Presented by BP.

Hello and welcome to the Playbook podcast. It is Tuesday, May the 13th. I am Jack Blanchard.

And I'm Dasha Burns. Good morning. Dasha, it's day two of our brave new world. Did you enjoy it yesterday morning?

Good morning. You know, 24 hours later and I couldn't be more thrilled, world. Did you enjoy it yesterday morning? Good morning. You know,

24 hours later and I couldn't be more thrilled, partner. Did you get nice feedback from the White House? You know everyone subscribed. Come on, of course. Of course they did. Of course they did. That's the spirit. Okay. They wake up for this fair purpose. That's why they get out of bed every day is to us chatter about them. Here is what is driving the day on the podcast this morning.

In a minute, we're going to talk about Donald Trump, who has just arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for his first big foreign tour of his presidency. We'll get into that in a sec. It's a big day on the hill dash as well in Congress. Donald Trump's one big, beautiful bill is reaching the critical stage.

What they call markup is happening in two of the most important committees today, the Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee. And in fact, the Agricultural Committee tonight

as well, so three of the biggest ones. And that's where all the magic happens. And by magic,

I mean cuts to Medicaid, cuts to food stamps programmed, big tax cuts as well, all that stuff. But yeah, but also potentially no tax on tips, no tax on car loans, I think it is, a number of other no tax initiatives that Trump touted on the campaign trail. I was going to say, you've heard that hammered into your brain again and again. It's playing in there. It's playing in there all the time. But to be fair, you know, once again, promise is made, promises delivered. He talked about it again and again all through 2024. There was a lot of question about whether the GOP could come together. It seems to be happening, although there's still a long way for this bill to go yet. and we'll see that in these big committee meetings today.

Big economic news, too, right? There's inflation numbers are being released at 8.30 this morning, and we're going to be watching what's up with the markets in the wake of that U.S. China deal that's been announced. Now, markets are pretty happy. I think it's fair to say. They went absolutely gangbusters on Monday after that 3 a.m. deal was announced by Scott Besson. I would think that they'll continue to do well today. Inflation figure is pretty important because, of course, one of the main, maybe the main criticism dash of Donald Trump's tariff policy is that it is inflationary. And so that's a real sore spot for him if inflation does continue to

rise through the years, lots of people think or thought that it might. Absolutely. Dash, what I really

think we need to talk about this morning is Donald Trump's state visit to Saudi Arabia. The first big

tour of his presidency, he's going to be in the Middle East all week. I'm kind of sorry. I'm not there,

to be honest. This is going to be in the Middle East all week. I'm kind of sorry. I'm not there, to be honest.

This is going to be a particularly showy one, too, right? A lot of pageantry, a lot of pop and circumstance, a lot of ceremony, something that President Trump really just adores. It's kind of his thing.

I was writing about this in play with this morning. I think this was really is his thing.

Like, I feel like he's almost like one of the reasons he's picked us to go to the Middle East for his first trips. It's definitely not the main reason. The main reason is the money. He did it last time, too, by the way, Saudi, he was his first trip, which a lot of people or surprise by because normally it's, you know, UK, some of our European allies.

One of those trivial allies who, you know, we all fought walls together and all the rest

of it. Absolutely.'s, you know, UK, some of our European allies. One of those trivial allies who, you know, we all fought walls together and all the rest of it.

Absolutely.

But, you know, they've got the cash. But also, they've got the pomp and circumstance. And I think Trump absolutely loves that. And actually, you know, when he does come to the UK, it's the same deal. Everybody knows the way to please Donald Trump and to get on this good side is to roll out the king or the queen as it was.

Trot out the royals the queen as it was.

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