By Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

VIVEK’S TURN IN THE SPOTLIGHT — A glimpse at how VIVEK RAMASWAMY, the GOP candidate who’s having a moment, is ricocheting around the political arena:

— How it’s playing in the early states: “In Iowa, Vivek Ramaswamy finds Republican voters share his disdain of climate change,” by the Des Moines Register’s Philip Joens

— How other camps are responding: “DeSantis’ super PAC head honcho privately admits he’s spreading dirt on Ramaswamy,” by Alex Isenstadt

— How it’s playing internationally: “A ‘fevered hallucination’: Latin America meets Vivek Ramaswamy,” by Nahal Toosi

President Joe Biden will draw a contrast with Donald Trump by speaking out even more on democracy and the economy. | Susan Walsh, File/AP Photo

THE TWO TYPES OF LABOR DAY WEEKENDS — In our personal experience, there are really two approaches you can take to an ever-so-rare three-day weekend:

1. You can use it as a chance to make changes — reflecting on what is and isn’t working in your life, and emerging from the break with a new approach or focus.

2. You can just enjoy the extra time to recharge without changing much of anything.

This Labor Day weekend, we see both approaches on full display in our politics.

TAKING THE ‘MAKE CHANGES’ APPROACH …

— The Biden campaign: For years, President JOE BIDEN has consistently avoided talking about DONALD TRUMP’s legal problems. The reason is obvious: Biden promised he’d leave the Department of Justice to do whatever it needs, free from partisan interference.

The approach makes sense from a governing perspective, but presents a political conundrum: How do you run a campaign against Trump without mentioning his chief vulnerability?

That question is causing considerable unease among Democrats, as NBC’s Natasha Korecki, Jonathan Allen and Carol Lee report this morning.

They write that “the president’s team has a plan for him to shift his messaging after Labor Day to make a more ‘direct contrast’ with Trump.”

To be clear: You should not expect a 180-degree move from Biden on anything to do with Trump’s prosecutions. (A Democrat close to the Biden camp texted Playbook this morning: “don’t expect changes on how we [don’t] speak about legal issues.”)

Instead, Biden will draw a contrast by speaking out even more on two big topics: (1) “democracy,” which is at the heart of Trump’s myriad cases related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and; (2) per NBC: the economy, where he’ll “try to change voters’ perception.”

Case in point: Biden has an op-ed in this morning’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that previews much of the messaging you can expect: “Bidenomics is working in Wisconsin. We’re investing in American workers.”

— Republicans not named Trump: The former president’s dominance of the GOP field despite mounting legal jeopardy has “forced Trump’s would-be successors to refocus their post-Labor Day push on the first voting states, fueled by a near-providential conviction that about 400,000 people in Iowa and New Hampshire — the first two nominating contests — can change history once again,” WaPo’s Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey and Marianne LeVine report.

“It has also led to frenzied conversations among some candidates and campaign consultants who don’t want to go after Trump for fear of alienating his supporters — but who don’t see a path to beating him without attacking him at some point.”

The thinking is pretty straightforward: “If someone doesn’t stop Trump in Iowa or New Hampshire, it’s over,” DAN EBERHART, a donor to Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS, told the Post.

The good news for the other GOP hopefuls: The Post’s trio reports that “polling and focus group data show that Trump is beatable in the first two states, and that subsequent consolidation in the field could spell his defeat next spring.”

The bad news for the other GOP hopefuls: We’re old enough to remember Republicans in 2015 thinking this way as well. And it’s quite possible that as these cases draw closer and, in some instances, are gaveled in, the rally-to-Trump effect will be even stronger than it has been so far.

TAKING THE ‘STAY THE COURSE’ APPROACH …

— The Biden White House: Talk of a fall impeachment investigation into the president is nearing a fever pitch, drawing considerable support from the House GOP’s rightmost flank, even as Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY threw some cold water on their now-now-now demands on timing, saying it would take a full House vote before an inquiry could occur.

That’s not stopping the White House from digging in its heels and preparing for an all-out war against impeachment.

They’ve been gearing up for this for a long time now — with planning predating the 2022 midterms as it became clear that a House flip was coming.

NYT’s Peter Baker has a deep dive on how the White House impeachment strategy has shaped up and expanded since: “With a team of two dozen attorneys, legislative liaisons, communications specialists and others, the president has begun moving to counter any effort to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors with a best-defense-is-a-good-offense campaign aimed at dividing Republicans and taking his case to the public.

