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It's Friday morning. I'm Olivia Reingold, and this is your Politico Playbook Daily Briefing.

It's a historic day for the country.

New coronavirus cases are at an eight-month low.

Deaths are at a 10-month low.

Schools will be fully reopened this fall.

But best of all, if you're fully vaccinated, you can take off your mask now.

That's after the CDC announced yesterday that fully vaccinated people can shed their masks no matter where they are, with a few small

exceptions, even if unvaccinated people are around. More on how the White House plans to navigate

the new mask list on later, but first, what if the GOP isn't undergoing a, quote, civil war?

What if it's more like a purge?

That's the case journalist Jeff Greenfield makes on a new episode of Playbook Deep Dive in your feeds right now in a conversation with playbooker Ryan Lizza.

The big takeaway, according to Greenfield, is that even though NBC recently called the Republican infighting a, quote,

GOP power struggle, and the Hill wrote about, quote, deep rifts within the party,

the conflict isn't a civil war. Here's why. That term makes it sound like two formidable opponents are facing off.

When it's more like a couple of lone

wolves, think Representative Liz Cheney up against a maga-loving pack. Cheney tried to detrumpify the party,

but the troops never arrived. That's because we're seeing a lot of salience among the GOP.

It's still former President Donald Trump's party. And now the handful

who denounced Trump for his lives about the election and seating of the January 6th insurrection

are either silent or on the chopping block. Now Cheney is facing a crowded field of primary

challengers for 2022, with more contenders waiting on the

...