Republicans, defined by one thing and one man for four-plus years, see a new, unifying platform to run on in the 2022 elections and potentially beyond.

The blueprint: Republicans tell us the work-in-progress plan argues that Biden Democrats are soft on crime, soft and ineffective on illegal immigration, and reckless and wrong with government spending.

• "That's how we win back the [House] majority," a top GOP aide told me. "When we talk about Republican committee chairs, we talk about 'when' not 'if.'"

The big picture: Each topic can be backed by actual policies, instead of drafting off Donald Trump’s cultural grievances and fanatical allegations of stolen elections, top officials tell us.

The hitch: Um, Trump. He’s still the Pied Piper of modern Republicanism — and fixated on litigating the past, not legislating the future.

• Last night in Wellington, Ohio, at his first post-election rally, Trump spent 94 minutes marinating in lies of the past and teased a 2024 run — framed as winning the White House for the "third time."

A top Democratic official told me: "The most popular policy we have is taxing rich people. Why did Biden outperform in Macomb County [Mich.] and York Pa.? Because populism works. Biden's 'buy America, tax the corporations' message moves these voters."

• On crime, the official told me that "voters care, but there's no sign they trust the GOP more than us. Trump ran this play in 2020 and lost."

Zoom out: The Democratic messaging group Future Majority in May released a deck identifying areas where Republicans hold an advantage, Axios' Lachlan Markay tells me:

• Of the issues polled, "defunding the police," "open borders" and "reparations for slavery" were by far the biggest turnoffs for both independents and voters in general.
• Republicans bested Democrats on jobs and the economy, gun rights, and "keeping you and your family safe."
• The poll, Future Majority wrote in its report on the findings, "shows voters, especially Independents, believe Democrats overspend."

The bottom line: Democrats are internally flagging their vulnerabilities on the very issues central to the GOP's strategy to retake power next year.

Family members are ensconced in a hotel a mile from the collapsed Surfside condo, and receive briefings ahead of the public. "The faces and the body language of those individuals [were] particularly somber" last evening, NBC's Vaughn Hillyard reported. "Hope is dwindling."

• Maggie Ramsey — daughter of 80-year-old Magaly Delgado, who's missing — told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in Surfside that officials were giving families twice-daily briefings on the search that include exactly where they're looking: "Knowing is a little bit healing in itself."

An international tragedy: The Champlain Towers South condominium reflected Miami's international mix — Cuban and South American immigrants, Orthodox Jews, foreign retirees, AP reports.

• Israel said 20 of its citizens are missing. 22 people are unaccounted for from Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay.
• Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted that family members from over a dozen countries had received visas to travel to South Florida: "Most have either arrived or are now en route."
• Israel and several countries in Latin America offered to send search and rescue teams.

J.D. Vance — whose raw bestseller, "Hillbilly Elegy," helped elites process the Trump upset — plans to announce at a factory in Ohio this week that he's seeking the Republican nomination for Senate, sources tell me.

• I'm told Vance's top issues will be the culture wars (including cancel culture, critical race theory and Big Tech), immigration and economic populism (with an emphasis on inflation).
• Day after day, Vance, 36, has been using social media to rally conservatives and rile liberals on social issues.
• Vance's team advised reporters of a "special announcement" Thursday evening in his hometown Middletown, Ohio.
• Vance, who made a fundraising swing through D.C. last week, will join a crowded field trying to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R).

The Fearless Girl looks up at the NYSE, lit for Pride Weekend.

Trump Cabinet seeks redemption ... Former Attorney General Bill Barr goes on the record with ABC's Jonathan Karl, in an excerpt for The Atlantic of Karl's book, "Betrayal," moving up to Nov. 16:

Barr ... looked into allegations that voting machines across the country were rigged to switch Trump votes to Biden votes. ... "We realized from the beginning it was just bulls--," Barr told me, noting that even if the machines somehow changed the count, it would show up when they were recounted by hand.

"It’s a counting machine, and they save everything that was counted. So you just reconcile the two. There had been no discrepancy reported anywhere, and I’m still not aware of any discrepancy."

Barr recounts for Karl a scene from Jonathan Swan's "Off the Rails," his January series on President Trump's final days:

Trump brought up Barr’s AP interview [in which he said there was no election fraud that would have changed the outcome].

"Did you say that?"

"Yes," Barr responded.

"How the f--- could you do this to me? Why did you say it?"

"Because it's true."

The president, livid, responded by referring to himself in the third person: "You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump."

Keep reading.

A stifling "heat dome" is parked over the Pacific Northwest, bringing record heat to at least 25 million, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes.

• Why it matters: Extreme heat is a manifestation of human-caused climate change, with numerous studies linking such events to the long-term increase in global average temperatures.

What's happening: This heat dome is yielding temperature departures from average of between 25°F to 45°F and above across multiple states and British Columbia.

• The heat, combined with a worsening drought, is raising the risk of wildfires across multiple Western states.
• It's also causing power demand to spike at a time when hydropower resources are lower than usual due to the drought conditions.

Portland, Ore., set an all-time high temperature record of 108°F yesterday, beating the previous record of 107°F. The city is forecast to reach 112°F today and tomorrow.

• Seattle is forecast to reach 104°F today, which would be an all-time record. Monday looks even hotter — an astonishing 111°F.

Keep reading for why the Northwest is so hot.

Living without air conditioning was customary in Seattle, where official weather stations in the past century had recorded only three days over 100°, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription).

• That's changing with the climate: The number of Seattle metro households with air conditioning rose from 31% in 2013 to 44% in 2020, according to Census Bureau surveys.

Bruce Springsteen's one-man "Springsteen on Broadway" reopened for a vaccinated audience at St. James Theater — the first full-length Broadway show since COVID shuttered Broadway in March of 2020.

• "I am here tonight to provide proof of life,” The Boss said, per the N.Y. Times — a line from the monologue of his original show, which began in 2017 and ran 236 performances before closing in 2018.