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
- 1944
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
Nov. 19, 2021: After months of wrangling, what’s another few hours?
If a “New York minute” is a few passing seconds, then the opposite is a “McCarthy minute” — something that drags on and on for hours.
On Thursday night, at 8:38 p.m., House Minority Leader Kevin McCa…
00:05:04 |
Fri 19 Nov 2021
Nov. 17, 2021: McCarthy’s latest crazy-town headache
If you want to know more about the state of the House GOP conference, today should provide a pretty telling snapshot. Ten months after rioters stormed the Capitol hunting for lawmakers, most House Re…
00:04:56 |
Wed 17 Nov 2021
Nov. 16, 2021: A victory lap and a reality check
It was all smiles and selfies at the White House on Monday as Democrats celebrated passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal. But rising voter concern about inflation has cast a pall over Preside…
00:04:10 |
Tue 16 Nov 2021
Nov. 15, 2021: Washington’s mystery mansion buyer unmasked
In August, former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and his wife Hilary Geary Ross sold their 10,000-square-foot home in Woodland-Normanstone for $13 million, according to D.C. tax records. It is …
00:04:52 |
Mon 15 Nov 2021
Nov. 12, 2021: Trump sours on DeSantis
Donald Trump has been complaining to members and guests at Mar-a-Lago that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis still hasn’t joined the other 2024 hopefuls in pronouncing that he won’t run for president if Trum…
00:04:59 |
Fri 12 Nov 2021
Nov. 11, 2021: The other big intra-Democratic fight
Earlier this year, the Biden administration forecast that the annual rate of inflation would be 2 percent. On Wednesday the Labor Department reported that inflation hit 6.2 percent, the biggest spike…
00:06:28 |
Thu 11 Nov 2021
Nov. 10, 2021: New reminders that this is not normal
We spend a lot of time in the weeds of congressional negotiations on the major legislation President Joe Biden, with some bipartisan help, is slowly moving through the system. At times it has all see…
00:05:21 |
Wed 10 Nov 2021
Nov. 9, 2021: Jan. 6 committee targets more Trump aides
All eyes are on Sean Parnell when he testifies today for the second and final time in an ugly child custody battle with his estranged wife, Laurie Snell. Though Parnell unequivocally denied abusing h…
00:05:29 |
Tue 09 Nov 2021
Nov. 8, 2021: Big obstacles await Biden after big win
Congress is out this week and the Biden administration will spend much of the next few days promoting the benefits of BIF, making the case for the reconciliation bill and pushing parents and schools …
00:04:02 |
Mon 08 Nov 2021
Nov. 5. 2021: Let’s try this again
The House adjourned just after 10 p.m. on Thursday night as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team struggled to round up votes to pass the twin infrastructure and Build Back Better bills. Democ…
00:06:00 |
Fri 05 Nov 2021
Nov. 4, 2021: For Dems, it’s ‘2009 all over again’
Following an embarrassing election night for Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her caucus have redoubled their efforts to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill (BIF) and Build Back Better package…
00:04:29 |
Thu 04 Nov 2021
Nov. 3, 2021: Let the Democratic freakout begin
New Jersey’s gubernatorial race is still too close to call as you wake up this morning. With 88% of the expected vote in, incumbent Phil Murphy is trailing Republican Jack Ciattarelli by just over 1,…
00:04:29 |
Wed 03 Nov 2021
Nov. 1, 2021: It’s zero hour for Virginia and Build Back Better
Could prescription drug pricing reform make it into the reconciliation bill after all? Senate and House Democrats and the White House came close to reaching a deal on the issue Sunday, report Burgess…
00:04:37 |
Mon 01 Nov 2021
Oct. 29, 2021: Why Joe Biden already won
To say Thursday was a roller coaster for President Joe Biden's agenda wouldn’t do justice to how truly head-spinning the day was. The White House releases a Build Back Better (BBB) deal backed by Man…
00:04:03 |
Fri 29 Oct 2021
Oct. 28. 2021: A worst-case scenario for Biden
A senior White House official recently described the reconciliation negotiations as a “nine-way teeter-totter.” Wednesday was a good example.
Ever since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema nixed the party’s plan to …
00:05:18 |
Thu 28 Oct 2021
Oct. 27, 2021: Except for every sticking point, Dems are close to a deal
President Joe Biden was hoping to announce a deal on his legislative agenda before he heads to Europe on Thursday. But it’s Wednesday already, and so far this week, it’s been two baby steps forward, …
00:05:08 |
Wed 27 Oct 2021
Oct. 26, 2021: Biden’s new problem on the left
President Joe Biden might be finally homing in on a deal with Sen. Joe Manchin, but a sense of discontent is starting to bubble up among progressives on the Hill, and it threatens to impede what the …
00:04:29 |
Tue 26 Oct 2021
Oct. 25, 2021: The 9 most important days of Biden’s presidency
The next nine days are the most important of Joe Biden’s young presidency: He needs to rescue his legislative agenda in Congress, rescue his party’s political candidates in two states and rescue Amer…
00:03:50 |
Mon 25 Oct 2021
Oct. 22, 2021: The rundown on reconciliation
Taking questions at a live town hall in Baltimore, Biden got into the nitty-gritty of the reconciliation negotiations, speaking about his mix of frustration with and respect for Sens. Joe Manchin (D-…
00:04:09 |
Fri 22 Oct 2021
Oct. 21, 2021: The backstory on David Corn’s Manchin scoop
The Joe Manchin news that shook Washington on Wednesday was David Corn’s report in Mother Jones that the West Virginia senator is considering motoring his houseboat out of the Democratic dock:
“In re…
00:06:20 |
Thu 21 Oct 2021
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of POLITICO. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.