Behind The Scenes You Might Want to Know

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President Joe Biden is in the Middle East this week trying to reassure leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia that he totally didn’t forget about them. Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed. From POLITICO’s Ben Pauker: - Donald Trump was much loved in Israel: for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, killing the Iran nuclear deal, slashing funding to Palestine, and … well, basically letting the Israelis do whatever they wanted without a peep. Biden’s loved and respected in Israel too — but the policies Trump put in place are almost impossible to undo now. - Israel’s missile defense system, Iron Dome, has saved the country from thousands of rocket attacks from Gaza militants. But now they have a 2.0 in the works — Iron Beam. And it shoots frickin’ lasers. - It’s all about the handshakes. The optics aren’t great that Biden’s going to meet with Mohammed bin Salman, who ordered the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden’s staff desperately wanted to avoid a photo with MBS, and tried to say that Covid was going to prevent Biden from shaking hands with leaders in Israel. But, of course, as soon as Biden landed he started high-fiving and hugging. - Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be staying at a Ritz Carlton hotel in Saudi Arabia this weekend for meetings with Gulf leaders. Yes, it’s a sweet chain of lux hotels, but it’s also the favorite brand of MBS ... who imprisoned hundreds of his political rivals there when he made his grab for power a few years back.

Lis Smith's upcoming memoir tracks her journey through Democratic politics. | Elijah Nouvelage/REUTERS

 

‘I Had Been Seen as a Little Radioactive’ … Democratic consultant Lis Smith has worked for everyone from Claire McCaskill to Barack Obama, run races in red states and duked it out in the dirty world of New York City politics. Now, the famously aggressive operative who plotted Pete Buttigieg’s surprise presidential run has written a political memoir, a look behind the curtain of modern political image-making — including her own.

This week, Adam Wren sat down with Smith for a revealing conversation about the book. They talked about everything from Buttigieg’s secret past (just kidding) to how she picks a political star to just how much narcissism it’s OK for a politician to have.