“The president’s team has been mapping out messaging, legal and parliamentary strategies for different scenarios. Officials have been reading books about past impeachments, studying law journal articles and pulling up old court decisions. They have even dug out correspondence between previous presidential advisers and congressional investigators to determine what standards and precedents have been established.”

Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

A message from The American Petroleum Institute (API):

Did You Know: Americans count on oil and natural gas – made, moved and improved by nearly 11 million workers and suppliers in all 50 states, contributing trillions to communities and the U.S. economy. From Pennsylvania to California, America’s natural gas and oil workforce strengthens our nation. Our economic outlook is brighter when we lead on energy, and our dedicated workforce is a reminder that we need Washington policies to encourage investment and enable development.

IN MEMORIAM — “Bill Richardson, Champion of Americans Held Overseas, Dies at 75,” by NYT’s Sam Roberts: BILL RICHARDSON “served two terms as governor of New Mexico and 14 years as a congressman, then continued to devote himself to liberating Americans who were being held hostage or who he believed were being wrongfully detained by hostile countries overseas … Under President BILL CLINTON, Mr. Richardson was also ambassador to the United Nations … He was Mr. Clinton’s secretary of energy from 1998 until 2001. … In 2008, Mr. Richardson mounted a short-lived campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.”

BIG SCOTUS READ — “Kennedy’s Supreme Court legacy is being erased, in part by past clerks,” by WaPo’s Robert Barnes

SUNDAY BEST …

— Ramaswamy on Trump’s Jan. 6 actions, on ABC’s “This Week”: “I would not have nominated phony slates of electors.” George Stephanopoulos: “Was it wrong to encourage the mob to storm the Capitol?” Ramaswamy: “I disagree with that characterization. Because I’ve read the transcript very carefully. Peaceful protest is what Donald Trump encouraged. Is that what I would have done that day under those circumstances? No. But I do think that that’s different from a crime.”

— Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO on her trip to China, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “Even the most senior Chinese officials said all of the right things — said that they wanted to have a robust commercial relationship, and treat American businesses fairly on the ground in China. And my message was, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’”

— Sen. MIKE ROUNDS (R-S.D.) on whether he’d support Trump in the general election if he’s convicted of a crime, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “I’m hoping truly that we get to the point where I don’t have to make that type of a decision. For me, personally, I was there on Jan. 6, I saw what happened. I’m not happy about what happened. I was not happy with his performance on that particular day. So for me, I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to look at other candidates.”

— Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) on why polls show Biden and Trump in a tight race, on “This Week”: “The years of Covid from March of 2020 through the end of the public health emergency have been brutal on Americans, have been so painful. More than a million dead, jobs lost, people couldn’t visit a new grandchild, people couldn’t go to the funeral of a friend. And I think there is a collective trauma that still is kind of working its way through the system. And as I travel around Virginia, George, I talk to a lot of people who feel pretty good about their circumstance, how their business is doing. But they’re nervous about, well, what will it be like in two or three months? I think they’re a little bit nervous to let their hopes get up after such a challenging time.”

A message from The American Petroleum Institute (API):

All Over the Map on Energy: On one hand, the Biden administration urges more supply of American oil and natural gas to meet growing energy demands. On the other hand, they put more American acreage off limits for development and add barriers to developing energy. Let’s advance smart policy together.

TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.

• “The Thing Is, Most Republicans Really Like Trump,” by Kristen Soltis Anderson for the NYT

• “Why a Big Union Is Snubbing Biden, Doing Industry’s Dirty Work and Creating an Opening for Trump,” by Jamie Lincoln Kitman for POLITICO Mag

• “Glenn Youngkin can win from the sidelines,” by WaPo’s Karen Tumulty

• “There’s a Good Chance Trump Will Be Found ‘Willfully Blind,’” by Burt Neuborne for the NYT

• “The problematic use of ‘problematic’ to shut down people with whom we disagree,” by the L.A. Times’ Robin Abcarian

• “How corporate liberalism is changing both parties,” by WaPo’s Jason Willick 

• “A Less Religious America Is a More Polarized America,” by Daniel Williams for The Atlantic

• “Pastoring in the Trump era,” by Kristin Du Mez and Sean Muldowney on Substack

• “Why Biden Just Can’t Shake Trump in the Polls,” by The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein

