut the U.S. trade deficit, according to a vague joint statement released Saturday by the two governments after two days of talks in Washington. The statement did not say how much more China would buy or how soon the purchases would take place, and did not indicate whether the United States would back down from plans to impose tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods or remove penalties already imposed on steel and aluminum. ...

“U.S. officials on Friday said China had offered a plan to boost U.S. exports to China by $200 billion in coming years by reducing tariffs and other trade barriers. However, that language is not reflected in the joint statement in one sign of how much work is left to be done on the agreement. There is also no reference to whether the Trump administration will suspend plans to impose $50 billion to $150 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods.” https://politi.co/2IxUwf5

SAD DAY IN AMERICA -- NYT: “New Reality for High School Students: Calculating the Risk of Getting Shot” https://nyti.ms/2rU7nNi … WAPO: “The lives lost at Santa Fe High School” https://wapo.st/2k8cINE

-- “Young People Keep Marching After Parkland, This Time to Register to Vote,” by NYT’s Michael Tackett and Rachel Shorey: “The pace of new voter registrations among young people in crucial states is accelerating, a signal that school shootings this year — and the anger and political organizing in their wake — may prove to be more than ephemeral displays of activism.

“They could even help shape the outcome of the midterm elections. If voters in their teens and 20s vote in greater numbers than usual, as many promised during nationwide marches for gun control this spring, the groundswell could affect close races in key states like Arizona and Florida, where there will be competitive races for governor, the Senate and a number of House districts in November.” https://nyti.ms/2rVFjJC

FOR YOUR RADAR -- “New clues bolster belief that ISIS leader is still alive — and busy with a chilling new mission,” by WaPo’s Joby Warrick and Souad Mekhennet: “Intercepts and reports ... suggest that [Abu Bakr al-]Baghdadi has shifted his attention in recent months to crafting an ideological framework that will survive the physical destruction of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

“In addition to his effort to revamp the group’s school curriculum, Baghdadi appears to have been behind a series of missives in recent months that sought to settle ideological disputes between factions of Islamic State fighters. Viewed together, such actions convey the impression of a disciplined retreat, with Baghdadi helping manage preparations for a shift from caliphate to underground insurgency and international terrorist movement, current and former U.S. officials said.” https://wapo.st/2LhVfie

ANOTHER HEADACHE FOR THE GOP -- “Blankenship wages war on GOP after losing Senate primary,” by James Arkin: “Don Blankenship lost his Senate primary in West Virginia, but the former coal baron is still causing problems for the Republican Party. Blankenship has said the GOP’s newly minted Senate nominee, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, would likely lose in the fall — and promised to work to defeat him.

“He’s not the only sore loser: In Ohio, businessman Mike Gibbons is harboring lingering frustration over Rep. Jim Renacci’s primary tactics during their Senate race, according to a Republican close to Gibbons, and is not yet prepared to endorse the congressman’s campaign. Republicans are banking on a unified base to defeat red-state Democratic senators who have specialized in getting cross-party votes in the past.

“But a few primary also-rans’ unwillingness to get behind the party is already making people nervous in a couple key GOP Senate targets. In West Virginia, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin looks more vulnerable than ever — just as Blankenship and his campaign manager have opened a rift in the state Republican Party.” https://politi.co/2rTVs2P

MEANWHILE ON THE DEM SIDE … -- “John Lewis and Other Black Leaders Spurn Black Challenger in Boston,” by NYT’s Astead Herndon in Boston: “Representative John Lewis helped change America as a passionate civil rights activist before his tenure in Congress, but Saturday afternoon, inside the brick-lined walls of Twelfth Baptist Church, the Georgia lawmaker made a rare case for traditionalism and seniority. ...

