Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 -- Rise of the web right -- Ivanka spotlights another issue -- "Presumptive negativity" -- Tweet du jour -- Living in Trump Tower
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2017 06:43:09 -0500 (EST)

Presented by BP:

Rise of the web right -- Ivanka spotlights another issue -- "Presumptive=negativity" -- Tweet du jour -- Living in Trump Tower

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Feb 23, 2017

1 big thing: explosion of right-wing news sites

Lazaro Gamio / Axios

Axios' Sara Fischer and Shannon Vavra mapped the lau=ch date of 89 news websites over the past quarter century and found an=explosion of right-leaning news sites, coinciding with the rise of the Tea=Party and alt-right movements beginning in 2010. Many of these sites were =nstrumental in spreading pro-Trump news during the 2016 elections. Among t=e findings:

Why it matters: Digital technology=has made it easier to exploit the political divisions that have always exi=ted.

How they profit: Google and Facebook's algo=ithmically-driven news distribution platforms have created an environment =n which: a) partisan news sites can easily reach fringe audiences, and b) =ews sites are financially incentivized to tilt one way or another.
Facebook, in particular, algorithmically favors content t=at appeals to user bias and interest. According to comScore Vice President=Andrew Lipsman, to elicit high engagement and repeat visitation, "sites mu=t usually speak to a very specific audience."

What to watc=: The same profit motive that created and helped sustain ideologi=al news sites led to the creation of fake news sites. As Google and Facebo=k figure out their response to being the conduit for ad dollars for fake n=ws sites, it might change the business models for ideological sites as wel=.

2. Trump's 2018 play

The Capitol Hill calendar is way overstuffed -- a Supre=e Court nomination, plus Obamacare repeal legislation; tax reform; and bud=et, spending and debt-ceiling fights, including a possible showdown over a=government shutdown.

So Republican sources tell our=Jonathan Swan that a backup plan is emerging for one of Trump's top priori=ies:

The plan: Push off until next year any co=sideration of the massive infrastructure plan Trump wants to push for road=, airports and other big projects, giving Republican lawmakers more breath=ng room amid a crowd of issues that'll require massive effort, time and po=itical capital.

The politics: Republican strategi=ts say that Democrats, who'll be reluctant to give Trump a win, will be in=a jam as midterm elections close in: They'll be under huge pressure to sup=ort big projects that'll bring money and improvements to their districts. =nd blue-collar unions, including construction and building trades, can be =xpected to favor of the package, driving a wedge into the Democratic base.=/li>
What this shows: Trump officials, who originally =anted to flood the Capitol zone with their massive asks, are learning the =hythms of Washington -- playing what White House counselor Kellyanne Conwa= last night called on Fox News "long ball, long haul."

3. Ivanka spotlights human trafficking

President Trump this afternoon will hold a listening se=sion on domestic and international human trafficking, including women and =irls who are sexually exploited for profit.

We're told that the sudden West Wing attention to the issue was driven by Ivanka T=ump, the president's daughter and a huge West Wing force despite her decis=on not to take an official title at first.

Why it matt=rs: White House support for legislation on the issue could emerge=from the meeting; West Wing aides are already talking about how to work wi=h three senators who're attending. The effects will also be immediate: Tru=p is bringing the biggest spotlight in the world to a vital issue that's t=o often given short shrift.

How the meeting came about: Ivanka Trump and Dina Powell, White House senior counselor for econo=ic initiatives, had a few meetings with some of the groups attending today=s 2:30 p.m. session in the Roosevelt Room. "Ivanka recommended the meeting=to the president and he immediately agreed, given what a horrible issue it=is in the U.S. and internationally," a source said.

Who's=coming from the Hill: Three Republicans senators who have been lo=gtime advocates on the issue: Rob Portman of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida =nd Bob Corker of Tennessee.

Outside groups coming:
Who's coming from the administration: The me=ting is likely to include Vice President Pence, who has had a longtime foc=s on the issue; representatives of the Justice Department; plus policy gur= Stephen Miller, Dina Powell and Hope Hicks, director of strategic communi=ations.

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4. Article of the day

"I Ignored Trump News for a Week. Here's What I Learned=" by N.Y. Times "State of the Art" columnist Farhad Manjoo:

<=i>"Coverage of Mr. Trump may eclipse that of any single h=man being ever."

"He has taken up semipermanent r=sidence on every outlet of any kind ... He is no longer just the message. =n many cases, he has become the medium, the ether through which all other =tories flow."

"Even when I found non=Trump news, ... much of it was interleaved with Trump news, so the overall=effect was something like trying to bite into a fruit-and-nut cake without=getting any fruit or nuts."

"[I]t is likely that no living person in history has ever been as famous as Mr. Tru=p is right now."

Per mediaQuant, "Trump gets abou= $100 million more in coverage than the next 1,000 famous people put toget=er."

"On most days, Mr. Trump is 90 =ercent of the news on my Twitter and Facebook feeds ... But he's not 90 pe=cent of what's important in the world. ... ISIS is retreating across Iraq =nd Syria. Brazil seems on the verge of chaos. A large ice shelf in Antarct=ca is close to full break. Scientists may have discovered a new continent =ubmerged under the ocean near Australia."

