There are some members of Congress who have famously struggled to understand the online world. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) prides himself on not only understanding the internet, but also for passing some of the key legislation that he likes to say helped lay the foundation for the digital revolution. More recently, Markey has been leading fights to enhance online privacy and regulate social media. So when Elon Musk took over Twitter recently, Markey was paying close attention to see what kinds of changes the richest man in the world might bring to the platform.  The two men have a little history: they previously tussled over safety issues with self-driving technology in Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles. The Muskification of Twitter was equally concerning to the senator. But it was when Musk unveiled a plan to sell blue check marks — the Twitter verification symbol that prevents users from masquerading as other people and corporations — that Markey started to get really worried. What followed turned Markey into Musk’s chief tormentor in Washington.  In this week’s Playbook Deep Dive, host and Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza went up to Sen. Markey’s office on Capitol Hill to find out what it’s like to be in a Twitter war with the self described chief twit, and what might come next in this escalating confrontation.   Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Senator Ed Markey is a Democratic senator from Massachusetts. Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio. Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Why were Democrats seemingly able to by and large defy history and avoid a catastrophic result in the midterms? Across the country, Democrats successfully defended seats that Republicans had confidently expected to pick up, while also adding wins in gubernatorial races in five swing states that flipped from Trump to Biden in 2020. There are many explanations: backlash to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, exhaustion with Donald Trump and some of the candidates that he backed, and a big turnout for Democrats among Gen Z and millennials. The coalition of voters that turned out to oppose Donald Trump in 2018 and 2020 remained largely intact in 2022. There were also a lot of races that turned on local issues where none of these common explanations seem to tell the full story. We’re all going to be unpacking the results for a while. So, we wanted to hear why these Democrats think they were able to defy history. On this week’s episode of Playbook Deep Dive, Ohioan and POLITICO Playbook co-author Rachael Bade talked to Greg Landsman, a Democrat who on Tuesday, ousted 13-term incumbent Republican Rep. Steve Chabot in Ohio’s 1st District. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Greg Landsman is the representative-elect for Ohio's 1st Congressional district. Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio. Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Simon Rosenberg is the head of the progressive think tank NDN, and he has a message for jittery Democrats on the eve of the midterms: cheer up! This week on the Playbook Deep Dive podcast we sit down with the Democratic Party’s apostle of optimism. “I'm not sitting here and telling you we're going to win,” Simon told us over lunch this week. “What I'm telling you is that the narrative about this election, about there being a red wave— there isn't one. There never has been.” If you spend a lot of time on political Twitter, you have no doubt encountered Simon’s tweets and threads over the last few weeks. He’s built a large and loyal following of Democrats looking for silver linings amid the clouds of negative media coverage about their party’s prospects in the midterms. — Hispanics abandoning his party? Simon says that NDN’s polling doesn’t show it. — Polling averages tilting to the GOP in the last few weeks? Simon says they’ve been polluted by a barrage of Republican polls dumped strategically to depress Democrats and excite Republicans. (This claim has been met with a lot of skepticism, because surely Democratic campaigns would be leaking their own internals, but we digress…) — And that red wave? Simon says that if you look at the Kansas abortion referendum, the five House special elections earlier this year, and especially the early voting data, that the anti-Trump coalition that powered Democrats to victory in 2018 and 2020 is holding strong in 2022. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Simon Rosenberg is president of NDN.  Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio. Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Dan Conston is the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Rep. Kevin McCarthy with the singular mission of making the California Republican Speaker of the House. Most forecasts suggest that Conston and CLF are on the verge of success. In a candid hour-plus interview, Conston took Playbook behind the scenes of CLF’s operation. We talked about the issues and demographics of this election, emerging GOP opportunities in the final days of the campaign and the inside strategies that one of the best-funded super PACs in American politics uses to take down its Democratic opponents. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Dan Conston is the president of the Congressional Leadership Fund. Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio. Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.

Robert Draper's "Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind" focuses exclusively on the GOP during the crucial 18-month period after January 6 and vastly adds to our understanding of the Trump era. Far-right representatives Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz are part of a new breed of Republican party fighting with their GOP elders. The subtitle of Draper's book — emphasizing when, not how — Trump-inspired elected officials helped the former president solidify his grip over the Republican party is as important as understanding what has happened to the party. In this week's Playbook Deep Dive, Playbook co-author Ryan Lizza unwinds Draper's chronicle of what has happened to the Republican party, and America, through his character-driven account of the people and events shaping the extremes of American politics today. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO. Robert Draper is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.   Afra Abdullah is associate producer for POLITICO audio. Kara Tabor is producer for POLITICO audio. Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio. Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.