“Mr. Lewis had come to Twelfth Baptist to campaign for Representative Michael E. Capuano, the liberal Democrat who faces a grueling primary challenge from Ayanna Pressley, a progressive Boston City Council member who is trying to become the state’s first nonwhite member of the House of Representatives.” https://nyti.ms/2ID4SWP

-- “Democrats Have Georgia Governorship on Their Minds, But Face Challenges: The party’s two primary candidates are a snapshot of a larger debate within the party about how to win in red states,” by WSJ’s Cameron McWhirter: https://on.wsj.com/2rYO2uq

SNL COLD OPEN -- “Donald Trump Robert Mueller Cold Open”: “Robert Mueller (Robert De Niro) happens upon President Donald Trump’s (Alec Baldwin) dinner with Rudy Giuliani (Kate McKinnon), Michael Cohen (Ben Stiller) and Eric and Donald Trump Jr. (Mikey Day, Alex Moffat).” 5-min. video http://bit.ly/2KDEWeo

SUNDAY BEST … GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS speaks with TEXAS LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK on ABC’S “THIS WEEK”: PATRICK: “We still have this gun debate, George, of whether or not teachers should be armed or not. I believe, and the parents and students I’ve talked to in Santa Fe since Friday believe they should be.”

-- CHRIS WALLACE speaks with INCOMING NRA PRESIDENT OLIVER NORTH on “FOX NEWS SUNDAY”: NORTH: “We’re trying like the dickens to treat the symptom without treating the disease. And the disease in this case isn’t the Second Amendment. The disease is youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence. They’ve been drugged, in many cases. Nearly all of these perpetrators are male. And they’re young teenagers, in most cases. They’ve come through a culture where violence is commonplace -- all you need to do is turn on a TV, go to a movie. If you look at what’s happened to these young people -- many of these young boys have been on Ritalin since they were kindergarten. I am certainly not a doctor -- I’m a marine. But I can see those kinds of things happening.”

-- WALLACE also had TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN: MNUCHIN on CHINA: “We’re putting the trade war on hold, so right now we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework.”

-- CHUCK TODD spoke to ROGER STONE on NBC’S “MEET THE PRESS”: TODD: “Let me start with this. We learned that two of your associates now have been subpoenaed recently by the special counsel. We know the prosecutors have been asking witnesses about you. The last time we’ve talked, you had said you hadn’t been -- interviewed by the special counsel. Are you preparing to be indicted?”

STONE: “Well, Chuck, I don’t know if I’m an interesting person or a person of interest. I think these leaks out of the special counsel’s office are reprehensible. At least eight of my current or former associates, mostly young people, have been terrorized by Mr. Mueller’s investigators. I can guarantee you they have found no evidence whatsoever of Russian collusion, nor trafficking of allegedly hacked emails with WikiLeaks.”

-- CNN’S JAKE TAPPER spoke with VIRGINA SEN. MARK WARNER (D) on “STATE OF THE UNION” about the NYT story: WARNER: “I’m not going to comment about where we stand in terms of certain witnesses in our investigation. But if the Times story is true, we now have at least a second and maybe a third nation that was trying to lean in to this campaign. And I don’t understand what the president doesn’t get about the law that says, if you have a foreign nation interfere in an American election, that is illegal.”

-- MARGARET BRENNAN spoke with HOUSTON POLICE CHIEF ART ACEVEDO on CBS’ “FACE THE NATION”: ACEVEDO on gun control: “Well let me tell you people at the state level and the federal level in too many places in our country are not doing anything other than offering prayers. I’m grateful that I’m working a city with a mayor who is transformative, Sylvester Turner, and what we’re starting to see is that local governments are starting to make a difference and I think that the American people, gun owners, the vast majority of which are pragmatic and actually support gun sense and gun reform in terms of keeping guns in the right hands.

“We need to start using the ballot box and ballot initiatives to take the matters out of the hands of people that are doing nothing that are elected into the hands of the people to see that the will of the people in this country is actually carried out.”

Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: Justify with Mike Smith atop wins the the 143rd Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico race course on May 19 in Baltimore. Justify is now just one win shy of the Triple Crown. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

THE ADMINISTRATION -- “Bolton relied on ex-lobbyist as he staffed NSC,” by Marianne LeVine: “As he prepared to start his job as Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton relied on the advice of a longtime colleague — Matthew Freedman, a consultant and former lobbyist with decades of experience in foreign policy.

