Presented by the American Petroleum Institute.

Hey, good morning. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It is Thursday, August 24th.

And one story looms above all the others in Washington today. Yes, former President Donald Trump

is expected to surrender to law enforcement in Fulton County, Georgia later today.

And yes, he gave a bizarre interview to Tucker Carlson that aired last night,

during which he speculated about Jeffrey Epstein suicide.

And yes, those would normally be the biggest stories in the country.

But today is different, because last night we watched the first presidential debate of the

2024 cycle as eight Republican contenders took to the stage in Milwaukee and showed us a vision

of what a Trumpy but post-Trump Republican Party could actually look like.

And frankly, that is what everyone in Washington and everyone in politics is going to be talking about today.

Breaking it all down with me.

Our playbook co-authors, Ryan Lizza, Rachel Bade, and Eugene Daniels, and playbook editor Mike DeBonis.

We chatted late last night just after the debate ended, and we wanted to bring you a longer

than usual episode of the podcast so that you could get a glimpse of what that inside

conversation was like.

So let me just go around the horn here.

What was the standout moment of the night for each of you?

Ryan, how about you?

So honestly, there were a number of moments, but the one I'm going to throw out here as mine,

because I think I know what Eugene's and Rachel's are,

is when Brett Bear lost his patience and basically

...