Good Thursday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing, sponsored by the Boeing Company.

And I'm Jake Sherman. Ask yourself this question. Coming out of the summer, is President Donald Trump any closer to achieving any of the things he has said he wants to do?

He's in a crippling trade war with China with talk scheduled but no end in sight.

Gun legislation is stuck in neutral. The USMCA could have a chance,

but just this week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,

she's still worried about enforcement mechanisms. Infrastructure spending seems like a distant

memory. The man who ran in 2016 as a candidate who could bend feeble politicians to his will

has been forced to raid funding for things like

military daycare centers to build his wall on the southern border with Mexico. The spending cut

package that some of his advisors proposed had to be paired back after high-level complaints

from Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, among others. And if the economy sours, he will lose his

number one talking point, that he's presided

over boom times, unlike any era in American history. To wit, a New York Times headline this morning

reads, Trump heads into 2020 with no clear policy agenda, but it might not matter. The Washington Post is

reporting the U.S. will resume trade talks with China in October. The Wall Street Journal reports that global stocks are rallying amid news of the trade talks. Our colleague, Alex Eisenstead,

has an important story this morning looking at how Republicans are afraid Democrats could dominate

the next round of redistricting. This would be a major shift after Democrats were caught asleep at the

wheel during the last round of redistricting in 2010.

And we've got a first in playbook. Pete Buttigieg is doing a D.C. swing next weekend.

There's a, quote, family-friendly event in D.C. on September 14th, followed by two Virginia events,

one of which is being hosted by Al Gore III, the son of the former VP.

And here's why the NRCC and Kevin McCarthy should be worried. 13 House Republicans have announced their retirements. The earliest filing

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