Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- 2020 begins * A show Trump watches * The new Hollywood heavyweights * MISfortune cookies
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2017 09:48:09 -0500 (EST)

Presented by JPMorgan Chase & Co.:

2020 begins * A show Trump watches * The new Hollywood heavyweights * MI=fortune cookies

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Presented By JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 19, 2017

Tonight, Jonathan Swan debuts a new weekly n=wsletter, Axios Sneak Peek -- our lookahead for both ends of Pennsylvania =venue, plus the best moments from the Sunday shows. For launch, Jonathan has a cool scoop on a surprising behind-the-scenes debate i=side the GOP.
Click here and =our email address will automatically be added to this Sunday's Sneak Peek<=a>.

1 big thing: 2020 begins

White House officials are shooting down a =.Y. Post story, spreading on Twitter this morning, saying Chris Christ=e has told his staff he's taking a White House job.

Mik= DuHaime, a Christie adviser, told us: "Absolutely not true." A Trump aide said: "100% wrong. The Christie chatter is as al=ays generated by Christieland."

But in checking out that rep=rt, we learned that Trump's White House lunch with the governor t=is week included conversation about a possible drug task force, aimed at a=big scourge in Trump country.

"There is some preliminary talk of [Christie] participating in [and perhaps chairing] an indepen=ent outside 'opioids task force' along with many others while he remains g=vernor," the aide said.

The Christie flurry comes w=th Trump spending the holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago, refreshed after his f=rst campaign rally of 2020.

A Trump adviser=tells us the president is experiencing acute "cabin fever" in the=White House -- hemmed in by headaches, unable to easily pop out to a resta=rant the way he could in New York. So yesterday's campaign rally in Florid= was partly about Trump management -- a victory lap after a turbulent mont=, and a chance to bask in the adulation of 9,000 supporters who won't pest=r or question him.

"Revived by rally, Trump turns b=ck to governing," AP writes.="Trump hits reset with friendlier audience," says the WashPost front page. The =a href="http://link.axios.com/click/8912108.32329/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW=lcy5jb20vMjAxNy8wMi8xNy91cy9wb2xpdGljcy90cnVtcC1ib2Vpbmctc291dGgtY2Fyb2xpb=EtcmFsbHkuaHRtbD91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1f=2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cB82332b65" tar=et="_blank">N.Y. Times gave Trump his "reset" on Friday, after a Boe=ng rally in South Carolina.

Trump had said on Air F=rce One that he planned a message of unity -- but that didn't come till th= very end: "[W]e have the chance now, working together, to deliver

But mostly, it was =aves of triumphant, scolding riffs. Trump hadn't even gotten past his intr= when he went after "fake news ... [t]he dishonest media, which has publis=ed one false story after another, with no sources, even though they preten= they have them -- they make them up in many cases."

"And by=the way, do you think that ... one network will show this crowd? =ot one. Not one," Trump said, inciting boos. "They won't show the crowd."<=p>
Later, he repeated the same charge. CNN and MSNBC bo=h showed the crowd during their live coverage.

Get used to i=. Trump's media assaults used to be more of an aside or applause =ine. Now, it's a specific strategy, with the White House increasingly usin= press bias as the answer to almost any challenge.

On "Fox =ews Sunday," a flustered Reince Priebus, the White House chief of=staff, said that Chris Wallace was "going bananas" with his aggressive que=tioning on Russia, enemy of the state, etc.

Priebus, taping "Face the Nation" with CBS' John Dickerson yesterday, retreated t= "bogus stories" so often that Dickerson said: "So in every answer, you've=turned it back to the media. So I guess the question is: Is the strategy n=w to answer any question by just turning it back on the media and using a =ight with the media as a way to try to control the storyline?"

BULLETIN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's historic moo=shot pad is back in business. A SpaceX Falcon rocket blasted off Sunday mo=ning from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A. It's carrying a load =f supplies for the International Space Station. SpaceX is leasing the pad =rom NASA for 20 years.

2. Huge deal

This story is an ominous turn for the White House, pres=ging at a best -- a long distraction ... "Senators want materials saved fo= Russia probe," by AP's Deb Riechmann and Eileen Sullivan: "The Senate int=lligence committee has sent formal requests to more than a dozen organizat=ons, agencies and individuals, asking them to preserve all materials relat=d to a probe the panel is conducting on Russian interference in the 2016 e=ection."

