By Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels

With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

Three must-read pieces this morning all delve into Joe Biden’s September struggles. | AP

TRUMP TO MICHIGAN — The Detroit News’ Nolan Finley reports that DONALD TRUMP is weighing a trip to Michigan, “most likely” to Ford’s plant in Wayne. The article describes this as a visit to a UAW picket line, but our understanding is that while a Michigan trip is likely this month, there is currently no plan for Trump to show up at a picket line. That might make sense, as the picket lines are generally populated by the most devoted left-leaning UAW members.

Trump won Michigan in 2016 by 0.2 percentage points, but lost the state to JOE BIDEN by 2.8 points in 2020. The UAW has not yet endorsed Biden, even as the president has endorsed the union’s strike. Trump has tried to drive a wedge between rank and file workers and their union leaders, saying last week that the autoworkers “are being sold down the river by their leadership.”

Biden and Trump have also offered competing explanations about the root causes of the strike. Biden credits the tight labor market under his stewardship as allowing workers to demand higher compensation. Trump has attacked Biden’s electric car mandates for pushing Detroit into a currently less profitable industry that requires fewer parts and fewer workers than vehicles using gas-powered internal combustion engines.

BIDEN HAS 99 PROBLEMS AND THE STRIKE IS JUST ONE — Speaking of the divide between the rank and file and leaders, the three must-read pieces this morning all delve into Joe Biden’s September struggles:

1. The NYT takes a close look at “a striking divide between Democratic leaders, who are overwhelmingly unified behind [Biden’s] bid, and rank-and-file voters in the party who harbor persistent doubts about whether he is their best option.”

The piece is framed around the current rough patch:

“In recent days, a barrage of grim news for Mr. Biden, including an autoworkers strike in the Midwest that poses a challenge to his economic agenda and the beginning of impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill, has made this intraparty tension increasingly difficult to ignore. Those developments come amid a darkening polling picture, as recent surveys found that majorities of Democrats do not want him to run again, are open to an alternative in the primary and dread the idea of a Biden-Trump rematch.”

And some familiar voices weigh in as critics:

— JAMES CARVILLE: “The voters don’t want this, and that’s in poll after poll after poll … You can’t look at what you look at and not feel some apprehension here.”

As well as some Biden voters who are having second thoughts now:

— JAMES COLLIER, a Houston accountant: “I think he’s a little — not a little — he’s a lot old. … I’m hoping he would in his own mind think, ‘I need to sit this out and let someone else do this.’”

— MALCOLM PETERSON, a 34-year-old waiter from St. Paul: “I just wonder, because he’s quite old, what does he look like in another four years? … I’m not a doctor. I just know what I’ve seen.”

But the party’s elites say everything is A-OK:

— Gov. PHIL MURPHY of New Jersey: “It’s definitely got a paradoxical element to it … This is only a matter of time until the broad party, and broadly speaking, Americans, converge with the opinions of folks like myself.”

— WILLIAM OWEN, a DNC member from Tennessee: “I’m looking at all the polling, and I’m amazed that it has so little to do with reality. … A big part of it is just pure ageism. The American people are prejudiced against old people.”

The White House’s view of this is similar to how it saw persistent doubts about Biden in 2021, when midterm fears dominated the conversation. Biden aides argue that the campaign next year will polarize the electorate and Democrats will focus on the choice between Biden and (likely) Trump rather than obsess about Biden’s weaknesses. As you may have heard once or twice, the president even has an aphorism handed down from his father about this very dynamic: “My dad used to say, “Joey, don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.”

2. The WSJ catalogs the big 5 Biden headaches of the moment: (1) the UAW strike, which “comes as Biden — who polls show is tied in hypothetical 2024 rematches with former President Donald Trump — tries to convince voters that the economy is on the upswing”; (2) HUNTER’s indictment, which “sets up a high-profile prosecution of a sitting president’s son as his father campaigns for a second term”; (3) the impeachment inquiry, in which “Democrats say Republicans are trying to muddy the waters in an election that will likely see a rematch between Biden and Trump, who faces four criminal indictments”; (4) the potential government shutdown, which would have "unclear" reverberations "this time, given low poll ratings for Biden’s leadership and economic stewardship”; and (5) rising gas prices, which “could undercut part of the president’s message” on inflation.

