With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine

DRIVING THE DAY

TALK OF THIS TOWN — Michael Schaffer’s latest Capital City column: “The Resistance Is Not Coming to Save You. It’s Tuning Out: The first Trump administration sparked waves of public activism and aggressive media coverage. This time, not so much.”

VAX NOT YOUR COUNTRY — Even in a week of news dominated by President-elect DONALD TRUMP’s sometimes scorched-earth choices for key roles in his second administration, it stood out: ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. — a man whose public profile has become synonymous with false and disproven misinformation about vaccines and other key pillars of public health — will be his nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services.

The announcement, which was scooped by our colleague Meridith McGraw, drew immediate backlash from Senate Democrats (“a fringe conspiracy theorist,” Washington’s PATTY MURRAY called him) and public health experts alike (Kennedy is “part of the problem and cannot be part of the solution,” said RICHARD BESSER, a former acting director of the CDC).

But members of the Republican majority, weary after days of controversy stemming from Trump’s other picks, were reticent to swat at Kennedy. “RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure,”said Sen. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.), who in addition to being the incoming chair of the Senate’s HELP Committee is himself a physician. “I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.” (One voice we’re especially eager to hear from: Sen. MITCH McCONNELL, a polio survivor.)

Other leading conservative voices were not holding their fire. The NY Post ed board notably came out against his selection (the second RUPERT MURDOCH organ to inveigh against a Trump pick in so many days). Confirming Kennedy “would be a monumental disaster,” writes National Review’s Philip Klein, who calls him “the only pick for HHS who would be pro-abortion and pro-government health care.”

The most interesting reaction of the day? That came from Colorado’s Democratic governor, JARED POLIS, who said he was “excited” about Kennedy’s appointment before issuing a statement reiterating that he supports vaccines and municipal water fluoridation.

The stakes: “How RFK Jr. could cause an earthquake for American public health,” by Daniel Payne, Chelsea Cirruzzo, Marcia Brown, Brittany Gibson and Annie Snider

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE — The flurry of appointments to fill out the second Trump administration continues …

North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM is the pick to be Interior secretary.

Former Rep. DOUG COLLINS (R-Ga.), another frequent Fox News guest, was tabbed to lead the Veterans Affairs Department. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Greg Bluestein also notes that Collins’ move could have implications for 2026.)

MICHAEL ANTON and SEBASTIAN GORKA are in the running to be deputy national security adviser, Jack Detsch, Daniel Lippman and Connor O’Brien report. “With either selection Trump would elevate a firebrand loyalist who served in the incoming commander-in-chief’s first administration to one of the White House’s top roles.”

DEAN JOHN SAUER, the lawyer whose arguments led to a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, is Trump’s pick to be solicitor general in his second term. Josh Gerstein has more

TODD BLANCHE, who was one of Trump’s lead defense lawyers, is the pick for deputy AG, and Emil Bove, who also represented Trump in his various trials, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general. More from Erica Orden

JAY CLAYTON was tabbed for the most prestigious U.S. attorney post in the country, in the Southern District of New York. Erica Orden and Michael Stratford have more

THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: SHERROD BROWN — For Democrats, last week’s election landed like a gut punch. You already know the story: working-class voters throughout the nation shifted markedly in favor of Trump. The result signals a massive two-part problem for Democrats: (1) how to reclaim its standing as the party for working people, and (2) how to merge that with the party’s emphasis on inclusion.

One person who knows a lot about all of that is Sen. SHERROD BROWN. The Ohio Democrat first won his Senate seat in 2006, when his was the definition of a swing state. He cruised to reelection in 2012 and 2018, despite the Buckeye State’s drift into the Republican column.

But 2024 was different. Though Brown lost reelection to Republican BERNIE MORENO, he still managed to outperform VP KAMALA HARRIS’ margin in the state by about eight points.

So what happened? How did it go wrong and how can Democrats fix it? Yesterday, Eugene caught up with Brown here in D.C. to talk it through. It’s the first time he’s opened up about his race and loss. He talked about what he thinks Democrats can do to fix the party’s brand, spoke about phone calls he had with JOE BIDEN and BARACK OBAMA and shared what he’s been telling fellow senators behind closed doors about how Democrats can get back in the game.

The full interview is out on this morning’s episode of Playbook Deep Dive, but here are a couple excerpts that stuck with us …

On why Trump won: “I’m not an expert in psychoanalyzing how voters get to Donald Trump, but I know that we’ve let them get to Donald Trump by not focusing on them and listening to them and showing we’re on the side of workers all the time. … Democrats have historically been the party of workers. I’ve seen that support erode from workers because Democrats haven’t focused on workers the way that we should over the last 30 years.”