“But while Freedman may have been a trusted hand, he also came on with a checkered past, having worked for now-indicted Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and more recently getting fired from the Trump transition team for reportedly using his global consulting firm email for transition work.

“Still, Bolton leaned on Freedman earlier this year, and multiple people familiar with the matter said Freedman played a central role meeting with potential job applicants for the National Security Council before Bolton officially started.” https://politi.co/2wVqdJI

TWITTER DIPLOMACY -- “Nikki Haley’s Twitter account raises protocol concerns,” by Nahal Toosi: “Ever since she took over as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley’s personal Twitter account has been an object of fascination for the diplomatic set. On the @nikkihaley handle, the rising Republican star posts pictures of her dearest friends and showers love on her dog, Bentley. But she also denounces Russian actions in Syria and chides U.N. nations for voting against the United States.

“The juxtaposition of silly and serious has produced eye-rolling among U.N. diplomats. But analysts and former U.S. officials say Haley’s Twitter account — which she has used for nearly a decade — is indicative of another problem: Some U.S. diplomats are flouting State Department rules barring the use of personal social media accounts to make official statements.

“Those rules were devised in part so that the State Department, and not any individual, reaps the long-term benefits of an enhanced social media following. That may seem quaint given that all U.S. diplomats report to a president who still uses his personal Twitter account.

“But Donald Trump isn’t covered by the State Department rules. And social media is an important tool in public diplomacy, in which sites like Twitter and Facebook are part of a growing diplomatic virtual infrastructure that communicates U.S. views abroad.” https://politi.co/2IO509B



BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- “A Little Bit of Real People,” by the Weekly Standard’s Matt Labash in Detroit – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “Catching up with Charlie LeDuff, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who left the New York Times for his hometown newspaper, the Detroit News, and has since quit journalism — ‘Too many bodies, too many broken hearts’ — to work as a handyman in a diner.” https://tws.io/2wSj4tL

-- “How Baby Boomers Broke America,” by Steven Brill, author of “Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall-and Those Fighting to Reverse It,” on the cover of Time: “[M[any of the most talented, driven Americans ... in a way unprecedented in history ... were able to consolidate their winnings, outsmart and co-opt the forces that might have reined them in, and pull up the ladder so more could not share in their success or challenge their primacy.” https://ti.me/2IAOki8 ... $17.37 on Amazon https://amzn.to/2rZ04UC

-- “‘He Calls Me Arthur and I Call Him Sir’: Forty Years with Britain’s Royals,” by Hauke Goos and Jörg Schindler in Der Spiegel: “Arthur Edwards has spent over 40 years photographing the royal family for Britain’s Sun newspaper. In an interview, he talks about his experiences and Prince Harry’s wedding this weekend.” http://bit.ly/2LdtxmP

-- “The Last Days of Time Inc.,” by Sridhar Pappu and Jay Stowe in the NYT: “An oral history of how the pre-eminent media organization of the 20th century ended up on the scrap heap.” https://nyti.ms/2s08Dii

-- “Putin Hazed Me: How I Was Stalked, Harassed and Surveilled by Kremlin Stooges,” by Michael McFaul, excerpted from “From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia in POLITICO Magazine: “[H]arassment techniques were not new, but the number of incidents spiked noticeably in the winter of 2012. A memo prepared by my regional security officer and his team counted ‘nearly 500 additional instances of harassment against U.S. Mission personnel’ between January 17 and March 30, 2012. Even during the Soviet era, no one on our staff could remember a period of harassment so intense.” https://politi.co/2k818SI … $21.63 on Amazon https://amzn.to/2x6hqFd

-- “Card-Carrying Precadavers,” by Aaron Kheriaty in First Things: “Putting scalpel to tissue, we began to cut. The knife drew no blood. It is strange, the things you find when you open up dead bodies. One man’s liver was rock-hard, cirrhotic, probably from years of alcohol abuse. We discovered tumors, remnants of old surgeries, food still in the stomach, stool still in the colon, a spleen six times the normal size. Eating lunch was sometimes difficult after anatomy lab.” http://bit.ly/2KF0BTl

