Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- 4 "musts' for Trump address to Congress * Trump's golf foursome * Texting drives up insurance rates * Zuck on newspapers
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2017 06:30:13 -0500 (EST)

Presented by BP:

4 "musts' for Trump address to Congress * Trump's golf foursome * Textin= drives up insurance rates * Zuck on newspapers

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Presented By BP

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 21, 2017

1 big thing: Trump's big night

Trump introduces his new national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. M=Master, at Mar-a-Lago yesterday / AP's Susan Walsh

For all the talk of resets for President Trump, there's=just one that matters, at least on Capitol Hill -- one big chance to stead= a wobbly agenda. A week from tonight, Trump addresses Congress for the fi=st time -- the ceremonial joint session known as State of the Union except=in a president's first year.

We're told Trump worke= on the address at Mar-a-Lago this weekend. According to advisers, here ar= four "musts" for Trump during his address:

Come across=/strong> as someone who can get stuff done. You'll never =e seen as a statesman or unifier -- don't bother trying. But Republicans n=ed their confidence bolstered that the GOP-controlled government can deliv=r Obamacare repeal-and-replace and tax reform. If you do that, plus win c=nfirmation of your Supreme Court nominee, nothing else will matter -- your=Hill game will be a hit with the party and GOP critics will forgive other =ins.

Get past campaign rhetoric and be specific.=Lawmakers consider it insulting to be barraged with slogans instead of sub=tance.

Keep cool, in both rhetoric and body lang=age. Command respect from fellow Rs -- you don't want GOP or independent v=ters at home seeing expressions of disapproval from your own party. And be=prepared for a "You lie" moment, like the startling rebuke yelled at Obama=by House Republican Joe Wilson during a health care speech to a joint sess=on in 2009. The moment you mention walls or travel bans or deportation, br=ce yourself and don't take the bait.

Spotlig=t your Cabinet and stack the front row with your national securit= team. Nothing reassures Republican skeptics like seeing Defense Secretary=Mattis or Homeland Security Secretary Kelly or SecState Tillerson or the n=tional security adviser you named yesterday, Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster,=who won praise from Richard Haas, John McCain, Tom Ricks, etc.
=/ol>

2. Trump's second month

"Trump Month Two: Talks on health care and on tax overh=ul" -- AP's Julie Pace: "[C]hief of staff Reince Priebus [said] he expects=a health care plan to emerge in 'the first few days of March.' Pressed on =hether the plan would be coming from the White House, Priebus said, 'We do='t work in a vacuum.'"

"On Sunday, White Hous= advisers held a three-hour meeting on health care at [Mar-a-Lago], their =hird lengthy discussion on the topic in four days. Gary Cohn, the former G=ldman Sachs banker now serving as Trump's top economic adviser, and newly =worn in Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have been leading talks with Repu=lican lawmakers and business leaders on taxes."

"Priebus s=id he expects Congress to pass both a tax package and legislation=repealing and replacing Obama's health care law by the end of the year. Bu= the White House's outward confidence belies major roadblocks."

<=>"U2's Bono Shredded =n Twitter for Praising Mike Pence's AIDS Efforts."

=ictators for Trump ... "Zimbabwe's Mugabe turns 93= lauds Trump's nationalist stance."

3. Silicon Valley's ugly secret exposed — again

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

A former Uber engineer's holiday-weekend blog post char=ing sexism is part of a larger long-term cultural crisis for Silicon Valle=, =xios' Kim Hart writes. And it's already touching off a new wave of cri=icism over the lack of women and minority employees at tech companies, sta=t-ups and the firms that invest in them:

Many of the b=ggest U.S. tech companies have established programs to boost dive=se hiring, but they've only slightly moved the needle over the past couple=of years.

Why it matters: Silicon Valley companie= risk losing touch with a community of users that is much more diverse tha= their own staffs. They're also under pressure to make sure women and mino=ities aren't shut out of one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy=

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick sent an email to employees yesterday announcing: =Eric Holder, former US Attorney General under President Obama, and Tammy A=barran -- both partners at the leading law firm Covington & Burling-- =ill conduct an independent review into the specific issues relating to the=work place environment raised by Susan Fowler, as well as diversity and in=lusion at Uber more broadly. Joining them will be Arianna Huffington, who =its on Uber's board."

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BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

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4. Reality check on outsourcing

Axios' Chris Matthews read financial filings from the 250 largest companies =n America and found that "shipping jobs overseas" isn't the widespread pro=lem Trump suggests:

"[V]ery few large companies [are cutting U.S. workers and hiring abroad], and the ones that are sign=ficantly adding jobs abroad aren't doing so for the reasons Trump detests.=

Why it matters: "The sort of expansion Corporate=America is doing abroad isn't the sort that Trump can easily vilify, and t=ose companies that are engaging in this behavior aren't required to disclo=e it."