"The committee chairman, Sen. Richard=Burr, R-N.C., and its vice chairman, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., sent letters=out on Friday — the same day committee members received a classifi=d briefing from FBI Director James Comey."

"Schumer ... said Thursday on the Senate floor: 'There is real concern that some =n the administration may try to cover up its ties to Russia by deleting em=ils, texts and other records ... These records are likely to be the subjec= of executive branch as well as congressional investigations and must be p=eserved."

=/a>

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3. Trump watches "Tucker"

At yesterday's rally, Trump said: "We've got to keep ou= country safe. (CHEERS) You look at what's happening in Germany. You look =t what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? S=eden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never =hought possible."

Sweden!? Well, it turns out nothing big happened Friday night i= Sweden.

B=siness Insider figured out what DID happen: "Fox News host Tu=ker Carlson ran an interview on Friday night's broadcast of 'Tucker Carlso= Tonight' with documentarian and media personality Ami Horowitz, who prese=ted a clip from a new film documenting alleged violence committed by refug=es in Sweden."

"The segment wen= on extensively about a supposed crime surge in Sweden and its li=ks to immigrant populations. Crime rates in Sweden have stayed relatively =table, with some fluctuations, over the last decade, according to the 2016=Swedish Crime Survey." See both clips.

4. Coming attractions

"Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new gu=delines for deporting illegal immigrants," WashPost lead story =/a>by Dave Nakamura: "plans for the agency to hire thousands of additional=enforcement agents, expand the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for =emoval, speed up deportation hearings and enlist local law enforcement to =elp make arrests."

See the 2 memos.

"Popular Domestic Programs Face Ax Under First Trump Budget,"=per N.Y. Times: "The White House budget office has drafted a hit list of p=ograms that President Trump could eliminate to trim domestic spending, inc=uding longstanding conservative targets like the Corporation for Public Br=adcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, AmeriCorps and the National End=wments for the Arts and the Humanities."

5. Top-eds

John Podesta in Washington Post, "T=ump's hall of mirrors": "Trump is deploying a strategy, used by autocr=ts, designed to completely disorient public perception. He's not just tryi=g to spin the bad news of the day; all politicians do that. He seeks nothi=g less than to undermine the public's belief that any news can be trusted,=that any news is true, that there is any fixed reality."

"Trump is attempting to build a hall of =irrors where even our most basic sensory perceptions are shrouded in confu=ion. He is emulating the successful strategy of Vladimir Putin."

A good question from Maureen Dowd, "Trapped in Trump's =rain": "Why didn't Trump himself tell Pence when the White House couns=l told him?"

Frank Bruni, "Donald=Trump Will Numb You": "[H]is means of survival: the warp speed and whi=l of it all. He forces you to process and react to so many different outra=es at such a dizzying velocity that no one of them has the staying power t=at it ought to or gets the scrutiny it deserves."

6. A month of Trump

Trump at end of yesterday's rally / AP's Chris O'Meara

Today is Day 31 of the Trump presidency. AP recaps the wild month, b= the numbers:

24: Executive orders and memoran=a signed. That includes orders to withdraw the United States from Trans-Pa=ific trade deal, impose a federal hiring freeze and reduce regulations rel=ted to the health care law enacted under former President Barack Obama.
1: Executive orders blocked. An order to ban travele=s from seven predominantly Muslim nations was blocked by federal judges. T=ump is expected to issue a new order next week.

4: Bills signed into law. They include a bill to halt regulatio= blocking coal mining debris from being dumped in nearby streams.

=span>6: The average number of tweets per day from =ersonal account @realDonaldTrump.

25.1 millio=: Twitter followers for @realDonaldTrump.

15.5 million: Twitter followers for official account @POTUS.=/li>
4: Visits from foreign leaders. (Bri=ain, Japan, Canada, Israel.)

1: Canc=lled visit from foreign leader. (Mexico.)

1: Supreme Court nomination. Judge Neil Gorsuch.

2: Failed personnel choices. Andrew Puzder withdrew as th= nominee for labor secretary; Michael Flynn was ousted as national securit= adviser.

14: Cabinet-level nominati=ns approved, out of 24 total.

39: Pe=cent of respondents who approve of Trump's job performance in Pew Research=Center poll conducted Feb. 7-12.

