Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- State of Trumpland * Overnight defeat for POTUS * Bannon's book * Spicer gets SNL treatment
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2017 08:29:08 -0500 (EST)

Presented by Walmart:

State of Trumpland * Overnight defeat for POTUS * Bannon's book * Spicer=gets SNL treatment

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Presented By Walmart

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 05, 2017

Good morning, and happy Super Sunday! Kickof= is 6:30 p.m. Here's a cheat sheet for sounding like an NFL fan at y=ur Super Bowl party, even if you're just there for the nachos and ads.

1 big thing: ​The state of Trumpland

"SNL" depicts Trump and Bannon

Every news outlet, us included, has done countless stor=es of jockeying, infighting and confusion inside this White House. Two wee=s in, here's where things stand, based on the unvarnished view of Trump in=iders:

The most influential voices in sha=ing what the president does and says are Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. =hey flooded, not just filled, the early void, and prevailed in early skirm=shes. They got too much attention, too soon, so have retreated a bit, albe=t temporarily.

Chief of Staff Reince Preibus asse=ted himself this past week, and got a boost internally from Trump telling =ides he runs the show. That shows that the president knows he needs his li=eline to the establishment, and some semblance of order. Bannon and Preibu= sat down with reporters to insist they get along great, and several bit.<=li>
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have the surest sta=ing power, despite being overshadowed early on. It was telling that their =llies leaked stories to Vanity Fair and others about their concerns with t=e refugee executive order and restrictions on LGBT freedoms. They are play=ng the long game.

Gary Cohn, the former Goldman S=chs, made his public debut as a force, rolling out the rollback of Dodd-Fr=nk in the WSJ and on CNBC. Cohn is the newest top player inside the White =ouse, so it'll take time to see how he meshes with the others.

Kelly Ann Conway had a rough week, PR-wise, admitting she was=wrong about "the Bowling Green massacre," and getting rejected by CNN as a=Sunday morning guest on Jake Tapper's show. But she remains close to the b=ss: He likes that her opinions sometimes differ from those of them men aro=nd him, and loves the way she fights for him on the air.

2. New overnight

Just before 4 a.m. ET, a federal appeals court in San F=ancisco turned down the Trump administration's request to immediately rein=tate restrictions on travelers and refugees. AP says that means the legal battles over=the ban will continue for days at least:

"The 9th U.S.=Circuit Court of Appeals ... asked challengers of the ban [to] re=pond to [Trump's] appeal, and for the Justice Department to file a counter=response by [tomorrow] afternoon."

"Acting Solicitor Gener=l Noel Francisco forcefully argued [in a brief last] night that t=e president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the Uni=ed States — an assertion that appeared to invoke the wider battle =o come over illegal immigration."

If you read only one=thing ... The L.A. Times' Brian Bennett=/a> writes that Trump's order targets up to 8 million peo=le for deportation -- any jobholder who lied on federal employment forms t=at they were legally allowed to work:

The order
"Deportations of this scale ... cou=d have widely felt consequences: Families would be separated. Businesses c=tering to immigrant customers may be shuttered. Crops could be left to rot="

"U.S. relations could be strained =ith countries that stand to receive an influx of deported people, particul=rly in Latin America. Even the Social Security system, which many immigran=s working illegally pay into under fake identification numbers, would take=a hit."

3. "So-called judge"

Judge James Robart in 2013 / AP

With his tweet attacking the "opinion of this so-called=judge," Trump may have complicated efforts by his lawyers to defend the tr=vel restrictions. University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman told AP: "Either they ha=e to defend the statements that Judge Robart is a 'so-called judge,' which=you can't do, or they have to distance themselves from the president, who =s their boss."

The #1 trending article on Apple New= last night was a CNN opinion piece,"Tr=mp's most bone-chilling tweet," arguing he was "apparently attempting to d=legitimize our federal judiciary."

Profiles of the judge make the swipe look misplaced. Seattle Times front-pager: "Trump's 'so-called judge' i= highly regarded Republican appointee" ... AP: "Seattle judge derided by Trump known as conserva=ive jurist" ... N.Y. Times, "'So-Called' Judg= Criticized by Trump Is Known as a Mainstream Republican."

Just the facts on U.S. =istrict Judge James Robart, 69:

Graduate of Georgetown Law.
Nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003.

Confirmed 99-0=by Senate in 2004.

Known for conservative legal views.

Rec=rd of helping disadvantaged children that includes fostering six of them; =epresented refugees from Southeast Asia.

"Last year, Robart declared 'black lives m=tter' during a federal court hearing, saying he would not allow the Seattl= police union to hold the city 'hostage' by linking demands for higher wag=s to constitutional policing."

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4. Sneak peek

Speaker Paul Ryan defends Trump in his pre-tape with Ch=ck Todd for "Meet the Press," saying he's "h=t the ground running extremely hard. He's doing a lot. And there's a lot t=at needs to be done."

Ryan also has a kind word for=Steve Bannon: "I think there is a lot of hyperventilating. I've just gotte= to know Steve since the election. I've had nothing but good relationship =ith him."