PHOTO OF THE DAY

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) upon arriving at a hurricane response briefing in Live Oak, Fla., yesterday. | Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR

1. RED-LIGHT REDISTRICT: Democrats moved a step closer to flipping a congressional seat in North Florida yesterday when a state judge tossed out the current map for unconstitutionally diluting Black voters’ impact, The Florida Times-Union’s Steve Patterson reports. It’s a notable victory for Dems and the civil rights groups that brought the lawsuit. This isn’t the end of litigation: It’s headed for the state Supreme Court. But the judge said state legislators need to redraw the boundaries now. If the decision holds, it would reverse Republicans’ gerrymander in the area — championed by DeSantis — and restore a version of the district previously represented by Democrat AL LAWSON.

2. TALKING UP A STORM: Biden traveled to Florida yesterday to survey damage from Hurricane Idalia, where he urged Congress to act on his requests for $16 billion in supplemental disaster funding to FEMA, Andrew Zhang reports. Speaking in Live Oak, the president emphasized that he wants the Hill to prioritize the emergency spending in the upcoming showdown over government funding.

Notably, DeSantis did not join Biden for the visit — but frequent presidential antagonist Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) did. Biden and Scott set aside their political differences with rare praise for each other and a united front for the hurricane survivors, Myah Ward and Adam Cancryn report from Live Oak. (“For those of us who know Scott — a fierce partisan who seldom says a kind word about Prez Biden — this is a total troll of DeSantis,” noted The Messenger’s Marc Caputo, though he added that “Scott would have been here anyway. He always took disasters seriously.”)

Nonetheless, the storm has provided DeSantis a national platform to demonstrate competency and leadership, a respite from the recent struggles of his campaign, the Orlando Sentinel’s Steven Lemongello writes.

And on the other side of the country, McCarthy traveled with lawmakers to survey wildfire damage in Hawaii.

Related read: “Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow,” by WaPo’s Jacob Bogage

3. HEADLINE OF THE DAY: “Meet the white Trump official behind the launch of Black Americans for Immigration Reform,” by Myah Ward: “WILLIAM W. CHIP, who served as the senior counselor at the Department of Homeland Security Secretary during the Trump administration, … has routinely written about how more immigration could harm Black Americans. The nonprofit he has helped launch is an attempt to further mainstream that idea, one critics of the argument say is merely an underhanded, if not misleading attempt to try and derail comprehensive reform efforts. In an interview, Chip said that he was merely organizing the group for two Black colleagues.”

4. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: We’re less than a month away now from a potential Oct. 1 government shutdown, and McCarthy is urging hard-liners in his conference to get on board with a short-term deal to avert it, CNN’s Manu Raju and Melania Zanona report. Having already reneged on his deal with the White House, McCarthy told the conference on a call last week that they should focus on fighting over, for example, the longer-term DHS funding bill, not the stopgap. But with aid to Ukraine a major sticking point for the far right, McCarthy may be forced to choose between working with Democrats and making concessions to his own party’s holdouts.

And yes, “motion to vacate” chatter is back: “One GOP lawmaker acknowledged there have been conversations among conservative hardliners about using a ‘motion to vacate’ — a procedural tool that forces a floor vote to oust the speaker — to gain leverage in the funding fight.”

Who could suffer most from the squabbling: about 6 million poor Americans who rely on WIC to help buy food, as WaPo’s Tony Romm reports. The aid program is headed for a cliff, and the White House has asked Congress for $1.4 billion in emergency funding to shore it up as part of a short-term spending deal. But House Republicans want to cut funds for nutrition aid, which they see as bloated post-pandemic, despite what’s historically been bipartisan support for WIC (officially the Special Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women, Infants and Children).

A message from The American Petroleum Institute (API):

Washington should support the nearly 11 million oil and gas workers and suppliers powering America.

5. WHAT JOE MANCHIN IS WATCHING: Usually when the economy is as robust as it has remained this year, federal budget deficits shrink. But in 2023, the deficit is rocketing skyward — “projected to roughly double this year,” WaPo’s Jeff Stein notes. By the time the fiscal year ends this month, the deficit is expected to hit about $2 trillion, closer to the pandemic years than to the pre-pandemic years. “The surge in red ink has confounded many economists’ expectations,” arising in part because of lower tax revenue and higher spending. There’s disagreement over how worrisome this is — but it could pose a political problem for both Biden, who’s fighting to avoid severe spending cuts, and Republicans, who want to maintain Trump-era tax cuts.

