Playbook Deep Dive POLITICO

Utah Governor Spencer Cox is a longtime Trump critic who is known nationally for his work to depolarize American politics.

This week, Cox easily defeated a far-right opponent in the Republican primary. So too did a slate of other Utah Republicans. While national Republicans continue to move in Trump’s direction — in Utah, the Romney faction of the GOP is still holding its own.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox is a longtime Trump critic who is known nationally for his work to depolarize American politics.

This week, Cox easily defeated a far-right opponent in the Republican primary. So too did a slate of other Utah Republicans. While national Republicans continue to move in Trump’s direction, in Utah, the Romney faction of the GOP is still holding its own.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Cox joins host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza to discuss Utah politics, as well as Cox’s disagreements with Trump; how he’s preparing to be cast as MAGA’s next boogeyman; what he thinks Trump’s other Republican critics, such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, get wrong; and why “disagreeing better” doesn’t mean giving up your most strongly held beliefs.

Bob Bauer is President Joe Biden’s personal lawyer and was general counsel to both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. But over the last three decades, he’s developed another specialty practice: playing the role of his candidate’s rival during debate prep.

Bauer has helped Democratic candidates prepare for debates by playing the likes of Bernie Sanders, Al Gore, and Donald Trump. He’s also been involved with efforts to reform the process and production of presidential debates themselves.

So with the first presidential debate less than one week away, and both Biden and Trump cramming to prepare for it, Bauer is joining the show to preview the event, as well as to discuss his new book, “The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis”.

South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn is often considered the single most important person in helping Joe Biden win the Democratic nomination in 2020. Now, in 2024, Clyburn is one of Biden’s six campaign co-chairs.

On this episode of Deep Dive, Clyburn joins host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza to discuss: Biden’s weakness with Black and Latino voters; the rebellion on the left over Israel’s war in Gaza; the continued Democratic carping about the Biden campaign’s messaging; Biden’s dismal approval ratings; who will be the post-Biden leaders of the Democratic Party; what side he’s taking in that New York Democratic primary that’s pitting the likes of Hakeem Jeffries against Hillary Clinton; and more.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), one of President Joe Biden’s closest foreign policy advisors, gives his assessment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial upcoming address in front of Congress, the politics of the Hunter Biden trial, why Coons thinks the president’s executive order on asylum is hollow, how our allies around the world are bracing themselves for the coming election, what would happen if China invaded Taiwan in a Trump versus a Biden administration, and his honest assessment of what’s changed about Biden as he’s aged,.

POLITICO’s senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney and legal columnist Ankush Khardori debrief on what happened at the Hush Money trial, how Trump’s team may have hurt its own case, and what their best plan is to win an appeal after Thursday’s massive guilty verdict.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) joins host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza to discuss his entry into the Senate GOP leadership race to succeed Mitch McConnell. They discuss why Sen. Scott is running, what Donald Trump told him about his decision, his relationship with key Republicans such as McConnell and Susie Wiles, his policy agenda on foreign aid, abortion, entitlements, and Israel if he’s elected leader, Trump’s running mate choices, and the importance of having a purpose in life.