Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- Who Trump is calling (and the secret way his friends still reach him) * The app for paranoid operatives
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2017 06:48:08 -0500 (EST)

Presented by The Boeing Company:

Who Trump is calling (and the secret way his friends still reach him) * =he app for paranoid operatives

View in browser

Presented By The Boeing Company

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 08, 2017

1 big thing: Trump's secrets

President Trump has begun reaching out to veterans of e=rlier White Houses for advice, as he seeks to bring more order and stabili=y to a chaotic internal power structure that relies on competing and somet=mes conflicting centers of gravity.

"I just wish he=d done it before he took office," said a West Wing insider.
<=>The conversations suggest West Wing changes could be in =he offing, according to people close to the White House. One source said t=ere's clearly "some fluidity" as Trump begins Day 20 as president. Other s=urces, directly involved, tell us there was lots of jockeying and conversa=ions among senior West Wing players over the weekend, as top officials sou=ht to further define their still-murky lanes.

"We've added = little due process," said a top official. "The question still is= Can we herd all the cats?"

The dilemma: The =resident likes having chief strategist Steve Bannon as a disrupter and pre=idential whisperer who is "Trump's beating heart, tied to the base" -- the=dynamic, angry forces who won the election. The challenge for White House =hief of Staff Reince Priebus is building a system that lets Bannon be Bann=n, while fostering internal and external communication, consultation and c=ordination.

What Trump is thinking: People who t=lk to the president say he has been alternately frustrated and defensive w=en discussing the rollout of his executive order restricting migrant trave=. Friends explain that Trump likes to be liked: He's a lifelong schmoozer =nd dealmaker who, despite the sharp elements of his message, doesn't like =eing portrayed in the harsh light that the travel restrictions have trigge=ed.

Trump after dark: The calls to White House al=mni show that the president is continuing his pattern of consulting widely=by telephone, despite being suddenly encased in the ultimate closed system= According to associates, Trump still has his old number that he used to w=rk with the avidity of a telemarketer.

The secret system:<=strong> Friends and Trump are co-conspirators in a cheeky new practice tha= keeps him tied to his longtime outside network. Here's how participants s=y it works: You call and leave a voicemail on the old phone -- or at night= perhaps Trump sees the number pop up on caller ID. If POTUS wants to talk= he calls back from his new, Secret-Service-approved secure phone -- savor=ng his small triumph over a bureaucratic and security apparatus designed t= rein in this lifelong kibitzer.

2. James Baker at White House today

Republican elder statesmen call for a tax on carbon emi=sions to fight climate change, per N.Y. Times' John Schwartz: "The group [is] led by fo=mer Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State =eorge P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasu=y."

"Baker is scheduled to meet [today] with W=ite House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner ..= and Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council."

Why this matters: "[I]t puts influential members of the Repub=ican establishment on the record as favoring action on climate change �=80� a position that is publicly held by few Republicans at the national =evel, though many quietly say they would like to throw off the orthodoxy i= the party that opposes action."

Op-ed by George Shultz an= James Baker in Wall Street Journal, "A Conservative A=swer to Climate Change: Enacting a carbon tax would free up private firms =o find the most efficient ways to cut emissions": "Controlling the White H=use and Congress means that Republicans bear the responsibility of exercis=ng wise leadership on the defining challenges of our era."

3. Knows his audience

This is delicious ... When Japanese Prime Minister Shin=o Abe meets with Trump at the White House on Friday, he plans to hand over=a "tweetable" figure about planned Japanese investments in the U.S., the <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/8812809.29289/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud3NqLmN=bS9hcnRpY2xlcy9hYmUtdG8tdG91dC1qYXBhbnMtYmVuZWZpdHMtdG8tdS1zLWluLXRydW1wLW=lZXRpbmctMTQ4NjM3MzA5OD91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpb=Z1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cBeed380=e" target="_blank">Financial Times reports from Toyko:

<=trong>"Japan's government is pushing companies and investors to h=nd over details of their U.S. investment plans" so Abe can give Trump an i=pressive number for Twitter.

Abe is leaning on pu=lic investment institutions "to pledge tens of billions of dollars to U.S.=infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail."

Abe's me=sage is designed "to counter the presi=ent's criticism about trade," and "head off tensions about ... the cost of=maintaining U.S. forces in Japan."

Abe is expected

A Message From The Boeing Company

Fueling American manufacturing

Our American footprint goes beyond just our Boeing employees. Having 80%=of our suppliers based in the United States strengthens our economy and co=munities.

Learn about our presence in you= state.