5. Happy-hour helper: Stuff to talk about

The Wall Street Journal

"Smartphone Use Lifts Car-Insurance Rates," per this Wa=l Street Journal front pager=/a>:

"Costs associated with crashes are outpa=ing premium increases for some companies ... [I]nsurers say the use of sma=tphones to talk, text and access the internet while on the road is a new a=d important factor behind the wrecks."

Michael LaRocco, chief executive of State Auto Financial Corp., calls it "an epidemic=issue for this country."

"The growing number of w=ecks 'is swamping the much-heralded beneficial impacts of newer, safer veh=cles.'"

6. Tops in business

Wall Street is loving the booming "Trump trade," but ar= markets pricing in the good news and not the bad, like a trade war? A Bar=on's cover story by John Kimelman contrasts the two Trumps:

=strong>"the Chamber of Commerce–friendly politician who a=peals to investors heartened by both the president's pro-growth platform a=d the unusually high number of successful businessmen he has tapped."
=li>"another Donald Trump ... who makes many investors ner=ous ... the Disrupter-in-Chief, a man with little regard for the political=etiquette of a traditional presidency."

"Many people worry the bad Trump will overwhelm the market-friendly one, taking =arkets and perhaps the country down with him. Veteran investment writer Ji= Grant disagrees. In a recent issue of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, he =rote that American investors should ignore 'the doomsaying consensus' on T=ump, whom he refers to as if it the president were a stock with the ticker=DJT.

"'Cover your DJT shorts,' writes Grant. 'We d= not say, necessarily, own DJT itself, only entertain the possibility that=there is useful information in its rising price.'"

7. Camp David "doomed"?

Trump with Rory McIlroy on Sunday, per @ClearSportsLLC

"Mar-a-Lago 3, Camp David 0. With Trump as president, i= the rustic Md. retreat doomed?" a WashPost front-pager by Michael Rosenwa=d: "Trump's Florida compound and his other gold-laden properties have been=top of mind lately in Thurmont, where just a few miles up a winding mounta=n road presidents have vacationed and cajoled world leaders at Camp David =E2�� deep in the woods, in cozy cabins, a total anathema to Trump.""'Camp David is very rustic, it's nice, you'd like it,' Trump said in an interview with a European j=urnalist just before taking office. 'You know how long you'd like it? For =bout 30 minutes.'

"White House =fficials have not said whether Trump plans to use Camp David or, =f not, whether he would close the Navy-run facility, which in recent years=has cost taxpayers about $8 million a year to operate. Although local offi=ials hope he will visit, they have been given no signals he will, raising =oncern about the financial and symbolic costs of the president's getaway t=stes."

"Trump's aides don't want to admit the Pres=dent is golfing" -- CNN's Dan Merica: "According to a picture posted by Cl=ar Sports, a golf technology company, Trump hit the links at Trump Interna=ional Golf Club on on Sunday with Rory McIlroy, one of the top-ranked golf=rs in the world."

"McIlroy late= told No Laying Up, a golf blog, that he played a full 18 holes w=th the President, the CEO of Clear Sports and Paul O'Neill, the former New=York Yankees right fielder. The professional golfer said Trump 'shot aroun= 80' through 18 holes, eight strokes above the course's par 72 layout."

8. While you were out

In on-air commentaries closing their shows over the hol=day weekend, two of Washington's top broadcasters took on President Trump =or his Friday tweet declaring that the N.Y. Times and major networks are "=he enemy of the American People!"

MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren ... "My Message to President Trump and the Press": "Mr. President, back =ff! ... You need to get it right, too. ... It is dead wrong to rev up your=loyal base with incorrect, generalized and wide-sweeping, inflammatory sta=ements about the entire media."

anchoring "This Week" ... "
"We are not about to stop <=strong>doing our jobs because yet another president is unhappy with what h= reads or hears or sees on TV news."

"As long as American democracy remains healthy, there will b= reporters willing to pursue the truth -- even if that means incurring the=wrath of the most powerful person in the world."

9. Hot in Silicon Valley: Zuck on newspapers

In a Facebook post from Selma last night, Mark Zuckerberg writes:

"Today Priscilla and I stopped by some local =ewspapers as we drove through Alabama. The folks there were working hard o=er President's Day weekend to keep their communities informed. It seems li=e a good time to say thank you to all the journalists around the world who=work tirelessly and sometimes put their lives in danger to surface the tru=h."

Why it matters, per Axios' Kia Kokalitchev=: While Zuckerberg's comments are an obvious jab at Trump's disdain for th= press, they're also ironic given his company's massive impact on the medi= industry.

10. 1 fun thing

Trailer for Season 4 =/a> (10 episodes) of HBO's "Silicon Valley," launching April 23 at 10 p.m.= "'Silicon Valley' takes a comic look at the modern-day epicenter of the h=gh-tech gold rush, where the people most qualified to succeed are the leas= capable of handling success."

A great moment ... A=couple of the guys have a big idea: "I need to build something else. ... W= could build -- a new internet." They start with a whiteboard th=t's blank except for the heading: "New Internet."

A message from BP

How is BP contributing to America?

BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

Learn more abou= our U.S. impact.

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