Chuck Todd: "His publication [Breitbart] =id not have a good relationship with you."

Speaker Ryan: "That's for sure."

5. What Bannon's reading

For months, Steve Bannon has been recommending "The Bes= and the Brightest," David Halberstam's devastating 1972 account of the se=f-regard, delusion, and tragic series of miscalculations that led America =nto Vietnam. Our Jonathan Swan says Bannon told Jared Kushner, Anthony =caramucci, and other associates that the book is a warning against hubris.=/p>
Here are Swan's four takeaways from the book that h=lp illuminate how Bannon processes the world:

Halbersta= holds in contempt the highly educated, verbally sophisticated el=tes — JFK's band of brilliant young men — making decisions=in Washington.

The author flatters hard-won expe=ience — "true wisdom" — over intellectual theorizing. He critiques Washington's compliant press corps. He reinforces Bannon's belief that "personnel is poli=y" and that the very act of selecting a cabinet can lock in an administrat=on.

New York Times sports reporter Marc Tracy recalls in today's paper that Bannon told him: "It's great=for seeing how little mistakes early on can lead to big ones later."

6. Sentence of the day

From WashPost front-pager, "Trump t=am tries to regain its footing," by Phil Rucker and Ashley Parker: "Ba=non's rising profile — captured on this week's cover of Time magaz=ne ... — caught the attention of senior officials, as well as Tru=p, who takes pride in his own cover appearances and inquired about Bannon'= Time debut with aides."

7. The Brain's backstory

Steve Miller's White House title is senior adviser for =olicy, but his role is so outsized, and his direct access to the president=so remarkable, that we call him "The Brain." The Raleigh News & Observ=r's Jane Stancill profiles Miller, 31, on the Sunday front page, "A path fr=m Duke to the White House":

"On the fifth anniversary<=strong> of 9/11 Miller was determined to stage an elaborate memorial that =equired weeks of organizing student groups, Durham officials, fire and pol=ce departments, and the university to join in the event, which included pl=nting 2,997 flags on campus – one for each victim."

"He got Duke to give $4,000 for the spectacle, he wrote in an online article, which he=considered a major victory: "Anything that portrays America as under attac= by Islamic terrorists, as even the most purely apolitical 9/11 memorial i=evitably will, challenges the university dogma." The event, he wrote, was =one of the most memorable and meaningful days of my life."

terrorism and his defense of the lacrosse pl=yers, Miller also wrote about race, diversity and what he said were condes=ending attitudes toward minorities, as well as 'racial paranoia.' A column=about racial injustice ... was about someone accusing him of being racist.=

8. Top-ed

Maureen Dowd, "Free Melania =E2�� From Our Expectations: The Sphinx of Fifth Avenue skirts the Poto=ac": "As our omnipresent new president hijacked our reality, the first lad= vanished, sparking headlines for nary a glimpse in D.C. since the inaugur=l."

"Whether or not she intends it, the woman =ho calls herself 'a full-time mom' is making a modern statement about the =ole of the first lady. She's saying: I'll do it on my terms."

9. Tops in media trends

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

You're reading this on a phone: Axios' Sara Fischer, citing P=rse.ly figures showing desktop use dies over weekends: "The mobile ratio t=nds to increase late at night, even supporting an 11 p.m. EST 'reading act=vity peak' for mobile visitors."

"A period of experimentat=on" ... Liz Spayd, N.Y. Times public editor, tak=s an insider look at the paper's =ough choices as it reduces its layers of editing: "Some of those editors m=y be resistant to change, but they also know where the risks lie."
NFL ratings were down 9% during the regular season and 6%=during playoffs, per Recode's Peter Kafka: "That's a troubling da=a point for the TV Industrial Complex, which has viewed live events �=94 and live NFL games in particular — as the last wall of defense =gainst the internet and other competition for eyeballs."

10. 1 fun thing

Sean Spicer gets the "SNL" treatment, with a squeak=, ranting portrayal by Melissa McCarthy: "I'm not here to be your buddy. I=m here to swallow gum, and I'm here to take names. ... OK, now let me wave=something SHINY In front of you monkeys."

"Spicer" tell= Glenn Thrush to sit down (then calls a female reporter "Glenn" w=th air quotes), and fires a super soaker from the podium: "This is soapy w=ter, and I'm washing that filthy, lying mouth."

"Spicer" e=entually freaks out and rams his podium toward a female Wall Stre=t Journal reporter: "You guys still aren't GETTING IT. ... You like THAT, =ork? ... Everybody just COOL out, all right?" SNL's tweet labeled the moment "lunges with podium."<=li>
N.Y. Times' Dave Itzk=ff: "An addled Ms. McCarthy then read her own email password,=and tangled with a New York Times reporter ([Glenn Thrush] played by Bobby=Moynihan) who asked why Mr. Trump did or did not use the word 'ban' ... 'Y=u just said that,' she told the reporter. 'He's quoting you. It's your wor=s. He's using your words, when you use the words and he uses them back, it=s circular using of the word and that's from you.'"

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