White House eyes Kentucky state senator for Massie challenge
White House officials will host Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks for a discussion about challenging GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in next year's Republican primary, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the private plans.
President Donald Trump and his political operation have been searching for a candidate to challenge Massie over his opposition to the president's 'big, beautiful bill' and his strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump political advisers Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio have launched a super PAC directed at defeating Massie that's already running a TV ad attacking the seven-term incumbent.
Massie is embracing the challenge, fundraising off MAGA's slights and telling reporters last week he raised $120,000 in a single day off of Trump's threats to campaign 'really hard' against him.
Massie — who previously endorsed Reed for state Senate, and whom Reed in return had called 'one of America's greatest Congressmen' — did not immediately return a request for comment. Reed, a former Navy SEAL, was first elected to the Kentucky state house last year.
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an hour ago
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A big, beautiful week
Presented by With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On the Playbook Podcast this morning, Jack and Dasha discuss the political fallout from the 'big, beautiful bill,' the latest legal dispute over Trump's immigration crackdown … and why it's surprisingly easy to get drunk up a mountain. Tune in. Good Monday morning from Colorado, where Playbook has been camped out at the Aspen Ideas Festival all weekend long. (It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.) This is Jack Blanchard. ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH: This newsletter comes to you from an elevation of 8,000 feet, where your intrepid author — along with ace Playbook correspondent Dasha Burns and POLITICO legend Jonathan Martin — have been chairing discussion panels, political interviews and beer-soaked bar room chats at the beautiful Aspen Meadows resort. Dasha's jaw-dropping debate on the future of warfare — featuring retired Gen. David Petraeus, among others — is very much worth your time if you fancy a glimpse of the dystopian future ahead. Video here TikTok you don't stop: Your author's discussion on political TikTok was another eye-opener — at least for pre-Gen Z politicos (like myself) who haven't yet fully immersed themselves in this brave new world. 'Woke teen' sensation Dean Withers — he's actually now 20 — discussed the viral appeal of his political debate videos, which rack up tens of millions of views online; Gen Z podcaster extraordinaire Brad Polumbo picked through the pros and cons of TikTok as information source; Conservateur founder Jayme Franklin put up a strident defense of Gen Z's ability to separate fact from fiction. The whole event is genuinely enlightening if you feel you're less plugged in to next-gen politics than you should be ... Watch back here SPOTTED milling with the crowds at Aspen this week: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) … Maryland Gov. 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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
5 people Trump could pick to replace Powell at Federal Reserve
President Trump is laying the groundwork to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as soon as he can. With less than a year left in Powell's term as Fed chair, Trump is eager to usher him toward the door and line up a replacement more aligned with the president's agenda. Trump said this week he's currently vetting 'three or four' candidates to be Fed chair, and that he could announce his pick well before Powell's term ends in May. Here are five front-runners for Trump's Fed nomination. Kevin Warsh has been in the running for a top Trump administration economic position since the president's first administration. This may finally be his moment. A former Morgan Stanley banker and George W. Bush economic advisor, Warsh became the youngest person to join the Fed board in 2006 at age 35. He served as the Fed's point man with Wall Street during the 2007-08 financial crisis and remained at the central bank through 2011. Warsh was among Trump's finalists to replace former Fed Chair Janet Yellen in 2018 but lost out to Powell — a Republican Fed governor with bipartisan credibility and a strong working relationship with then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. After the 2024 election, Warsh was among several rumored candidates for Trump's Treasury secretary nomination and has met with the president at Mar-a-Lago. 'Trump has been vocal about his desire for a Fed that embraces lower rates and his ideal Fed chair candidate would be more pliant yet someone that the markets can accept with a degree of credibility. Kevin Warsh … could fit the bill,' wrote analysts at Beacon Policy Advisors. Fedwatchers have long considered Warsh the heir apparent to Powell given his close ties to Trump's orbit and willingness to call out the current central bank regime. Warsh has been fiercely critical of the Fed under Powell's leadership, accusing the bank of hiding behind its independence to avoid accountability. 'Independence is reflexively declared, all too often in my view, when the Fed is criticized,' Warsh said in an April speech to a conference in Washington, D.C. Warsh amped up his criticism earlier this month, denouncing central bankers as 'pampered princes' and defending Trump's attacks on the Fed. 'Central banks were created so that politicians would have someone to blame for this' he said. 