Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- Trump's sunny side * Unstoppable stocks * Robots in Trump country * NASCAR skids
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 06:08:07 -0500 (EST)

Presented by BP:

Trump's sunny side * Unstoppable stocks * Robots in Trump country * NASC=R skids

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Presented By BP

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 22, 2017

1 big thing: ​The sunny side of Trump?

Trump tours National Museum of African American History / AP's Evan Vucc=

We wrote yesterday what the president SHOULD do in =is address to Congress next Tuesday, and got hit with calls and emails fro= top White House officials about what Trump WILL do. The news: Officials s=ear the speech, written by Stephen Miller and other with heavy input from =OTUS, is decidedly more upbeat than his inaugural address — "optimistic and uplifting."

A top adviser said: "President Trump is determined to capture the sunny optimism of Reag=n to temper the populist anger reflected in his core policies."

While aides dispute that Trump's inaugural address was dark in=tone and substance, they concede it was viewed that way by all but true be=ievers. For the Joint Session address, they are self-consciously trying to=strike a happier tone for a broader audience, with lots of emphasis on wha= has been done to date — and what can be done in Congress this yea= (health care, tax reform and a new partial wall on Mexican border).
<=>But, but, but ... We heard this same spin before his ina=gural, and Trump's mostly red-meat campaign rally was supposed to be a mes=age of "unity." So let's see if it's Charlie Brown and the football �=94 or a real shift, even for one night.

Sound smart: <=strong>They won't say it publicly, but Trump officials are actually TRYING=to be normal. They feel good about their pushback against the Russia scand=l, the pick for national-security adviser winning rave reviews from Rs and=Ds, yesterday's shockingly ordinary tour of the National Museum of African=American History.

In priv=te, West Wing aides say the media should cut them slack, given th=s is a non-politician staffed by a lot of people new to Washington politic=.

2. Unstoppable stock market?

Record highs yesterday for three big stock indexes �=80� Dow (now at 20,743), S&P 500 index and Nasdaq — with th= "Trump bump" driving the Dow up 12.5% since Election Day. Axios' Chris Ma=thews emails from New York with three reasons investors are chipper:

The promise of corporate tax cuts: No government pol=cy as much of a direct effect on corporate profits as income taxes. With R=publicans promising a 15-point decrease in the headline corporate tax rate= investors are betting Washington will soon increase corporate earnings wi=hout managers having to lift a finger.

Rising wages: Years of Federal Reserve stimulus has finally gotten the job market hot=enough that firms are giving out significant, broad-based wage increases. =/li>
The end of an earnings recession: Overall corpora=e earnings fell for 15 straight months before the trend reversed in the th=rd quarter of 2016. The turnaround coincided with a renewed hope for busin=ss-friendly federal policy.

Risks abound: Chr=s notes that there's plenty of evidence that investors are getting a=ead of themselves.

Market expectations ... David Ignatius column in WashPost, "Moscow's Trump sell-off": "=fter Trump's election, investors seemed to be betting that sanctions again=t Moscow would soon be eased. But this confidence collapsed in late Januar=, and Russian stocks plummeted."

"These issues don't just interest journalists or Trump's critics=in Congress. They move markets. The Trump trade was looking like a winner =or Moscow, but now, not so much."

3. Rise of robots will hit Trump country

Gerald Rich, Lazaro Gamio / Axios

"Where jobs will be lost when robots drive trucks," by Axios' David McCabe: "A push by companies like=Uber to automate heavy trucks through a combination of artificial intellig=nce and robotics raises questions for millions of drivers brought into the=profession by the promise of a steady job."

Who'll be h=rt: "The impact of self-driving trucks would be felt in communiti=s around the country — especially Trump country."

=he bottom line: "ATMs replaced bank tellers, switchboards replace= telephone operators and industrial robots have become fixtures in factori=s."

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4. The big read

In Vanity Fair's forthcoming issue ... "The true story =f the Comey letter debacle," by Bethany McLean: "When F.B.I. director James=Comey reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails in the fin=l days of the campaign, many saw it as a political move that cost Clinton =he presidency. But some insiders suspect Comey had a more personal concern= his own legacy."

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5. Deportation nation

"U.S. COULD DEPORT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE." That's USA Today's above-the-fold headline following the Trump administra=ion's release yesterday of a pair of enforcement memos from the Department=of Homeland Security that greatly expand the number of illegals who are a =eportation priority.

Alan Gomez writes: =/strong>"Immigration advocacy groups were crushed. Although Trump recently=said his focus would be to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal hi=tories or who pose a threat to national security, the new memos make clear=that nearly all undocumented immigrants are at risk."

Sean S=icer at yesterday's briefing, on w=ether one of the goals is mass deportation: "No, not at all."

"Major Elements of Trump's New Immigration Policies," by six N.Y. Times reporters:

Who will be deported: <=strong>"Immigration agents can now focus on picking up and removing anyone=charged with or convicted of any criminal offense, even minor ones, as wel= as anyone already ordered deported, regardless of whether they have a cri=inal record.

No judge required: "Two decades ago,=Congress passed a law allowing the government to quickly deport undocument=d immigrants who have not been in the United States very long ... [T]he go=ernment has used this process ... narrowly because of concerns about wheth=r it violates constitutional rights of due process that are granted to any=ne in the United States, regardless of immigration status. ... The Trump a=ministration is now planning to use expedited removal as extensively as th= original law allows."

