With help from Jesús Rodríguez, Jesse Naranjo, Ella Creamer and Charlie Mahtesian

What up, Recast family! The White House readies for its inaugural state dinner hosting President Emmanuel Macron of France, tributes pour in after the passing of Rep. Donald McEachin and the U.S. men’s soccer team seeks to advance to the World Cup knockout stage with a win over Iran. First, the continued fallout from that now-infamous Mar-a-Lago dinner.   

It’s not every day that a disgraced, award-winning musician and fashion icon gets to dine with a former commander-in-chief at his South Florida estate, joined by an avowed Holocaust denier and white nationalist.

The breaking of bread between Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, ex-President Donald Trump and Nick Fuentes, who attended the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., has served up a political frenzy. But it could just as simply be referred to as Trump’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” moment.

The controversy is being handled by the Republican Party with a familiar recipe from a favorite cookbook: denounce Trump’s actions, but not the man himself.

As my POLITICO colleagues Olivia Beavers and Nancy Vu noted on Monday, a number of Republicans “frowned upon the meeting itself, while stopping short of outright condemnation.”

Among the strongest rebukes came from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), one of the seven Senate Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021, who tweeted: “This is not the Republican Party.”

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican, called for an unnamed Trump staffer to be fired for allowing this dinner to place, while Trump’s veep and a likely 2024 challenger for the GOP nomination, Mike Pence, took a step further in an interview with NewsNation, calling on Trump … to “apologize.”

Trump’s own ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, added this on social media: “To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable. I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”

The dinner with Ye and Fuentes provided an easy cudgel for the Biden White House to pummel Trump as unfit for holding the presidency again.

“This administration, this president totally rejects bigotry, racism, antisemitism,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during Monday’s media briefing. “There is just no place for these types of vile forces in our society and this is something that we are going to continue to deny.”

WATCH: White House condemns Trump’s dinner with white nationalist

The firestorm is overshadowing the GOP’s victory lap after winning control of the House of Representatives in this month’s midterms election. It also amplifies the growing chorus within the party publicly entertaining a clean break from the former president, even as Trumpism becomes indistinguishable from today’s GOP.

In the days since the Mar-a-Lago dinner, the former president has attempted to put some distance between himself and his dinner guests.

After initially saying the dinner was “quick and uneventful,” he later painted a picture of his friend, Ye, as “a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black” on his Truth Social account. It is also seen as a stinging nod to the rapper’s recent spate of antisemitic comments that have cost him business dealings with Adidas, Balenciaga and JPMorgan Chase, leading him to lose his billionaire status.

As for Fuentes, the founder of America First Political Action Conference, the same event that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admonished GOP Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for attending earlier this year — well, Trump says he doesn’t know him.

Even if that’s true, the two apparently got along pretty well.

At one point during the dinner, Fuentes reportedly spoke to his host about certain aspects of Trump’s 2024 launch, saying it lacked its trademark off-the-cuff remarks and how Trump could beat potential GOP challengers. Trump, speaking to Ye about Fuentes, said “He gets me,” according to The Guardian.

One thing the conversation didn’t do, though, was clear the 2024 field.

Trump on Truth Social said he urged Ye not to move forward with a White House run himself, telling the hip-hop artist “any voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.”

But, in keeping with the 2007 Kanye song, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” Ye didn’t listen. Over the extended holiday weekend, he launched his own Ye24 campaign.

We’ll keep tabs on how this saga plays out.

Until then, be mindful of who you dine with.

All the best,
The Recast Team

Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy.

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AMERICA’S TRANS EXODUS  

Over the past few years, GOP legislatures in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas have enacted laws that restrict the availability of gender-affirming health care for transgender Americans. A new special report from POLITICO demonstrates the profound human toll of those laws.

Reporters Annie Connell-Bryan, Joanne Kenen and Jael Holzman spent months speaking with a dozen trans teenagers and adults, and their families, who have decided to leave their home states in search of health care.

Cass Jackson had been living with their family in Denton, Texas, on Feb. 22, 2022, when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive requiring the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate all parents with medically transitioning kids came down.