On where Democrats faltered: “People have to blame someone. And it’s been Democrats because we are more blamed for it because … they expect Republicans to sell out to their corporate friends and to to support the rich. But we don’t expect that from my party.”

What he’s going to do next: “That’s my future in this party, is to focus on helping the Democratic Party and my colleagues understand how important that is, that we talk to workers and we make decisions with workers at the table.”

On what he sees as a false choice between appealing to working-class white voters and marginalized minority groups: “What we have in common is work. And there’s no reason you can’t focus on the dignity of work and human rights. I’ve spent a 30-year career — 32 years in Washington — being that person, being one of the people that do that. … I don’t know why you can’t be both, why you can’t be supportive of civil rights and human rights in every iteration.”

On whether he’d run to fill the remainder of JD VANCE’s Senate term: “I’m not ruling anything out.”

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels.

THE (GLASS) CEILING IS THE ROOF — “9 Women on Why America Still Doesn’t Have a Woman President,” from POLITICO Magazine

FULL COURT PRESS — The surprise speakers for last night’s Federalist Society gala at the Washington Hilton: Supreme Court Justice NEIL GORSUCH and retired Justice STEPHEN BREYER, who riffed on the riveting topic of deregulation. Gorsuch drew laughs as he briefly alluded to the election results: “Some of you may work in federal agencies and state agencies — and some of you may be about to.” He also cited the sad tale of “Peanut,” the squirrel whose untimely demise at the hands of New York state authorities became a popular meme at the end of the presidential race.

However, our Josh Gerstein reports that — apart from MATT GAETZ’s nomination as AG — all the buzz on the first day of the conservative lawyers’ conference was about a testy exchange between conservative 5th Circuit Judge EDITH JONES and liberal Georgetown law professor STEPHEN VLADECK.

Waving a manila folder containing Vladeck’s writings and tweets, Jones argued that Vladeck’s criticism of judge-shopping in certain Texas federal courts amounted to an attack on the judges’ character and led to someone being charged with a death threat against Judge MATTHEW KACSMARYK, a Trump appointee who issued a ruling overturning FDA approval of an abortion drug. “The point of attacking these judges is to diminish their reputations,” said Jones, with the Reagan appointee at one point slapping the table in anger. “The consequence of all this is Judge Kacsmaryk is under 24-hour-a-day protection.”

“I’ve never said Judge Kacsmaryk is not qualified to be a federal judge,” replied Vladeck, best known for his criticism of the Supreme Court’s so-called shadow docket. “The notion that describing behavior is attacking judges, I think, is a very dangerous road to go down.” He got a smattering of applause from the audience as he lamented the tenor of the exchange, adding, “That’s not the kind of debates that I thought the Federalist Society was interested in sponsoring and I’m disappointed in the conversation that we’ve had today.”

WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY

On the Hill

The Senate is in.

The House meets at 9 a.m.

3 things to watch …

Whither the Gaetz ethics report? The House Ethics Committee was set to meet today to potentially take action on the long-awaiting report on its investigation into personal misconduct by the now-AG-designee. But the closed-door meeting was canceled without explanation yesterday, as members of the Hill team report, with no clear plans to reconvene. What is clear is that the report is going to be a hot potato so long as Gaetz remains in line to lead DOJ, particularly with senators of both parties wanting to see it ahead of any confirmation vote.

Senate Democrats might be able to keep the judicial confirmations machine going full blast through the end of the year after Sen. JOE MANCHIN (I-W.Va.) told reporters yesterday that he is abandoning his prior position of supporting only those nominees that have Republican support. With Republicans threatening a total blockade, that could mean the difference between just a handful of additional Biden judges getting lifetime appointments and dozens. More from Axios’ Stephen Neukam

The pickle that Speaker MIKE JOHNSON finds himself in with Trump nominating three House Republicans for administration positions is being compounded by Florida’s leisurely pace for filling congressional vacancies. No empty Sunshine State seat has been filled in fewer than 148 days this century, and while there are hopes of replacing Gaetz and Rep. MIKE WALTZ faster than that, Florida law suggests that will be difficult, as Gary Fineout explains. Much will depend on Gov. RON DeSANTIS, who might want to show more urgency than he did in 2022, when he scheduled a special election to replace the late Rep. ALCEE HASTINGS (D-Fla.) nine months out.

