Good Thursday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing. Stay tuned

after the show for a message from the Association of American Railroads. And I'm Jake Sherman.

We're kicking this morning off looking at a few new ways the president seems to be struggling with

impeachment. Number one, his rhetorical tricks are worn out. Everyone knows he thinks the media is

crooked and corrupt. We know he thinks

Democrats are up to no good and don't operate on the level. And he said before the government

is rising up against him. Everything he doesn't like is a hoax, a scam, or phony. To believe

the president's been at this point is to believe that every single news story printed is wrong.

Number two, reporters are getting more adept at sidestepping his strong arming.

See Jeff Mason of Reuters' interaction with him Wednesday.

The president tried to redirect Mason's inquiries, and Mason stood his ground.

Number three, quite curiously, Trump no longer uses his White House press secretary to drive

daily messaging. Think of how useful it

might be to hear from the White House periodically, not just a president who is angrily tweeting.

And his staff and the people around him are leaking with regularity. Today, the Washington

posted a story with details about Vice President Mike Pence's involvement in all the comings and goings with

the Ukraine matter. When the people you hire want to knife you, you have a problem.

Most elected Republicans are unwilling to go on television to defend the president because they

don't know where their story ends. The surrogates who go on television are not to be believed

because it's been proven time and time again the only word that matters is the presidents. And a bit of news this morning, the NRCC is going to release a new polling memo today.

That, in their view, backs up the contention that impeachment is harmful for some Democrats.

They found that 63% are voters in NRCC target seats and 66% of voters in Republican-held

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