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
April 18, 2024: Trump's messy breakup with mainstream media
While new developments in the saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man wrongly deported from Maryland to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador — are certain to drive the day, there’s a bigger meta-sto…
00:09:25 |
Fri 18 Apr 2025
April 17, 2025: Inside the Lutnick-Trump alliance
Everyone is dispensable in Trump world, but don’t expect the president to get rid of his commerce secretary even when the going gets tough. Trump and Lutnick’s storied friendship goes far beyond busi…
00:11:09 |
Thu 17 Apr 2025
April 16, 2025: The making of the next big SCOTUS showdown
A court hearing in Maryland yesterday kicked off a two-week legal sprint that could shake America’s system of checks and balances. On its surface, the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is …
00:11:47 |
Wed 16 Apr 2025
April 15, 2025: Where is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
On its face, the Oval Office meeting yesterday between President Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador centered around the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland …
00:11:01 |
Tue 15 Apr 2025
April 14, 2025: Inside the chaos at HHS
In the two-plus months since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the helm at the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency has been shaken to its core — data collection has been halted, research has…
00:10:31 |
Mon 14 Apr 2025
April 11, 2025: It’s still the economy, stupid
With Trump’s chaotic tariff moves shocking markets and spurring vast uncertainty about the economic outlook, Democrats see a political opening. Could the issue — so central to Trump’s political fortu…
00:10:45 |
Fri 11 Apr 2025
April 10, 2025: Trump’s tariff two-step
The U.S. is engaged in a trade war — just not the one many people expected. Yesterday afternoon, President Donald Trump backpedaled on most of the steep tariffs that took effect only hours earlier, p…
00:09:57 |
Thu 10 Apr 2025
April 9, 2025: 'This is not Trump 45'
At 12:01 this morning, President Donald Trump’s massive tariffs against China, Vietnam, Japan, and other countries took effect. The new policies are sure to impact not only the country’s economy, but…
00:11:50 |
Wed 09 Apr 2025
April 8, 2025: Trump's trade chief heads to Capitol Hill
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will be in the hot seat today as he testifies in front of the Senate Finance Committee, where he's expected to defend President Donald Trump's global…
00:11:30 |
Tue 08 Apr 2025
April 7, 2025: Trump world’s mixed messages on tariffs
The stock market is already showing the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs — and there’s no sign the pain will stop any time soon. Wall Street banks are ratcheting up their predictions of a r…
00:11:48 |
Mon 07 Apr 2025
April 4, 2025: Tariffs tumble markets
The major story today is still the economic after-effects of Trump’s globe-reshaping cascade of new tariffs. Yesterday, they sent markets tumbling head over heels with major losses — the biggest one-…
00:10:51 |
Fri 04 Apr 2025
April 3, 2025: Trump sets off a global trade war
Buckle up. In a major announcement after markets closed yesterday afternoon, President Donald Trump unleashed a major wave of tariffs against America’s trading partners throughout the world. Today, a…
00:12:11 |
Thu 03 Apr 2025
April 2, 2025: Voters send a message to Elon Musk
This morning, many Democrats are waking up feeling something they haven’t experienced since Donald Trump’s election in November: optimism. Yesterday, Democratic-backed Judge Susan Crawford won electi…
00:11:20 |
Wed 02 Apr 2025
April 1, 2025: One seat, two seat; red seat … blue seat?
The first major electoral tests of the Trump era are here: In two special elections in Florida and a statewide race in Wisconsin, voters will head to the polls and offer the first meaningful glimpse …
00:10:39 |
Tue 01 Apr 2025
March 31, 2025: The first electoral test of Trump 2.0
After several days dominated by a single story — Signalgate — the new week brings a series of major stories that will drive the narrative here in Washington. One of those comes from Wisconsin, where …
00:10:39 |
Mon 31 Mar 2025
March 28, 2025: The Stefanik shuffle
It’s a fitting end to a week of news dominated by foreign policy hands in Trump world: Yesterday, the White House announced that it is withdrawing Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination for UN ambassador. …
00:09:55 |
Fri 28 Mar 2025
March 27, 2025: Why Signalgate has staying power
For a fourth day, the Signalgate ordeal dominates every conversation in Washington — the rare Trump administration controversy with true staying power. What makes this time different? POLITICO cybers…
00:09:31 |
Thu 27 Mar 2025
March 26, 2025: 'Signalgate' fallout ripples through the White House
It's been two days since 'Signalgate' took over Washington, and the president’s inner circle continues to deal with its impacts. Despite the administration's public support of National Security Advis…
00:10:08 |
Wed 26 Mar 2025
March 25, 2025: ‘Signalgate’ rocks the Trump administration
It was the group chat heard round the world, and it perhaps shouldn’t even exist at all. Yesterday, “The Atlantic” published a piece revealing that some of the Trump administration’s top national sec…
00:10:40 |
Tue 25 Mar 2025
March 24, 2025: The budget countdown begins
With both the Senate and the House returning today from a weeklong recess, the race is on to pass a budget bill. And though one of the prevailing recent storylines out of Washington centers on the di…
00:09:12 |
Mon 24 Mar 2025
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