4. Extreme skepticism

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, San Francisco / AP

"Appeals Court Panel Appears Skeptical of Trump's Trave= Ban," says the online headline of a dispatch by Adam Liptak, the N.Y. Times' Supreme Court reporter.Liptak writes that the three judge panel of the 9th Ci=cuit Court of Appeals, during oral arguments yesterday over the stay of Tr=mp's migrant travel restrictions, "sometimes seemed taken aback by the ass=rtiveness of the administration's position, which in places came close to =aying the court was without power to make judgments about Mr. Trump's acti=ns."

Top quote: August E. Flentje, the Justice=Department's lawyer: "I'm not sure I'm convincing the court."

What's next: A decision is expected within days.

"A 4-to-4 tie in the Supreme Court would leave the appeals cou=t's ruling in place."

The spectacle, per L.=. Times: The arguments "had a massive public audience ... [A]udio ... =as broadcast live both on the Internet and on cable television. More than =35,000 people tuned in on the court's official YouTube live stream ... CNN=and MSNBC also took the unusual step of broadcasting live audio of the hou=long hearing, as did many news websites."

5. If you read only 1 thing

David Brooks column, "The Fallows Question: Where=is history being made right now?": "Today, I'd say the most pivotal spot o= earth is Washington, D.C.

"Th= crucial questions will be settled there: Can Donald Trump be ind=ced to govern in some rational manner or will he blow up the world? Does h= represent a populist tide that will only grow or is some other set of ide=s building for his overthrow? Are the leading institutions — every=hing from the Civil Service to the news media to the political parties �=80� resilient enough to correct for the Trumpian chaos? Washington will =ither preserve the world order or destroy it."

6. CNN-Trump detente

Epic interview between CNN's Jack Tap=er on his 4 p.m. show "The Lead," and Kellyanne Conway, from the White Hou=e lawn: "We have a very high respect for the truth. ... We have a high reg=rd for the facts. But I want you to see some of the other facts ... No, I =on't think CNN is fake news. I think there are SOME reports everywhere ...=that are not well-researched and are sometimes based on falsehoods."
"Conway said she was 'trying=to reach out' to the media and 'put out the olive branch.' At one point, C=nway seemed to argue that the President offering blatant falsehoods as tru=h should matter less than his perceived accomplishments. 'Are they (falseh=ods) more important than the many things that he says that are true that a=e making a difference in people's lives?'"

7. Tops in tech: The app for paranoid Republicans

Confide — an encrypted messaging app that delet=s chats after they're read — is fast becoming a tool of choice for=Republicans in Washington, per Axios' Jonathan Swan and David M=Cabe:

Numerous senior GOP operatives and =everal members of the Trump administration have downloaded the app, spurre= by the airing of hacked Democratic e-mails.

By default the app deletes messages after they are read.

8. Media trends: Colbert rising

Jon Stewart dresses as Trump in a visit to Colbert / CBS

Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" on CBS beat NBC's Jimmy F=llon in Nielsens last week for the first time since Colbert replaced David=Letterman in 2015, per — 2.77 million average for CBS, 2.76 million for NBC ... But i= reflects a turnaround ... since former 'CBS This Morning' executive Chris=Licht was put in charge ... and steered the show toward more topical conte=t."

Colbert's monologue from last Monday -- his f=rst night back from a week's vacation, and his first show of the Trump adm=nistration -- recorded 4 million views on YouTube.

"Saturday Night Live" is booming, with its most-watched sea=on in 22 years.

9. Trending in business

Wall Street Journal front-pager, "Big Firms Cut Back Property Holdings": "S=me prominent real-estate investors are reducing their holdings and getting=more selective about new deals, in a sign that the eight-year bull market =or U.S. commercial property is coming to a close."

10. 1 fun thing

New Yorker profile ... "Journeyman: Anthony Bourdain's moveable fea=t -- Guided by a lusty appetite for indigenous culture and cuisine, th= swaggering chef has become a travelling statesman," by Patrick Radden Kee=e: "The secret ingredient of the [CNN] show is the when-in-Rome avidity wi=h which Bourdain partakes of indigenous custom and cuisine, whether he is =ounding vodka before plunging into a frozen river outside St. Petersburg o= spearing a fatted swine as the guest of honor at a jungle longhouse in Bo=neo."

"Like a great white shark= Bourdain tends to be photographed with his jaws wide open, on th= verge of sinking his teeth into some tremulous delicacy. In Bourdain's re=ollection, his original pitch for the series was, roughly, 'I travel aroun= the world, eat a lot of [stuff], and basically do whatever the [heck] I w=nt.' The formula has proved improbably successful."

A Message From The Boeing Company

Driving innovation across 50 states

Boeing is leading the aerospace industry with an unparalleled team of Am=rican workers, including 140,000 employed by Boeing and 1.5 million workin= in jobs in our supply chain.

Learn more about our U.S. =ootprint.

Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 200, Arlington VA 22201

You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.=/a>

Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.

Follow Axios=on social media:

=                     &nb=p;