Mar 18, 2026
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By Eli Stokols, Ben Johansen, Jack Detsch and Paul McLeary
Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government, your guide to Donald Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the federal government — the key decisions, the critical characters and the power dynamics that are upending Washington and beyond.
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President DONALD TRUMP’s hype campaign for the Iran war has demolished decades of presidential decorum around wartime messaging — and is mortifying former defense officials and members of Congress.
The White House is loving it.
The administration’s TikTok-style mash-up videos of missile strikes spliced into movie clips and video games — along with Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH’s attack-style language at Pentagon press conferences — have gobsmacked those with a more traditional view of how a government should sound during a time of war. But this modern media strategy is achieving what the White House appears to prioritize: audience engagement.
“Over a four day period, the videos that we put out had over 3 billion impressions,” said a senior White House official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s communications strategy. “That blows away anything we’ve ever done in the second term.”
The effort is part of a “both/and” wartime communications strategy that, as is often the case with this White House, cares little about presidential precedent or polite sensibilities. More than a half-dozen videos put out by a small cadre of very online White House communications staffers, tasked with sharing the kind of content that populates their private group chats, have driven the conversation.
But former officials have grimaced at the videos, be they the “Here comes the boom” edit of NFL defensive players tackling others on offense in brutal fashion (captioned “Touchdown”) or other TikTok-style videos with MLB home runs, Grand Theft Auto and an edit featuring movies such as “Iron Man,” “Top Gun” and “Gladiator.”
“I don’t think the performance of our men and women in uniform requires embellishment from Hollywood or computer games,” said JOE VOTEL, a former Central Command chief during the first Trump administration. “They represent the American people quite well on their own.”
Some who have worn a uniform and sent troops into battle feel that the glib, gamer-ized packaging minimizes — and shows little respect for — the gravity of war.
“It just seems detached from reality,” said retired Lt. Gen. BEN HODGES, the two-star general who commanded U.S. troops in Europe during President BARACK OBAMA’s second term. “Our allies look at this and they wonder, what the hell is going on. It doesn’t look like we’re serious.”
Since the war began three weeks ago, the president and aides have orchestrated a flurry of messages through different platforms — many, like the videos, tailored to specific audiences.
Trump has pushed freewheeling messages in dozens of ad hoc interviews with reporters who are dialing his personal cell phone and other public appearances. Hegseth, often joined by Joint Chiefs Chair DAN CAINE, has echoed the president’s bombast, declaring a series of triumphs even as they decline to describe what an American victory might look like.
The White House says it’s a winning message. “Polls show that a lot of young people are actually somewhat supportive of this war and our goal is to deliver content to them,” said the senior White House official, who is involved in the video efforts. “What we’re doing is not disrespecting the American troops. To the contrary, we’re highlighting all the great work — the heroic work that they’ve been doing with these videos. We do it in a way that captivates an audience.”
MESSAGE US — West Wing Playbook is obsessively covering the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government. Are you a federal worker? A budget staffer? Have you picked up on any upcoming moves or policy changes? We want to hear from you on how this is playing out. Email us at westwingtips@politico.com.
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POTUS PUZZLER
Which president was partially blinded in one eye after a sparring match at the White House?
(Answer at bottom.)
Agenda Setting
LEAVING IT BEHIND: Trump is aggressively pushing the Senate to pass voter verification legislation, speaking about it at length, posting repeatedly on social media and threatening to withhold endorsements from defectors. At the same time, he’s been virtually silent about a marquee housing bill containing one of his signature affordability proposals that’s been floundering on Capitol Hill, despite entreaties from Senate Majority Leader JOHN THUNE, our MEGAN MESSERLY and ALEX GANGITANO report.
The president’s proposal to restrict institutional investors from buying homes, first outlined in a January executive order and later folded into a bipartisan housing package, faces fierce opposition from some House conservatives who argue it will dissuade corporations from making major capital investments in housing construction, ultimately reducing supply rather than expanding it.