3: =eekend trips to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

7. Disrupting Hollywood

"Amazon goes to the Oscars: Digital disrupters are closing in," b= Financial Times global media editor Matthew Garrahan: "Silicon Valley is =ot just straying into traditional Hollywood territory. It is launching a f=ll-on incursion as the digital disruptive forces that have revolutionised =he music industry now threaten the mighty movie business."

The players: "Netflix will spend approximately $1bn on produci=g and acquiring original movies over the next three years, while Amazon is=releasing around 15 a year, with budgets ranging from $5m to $40m. Google =s commissioning original series for its YouTube Red subscription service, =hile Apple is having ongoing discussions with Hollywood executives about o=iginal film and TV productions."

The strategy: "I=stead of handing over their money to the studios, as some naive internatio=al players have done before them, the streaming services have set themselv=s up as competitors. They are buying scripts, developing material and outb=dding the studios and their subsidiaries for the most hotly anticipated in=ependent films at festivals such as Sundance and Toronto."

"Some Netflix films have been released in cinemas in ord=r to qualify for Academy Award consideration."

Studio surv=val plan: "[S]tudios and their subsidiaries hoping to buy finishe= films need to start developing and producing more of their own material i= they are to stay relevant."

8. Andrew Ross Sorkin on "Billions"

Showtime

Andrew Ross Sorkin (wh= turns 4-0 today) -- the N.Y. Times columnist and CNBC "Squawk Bo=" co-anchor, who in his spare time is co-creator and executive producer of="Billions" -- gives us his take on Season 2, which debuts tonight at 10 on=Showtime:

"In the age of Trump= the culture of money and power -- and trying to understand the c=oss-currents that motivate these men (and some women) to seemingly always =rive for 'more' -- has become central to our national conversation. And th=se themes have always been central to the show."

CNN's Brian=Lowry : "'Billions' was co-created by ... Sorkin, who wanted =o provide a deep dive into the world of hedge funds and New York finance. =n that level, the show continues to deliver, even if its inherent conflict=-- about big money, and the ability of government to curb that influence -= takes on a different hue amid so many reminders that those forces are in =lignment at least as often as they find themselves at odds."

Trailer f=r "Billions" Season 2 (2:25): "Nothing is more personal than =usiness."

9. The sports page: NBA All-Star night

The 66th NBA All-Star Game is tonight at 8 on TNT, from=the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans -- but is All-Star weekend gett=ng too long? Matt Moore, NBA writer for CBS Sports, gave a thumbs-down to =ast night's State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, which showcases individual=stars:

"Two guys go i= the skills contest? COMMERCIAL BREAK. A guy goes through a 3-point rack? =OMMERCIAL BREAK. Over and over. The musical guests and segments are necess=ry, but in part because of the drawn-out, forced nature of the event, and =artly because of the crowd, which is priced out and made up mostly of corp=rate sponsors, the crowd was dead.

"There was no life to the event, no energy. That's part of a t=end over the last few years. It needs to feel like the room is buzzing, an= with players lazing through the skills competition, missing dunks, and lo=nging in chairs courtside, it feels like anything but that. ... Saturday f=lt forced."

NBA.com's =a href="http://link.axios.com/click/8912108.32329/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5uYmEuY2=tL2FydGljbGUvMjAxNy8wMi8xOC9iZXN0LXZpcmFsLW1vbWVudHMtYWxsLXN0YXItc2F0dXJkY=ktbmlnaHQ_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBh=WduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NhbQ/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cB8b38f5fb" target==_blank">"Best viral moments from All-StarSaturday Night."

10. 1 fun thing: Cynical cookies

Coming soon=in U.S.: MISfortune cookies ("It bites back!"), from Germany's Pechkeks: "T=e black cookies are filled with a bit of dark humor, similar to ... Cards =gainst Humanity ... [T]he carbon-dyed cookies have been a hit in Europe a=d Australia since 2013." Samples:

"Life is a symphony – and you're playing the kazoo."

"At least = believe in you. Me, a piece of paper."

"Things will get better. Sometimes. Maybe."

A message from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Can high schools help fill 5M U.S. jobs?

Citing a critical need to prepare more young people for successful caree=s, JPMorgan Chase invested $75M in New Skills for Youth, a global ini=iative to spur economic growth and opportunity through skills development.=

Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon notes: “The number of people w=o graduate from high school without the necessary skills to compete is one=of the greatest moral and economic inequities of our time.”
Learn=more about the program.

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