Principals

1. Semafor interviews Rahm Emanuel
2. One last shutdown scare
3. ‘Bloodbath,’ Day 3
4. Netanyahu dings Schumer
5. SCOTUS social media case
6. China seen as greatest US enemy
7. Big story blues

PDB: Senators open to backing TikTok bill as ByteDance reaches out to Trump

Biden to sign order on women’s health … Friday partial government funding deadline looms … Israel raids Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

‘Have I stopped saying anything?’ Rahm Emanuel on China, Japan, and the election

Rahm Emanuel, a legendary political brawler, has traded campaign attacks for diplomacy in the Biden administration. He’s not too disappointed about missing the grueling election while serving as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, though. “I find the work incredibly intellectually stimulating and there’s not a day that I sit up there with my feet up and I go, what do I do now?” Emanuel told Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant at his residence in Tokyo last week during a wide-ranging interview. “On the other hand, I love politics and you watch what’s going on and you know what you would do … You have your own energy and own thoughts. But it’s not like I’m going anywhere,” he said. Emanuel has made a mark on Tokyo, with one Japanese lawmaker calling him the “most active ambassador in history.” And he hasn’t completely lost his edge: The White House was reportedly not pleased with a tweet brutally mocking the Chinese government after its defense and foreign ministers disappeared in quick succession. “If I got pushback, how effective has it been?” Emanuel asked. “Have I stopped saying anything?”

Border fight raises last-minute shutdown fears

Congress’s budget talks are getting bogged down in a last-minute fight over — what else? — the border, and it’s once again raising the possibility of a government shutdown. With the parties at an impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security, a GOP aide said Democrats seemed ready to accept a full-year continuing resolution at last year’s levels — until the White House stepped in to nix it this weekend. “As they get on the same page, maybe we can close this remaining bill,” the aide told Semafor’s Kadia Goba. Lawmakers have until the end of Friday to pass their last batch of appropriations bills or face a funding lapse. But they’re stuck in a staredown: According to the Washington Post, the sides are partly at odds over a Republican proposal to cut money from detention facilities that hold migrants in order to spend more on border patrol agents. But there might be a breakthrough in sight: Politico reports this morning that the parties are now negotiating a full-year spending bill, rather than a CR, and that text could come today.

What the Trump ‘bloodbath’ fight was really about

The weekend featured a flurry of headlines over Donald Trump promising a “bloodbath,” as Democrats from President Joe Biden down called for five-alarm-fire coverage. But the meaning was anything but clear, as Republicans and even some Trump critics grumbled: The former president used the words in a slightly confusing context, but in the course of a riff on the auto industry. The “bloodbath” he predicted appears to have been the consequences to Detroit if his tariffs don’t go through — though, as is often true with Trump, his speech was vague enough that supporters and detractors can take what they like from it. The Biden campaign is visibly frustrated at how the most divisive elements of Donald Trump’s appeal aren’t moving voters in public opinion polls, and this episode reflected that unease. But you’d think there was enough in the public record to go off without stretching his words: The very same weekend, he defended his rhetoric about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the country on Fox News, played the national anthem sung by Jan. 6 “hostages” at a rally, and called on Truth Social for the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to be jailed.

— Ben Smith

Netanyahu criticizes Schumer for ‘totally inappropriate’ speech

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted about as well as you’d expect to Chuck Schumer’s big speech. He dismissed the Senate majority leader’s controversial call for new elections in Israel as “totally inappropriate” during an appearance on CNN, saying it would be up to Israelis to decide the next election. “We’re not a banana republic,” Netanyahu said. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in Washington, received encouragement from President Biden after his remarks criticizing Netanyahu. But other Democrats were less enthusiastic. “I think it’s up to the Israelis to determine their own leaders,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin, D-Md. said on NBC. But even if Netanyahu doesn’t intend to leave any time soon, Schumer could still get his wish for new elections: The prime minister’s coalition partners are divided over a coming decision on military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews.

SCOTUS case could chill efforts to curb election misinformation

It’s showtime at the Supreme Court today for a case that could have far-reaching implications for the federal government’s interactions with social media companies. The justices are set to hear oral arguments in Murthy v. Missouri, a case brought by two Republican attorneys general who argue the Biden administration violated the First Amendment in asking tech companies to take down certain content deemed misinformation. If the justices side with the state AGs, it could “severely limit the ability of government officials to communicate with and work with the platforms moving forward,” Jennifer Jones of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University told the Verge. Experts and officials say the pending case has already chilled government communications with platforms about 2024 election misinformation.

Americans see China as foremost U.S. enemy

A plurality of Americans still rate China as the greatest enemy of the U.S., but Iran is gaining a little ground. The share of adults name-checking Iran as the top U.S. foe rose from 2% in 2023 to 9% this year, according to new figures from Gallup, while those naming China declined from half to 41%. (Those naming Russia declined from 32% to 26%.) It may be a reflection of Americans picking up on increased tensions in the Middle East: In addition to Israel’s military conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran-backed groups have struck American troops and launched attacks on international shipping (the New York Times reported over the weekend that the U.S. and Iran quietly held indirect talks on these issues back in January).