The White House emphasizes that voters don’t blame Biden for his son’s trouble (true, according to some recent polls), and that impeachment and a government shutdown would be disastrous for the GOP, not Biden.

More quietly, a lot of Democrats keep telling us that they fear that general Washington dysfunction could easily be a net plus for a candidate like Trump in a race against Biden. WaPo’s E.J. Dionne is the latest on the left to channel this fear this morning: “House Republicans risk kicking away their majority with the impeachment sideshow and their signature chaos. But the disillusionment with Washington they’re leaving in their wake could haunt Biden far more than a few stumbles or garbled sentences.”

3. Finally, The Guardian details how Biden aides are responding to the current surge in age-related criticism of the president: by attacking the press, which it notes is “an unusually personal, bare-knuckle approach from an administration that has condemned Trump’s frequent attacks on ‘fake news’ and pledged to defend the freedom of the press.”

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

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THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK — “As the U.N. turns: Relationships to watch as world leaders gather,” by Nahal Toosi. The high-level week at the U.N. General Assembly kicks off tomorrow.

Among the world leaders who will be there: Biden, Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU and Turkish leader RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN.

Among those who won’t: UK PM RISHI SUNAK, France’s EMMANUEL MACRON, Russia’s VLADIMIR PUTIN and China’s XI JINPING.

Keep informed on all the news, analysis — and, of course, gossip — with our daily newsletter, authored by Suzanne Lynch, who will be on the ground in NYC. Sign up for POLITICO’s U.N. Playbook here 

Heads up: Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and Republican Leader MITCH McCONNELL “will host an all-Senators meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at 10 am on Thursday, per a Senate leadership aide,” reports Daniella Diaz.

JOIN US ON TUESDAY — Rachael, Ryan and other POLITICO journalists are hosting an event Tuesday about building the new American economy, featuring conversations with Council of Economic Advisers Chair JARED BERNSTEIN, Reps. DAVID SCHWEIKERT (R-Ariz.) and DREW FERGUSON (R-Ga.), and more. RSVP here

SUNDAY BEST …

— Former President Donald Trump on whether he was listening to his instincts or his lawyers’ direction on election claims, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “It was my decision. But I listened to some people. Some people said that. Like, guys like [Attorney General] BILL BARR, who was a stiff, but he wasn't there at the time.”

On where he stands on a federal abortion ban: “It could be state or it could be federal. I don't frankly care,” Kristen Welker: “So you're not committed to a ban at the federal level?” Trump: “I will say this. Everybody, including the great legal scholars, love the idea of Roe v. Wade [being] terminated so it can be brought back to the states.”

— Former VP MIKE PENCE when asked if he sides with UAW workers or CEOs during the strike: “I side with American workers, on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper: “I side with all American families. I side with the people of this country, Jake, that are living under the failed policies of the Biden administration.”

— House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES on House GOP’s infighting, on ABC’s “This Week”: “Let’s be clear: House Republicans are in the middle of a civil war. … [The] civil war has the following attributes: Chaos, dysfunction and extremism. The House Republican civil war is hurting hard-working American taxpayers and limiting our ability to be able to solve problems on their behalf. It’s unfortunate, but as House Democrats, we are going to continue to try and find common ground with the other side of the aisle.”

— Former House Speaker NANCY PELOSI (D-Calif.) on Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY’s calling for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show”: “This is a remedy that our founders put in the Constitution for a rogue official. They could foresee we would have a rogue president of the United States. They couldn't foresee that we'd have a rogue president and a rogue senate, rogue Congress, but nonetheless, for them to use this in the frivolous way that they are is really a disservice to our country, to our Constitution. … [T]his is almost silly, except that it's so serious.”

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

• “Why Does Every Republican Candidate Sound the Same?” by NYT’s Katherine Miller
• “The Left of the Right,” by Matthew Continetti for Commentary
• “How a conservative court ruling could save Hunter Biden,” by WaPo’s Ruth Marcus
• “Ron DeSantis Probably Didn't Turn Florida Red,” by FiveThirtyEight’s Nathaniel Rakich
• “Looking for New Voter Trends in the Old Dominion,” by The Dispatch’s Chris Stirewalt
• “The Authors of ‘How Democracies Die’ Overestimated the Republicans,” by NYT’s Michelle Goldberg
• “A Hidden Reason Cities Fall Apart,” by NYT’s Tom Edsall
• “What’s the Matter with Massachusetts?” by Grant Tudor and Beau Tremitiere for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
• “Reducing U.S. oil demand, not production, is the way forward for the climate,” by Brookings’ Samantha Gross

At the White House

Biden will travel from New Castle, Del., to the White House and then head to Queens, N.Y., before ending the evening in Manhattan.

