Presented by BP.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Playbook Deputy Editor Zach Stanton. It's Friday, March 21st,

and here's what's driving the day. President Donald Trump may continue to occupy center stage

in Washington, but much of the conversation today is about Democrats. There are any number

of cliches floating around about the

dire straits in which the party finds itself, that they're in the wilderness, that they're looking

for a foothold, that they're grasping at straws. Take your pick. But if you move beyond those

cliches, there are genuinely new and interesting things going on in the party as it battles

over the best path forward.

Right now, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are on a

multi-state trip as part of Sanders' fighting oligarchy to her. They rallied in Las Vegas and

Tempe, Arizona last night, have two stops in Arizona today, and then go on to Tucson tomorrow. And the reality

they're encountering offers a pretty good pulse check for the mood of the Democratic base at this

moment in time. There's what Bernie Sanders and AOC want to be talking about, which is hammering

Trump and his advisor Elon Musk for, they say, prioritizing billionaires over working-class Americans. And there's

what the Democratic base is actually riled up about at this moment, which is, yes, Musk, but also

they're angry at Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, for not shutting down the government

by blocking the House Republican-backed CR last weekend. In fact, the ire directed at Schumer is so potent that it could be actually a symbol

of a larger Tea Party-style revolt against the party's leadership class, as Laxia Jane writes

this morning for Politico magazine.

And that, of course, risks distracting from what the party would much prefer to be talking

about right now, which is Elon Musk.

...