Since 2016, Jackson had been transitioning by taking hormones, undergoing “top” surgery and changing their pronouns, first to he/him, then to they/them.

They immediately feared that their mother, who worked as a school counselor, could be prosecuted if she was reported to state authorities — a likely scenario given that other families knew that Jackson was trans. They were in the eye of the hurricane.

“I knew there was a spotlight on me and … it felt like I embarrassed myself in public, like I was naked, and everyone was looking at me,” Jackson recalled. “It was a very dark time.”

Within weeks, the Jacksons decamped to Cumberland, Md., a safer haven for trans people. But as similar proposed laws restricting gender-affirming health care percolate through 15 other state legislatures and Congress, more trans Americans and trans rights advocates fear other families may soon find themselves in the same situation as the Jacksons, fleeing their homes out of fear.

Although leading medical experts say the treatment Jackson received is the appropriate one for gender dysphoria, conservatives insist that parents are putting their kids at risk of long-term harm.

But for Jackson, life only got better after medically transitioning. Their feelings of despair ceased and they were well-adjusted in their community. “Gender-affirming care unequivocally positively affects the lives of those it treats,” said Marci Bowers, a doctor and president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

You won’t want to miss the rest of Cass’ story — and how their life has changed since moving east.

REMEMBERING REP. DONALD MCEACHIN

Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.), who won his fourth term in this month’s midterm elections, has died, his office announced late Monday.

“We are all devastated at the passing of our boss and friend, Congressman Donald McEachin,” said Tara Roundtree, his chief of staff, in a statement posted to the late congressman’s Twitter page. She cited the cause of death being effects associated with colorectal cancer.

Roundtree also noted his office will remain open until a new representative is elected.

His fellow Virginia lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott, highlighted McEachin’s accomplishments, including being the first Black nominee in that state’s history to secure the nomination for attorney general and being just the third African American Virginia voters elected to Congress.

“Donald was resolute in pushing Virginia to lead the way in climate policy. He was also one of Congress’s strongest champions for environmental justice, fighting to ensure that our most vulnerable communities have access to clean air and water,” Scott said in a statement. “The Commonwealth and our nation have lost one of its most dedicated public servants and fiercest advocates for justice and equality.”

McEachin was 61 years old.

ICYMI @ POLITICO

Another Kind of Dinner — We talked about one dinner last week; how about another newsworthy one this week? President Joe Biden is set to host French President Emmanuel Macron during a state dinner. The feast will also feature musical guest Jon Batiste.

WATCH: Dr. Anthony Fauci’s memorable moments during the coronavirus pandemic

Band of Brothers — You also don’t want to miss this “only in America” story, where three members of the same West Point class — two Republicans and a Democrat — all of whom lost previous congressional bids, will be freshman representatives in the next Congress. More from POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Olivia Beavers here.  

From our Snapchat team: Why the Cherokee Nation is fighting for representation in Congress

Are Democrats Blowing It With Latino Voters? — Well, Rep.-elect Delia Ramirez thinks so. Find out why in this profile from POLITICO’s Minho Kim.

THE RECAST RECOMMENDS

We’re still mourning the loss of entertainer Irene Cara over the holiday break. If you’re unfamiliar with her story, check out this appreciation in Andscape.

Hernan Diaz doesn’t disappoint with “The Generation,” a new dystopian short story for The Atlantic. He takes you behind the scenes here.

Dive into the boldly imaginative universe of the late science fiction writer Octavia Butler with this interactive.

K-pop gets one step closer to world domination with a new Broadway show honoring the genre that brought us artists such as BTS and Blackpink.

Taylor Russell takes the lead in gory “Bones and All,” in theaters now. Her stellar performance won her a Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice International Film Festival.

If you’re in the mood for something lighter, catch “The Sound of Christmas” on BET+, starring none other than Ne-Yo.

Producer Waajeed drops his new album, inspired by the “revolutionary efforts against oppressive hegemonies in Detroit, and in Black locales around the world,” according to the artist’s Bandcamp.

JLo has news! Her first new album in nine years, “This Is Me … Now,” is coming in 2023. If you can’t wait til then, reminisce with unseen footage from one of her early 2000s tracks.

TikTok of the Day: On hold