“The Cold Calculus Behind the Shrinking GOP Presidential Field.”
Would-be Republican White House aspirants face a harsh reality: It’s not
just Donald Trump who’s freezing the 2024 field, reports Jonathan
Martin. As GOP strategist Scott Jennings puts it: “They don’t have a
Trump problem, they have a [Ron] DeSantis problem.”

But consider this: “[T]he history most on the minds of the Republicans
considering the race, who are not named Trump or DeSantis, is what
happens when there’s a bloody battle between top contenders. Spoiler: It
augurs well for a third candidate.”

And this afternoon, a subset of the Congressional Black Caucus will sit
down with President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris to officially restart
the push for police reform legislation following the funeral of Tyre
Nichols, whose death last week at the hands of Memphis police has
galvanized advocates for reform.

Black lawmakers have zeroed in on their first and biggest request of
Biden: a commitment to talk about policing in next week’s State of the
Union. One CBC member told us the group is even considering telling
Biden exactly what they want him to say — and that they expect him to
bang the drum until legislation hits the Oval Office.

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Raghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook
Daily Briefing.
Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.