The looming battle over the Democratic platform: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, Mike Memoli and Alex Seitz-Wald report on how progressives critics of Joe Biden's Israel policy are shifting their focus from the ballot box to the Democratic convention. Plus, Jonathan Allen previews House Speaker Mike Johnson's trip to Mar-a-Lago to discuss "election integrity" with Donald Trump.

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Progressives gear up for a platform fight on Israel at the Democratic convention

By Mike Memoli and Alex Seitz-Wald

Activists at odds with President Joe Biden over his handling of Israel’s war with Hamas are planning to shift the focus of their pressure campaign from the ballot box to the Democratic Party platform at this summer’s nominating convention in Chicago.

The Biden campaign is bracing for the effort, which could extend a bruising, and divisive, political battle over several months to the Democratic National Convention, according to multiple activists and party insiders.

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Progressive Democrats already have identified a list of issues where they hope to influence the party platform, including calling for filibuster reform in the Senate, declaring a national climate emergency and ending private funding of elections. But the war in the Gaza Strip and potential conditions on future U.S. military assistance to Israel is poised to be the most contentious issue as Democrats prepare for their convention on Aug. 19-22.

“We’re gearing up for a fight and we’re drawing a line in the sand, though we hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, which spun off from Bernie Sanders’ first presidential campaign.

“We’ll negotiate out as much agreement as possible beforehand so that we can avoid large-scale fights,” Geevarghese added. “That being said, if there needs to be a fight on important issues, we’ll do it.”

The Democratic National Committee has not yet publicly outlined its process for developing the 2024 platform. A DNC spokesperson said the party “will engage diverse voices from across the Democratic coalition.”

“The Democratic Party platform will reflect President Biden’s vision for how we can move our nation forward,” Hannah Muldavin, the spokesperson, said in a statement to NBC News, citing domestic issues as well as “advancing safety and security at home and abroad.”

The divide between Biden and a growing number of progressives could set up a clash that Democrats haven’t had at a convention in decades, according to Geevarghese, who noted that Chicago was the site of the Democrats’ infamous 1968 convention when left-wing anti-war protesters clashed with police.

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Mike Johnson is Trump’s new ‘My Kevin’

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

House Speaker Mike Johnson is getting a temporary reprieve courtesy of Donald Trump on Friday, a joint public appearance at a time when fellow Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is dangling a political sword over Johnson’s head.

Greene, a Georgia Republican, has threatened to force a vote on ousting Johnson — a “motion to vacate” the speaker’s chair — partially over his efforts to provide funding for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion and partially in an attempt to keep herself in the national spotlight.

Trump ultimately stood aside as his friends in Congress booted Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, last year. When McCarthy was going down, Trump publicly lamented GOP infighting without attaching himself to the anchor around the speaker’s ankles.

The palace coup illustrated a major tension point in Trump’s relationship with the most radical elements of the House Republican conference: They represent his base.

That means he has influence with them — but also that he is wary of crossing them and tarnishing his own brand as a crusader against the Washington establishment.

Now, Johnson is heading to Mar-a-Lago on bent knee, a position that was very familiar to McCarthy — a man Trump referred to condescendingly as “My Kevin.”

Johnson is looking to make inroads on the one issue that, at times, divided McCarthy from Trump: the 2020 election. Johnson and Trump have billed their joint appearance as an “election integrity” event. In 2020, McCarthy tried and failed to persuade Trump to stop telling Republicans they should refuse to vote by mail or vote early in person.

In January 2021, as the House voted to impeach Trump over the Capitol riot, McCarthy blamed the then-president for the insurrection — even as McCarthy opposed the impeachment effort. “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”

Trump’s renewed push for “election integrity” has three effects: to promote the bald-faced lie that he was robbed in 2020 — an active part of his defense against federal charges that he illegally attempted to overturn that election; to rally supporters for 2024; and to plant the idea that a loss in 2024 would also result from fraud or chicanery.

Now, he is enlisting Johnson in that propaganda war, a move that would serve to place any potential successor to Johnson in the same position.

Trump had “My Kevin.” On Friday, he’ll have “My Mike.” And if Johnson gets the heave-ho, he’ll have “My Fill In the Blank.”

In that way, Johnson’s trip to Mar-a-Lago is just proof of how dispensable he is to Trump. What he’s buying with the photo-op is an indefinite period of indentured servitude. What Trump gets is a public show that loyalist speakers are a dime a dozen in the House GOP.

That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com

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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com