Irie Sentner

PERSONAL NEWS: I’ve started a new role at @POLITICO as a reporter for @playbookdc! Have something you think we should know? Let’s get in touch. isentner@politico.com and DM for signal.

. @NeNeLeakes clocked DC’s dating scene. “I don’t think I’d want to go out with a guy that’s in politics,” she told me. “I don’t have time for you to come home being that serious … stuffed in their suits.” More Housewives content in today’s Playbook 👇 politico.com/newsletters/pl…

NEW: Most Dems think their key to midterms success will be selling voters on affordability. But some rural Dem candidates say they're not convinced their party is striking the right tone. “It feels disingenuous,” one told me. In today's Playbook: politico.com/newsletters/pl…

NEW: Democrats are frothing at the mouth to center Trump’s tariff chaos in their affordability messaging as they charge into the midterms, branding the tariffs as illegal taxes that Trump must now repatriate to voters. w/ @_alibianco politico.com/news/2026/02/2…

Sunday read: Democrats were already planning to slam Republicans on the economy. But Trump doubling down on tariffs is opening a new avenue in Dems' affordability message. “I wouldn’t be surprised if tariffs made it in 50 percent of our paid advertising.” W/ @iriesentner for @POLITICO politico.com/news/2026/02/2…

Scoop: DOGE allegedly used ChatGPT to identify approx 1,400 National Endowment for the Humanities grants the AI tool deemed as related to DEI, which were then terminated in April of last year, according to a new court filing released today. Among the terminated grants were a film analyzing how baseball helped heal frictions between the U.S. and Japan caused by World War I; a documentary titled "The Untold Story of Jewish Women Slave Labor in the Holocaust;" a film focused on the Colfax massacre of 1873, where dozens of Black men were murdered by a mob of Confederate soldiers and KKK members; and a film about the first female pilots to fly for the U.S. military during World War II. politico.com/newsletters/we…

psa for all the west wing playbook readers asking who’s been watching heated rivalry, that would be @iriesentner

Vance today admitted there is an "affordability crisis" and promised that “there is no person more impatient to solve" it than Trump. Moments later, he told me he would still grade today's economy “A+++.” w/ @AlexGangitano + @EliStokols politico.com/news/2025/12/1…

Providing American sign language interpretation in White House press briefings “would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public,” DOJ attorneys argued in a lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Deaf. Must-read from @hassankanu for West Wing Playbook: politico.com/newsletters/we…

As the midterms loom, Trump plans to increase his domestic travel in the new year, a White House official told Politico, adding that it had been “planned for a long time.” More on the president’s travel habits w/ @iriesentner politico.com/newsletters/we…

NEW: My conversation with Gary Walters, who had unparalleled access to seven presidents and was the White House’s longest-serving chief usher. We covered everything from the East Wing demolition to Lincoln Bedroom ghost stories. politico.com/news/2025/11/1…

Trump clings to filibuster demand as shutdown drags on politi.co/494Co7F via @politico w/ @iriesentner

NEW: Trump on Thursday did not appear chastened by this week's election results, dismissing the cost-of-living concerns that appear to have animated voters across the country as "a con job by the Democrats." politico.com/news/2025/11/0…

NEW: Is Donald Trump locked out of heaven? That question appears to be increasingly on the 79-year-old president’s mind as he openly ponders whether his push for world peace will be enough to grant him eternal salvation. politico.com/newsletters/we…

NEW: The White House has tried to tune the ongoing government shutdown so that everyday Americans barely notice. That’s harder to do every day the government’s doors stay shut. politico.com/news/2025/10/2…

.@JDVance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’ politi.co/4h9dJAK via @iriesentner @politico

NEW: Speaking to the country's top military brass, Trump suggested that the Pentagon use American cities as “training grounds” for its troops in a break from decades of precedent that sought to keep politics and the military separate. w/ @paulmcleary politico.com/news/2025/09/3…

NEW: Trump wants to be the head of Gaza. The White House in its 20-point plan for the territory proposes that a transitional Palestinian government would be overseen by a "Board of Peace." That board would be chaired by none other than Trump. politico.com/newsletters/we…

NEW: Trump falsely suggested today that rank-and-file FBI agents fomented the Jan. 6 attack that a mob of his supporters unleashed on the Capitol, leaning into conspiracy theories as he accuses a second FBI director of committing crimes. w/ @iriesentner politico.com/news/2025/09/2…

NEW: Charlie Kirk was a master of Republican communications. His death may be central to the party’s messaging in the midterm elections. politico.com/news/2025/09/1…