6. PURITY TEST: “The far left wages an internal fight: Help Democrats or reject the establishment?” by NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald: “A progressive organizer backed by BERNIE SANDERS and ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ has a good shot at winning a congressional special election in Rhode Island on Tuesday — and some on the left are not happy about it. The local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America issued an unusual anti-endorsement of former state Rep. AARON [REGUNBERG] … The Rhode Island chapter is unusually aggressive, but the local split reflects a larger divide among Democratic Socialists of America and other far-left groups as they debate their forced marriage with the Democratic Party.”

7. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: “New phone sparks worry China has found a way around U.S. tech limits,” by WaPo’s Eva Dou: “Huawei Technologies Co.’s new smartphone, the Mate 60 Pro, represents a new high-water mark in China’s technological capabilities, with an advanced chip inside that was both designed and manufactured in China despite onerous U.S. export controls intended to prevent China from making this technical jump. … The timing of the phone announcement on Monday, while Raimondo was in Beijing, appeared to be a show of defiance.”

— “In China’s shadow, U.S. rushes back to neglected Indian Ocean island,” by WaPo’s Liz Sly on Mahe Island, Seychelles: “In the 27 years since the United States pulled out, China has built schools, hospitals, houses for low-income families and public amenities, winning sympathy among Seychellois who felt abandoned by the U.S. departure.”

8. BATTLE FOR THE BALLOT: Across the country this year, efforts to broaden access to the ballot have on net gained ground, Axios’ Eugene Scott reports from a new Voting Rights Lab analysis. Laws to expand voting rights went into effect in 29 states plus D.C., while laws to restrict them were enacted in 16 states. (That includes eight states counted in both groups.)

9. MOMENT OF TRUTH SOCIAL: “Trump’s Truth Social facing a key funding deadline,” by WaPo’s Drew Harwell: “With the merger stalled for months, Digital World is fast approaching a Sept. 8 deadline for the merger [with Trump Media & Technology Group] to close and has scheduled a shareholder meeting for Tuesday in hopes of getting enough votes to extend the deadline another year. If the vote fails, Digital World will be required by law to liquidate and return $300 million to its shareholders, leaving Trump’s company with nothing from the transaction.”

Frank Edelblut announced he won’t run for New Hampshire governor.

Grover Norquist saw a double rainbow at Burning Man.

Neal Katyal, meanwhile, had to hike six miles at night to escape the mud at Burning Man that trapped tens of thousands and seemingly left one person dead.

Lucy McBath and other House Dems met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Tim Scott is playing pickleball this weekend, but most 2024 contenders are skipping big vacations or even Labor Day parades.

Solomon Yue is battling racism in the RNC.

MEDIA MOVE — Yaffa Fredrick is joining the Houston Chronicle as political editor. She previously was senior producer for politics at CNN Opinion.

ENGAGED — Vriti Jain, VP at GPS Impact, and Jeremiah Montgomery-Thompson, director of national and political campaigns at NGP VAN, got engaged in Glen Nevis, Scotland. They met on the Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign. Pics

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Brian Stelter … Edward Felsenthal … WSJ’s Kristina Peterson … Rick Perlstein … John Mercurio of the MPA … POLITICO’s Katherine Foley, Jennifer Yachnin and Kelly Garrity … Lucia Alonzo of Michael Best Strategies … John Zogby … CBS’ Erica Brown … Rita Hite of the American Forest Foundation … Dominic Hawkins of TIAA … Roll Call’s Mary Curtis … NBC’s Adam Reiss … AFSCME’s Tiffany Ricci … Paul Merski of ICBA … Bruce Moyer … Teresa Davis … Tiffany Waddell of the National Governors Association … Tripp Donnelly ... former Reps. Michael Barnes (D-Md.), Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and Michael Huffington (R-Calif.) ... Mara Stark-Alcala … Joshua Gross ... Kathi Wise ... Jayne Visser ... Melinda Warner … Graeme Crews … Kathleen Stanton of the American Cleaning Institute … Jeff Dinwoodie … Mari Manoogian … Kelsey McKinney … Jamie Simpson of the Council for Innovation Promotion … Robert Sugarman … Stuart Malec of the Progressive Policy Institute … Jonathan Silver … Airbnb’s Kim Rubey … Eddie Glaude Jr.