'Well, grow up. Be tough.' Warsh also shares close political connections to Trump. His father-in-law, cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, has donated millions of dollars to Trump and Republican candidates, and was reportedly behind Trump's quest to purchase Greenland. Bessent quickly cemented himself as Trump's chief dealmaker and Wall Street ambassador as the president's rocky tariff rollout roiled markets. The Treasury secretary was front and center as markets cratered, while urging Trump behind the scenes to refocus the bulk of his new tariffs toward Chinese goods. After Trump's pivot soothed markets, the president dispatched Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to Switzerland, where they met with Chinese officials to broker a truce. The mission put Bessent squarely in the middle of Trump's orbit and established him as the de facto leader among the president's fractious economic team. Bessent has been tamer in his criticisms of the Fed and Powell than some of his White House colleagues since taking office, towing a careful line drawn between the Treasury and central bank more than seven decades ago. Even so, Bessent's loyalty to Trump and credibility with markets have put him in the conversation to succeed Powell. But his importance to Trump's overall economic agenda may dissuade the president from opening up a void in his administration. 'The president may not consciously acknowledge this dynamic but could be convinced that replacing Bessent with an alternative who can earn the trust of Wall Street would be a hassle. This doesn't mean that Trump wouldn't want Bessent helming the Fed, but that having to fill a vacancy at the Treasury Department would be creating a challenge where there doesn't need to be one,' Beacon analysts wrote. After decades as an economics professor and Fed research director, Waller joined the Fed board on Trump's nomination in 2020. Unlike four of Trump's other Fed nominees, Waller squeaked through the Senate in the waning days of the president's administration. He's largely been in sync with Powell on interest rates, but has voiced far less concern about the potential inflationary impact of Trump's tariffs and suggested cutting rates as soon as July. 'You'd want to start slow and bring them down, just to make sure that there's no big surprises. But start the process. That's the key thing,' Waller told CNBC last week. 'We've been on pause for six months to wait and see, and so far, the data has been fine. … I don't think we need to wait much longer, because even if the tariffs come in later, the impacts are still the same. It should be a one-off level effect and not cause persistent inflation.' Waller has also dismissed Trump's constant attacks on the Fed, arguing that the president's opinions alone do not harm the bank's independence. 'If the president wants to complain about it, he is free to do so just like everybody else,' Waller said in an interview with Bloomberg News after Trump's victory. 'That doesn't mean I have to listen or adjust policy to that, but he is entitled to every damn opinion he wants.' Bowman was nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2018 to fill the first seat on the Fed board designated specifically for someone with community banking experience. Before joining the Fed, Bowman served as Kansas state banking supervisor and as vice president of Farmers & Drovers Bank. After keeping a relatively low profile as a Fed governor, Bowman scored a significant promotion when Trump nominated her earlier this year to serve as the central bank's vice chair of supervision. The role puts her in charge of the Fed's expansive regulatory portfolio and oversight of the biggest, most powerful U.S. banks. Like Waller, Bowman has generally voted with Powell in favor of loosening bank regulations and gradually reducing interest rates, but recently broke from the pack and called for a cut as soon as July. If nominated and confirmed to lead the Fed, she would be just the second woman to chair the central bank. Yellen was the first and held that position until she was replaced by Powell. While Hassett has served a variety of economic roles in both of Trump's administrations, he's shared one major goal among them: tout the benefits of the president's agenda when markets and the country at large are doubting it. Hassett was chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) during the first Trump administration, serving as the president's top economist amid major changes to tax, financial and trade policies. Now as director of the National Economic Council (NEC), Hassett has primarily been involved in crafting and modeling Trump's sweeping tariffs and domestic policy agenda, including extensions to key tax cuts passed during the first administration. Hassett is well known for his sunny demeanor even while fiercely defending Trump and his agenda on TV — an important balance for any of the president's top advisors. But Hassett has sharpened his criticism of the Fed and Powell as Trump's own tensions with the Fed chair boil over. 'There's absolutely no excuse, other than partisanship for the Fed not to cut rates,' Hassett said of his fellow Republican in an interview with Fox Business last week. Hassett in April also accused Powell of partisanship when discussing key issues. 'Having everybody that refused to warn about the runaway spending out there, saying, 'Oh, this is going to be a catastrophe for inflation because of the tariffs,' means that people need to improve their models and improve their messaging,' Hassett said. Powell, however, has warned under both Trump and Biden that the U.S. was on an 'unsustainable' fiscal path and needed to pay down its debt.