Statistics and sanctua=ies: "The administration is trying to significantly expand the am=unt of information available on the enforcement of immigration laws and, i= particular, unauthorized immigrants who commit crimes."

6. Trump tweet du jour

New overnight ... "GOP members of Congress face Trump f=es at town halls," by AP=s Alan Suderman in Blackstone, Va. (60 miles southwest of Richmond): <=p>
"Republican U.S. Rep. David Brat= who rode voter anger to a historic political upset [of Eric Cant=r] nearly three years ago, was on the receiving end of constituent angst a=out the Trump administration as he held a town hall in Virginia. ... He wa= loudly heckled and booed when he defended ... Trump."

"At the town halls, protesters are probing=their lawmakers to see if they will veer from some of Trump's more controv=rsial stands, and if they will promise coverage for those currently served=by the Affordable Care Act."

N.Y. Times Quotation of the Day=/strong> ... CHRIS PETERSEN, a pig farmer in Iowa, responding=to comments by Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) about the repeal of the A=fordable Care Act: "With all due respect, sir, you're the man that talked =bout the death panels. We're going to create one great big death panel in =his country."

7. Top-ed: Trump's pick-up basketball team

Tom Friedman, "Meet the 5 Trump Administration=": "It should be clear by now that there are five different Trump admi=istrations swirling before our eyes — Trump Entertainment, Trump C=eanup, Trump Crazy, Trump G.O.P. and the Essential Trump."

"When I add up all these Trumps I do not get a good team feeli=g; I get the feeling of a pickup basketball team. It doesn't start with a =hared vision of what world we're living in and what are the biggest forces=shaping this world. It starts with the conclusions on which Trump bases hi= facts."

"[W]e're living in a world being shaped =y vast accelerations in technology, globalization, climate change and popu=ation growth, and government's job is to enable more citizens to thrive in=such a world and cushion its worst impacts."

"It's an age<=strong> where the best leaders build trust at the top, and between themsel=es and their people, because trust is what enables teams to move fast and =xperiment more. It's an age when to make America great requires doing big =ard things, and big hard things can only be done together."

8. Two Hill trends to watch

1) "Lawmakers Push for Tighter Scrutiny of Chinese Investment in=U.S." -- Wall Street Journal page A2, by Kate O'Keefe: "Lawmakers from both parties are mountin= efforts to bolster the federal government's scrutiny of surging Chinese i=vestment in the U.S., emboldened by President Donald Trump's anti-China rh=toric on trade."

Fascinating stat: "Chinese in=estment in the U.S. tripled last year."

"Both [Sen. John] =ornyn and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) are wri=ing legislation to strengthen the authority of CFIUS, a secretive, multiag=ncy body led by the Treasury that can recommend the president block foreig= deals on national security grounds.

2) "Republicans m=ke killing consumer protections a top priority," an L.A. Times column, Consumer Confidential, by David Laza=us: "About a half-dozen bills take aim at various aspects of the Dodd-Fran= financial reform law and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau it crea=ed."

"Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chair=an of the House Financial Services Committee, is preparing a bill that wou=d cripple the bureau's authority to bring cases against financial institut=ons and eliminate databases of consumer complaints."

"Sen.=Ted Cruz and Rep. John Ratcliffe, both of Texas ... introduced co=panion bills in their respective chambers of Congress that would simply do=away with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — wipe it right=off the face of the Earth. Their bill, sweeping in scope, devastating to c=nsumers, consists of only a single sentence: 'The Consumer Financial Prote=tion Act of 2010 is hereby repealed and the provisions of law amended or r=pealed by such act are restored or revived as if such act had not been ena=ted.'"

9. The sports page: NASCAR skidding

Wall Street Journal front pager, "LONG A=CULTURAL ICON, NASCAR HITS THE SKIDS: Stock car's founding family draws cr=ticism as fan interest wanes," by Tripp Mickle (sounds like a driver) and =alerie Bauerlein, who point to "economics and demographics":

<=trong>"Since 2005, Nascar's television viewership is down 45% ...=That is twice as large as the National Basketball Association's decline fr=m its peak. National Football League viewership has fallen 8%."

"Tracks have torn out about a fourth of their seats to look =uller but still have wide stretches of empty bleachers on race days."
=li>"Nascar's fan base, largely working-class and white, i= getting older overall and was hit harder by the recession than the more-a=fluent fan bases in other major sports."

10. 1 fun thing

Jimmy Kimmel is before hosting Sunday night's Oscars: "Kimmel wi=l be steering the Oscars at a time when movies are struggling to stay ahea= of TV in the water cooler wars. None of the nine movies nominated for bes= picture is a major blockbuster — though 'Hidden Figures' and 'La =a Land' both recently crossed $100 million at the U.S. box office.

"'I would have liked to have seen "Deadpool" get nominated,' Kimmel says of the 20th Century Fox comic-b=ok tentpole that was snubbed in all categories despite getting Golden Glob= nominations. 'I do think there's a certain type of movie that's not consi=ered for awards. It's a shame, because there's nothing serious about the m=vies; they're an escape.'"

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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