-- “Behavioral economics from nuts to ‘nudges,’” by Richard H. Thaler in Chicago Booth Review: “A bowl of cashews led to a research breakthrough.” http://bit.ly/2Iufk71

-- “Die like a dog,” by Joseph Pierre in Aeon Magazine: “Pet dogs often have a peaceful death that forestalls protracted suffering and pain. Why can’t we do the same for humans?” http://bit.ly/2IufDib (h/t TheBrowser.com)

-- “The Last Days of the Blue-Blood Harvest,” by Sarah Zhang in the Atlantic: “Every year, more than 400,000 crabs are bled for the miraculous medical substance that flows through their bodies—now pharmaceutical companies are finally committing to an alternative that doesn't harm animals.” https://theatln.tc/2kcFooB

-- “When the Movies Went West,” by Gary Krist in Longreads: “Scorned by stage actors and mocked by the theater-going upper classes, filmmakers nevertheless developed a bold new art form — but they needed better weather.” http://bit.ly/2KEBPmB

-- “‘Piercingly funny’: Tom Wolfe’s years as a Washington Post reporter,” by James Rosen in July 2006 in WaPo: “‘At a Washington party,’ Tom Wolfe once observed, ‘It is not enough that the guests feel drunk; they must feel drunk and important.’ Classic Wolfe! Piercingly funny and perceptive ... instantly quotable ... exposing the vanities of the elite. So why is it so ... unfamiliar? Because you won’t find the line in the familiar Wolfe canon … No, it was [in] ... the daily journalism Wolfe produced as a police and features reporter for a full decade before he morphed, in the mid-1960s, into ... Tom Wolfe.” https://wapo.st/2IC0QOF

-- “In praise of Brooks Brothers,” by Matthew Walther in The Week: “Many readers will feel inclined to associate Brooks Brothers with prep schools and somewhat dated Joe Yale Ivy League caricatures, with old-fashioned Wall Street mandarins and Episcopalian clergyman brunching outdoors, with lawn tennis, touch football, and sailing ... Forty American presidents have worn Brooks Brothers.” http://bit.ly/2wUayKW

MEDIAWATCH -- “How Trump changed everything for The Onion: The comedy website has had to develop new strategies and new characters for a president who often defies satire,” by Andrew Restuccia: “As The Onion tries to find its footing in the Trump era, its writers have increasingly focused on the people around the president. Vice President Mike Pence is often depicted as a repressed religious fanatic who, in one memorable article, refused to be alone with a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth maple syrup until his wife arrived.

“Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., known as the ‘Trump boys’ in The Onion’s lexicon, are cast as bumbling simpletons whose misadventures – from setting up their own makeshift law firm in the White House’s electrical room to interrupting an intelligence briefing with sofa cushions duct-taped to their bodies – are the closest thing to the site’s wildly successful mockery of former Vice President Joe Biden.” https://politi.co/2IAFcKs

Playbook Reads

SPOTTED yesterday at the British Ambassador’s residence for a celebration of the royal wedding (pic of the cake at the party http://bit.ly/2rWlfYh): Colin Powell, Nick and Jamie Ayers, Larry and Judy Kudlow, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Hogan Gidley, Derek Lyons, Reince and Sally Priebus, Sean and Rebecca Spicer, Bob Lighthizer, Marc Short, British Ambassador Kim Darroch and Lady Vanessa Darroch, Andrew Olmem and Eleni Roumel, Bob Grand, Whit Ayres, Karen Donfried, Julia Friedlander, Philip Gordon, Fiona Hill, Stuart Holliday, Gary Knell, David and Adele Malpass, Ruth Marcus, Capricia Marshall, Anita McBride, Sally Quinn, Jack and Susanna Quinn, John McCarthy, Anastasia Dellaccio, Helen Milby, Marion Blakely, Kimball Stroud, Jen Hing ...

… Reps. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), George Holding (R-N.C.), Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Patrick Steel and Lee Satterfield, David Skorton, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Josh Dawsey, Brian Hook, Christine Lagarde, former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), DeDe Lea, Phil Rucker, Bob Costa, Adrienne Elrod, Matt Mazonkey, Mitchell Rivard, Robert Edmonson, Todd Sloves, Doug Heye, Kasie Hunt, Mary Streett and Melissa Maxfield.

