The Playbook Podcast
POLITICO’s Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns bring their fresh insight, analysis and reporting to the biggest story driving the day in the nation’s capital.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 6 minutes
- Episodes
- 1941
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
From The Conversation: Trump's Border Czar Tom Homan
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, is a longtime immigration law enforcement official now tasked with helping implement the administration’s massive deportation campaign. In a wide-ranging interview wit…
01:05:21 |
Sun 13 Jul 2025
July 11, 2025: Welcome to phase two of the Trump presidency
There has been a quiet shift in President Donald Trump’s Washington. Halfway through the first year of his second term, Trump can boast a list of successes, most recently the passage of the sweeping …
00:14:59 |
Fri 11 Jul 2025
July 10, 2025: Has Trump had enough of Putin?
Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia, where the ASEAN Foreign Ministers summit is underway. On its surface, the Rubio-Lavrov meeting…
00:12:27 |
Thu 10 Jul 2025
July 9, 2025: SCOTUS aids in MAGA's DC makeover
Yesterday, the Supreme Court eased the way for President Donald Trump to proceed with his plans to fire tens of thousands of federal workers by executive order. The implications for Washington — and …
00:14:23 |
Wed 09 Jul 2025
July 8, 2025: MAGA turns on its own
After a few weeks during which things seemed to go more or less as the Trump administration had hoped, MAGA world is suddenly in revolt. Yesterday, the Justice Department announced that it would not …
00:16:05 |
Tue 08 Jul 2025
July 7, 2025: Tariffs, Texas, treaties and Trump
For President Donald Trump, it’s a week of tests on several fronts. After deadly floods in Texas, his administration’s cuts to the NOAA and National Weather Service are receiving new scrutiny, with m…
00:16:40 |
Mon 07 Jul 2025
July 3, 2025: Trump barnstorms into July 4
As Congress wrestles over the GOP’s megabill package, President Donald Trump heads to Iowa for a major rally on the eve of the July 4 holiday. Playbook’s chief correspondent Dasha Burns joins author …
00:11:20 |
Thu 03 Jul 2025
July 2, 2025: Crunch time for Trump’s megabill
The GOP’s massive reconciliation package heads back to the House this morning after narrowly crawling to passage in the Senate yesterday. But it looks much different than the last time the chamber co…
00:14:58 |
Wed 02 Jul 2025
July 1, 2025: The strategy behind ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
While the GOP megabill continues to be the main event in Washington, President Donald Trump heads to Florida and the latest hotspot in his immigration crusade: “Alligator Alcatraz.” That’s the monike…
00:14:01 |
Tue 01 Jul 2025
June 30, 2025: Fresh fissures for the GOP megabill
It’s crunch time on Capitol Hill as the clock winds down for the sweeping Republican-backed reconciliation bill ahead of President Donald Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. At stake is the crux of…
00:15:50 |
Mon 30 Jun 2025
June 27, 2025: The megabill’s moment of truth
President Donald Trump firmly believes the GOP’s megabill can pass through Congress and land on his desk by July 4. But with just one week to go before that self-imposed deadline, the sweeping legisl…
00:10:21 |
Fri 27 Jun 2025
June 26, 2025: What’s the truth about the Iran strike?
Freshly back from the NATO Summit, President Donald Trump’s attention is now focused squarely on one thing: selling the Iran strike as an unmitigated success — regardless of what intelligence assessm…
00:14:17 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
June 25, 2025: A political earthquake in NYC
Two stories from opposite sides of the globe have huge political implications today. First, in New York City, outsider candidate Zohran Mamdani pulled off a historic upset, defeating former Gov. Andr…
00:15:36 |
Wed 25 Jun 2025
June 24, 2025: Trump’s ceasefire victory lap
President Donald Trump heads to the Netherlands today for the 2025 NATO Summit. The Iran-Israel conflict was already set to be a major focus. But Trump’s announcement Monday night of a ceasefire betw…
00:14:30 |
Tue 24 Jun 2025
June 23, 2025: The U.S. bombed Iran. What now?
On Saturday night, U.S. forces bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities in what the Pentagon termed “Operation Midnight Hammer.” The consequences, which will likely be far-reaching, are only beginning…
00:16:03 |
Mon 23 Jun 2025
June 20, 2025: Is the ‘MAGA civil war’ real?
One story continues to dominate the conversation in Washington: the possibility of a U.S. strike in Iran. But even as the commentariat focuses on its potential geopolitical implications, its potentia…
00:11:34 |
Fri 20 Jun 2025
June 18, 2025: Trump’s choice on Iran
With the U.S. on the cusp of potentially joining Israel’s fight against Iran, foreign policy experts in Washington are scrambling to game out the various scenarios. And as POLITICO senior foreign aff…
00:11:51 |
Wed 18 Jun 2025
June 17, 2025: Trump’s Middle East dilemma
President Donald Trump is unexpectedly back in Washington today, cutting his G7 trip short amid a spiraling situation with Iran. Yesterday, Trump made an ominous Truth Social post suggesting “everyon…
00:15:37 |
Tue 17 Jun 2025
June 16, 2025: Trump takes on the G7
After a weekend of nationwide protests, a military parade and a political assassination, eyes in Washington are now aimed north at Canada, where President Donald Trump is attending the G7 summit. Tod…
00:15:50 |
Mon 16 Jun 2025
June 13, 2025: Israel strikes Iran
Last night, Israel launched a major military campaign against Iran in what it billed as a “preemptive” strike on the nation’s nuclear capabilities. But this is only the beginning: Israeli PM Benjamin…
00:09:25 |
Fri 13 Jun 2025
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