Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — Worries in the West Wing, Supreme pick could come today, Snapchat plans more shows
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2017 06:53:08 -0500 (EST)

Presented by Walmart:

Two views from the West Wing * ACLU flooded with donations * Snapchat ey=s TV

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Jan 30, 2017

Good Monday morning. Administration insiders say they expect =resident Trump's Supreme Court pick today or tomorrow, moved up from Thurs=ay. The announcement will touch off Washington's biggest battle since the =lection, with millions spent on each side, including massive campaigns in =he states of key senators.

Thanks for starting the day here, then ch=ck out the Axios STREAM all day for screen-sized updates that'll m=ke you smart fast on business, tech, media trends and politics. Our cool "=eep reading" function gives you a drop-down so you can continue without le=ving the stream, and signals how many words are ahead.

1 big thing: The view inside

Lafayette Park, near White House / AP

Friends and colleagues say President Trump, chief strat=gist Steve Bannon and policy guru Stephen Miller think they're off to a te=rific start. They see complaints about the travel ban as media misinformat=on and hype — amplified by Republicans they don't like and that th=y know will never like them.

On a conference call with reporters last night, a senior administration official said: "It re=lly is a massive success story in terms of implementation on every single =evel."

And asked about the softening yesterday of t=e administration's stand on green-card travelers from the seven restricted=countries, a senior administration official told our Jonathan Swan: "The o=ly issue is the media created an issue that never existed, and then asked =s to resolve an issue that never existed. … The EO [executive orde=] is not going to be changed."

Despite the bravado,

Big decisions, and edit= to crucial documents, are made in the dark of night, with scant input bey=nd the inner circle. "There are a few guys who keep everything to themselv=s," said a top official.

The insular inner circle is getting more insular, as it amasses more power.

No force wi=hin the West Wing is a sure-fire counterweight to Bannon/Miller.

=strong>The inner circle, resentful of leaks, seeks little input f=om the Cabinet, outside allies or Hill leaders. A leadership aide told us =esterday afternoon: "Congressional leaders had no hand in drafting this an= haven't been briefed from the White House on how it works."

Trump is showing no signs of WANTING order: He loves the compe=ing views, internally and externally, allowing him to be the (usually last=minute) decider.

The place oozes paranoia. So ev=ry bad move is simply chalked up to media-hate.

​2. Catch up quick

Downtown Manhattan / Photo by Axios AM reader

Republicans worry … about the massive fund=aising opportunity this provides the left. CNN's Brian Stelter repo=ts the ACLU's weekend's online giving was 356,306 donations, totaling more=than $24 million: "The civil liberties group normally rai=es about $4 million online per YEAR."

The big picture: "In a Week, Trump Reshapes Decades of Perceptions About America," by=N.Y. Times' David Sanger: "By some measures, President Trump=has altered the perception of American foreign policy more in the past sev=n days than his predecessors did in the past seven decades.A nation that b=ilt its brand around the world as open to the world's needy and ambitious =s now viewed … as closing its doors in a way it never did even aft=r the Sept. 11."

Oof! House Homelan= Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, to the Wa=l Street Journal, in a front-pager headlined: Trump Team Kept=Plan for Travel Ban Quiet": "In the future, such policy changes should be =etter coordinated with the agencies implementing them and with Congress to=ensure we get it right—and don't undermine our nation's credibilit= while trying to restore it."

Collateral dam=ge: L.A. Times Brian Bennett: "National security exper=s and even some Republican lawmakers believe that Trump's executive orders=… are more likely to inflame resentment against the U.S. than to m=ke the country more secure."

ISIS reacts �=80� WashPost's Greg Miller and Missy Ryan: "=ostings on social-media sites linked to the terrorist group predicted that=President Trump's order would galvanize Muslims and claimed that it showed=that the United States is at war with Islam."

Green light =or green cards … "Homeland S=curity Secretary John Kelly issued a statement [yesterday making clear tha=] citizens of the seven target countries who hold permanent U.S. residency='green cards' will not be barred from re-entering the U.S., as officials h=d previously said."

Allies balk: "U= under pressure to cancel Trump state visit" — AFP/London: "More t=an one million people had signed a petition on Monday demanding Britain ca=cel plans for a state visit by … Trump following his ban on travel=ers from mainly Muslim countries."

​Sunday in America

At the Screen Actors Guild Awards=in L.A., "much of the ceremony played like a rally of the resistance," per=Hollywood R=porter: "'I am a citizen of the world," Ashton Kutcher said … =peaking to 'everyone in airports that belong in my America … You a=e part of the fabric of who we are and we love you and we welcome you.' =E2�� [A]lmost everyone who took the stage chose to speak … abo=t the current political climate, with many remarks aimed directly at �=80� Trump."

In Philadel=hia, 5,000 demonstrators jammed the International Arrivals ha=l, and 1,000 spilled into the arrivals vehicle lane outside, disrupting pa=sengers trying to leave.

At LAX, as lawyer= filed court papers on behalf of detained travelers, thousands of proteste=s shut down traffic in front of the Tom Bradley International Terminal and=faced off with police in riot gear, chanting: "Let them in!"

In San Francisco, more than 1,000 =rotesters forced the temporary shutdown of security checkpoints.

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A commitment to manufacturing

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4. Bannon rising

"Lenin wanted to destroy t=e state, and that's my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down= and destroy all of today's establishment." —Steve Bannon in 2013,==s quoted by the Daily Beast

Jim VandeHei and I an updated list=/a> of chief strategist Steve Bannon's power plays and signs of his rising=clout: Understanding his worldview is the Rosetta Stone to Trump's rhetori= and actions.