At the White House

Biden is in Lima, Peru, where he will receive the President’s Daily Brief in the morning before participating in the APEC Leaders’ informal dialogue with guests. Later, he will hold a trilateral meeting with Japanese PM ISHIBA SHIGERU and South Korean President YOON SUK YEOL. After, he will hold a bilateral meeting with Peru President DINA BOLUARTE ZEGARRA.

Harris will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with White House staff.

PLAYBOOK READS

TRANSITION LENSES

KNOCKING AT THE GAETZ — The fallout from Trump’s selection of the now-former congressman as AG is still coming into focus as his past conduct comes under increased scrutiny.

The ethics investigation: The woman “who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old,” ABC’s Will Steakin reports.

“Over the summer, the House Ethics Committee subpoenaed the woman at the center of the probe — who is now in her 20s — and she sat for multiple days of testimony where she testified to the committee that Gaetz had sex with her when she was a minor in high school, sources close to the investigation said.”

In response to the report, Gaetz remained steadfast in denying the accusations and told ABC that the “allegations are invented and would constitute false testimony to Congress.”

The shadow of Jan. 6: Our colleague Kyle Cheney takes a deep dive on Gaetz’s role as the right-hand man in Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election, which led to the Capitol attack.

More top reads:

Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) is “pushing for fellow South Carolinian SCOTT BESSENT to be Donald Trump’s next Treasury secretary, which would fend off a late charge by HOWARD LUTNICK and end a waiting game on Wall Street,” Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Liz Hoffman report.

ELON MUSK’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is recruiting “super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” But the real kicker? It’s volunteer work. More from Brittany Gibson

Pondering policy: “What Will Happen to Social Security After Trump Takes Office?” by NYT’s Tara Siegel Bernard … “What Will Trump Do With the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program?” by NYT’s Ron Lieber

THE ECONOMY

THE ART OF THE ZEAL — Biden and Harris could not sell voters on the strength of the U.S. economy, to Democrats’ profound detriment. Now, Trump is poised to enter the White House with booming markets and solid growth — and you can expect him to reap the political rewards, Sam Sutton writes. “Incoming presidents who defeat an incumbent are rarely dealt so strong a hand.”

“The long-term consequences of the highest inflation in four decades are still dragging down consumer sentiment, and Trump fueled that pessimism on the campaign trail by relentlessly arguing that the economy was in a freefall. With the election over, he’s likely to have a much easier job convincing Americans that times are actually pretty good.

Despite Trump repeatedly hammering the economy, even his “favorite gauges for assessing economic performance have been humming. The stock market repeatedly hit record highs in recent months, even before his reelection sent traders into a frenzy.”

More top reads:

Fed Chair JEROME POWELL yesterday said “recent signs of economic health would allow the central bank to take its time in deciding how quickly to continue reducing interest rates, including by potentially slowing down the pace of cuts,” WSJ’s Nick Timiraos reports.

THE WHITE HOUSE

BIDEN’S LAST HURRAH — Back in 2021, Biden’s first foreign trip as president was intended to reassure democratic allies that America was back. “As he leaves for his final overseas summits, that promise is in shambles with the emphatic victory of Donald Trump,” Eli Stokols and Lauren Egan write.

“As international leaders gather for summits this week in Lima, Peru, and Rio de Janeiro for what might have been the president’s proud valedictory, capping a decadeslong foreign policy career, the supposed leader of the free world is an afterthought.”

Meanwhile, “autocrats in Moscow and Beijing are poised to outlast many of their western adversaries,” they write. “Biden’s economic policy, despite all his talk about alliances, was protectionist to its core. And the president’s own unpopularity looks to be the biggest reason why voters scurried back to Trump, a flatterer of strongmen and unabashed populist with a mercantilist view of the world and willingness to deal one-on-one with anyone.”

Aides to the president say he won’t go out with a whimper. “In Peru, they said he would focus attention on his administration’s efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, especially when it comes to confronting Chinese aggression,” NYT’s Michael Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report. “Later, he will focus on the need to combat climate change, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Amazon rainforest. And in Rio, Mr. Biden will have his last global opportunity to make the case for Ukraine and to champion the alliances he has advocated during his term.”

More top reads:

Musk convened a meeting with Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. in New York yesterday, “in a session that two Iranian officials described as a discussion of how to defuse tensions between Iran and the United States,” NYT’s Farnaz Fassihi reports. “The Iranians said the meeting between Mr. Musk and Ambassador AMIR SAEID IRAVANI lasted more than an hour and was held at a secret location.”

ALL POLITICS

BACK FOR MORE — Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO is considering mounting a third bid for governor of Rhode Island, Ian Donnis of the Public’s Radio reports.