VP KAMALA HARRIS has nothing on her public schedule.

GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.

9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR

1. STATE OF THE UNIONS: “Negotiations resumed Saturday between the United Auto Workers union and the Detroit Three automakers as the union’s strike against three major plants went into its second day,” writes the Detroit News’ Riley Beggin from the picket line in Wayne, Mich. In a statement yesterday, the UAW said it had “reasonably productive” conversations with Ford, but did not mention GM or Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler.

Where will the automakers and UAW each have to compromise to reach a deal? The Detroit Free Press’ Jamie LaReau has a smart read on what labor experts think.

Where the automakers will need to compromise: A cost-of-living adjustment, which appears to be non-negotiable for the union.

Where the UAW will probably need to compromise: “One issue the union will likely have to accept that it will not win is a 32-hour workweek for 40 hours of pay, according to the people interviewed for this story.”

Undeterred, Sen. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.), fresh off a speech at a UAW rally in downtown Detroit yesterday, joined CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning, and said that “as a nation, we should begin a serious discussion — and the UAW is doing that — about substantially lowering the workweek.”

Elsewhere on the picket line: Sens. GARY PETERS (D-Mich.) and JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.), who told the Detroit News he drove nearly 5 hours in his Bronco to join the workers in Michigan.

2. IS TUBERVILLE’S BLOCKADE A NEW GOP DIVIDING LINE? — At the Iowa Faith and Freedom dinner yesterday, candidates were asked about any number of social issues as they aimed to win over white evangelical conservatives in the early state. Amid the typical red-meat scripted lines, there was a notable disagreement over Sen. TOMMY TUBERVILLE’s (R-Ala.) freeze on all military promotions as a protest against the Pentagon’s policy of paying for the medical-related travel of servicemembers who must travel out of state to receive abortion care, as the Des Moines Register’s Stephen Gruber-Miller reports.

Supporting Tuberville: Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS — “We have a limited amount of money in the defense budget. We’re running low on ammunition. Our recruiting is in the absolute gutter now and you’re funding abortion tourism? Is that really something that is helping to protect this country?" Video of DeSantis’ answer 

Opposing Tuberville: Former UN Ambassador NIKKI HALEY — “These military men and women and their families sacrifice enough. Don’t use them as political pawns.” While Haley opposes the Pentagon’s policy on abortion care, she said that holding up military promotions is “no way to thank the men and women that are risking so much for the freedoms that we hold dear. They deserve better than that."

More from the Faith and Freedom dinner via the Des Moines Register … The AP: “Donald Trump’s GOP rivals try to attract social conservatives in Iowa at an event he skipped”

Related read: “Military officers begin to speak out on the harm done by Sen. Tuberville’s holds on promotions,” by AP’s Tara Copp

3. SCHOOL DAZE: “‘We’ve lost our advantage on education’: Democrats grasp for wins on public school,” by Juan Perez Jr.: “Political skirmishes over classrooms have left Democrats underwater, or dead even, with Republicans among voters in a clutch of battleground states. And as they worried their party has not honed a strategy to reverse declining test scores, enrollment and trust in public schools, liberals watched Republican governors sign historic private school choice laws this year.”

4. HALEY’S PRIMARY PROBLEM: Though former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has found an audience for her general election-friendly message following her widely applauded debate performance last month, her “electability argument may go only so far” with a Trump-focused GOP electorate, WaPo’s Dylan Wells, Marianne LeVine and Maeve Reston report.

“Republican strategist TERRY SULLIVAN noted that Haley seems to have adopted the posture of the ‘responsible conservative’ at a moment when that isn’t exactly what the Republican primary electorate is yearning for. ‘If you’re looking for someone to say, “Hey, we really should be eating our vegetables,” Nikki Haley might be your candidate,’ Sullivan said. ‘There seems to be a lot of Big Mac, fast food dwellers in the Republican Party right now.’”