SPOTTED at Assaggi Osteria in McLean Saturday night: Fred Malek and Justice Anthony Kennedy having dinner with their wives. John Brennan was also there.

WEEKEND WEDDING – “Carolyn Dooley, Jonathan Thompson” – N.Y. Times: “Mrs. Thompson, 29, is the manager of the urology practice at the Virginia Hospital Center Physician Group, a medical practice in Arlington, Va. She graduated from Gettysburg College and received a master’s degree in health systems administration from Georgetown. ... Mr. Thompson, 34, is the communications director for the Republican Governors Association ... He graduated from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.” With a pic https://nyti.ms/2Iw4ihU … Wedding pic http://bit.ly/2rZAzT4

BIRTHDAYS: Walter Isaacson is 66 … Jon Meacham, author of “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels,” is 49 ... Tom McGeveran … Craig Melvin, NBC News’ “Weekend TODAY” co-anchor and MSNBC anchor ... Christina Bellantoni, LAT AME for politics (hat tips: Ben Chang and Tim Burger) ... George Condon ... Mary Bruce ... Phil Elliott of TIME ... Lynn Parrish ... Phil Alongi ... Politico’s Rebecca Morin and Rebecca Eichmann ... RNC’s Cassie Smedile ... Landon David ... Ron Reagan is 6-0 ... former N.Y. Gov. David Paterson is 64 ... Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) is 67 ... CSIS’ Wally Adeyemo ... Stacy Day, the U.S. Chamber’s director of media and external comms, celebrating with her family from Wisconsin (h/t Blair Latoff Holmes) ... Katie Lewallen ... WaPo’s Amber Phillips ... Francine Segan ... Davey Ahearn ... Gabriel Muller ... Justin Portes ... Jessica González-Rojas ... Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., now a member of Knesset, is 63 ... Gil Kaufman ... AP’s Chad Day … former Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is 69 ... former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) is 73 ... Delaware Gov. John Carney is 62 ... Alex Gambal … Bhav Tibrewal …

... Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) is 68 ... Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) is 49 ... Julie Reichenberger … Mia Phillips of The Polling Company (h/t Kristen East) … Hannah Cheney ... Margery Kraus, founder and executive chairman of APCO Worldwide ... Bill Pierce ... Henry Goldman ... Andy Newbold ... Ami Copeland … Aylon Berger ... Lauren Wolman … Danny Herrera ... Clayton Hall ... Kori Anderson ... Alan Madison … PJ Hoffman … Deborah Lehr Rogers … David Martin … Sara Severs … Andrew Harrison … Edelman’s Ryan Kuresman and Adrianna Tomasello ... Rosiland Jordan ... Jacob Daniels, president of Sonoran Policy Group ... Brian Darling ...... Bruce Collick ... Marie Robey Wood ... Sarah Gilbert Fox ... Bill Broadway ... Caitlin Haggerty Kestermann ... Pete D’Alessandro ... Matt Solberg ... Melissa Mulliken ... Carrie Lynch Springer ... Allison Goldberg ... Kathy Giles ... Amy Leveton ... Ethan Rosenzweig ... Erin Kelly (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

SUBSCRIBE to the Playbook family: POLITICO Playbook http://politi.co/2lQswbh ... Playbook Power Briefing http://politi.co/2xuOiqh... New York Playbook http://politi.co/1ON8bqW … Florida Playbook http://politi.co/1OypFe9 ... New Jersey Playbook http://politi.co/1HLKltF ... Massachusetts Playbook http://politi.co/1Nhtq5v … Illinois Playbook http://politi.co/1N7u5sb ... California Playbook http://politi.co/2bLvcPl ... London Playbook http://politi.co/2xfDPuK … Brussels Playbook http://politi.co/1FZeLcw ... All our political and policy tipsheets http://politi.co/1M75UbX

Follow us on Twitter Anna Palmer @apalmerdc



Jake Sherman @JakeSherman