The initial support for the institutional investors ban, some of the president’s allies say, was part of a throw-everything-against-the-wall approach by the White House’s political shop, which is eager to rack up wins on affordability ahead of an election where cost of living is top of voters’ minds. Now, they’re not sure whether spending the political capital is worth the ballot box payoff.
“The political shop is feeling the pressure, and they’re grasping at any straw that comes their way,” said one person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly. But “in this particular case, Thune is right, you’re going to have to go and twist arms in the House for a bill that no one gives a shit about.”
White House spokesperson DAVIS INGLE disputed the idea that the president isn’t focused on housing. The voter-focused SAVE Act is Trump’s top priority, but he has also “been laser-focused on making housing more affordable,” Ingle said, pointing to recent housing executive orders.
THE OIL CONUNDRUM: Oil prices continued their climb today, as Israel and Iran threatened more attacks on petroleum facilities, jolting markets and sending the cost of a barrel of crude to nearly $110, WaPo’s EVAN HALPER reports, in the latest bad news for motorists. A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline already averages $3.84 nationally, according to AAA — an increase of 32 percent from one month ago, before Trump and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
White House moves to blunt oil price increases have had little effect, including today’s move to suspend for 60 days the Jones Act, which prohibits foreign vessels from shipping commodities, including oil and gas, between U.S. ports. That will ostensibly increase the pool of ships that can move the fuels across the U.S., but analysts say the move is largely symbolic and will ease gas prices by only a couple of pennies at most.
Vice President JD VANCE and Energy Secretary CHRIS WRIGHT will meet this week with top oil executives in Washington as the administration works to tame spiking oil prices, people familiar with the meeting told our ZACK COLMAN and JAMES BIKALES. The meeting between the top officials and the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest oil and gas lobbying association, had been in the works for several months and was originally supposed to be focused on permitting overhauls, according to one of the people.
WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT
MORE VOA MOVES: The U.S. Agency for Global Media this morning announced that CHRISTOPHER WALLACE, a veteran media executive, will serve as Voice of America deputy director, according to an unsigned email to VOA staff obtained by West Wing Playbook. “Christopher brings extensive experience in newsroom leadership and the evolution of digital media operations,” the email read.
Wallace previously worked as the vice president of news and news director Newsmax.
Knives Out
PAGING DANA WHITE: Senate Homeland Security Chair RAND PAUL laid into Homeland Security Secretary nominee Sen. MARKWAYNE MULLIN at his confirmation this morning, telling him that disparaging comments he’d made about Paul — including about a 2017 attack against him — were out of line, our ERIC BAZAIL-EIMIL reports. At the outset of the hearing, Paul (R-Ky.) said he was not sure about the Oklahoma senator for the role of DHS secretary, given Mullin’s comments.
Mullin had called Paul a “freaking snake” in February for trying to block the passage of a funding bill and has said he understood why a neighbor attacked Paul in 2017, leaving him with broken ribs and serious respiratory complications. “Tell it to my face, tell the world why you believe I deserved to be assaulted from behind, have six ribs broken and a damaged lung,” Paul said in his opening statement. “And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues” to lead DHS.
Mullin replied that he’s a “blunt” person and acknowledged that he and Paul don’t get along, arguing Paul criticizes Republicans more than Democrats.
What We’re Reading
‘All bets are off’: Trump’s war on Iran confounds the world’s central bankers (POLITICO’s Victoria Guida, Johanna Treeck and Geoffrey Smith)
How to lobby Trump on energy (POLITICO’s E&E News’ Robin Bravender and Kevin Bogardus)
‘Americans at heart’: ICE detains DACA resident on way to visit premature baby in NICU (MS NOW’s Laura Barrόn-Lόpez)
Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years (NYT’s Manny Fernandez and Sarah Hurtes)
POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
Former President THEODORE ROOSEVELT regularly staged boxing matches at the White House. Roosevelt’s eye was permanently damaged in one of those matches against military aide Col. DANIEL T. MOORE.
A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it!
Edited by Ester Wells, Dan Goldberg, Jennifer Haberkorn, Kathryn A. Wolfe and Isabel Dobrin.
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