How American media lost its nerve

It’s harder than ever to publish a big provocative story or exposé, Semafor’s Max Tani writes. A confluence of factors are making news outlets more timid: Bigger court losses in defamation cases, commercial pressure from falling revenue and layoffs, and social media backlash that can be marshaled by the rich and powerful against stories that cast them in a negative light. Tani notes that reporters with splashy scoops on public figures like self-help podcaster Jay Shetty and director Bryan Singer had to shop them to multiple outlets before finding a taker. “Very few owners have balls any more,” the former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown said, “a very sorry fact for journalism.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: While negotiators are still wrangling over DHS funding, other contentious issues in spending talks were resolved. Republicans and Democrats agreed to stop new U.S. aid to Palestinians from being routed through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency until at least March of next year, after employees of the organization were accused of participating in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Playbook: A person familiar with the ongoing negotiations said the parties have abandoned the idea of passing a continuing resolution for DHS and are “on a path forward” for a full-year spending bill, but that doesn’t mean a shutdown threat is averted. If the House abides by its 72-hour rule that means a vote won’t come until Thursday if text is released today.

The Early 202: Whether Republicans control the Senate after November could well come down to Ohio — and the three-way Republican campaign ahead of Tuesday’s primary has been “exceptionally ugly.”

Axios: President Biden regularly measures himself against President Obama, an approach that has informed his decisions on how he’s handled foreign policy issues and his relationship with Congress. When speaking about an accomplishment, Biden has reportedly said, “Obama would be jealous” (a report the White House contradicted).

White House

President Biden will sign an executive order today to promote women’s health research. He and first lady Jill Biden are also hosting a Women’s History Month reception.

Congress

• The House and Senate return tomorrow afternoon.
• House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. said Republicans should “rethink” inviting presidents to deliver the State of the Union, citing what he called President Biden’s “hyperpartisan” address earlier this month. He’s one of several Republicans to float the idea since Biden’s speech. — Axios
• Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. all sounded likely to support legislation to force ByteDance to divest TikTok when asked about the bill during separate appearances on the Sunday shows.

Inside and Outside the Beltway

Cherry blossoms are blooming early in both Washington and Tokyo.

Economy

• The Justice Department is looking at the proposed takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel over potential antitrust concerns. — Politico
• Donald Trump’s economic advisers Steve Moore and Arthur Laffer are floating “Kevin Warsh, an economic policy adviser to former President George W. Bush who later served on the Fed’s board of governors; Kevin Hassett, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration, and Laffer himself” as potential Fed Chairs. —WSJ

Courts

Nathan Wade resigned from the team prosecuting Donald Trump’s Fulton County election interference case following a judge’s ruling late last week. Wade was supposed to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” but canceled, citing a family emergency.

Polls

More than a third of independent voters said that a guilty verdict for Donald Trump in his Manhattan criminal case would make them less likely to support his candidacy, according to a poll from Politico Magazine and Ipsos.

On the Trail

• Former Vice President Mike Pence explained his decision to not endorse the president he served under in an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, saying it was “not just” about Jan. 6 but also his more recent political positions, including his “reversal just in the last week on, on TikTok.”
• President Biden became angry with staff when they presented him with polling showing the Israel-Gaza war was a net negative in Georgia and Michigan, saying he was making decisions without regard to politics. — NBC News
• The Biden campaign said it raised $53 million during the month of February.
• Biden attended the annual Gridiron dinner over the weekend for the first time as president and used the appearance to joke about Donald Trump’s mental fitness.

National Security

• The Department of Homeland Security will be the first federal agency to release a plan to incorporate artificial intelligence into its work, in partnership with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. — NYT
• North Korea launched ballistic missiles as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for a democracy summit.
• Worried about a potential vote on the House bill to force a sale of TikTok, some ByteDance investors have contacted Donald Trump’s campaign “to present data that highlights how popular the former president is on TikTok compared with his election rival Joe Biden” in the wake of him coming out in opposition to the legislation. — FT

Foreign Policy

• This morning, the Israel Defense Forces launched a raid on Gaza’s largest hospital, describing it as a “precise operation in the area of the Shifa hospital” meant to disrupt Hamas. Israel has accused Hamas of operating a command center beneath the hospital complex, which Israeli forces previously raided last November.
• Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner is working on a new development project in Serbia with Ric Grenell, a Trump administration official who served as special envoy for Serbia-Kosovo peace negotiations. — NYT
• Russian President Vladimir Putin “won” another six years as president of Russia.
• A decision by Niger to revoke a military agreement with the U.S. came after U.S. officials accused the country’s governing junta of considering a deal that would give Iran access to Niger’s uranium reserves. — WSJ
• The European Union unveiled an $8 billion aid package for Egypt in order to bolster the country’s economy and curb migration from Africa.

Media

The Cook Political Report will post its entire archives online today, offering access to 40 years of real-time election analysis. — Semafor

Big Read

Democratic consultant Hal Malchow, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, will end his life through euthanasia later this week. But before departing, he spoke with Sasha Issenberg in Politico Magazine about his career as a direct mail pioneer and what he sees as a missed opportunity for strategists in the current polarized era: Building up party brands instead of individual candidates. “Ad campaigns should instead promote the Democratic Party itself, Malchow proposes, particularly at moments when news events might help it win new adherents, such as after a mass shooting, when gun-control policy is thrust back into the news and voters might be ready to reconsider their allegiances.”

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker penned an op-ed calling on Vice President Harris to leave the Democratic presidential ticket “for the country’s sake.”

What the Right isn’t reading: Donald Trump said at a rally in Ohio over the weekend that some undocumented immigrants accused of crimes are “not people.”

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann, Morgan Chalfant

Editor-at-Large: Steve Clemons

Reporters: Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Ron Wyden is a Democratic senator from Oregon and the chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

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