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5. MOVE OVER, KENNEDYS — “On tony Martha’s Vineyard, a center of Black political power grows,” by The Boston Globe’s Samantha Gross and Tal Kopan

6. DEEP IN THE HEART: After a dramatic two-week trial, Republican Texas AG KEN PAXTON is back in office today after being acquitted on impeachment charges stemming from allegations of corruption and bribery. The Texas Senate voted along party lines yesterday afternoon to acquit the embattled AG on all 16 articles of impeachment after House members' surprise vote this May suspending him from duty. The vote caps off a risky attempt by the Lone Star State’s Republican lawmakers to oust an established member of their own party.

“Only two of 19 Republican Senators, BOB NICHOLS of Jacksonville and KELLY HANCOCK of North Richland Hills, voted in favor of convicting for any article,” the Texas Tribune’s Zach Despart reports. “And they came after sustained pressure on senators from grassroots groups, conservative activists and the leader of the state Republican Party who vowed retribution at the ballot box if Paxton was convicted.”

Related reads: “Captivated by the historic trial, Texans respond to Paxton acquittal with delight, disappointment,” by The Trib’s Keaton Peters … “What exactly did Texas senators do for nine hours as they mulled Ken Paxton’s fate?,” by Dallas Morning News’ Robert Garrett

7. THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: WaPo’s Issac Stanley-Becker is up with a deep dive on how SCOTT HALL, an Augusta, Ga. bail bondsman and co-defendant in the sprawling Fulton County election fraud case, became a central figure in the Trump team’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia: “The indictment portrays the bondsman, who makes his living by posting bail for defendants in exchange for a fee, as more central to Trump’s efforts to cling to power than previously known.”

“Hall is perhaps the most vivid example of the way in which the charges in Fulton County reach far beyond Trump lawyers and campaign officials, also sweeping up a pastor and a publicist, and a bail bondsman overcome by emotional loyalty to Trump.”

8. ONE TO WATCH: “Jan. 6 defendants bring cases to Supreme Court. Here's what it could mean for Donald Trump,” by USA Today’s John Fritze: “EDWARD LANG, JOSEPH FISCHER and GARRET MILLER claim prosecutors overstepped their authority by charging them with a federal prohibition on obstructing ‘official proceedings,’ a law approved in 2002 in response to the Enron financial meltdown. … A ruling from the Supreme Court in favor of the defendants would undermine those charges in the other cases, including Trump's.”

9. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: “Va. Dems outraise GOP, but Youngkin’s White House buzz helps close gap,” by WaPo’s Laura Vozzella: “With all 140 [Virgina] House and Senate seats on the ballot Nov. 7, individual Democrats raised a combined $15 million while Republicans brought in about $10.6 million between July 1 and Aug. 31, according to an analysis released Saturday by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. …The outcome on Election Day will shape [Republican Virginia Gov. GLENN] YOUNGKIN’s trajectory as a presidential hopeful and Virginia’s as a relatively liberal outlier among Southern states.”

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Maxwell Frost, Gen Z style icon.

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED celebrating J.T. Jezierski’s promotion to chief of staff for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s (R-W.V.) office at DCI Group Wednesday night: Stacie Rumenap, Andrew O’Brien, Paul Ryan, Chris Myers, Craig Stevens, Crystal Jezierski, Miki Marino, Meridith McGraw, Lori Crim, Joe Pounder, Jason Lilly, Jim Morrell, Courtney Johnson, Jamie Rhoades, Megan Mitchell, Evan Jenkins and Doug Schwartz. 

TRANSITION — Auburn Bell is now a legislative representative on Earthjustice’s climate and energy team. She previously was a climate and energy policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) … Steve Scully of the Bipartisan Policy Center … David Litt … Richard Wolffe of The Guardian … Anna Taylor … POLITICO’s  Crystal Thomas … WaPo’s Rachel Roubein … Anthony Coley … Kimberley Fritts of Cogent Strategies … Bloomberg’s Emily Birnbaum … Natalie Edelstein … Sarah Selip … NBC’s Henry Gomez ... Marin Cogan … Scott Nulty of Shield AI … Cole Lyle … Brian Patrick of Rep. Bill Huizenga’s (R-Mich.) office … Don Baer … Palantir Technologies’ Morgan Gress Johnson ... Doug Johnson … Adam Abrams … Carol Kresse … Courtney O’Donnell … former Justice David Souter (8-0) … retired Marine Gen.