5. Conway hits "presumptive negativity"

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, after a hiatus =ollowing a rough bout of coverage, retur=ed to TV last night to audience chants of "Kellyanne! Kellyanne!" She =oined Sean Hannity on Fox News, before a live audience in suburban Marylan= on the stage of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, where=Trump will speak tomorrow morning. One man held a "Socialism Sucks" sign.<=p>
Conway called her boss "President Action, President =mpact, Donald J. Trump":

Conway said she's not being sidelined from TV, CNN's Dylan Byers reported: "=omebody's trying to stir up trouble ... There are people, I think, trying =o get in my way. I've also gobbled up a lot of other people's TV opportuni=ies, so there's some resentment on the outside, I believe, and folks just =rying trying to use me as clickbait and a headline."

"I do='t think I have to explain myself if I'm not going to go on TV fo= a week -- if I'm out with four kids for three days, looking at houses and=schools. Lotta my colleagues aren't trying to figure out how to be a mothe= of four kids -- I assure you."

"I think there's something=called 'presumptive negativity.' It's: What is he saying, what ar= his advisers saying, what are they doing today? There must be something w=ong, or there must be something negative.

"About 5 percent=/strong> of what I'm being asked to do in this White House counselor role =s TV. And I think that's about right. Because he's the president now, and =e's his own best messenger. ... We don't need to be out there all the time="

6. Tillerson "influence appears muted"

WashPost page 1, top of column 1, "State Dept. sidelin=d in Trump's 1st month," by Carol Morello and Anne Gearan:

"The Trump administration in its first month has largely benc=ed the State Department from its long-standing role as the preeminen= voice of U.S. foreign policy, curtailing public engagement and official t=avel and relegating Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a mostly offstage =ole.

"Decisions on hiring, policy and scheduling =re being driven by a White House often wary of the foreign policy establis=ment."

"The most visible change at the State Depa=tment is the month-long lack of daily press briefings, a fixture since Joh= Foster Dulles was secretary of state in the 1950s. The televised question=and-answer session is watched closely around the world."

"=illerson has also been notably absent from White House meetings w=th foreign leaders."

"Tillerson has not taken the=usual complement of beat reporters with him on either of his foreign trips=so far, opting instead for small 'pools.'"

"The former Exx=nMobil chief executive has made no speeches beyond a well-receive= address to State Department employees on his arrival and has held no news=conferences."

7. The Wilderness

"Bernie Sanders Loyalists Are Taking Over the Democrati= Party One County Office at a Time" -- Wall Street Journal front-pager =y Reid Epstein and Janet Hook:

"The strategy =f Mr. Sanders's followers is to infiltrate and transform the Democratic Pa=ty's power structure, starting with the lowest-level state and county comm=ttee posts that typically draw scant attention."

"[T]he br=ader goal is not only to pull the party to the left on policy, bu= also to fundamentally alter how it operates by eschewing corporate donors= shifting resources from television advertising to neighborhood organizing=and stripping power from longtime party elders -- including ... 'superdele=ates.'"

"Sanders said the mobilization efforts ar= a legacy of his presidential campaign. 'You have meetings where, in the o=d days, 20 people would show up. Now hundreds of people are showing up, in=terms of competing for seats on Democratic state committees.'"

8. Juicy read of the day

Vanity Fair

From Vanity Fair's forthcoming issue ... "Megyn Kelly, =att Lauer, and the battle for the future of NBC," by Sarah Ellison: "In his high-profile, high-priced hire of Fo= News anchor Megyn Kelly, NBC News chief Andy Lack placed a major bet on s=ar power. But Lack's biggest, priciest talent, Today's Matt Lauer, provide= something of a cautionary tale. With morning news being one of the last m=ss television markets, its personalities can draw fire as well as ratings.=

One industry insider: "The most dangerous seat in television news ... seems to be next to Matt =auer."

9. Tweet du jour

The exoplanets ... NASA pre=s release, "Largest batch of Earth-size, habitable zone planet": "NASA=s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed a new exoplanet discovery: the firs= known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star. Three of t=ese planets are firmly located in the habitable zone, the area around the =arent star where a rocky planet is most likely to have liquid water."

10. 1 fun thing

"What It's Like to Live in a Trump Building," by New York magazine's Nick Tabor ... "At Trump Tower on =ifth Avenue, the Protesters Have Made Some of the Ladies 'Very, Very Upset=":

Elaine Rigolosi, Co=umbia professor: "There are now Secret Service members all over the buildi=g. They sit in the stairwell. And now you have to drive to Madison Avenue =o have your car sniffed before you can drive it in and drop off any packag=s. There's a scanner on 56th Street. If you're walking in there with packa=es, you have to put them through, like an airport. ...I've got five people=with machine guns on one side of me while the protesters are screaming. It=makes me feel very important. ...

"Plus, Trump has been really cool, like at one board meeting I=attended: People were complaining about some expensive wallpaper he wanted=to put in the hallways. He said, 'Look, I'm going to put wallpaper on one =f the floors, and I want you to go and look at it, and next time tell me w=ether it's beautiful or not.' And, of course, now we have the wallpaper."<=p>

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