CONGRESS

COLLINS RIDES AGAIN — Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) indicated that she intends to run for a sixth term in the Senate when her current term is up in two years — a time when she will likely be the most vulnerable incumbent Republican running for reelection in the chamber, per the Washington Examiner’s David Sivak.

WELCOME BACK — “Senate Republicans squirm over Trump’s tariff plans,” by Ari Hawkins and Gavin Bade

TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Elisabeth Bumiller, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Mark Leibovich and Vivian Salama.

SUNDAY SO FAR …

CNN “State of the Union”: Speaker Mike Johnson … Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) … Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).

FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) … Speaker Mike Johnson. Panel: Stef Kight, Kevin Roberts, Tiffany Smiley and Juan Williams.

ABC “This Week”: Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) … Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). Panel: Rachael Bade, Alex Burns, and Astead Herndon.

NBC “Meet the Press”: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries … Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). Panel: Lanhee Chen, Eugene Daniels, Amna Nawaz and Jen Psaki.

CBS “Face the Nation”: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear … Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) … Sue Gordon … Deborah Birx.

NewsNation “The Hill Sunday”: Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) … Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.). Panel: Molly Ball, David Weigel, Tia Mitchell and David Drucker.

MSNBC “The Weekend”: Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) … Rep.-elect Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.).

PLAYBOOKERS

Roger Stone has delivered the most Trump-2.0 diatribe so far.

Dean Phillips says he’s ready and willing to join the Trump administration.

John Lewis’ posthumous statue was unveiled in Alabama.

Joe Rogan was reportedly under consideration to join an education advisory committee in Oklahoma alongside Libs of TikTok.

Sylvester Stallone has some really high praise for Donald Trump.

PLAYBOOK REAL ESTATE CORNER — “Chris Wallace Lists Washington, D.C. Home for $6.4 Million,” by WSJ’s Katherine Clarke: “The Wallaces bought the house for $1.1 million in 1997, the same year they were married, property records show. The circa-1929 house has four bedrooms and measures about 7,000 square feet.”

OUT AND ABOUT — STARZ hosted a mixer dedicated to government relations professionals in the entertainment and media sector on Wednesday night at Allegory hosted by Stephanie Lambert, Enumale Agada, Edward Hill, Charlyn Stanberry, Tejasi Thatte and Brandon Webb. SPOTTED: Steve Benjamin, Jennifer Minezaki Washington, Aba Blankson, Adjoa Asamoah, Alivia Roberts, Cameron Trimble, Feven Solomon, Kamau Marshall, Jaqui Serrano, Keenan Austin Reed, Sesha Joi Moon, Tania Laden, Latoya Foster, Michael Pauls, Halle Ewing, Robin McGahey, Emma Rindels-Hill and Shelly Marc.

MEDIA MOVES — David Chalian has been promoted to SVP and D.C. bureau chief at CNN. The announcement … Liz Seymour has been promoted to managing editor at WaPo. The announcement

TRANSITION — Carly Bird is launching Bird’s Eye Consulting. She previously was a national spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and is a Kevin Stitt, NRCC and Tom Emmer alum.

WEDDING — Greg Steele, political comms director for Speaker Mike Johnson and NRCC media affairs director, and Lemonia Mavrophilipos, a Johns Hopkins alum who is completing her medical degree, got married on Nov. 9 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The couple, whose grandparents emigrated from Ikaria, Greece, have known each other since childhood. Pic … Another pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Anna Nix Kumar, principal at Monument Advocacy, and Sanjay Kumar, senior public policy manager at Google, on Saturday, Nov. 2, welcomed Clara Josephine Nix Kumar, weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) … Fox News’ John Roberts ... AP’s Zeke Miller … Jen Palmieri … USDA’s Xochitl Torres Small … Amanda Renteria … Robert Draper … Gail Gitcho … WaPo’s Greg Miller … Molly O’Toole … Bill Signer of the Carmen Group … John Easton … Augie McGinnity-Wake … Jennifer Jones … Adam Snider … Laura Bernardini … Elliott Phaup of the Office of the National Cyber Director … Davan Maharaj … Joe Sandler … Jim Boyle … Helen Brosnan … CFPB’s Joe Valenti … Matthew Fried … Zach Bauer … Max Steele of Everytown for Gun Safety … Shannon-Elisabeth O’Hare … Ben Goodman … Economic Innovation Group’s August Benzow … Asha Rangappa … Elizabeth Daniels … Daniel Bolger … Mia Villamayor of Boston Consulting Group … Tim Keating … Trip Yang … Ethan Sorcher of Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s (D-N.J.) office

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