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Good morning, everyone. I'm Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza. It's Friday, February 23rd. Here's what's driving the day.

Well, tomorrow is the GOP's South Carolina presidential primary, and we have a three-part preview for you this morning. First up, Natalie Allison reports from South Carolina presidential primary, and we have a three-part preview for you this morning.

First up, Natalie Allison reports from South Carolina on how Nikki Haley's big problem in her home

state isn't just Trump's dominance. It is the fact that the former South Carolina governor

who rode the Tea Party wave into office in 2010, long ago lost touch with the state's grassroots

activist base. We didn't abandon her, a former head of a local Tea Party group who wants back

to Haley, tells Natalie, she abandoned us. Check out the full article at Politico.com.

Next, since the presidential primary seems to be

a fait accompli, we sat down this week with Nancy Mace for the Playbook Deep Dive podcast to talk

about the Congresswoman's return to the Trump fold. You may remember that Mace, a House

Republican elected in 2020, has had a complicated relationship

with the former president. Mace worked for Trump's campaign in South Carolina in 2016.

In 2021, she condemned him for the events of January 6th, saying his legacy has been wiped out.

Trump backed her primary opponent in 2022, in retaliation, but she survived.

Last year, she voted to oust Kevin McCarthy, and the fallout over that vote is one of the major

sub-dramas playing out in South Carolina right now. McCarthy has lured a challenger into the primary against Mace.

That primary threat helped trigger Mace to endorse Trump for president. She did that despite

the fact that she goes to church every week with Tim Scott, and Nikki Haley, her former governor,

backed her in 2022 when Trump didn't.

So Trump will now have a big decision to make.

Does he repay Mace with his own endorsement of her, or does he listen to McCarthy

...