Good Wednesday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook Flash Briefing,

sponsored by the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs. And I'm Jake Sherman. See if you could follow

me. One party is in control of Washington. The president wants to pass an aggressive agenda,

but a determined minority is being pressured by its base to hold tight and oppose him.

Protests are sprouting up throughout the country, but the president and his party say the

gatherings are phony and won't amount to anything. Are we in 2017 or 2009? The similarities

between the political dynamics during Barack Obama's first year and Donald Trump's first

year are striking so far, and people in D.C. are beginning to notice it.

A note to the White House. There is already serious concern in the Capitol that Congress will not

be able to pass a spending bill to start construction on the border wall with Mexico. So if Trump

wants a wall started, send legislation up to Capitol Hill now. Speaking of the determined minority,

everybody is buzzing about how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell interrupted Senator Elizabeth Warren's floor speech Tuesday night,

saying she impugned Attorney General nominee Senator Jeff Sessions character. McConnell said that

Warren breached Senate rules by reading past statements of key figures like the late Coretta Scott King.

Warren later told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that she had been, quote, red-carded on Senator Sessions and that she was out of the game of the Senate floor.

Our colleagues Ken Vogel, John Bresnahan, and Mark Aputo have a scoop that Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is strongly leaning toward

picking the state's attorney general Luther Strange to replace sessions. A former basketball player

nicknamed Big Luther has made plans to travel to D.C. this week. We have a new Politico

Morning Consult poll out this morning. Democrats want their leaders to block Trump at all costs.

34% of Democratic voters want their party's elected officials to find ways to work with the president.

A 56% majority say Democrats in Congress should stick to their principles,

even if that means blocking all legislation or Trump's nominees for government posts.

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