In an above-the-fold N.Y. Times =a href="http://link.axios.com/click/8734412.29513/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW=lcy5jb20vMjAxNy8wMS8yOS91cy9zdGVwaGVuLWJhbm5vbi1kb25hbGQtdHJ1bXAtbmF0aW9uY=wtc2VjdXJpdHktY291bmNpbC5odG1sP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVt=WVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zYW0/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8=Be5a5d2f8" target="_blank">front pager, "Adviser Seizes A Security R=le From Generals," Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman add this layer: "Peopl= close to Mr. Bannon said he is not accumulating power for power's sake, b=t is instead helping to fill a staff leadership vacuum created, in part, b= Michael Flynn's stumbling performance as national security adviser. Mr. F=ynn still communicates with Mr. Trump frequently, and his staff has been a=sembling a version of the Presidential Daily Briefing for Mr. Trump, trunc=ted but comprehensive, to be the president's main source of national secur=ty information."

Their colleague David Sanger has =a href="http://link.axios.com/click/8734412.29513/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW=lcy5jb20vMjAxNy8wMS8yOS91cy9wb2xpdGljcy9zdGVwaGVuLWJhbm5vbi1zZWN1cml0eS1jb=VuY2lsLmh0bWw_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2Nh=XBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NhbQ/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cBa9eb560b" targe=="_blank">palace intrigue on Bannon's elevation to the National Secu=ity Council's Cabinet-level principals' committee, "and the diminishment o= the president's top intelligence and military advisers": "[M]ilitary offi=ials said they suspected that the decision, in part, was prompted by the n=tional security adviser, Michael T. Flynn … Throughout the transit=on, Mr. Flynn was reportedly hesitant to place many people around the Nati=nal Security Council table who had outranked him in the military."

​5. Questions for Sean Spicer …

… when the White House press secretary briefs at 1:30 p.m.:
<=p>

What advance communication did you have with the Hill about the =ravel ban? Which Republican leaders were told?

When was Homeland S=curity Secretary John Kelly told the specific content and timing?

=span>Who else outside the West Wing was provided advance notice of =he specific content?

How are you responding to/dealin= with members of Congress who publicly express dissent/concerns?

<=pan>What's being done to help unintended victims -- kids, vets, etc=? Any concerns about the airport chaos? What consideration is being given =o hardship cases for people who are in imminent danger in their home count=ies?

6. Tops in media trends

Snapchat, expected to file for its IPO late this week, "boldly compares =tself with TV" in conversations with investors, per Mashable. One media executive who talks=to the big platforms said: "Facebook, Amazon, even Apple are willing to wr=te massive checks, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, to build specif=c content for that platform."

—Why Snapchat plans more shows= "Few on the street recognized Peter Hamby, Snap's head of news and host o= 'Good Luck America,' when he was a political reporter at CNN. Now, he's t=e 'Snapchat guy.' Exclusivity, Snapchat says, means quality."

7.​ Tops in tech

Axios' Kim Hart draws on her wide sourcing and deep experience for "Why tech CEOs fear=Trump": "[T]hey fear Trump will single them out for outsourcing jobs o= shut down the so-called H-1B visa program they use to hire high-skilled f=reign employees for crucial engineering and technical jobs."

What's coming: "White House officials tell us they are right=to be nervous, especially about changes to the visa program. Chief strateg=st Steve Bannon and policy chief Stephen Miller are known to be deeply ske=tical of the program, and will have a strong, vocal ally when Jeff Session= gets confirmed as Attorney General."

The routes:="Short of shutting down the visas, Trump could administratively strangle t=e program or work with Congress to significantly slash it, immigration exp=rts told Axios."

The reaction: "Fear= of being the subject of a Trump tweetstorm shaming big H-1B users could p=ompt companies to cut back on their visa applications. Even tech companies=that follow the program's rules to the letter would prefer to avoid a PR n=ghtmare."

8. Trending in business

A Wall Street Journal front-pager s=ts up the week with "The Rally's Next Test: Can Earnings Keep Up With Stoc= Prices?":

What's happening: "More than 10= of America's biggest companies … are scheduled to report quarterl= results. Among them are tech giants such as Facebook Inc., which is expec=ed to be the largest contributor for earnings growth in the technology sec=or, and Apple Inc., which is forecast to provide the largest drag."
The mood: "[M]any executives last week emphasized their =ptimistic outlooks."

But … "=ata released Friday highlighted that the U.S. recovery remains fragile."

9.​ Jack Quinn's new firm

Jack Quinn, White House counsel to Bill Clinton, will leave Quinn Gilles=ie & Associates in March to begin a new "Law and Strategy" venture bas=d in D.C. Quinn told us he likes practicing law and will use that umbrella=to build a network for corporations that need help with investigations, li=igation or expansion.

Quinn will also serve as a senior adviser =o Burson-Marsteller, keeping him in the WPP family, and will expand his ad=isory and investment activities with emerging companies and technologies.<=p>

10. 2 fun things

Just posted … "Samantha Bee to Roast Trump on Same Night as Correspondents' Din=er," by NYT's Dave Itzkoff: "Ms. Bee … and her colleagues are plan=ing a counter-event that will take place in Washington on April 29, the sa=e night as the Correspondents' Association dinner."

Wednesday i= National Signing Day, when highly recruited hi=h-school athletes commit for college, with the most prized recruits theatr=cally donning the winning cap for their local news or even ESPN. But it lo=ks like this is the last year for the spectacle, since the NCAA is creatin= a new signing period in December.

Why that makes sense= "All the freaking out and fawning over players who have never pl=yed a college game creates unrealistic expectations for the newbies and to=some seems unfair to the ones already on campus."

THA=K YOU for reading, and have a great week. I'm grateful for the li=ks, pics, docs and thoughts that you're sending me. Just reply to this ema=l: It's my real e-dress, and no one else sees it.

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