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Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It's Friday, August 18th,

which means there are just 957 days until August 26, which is when former President

Donald Trump wants to hold his trial on charges he tried to subvert the 2020

election. We learned that last night in a filing by his legal team responding to the

government's proposed date, which was December 23rd of this year. Elsewhere on the Trump legal

front, CNN's reporting that Trump is aiming to surrender to Georgia authorities for booking

next week at the Fulton County Jail.

That's notable because the first Republican debate will happen on Wednesday night,

and CNN's reporting suggests that Trump will be surrendering before them.

Now, that virtually ensures that he will be dominating all the news coverage leading up to the

Republican debate, especially if, as expected, there is a mugshot that goes along with his

booking.

And you can expect if there is a mugshot to see that endlessly on cable news, and even in

Trump fundraising appeals, as they've already mocked up fake mugshots

and have used them to raise gobs of cash several times so far. That prospect of a media circus

next week really adds up to a situation where Trump is making himself into something like a

programming director for the debate, even if he isn't on stage.

You know, it's hard to imagine that the opening question of the debate won't be about the

indictments of Trump or about his actions on January 6th. He's sort of the defining issue of the

campaign thus far, and that puts the other Republican contenders into a bit of a bind as they try to

crack through with the Republican base. Speaking of the debate, our own Ryan Liza has an interview

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