Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — When the smoke is the fire — Biggest global divide: Open v. closed — SNAP pops -- Graceland grows
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2017 07:07:09 -0500 (EST)

Presented by Walmart:

When the smoke is the fire — Biggest global divide: Open v. clos=d — SNAP pops -- Graceland grows

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 03, 2017

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1 big thing: When the smoke is the fire

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, accompanied by Chief of Staff Jody Hunt,=at yesterday's presser / AP's Susan Walsh

Good morning, Day 43 of the Trump presidency — = week from halftime of the 100 days.

I was chatting=with a smart Republican about the White House's Russia issues, and he said= "This is the rare case where the smoke IS the fire." What he meant is tha= even if the White House wound up being right that there's no "there" ther= (harder to see, with each day's revelations), the warning signs and botch=d reactions and mounting questions have themselves become huge problems fo= the President.

So many of the players — b= slow-rolling, obscuring or trashing the facts —=strong> have made it LOOK like they have something to hide.
The Economist, granddaddy of smart brevity, distills it b=utally in "Dazed and Recused": "Jeff Sessions met the Russian ambass=dor, then said he didn't."

Republicans close to the White Ho=se said events seem to be moving from the Distraction Zone to the=Danger Zone. Democrats see that the scandal and investigative machinery th=t was used against them in the Clinton administration can now be cranked u= to hobble this president, just as he heads into the months when he needs =o be putting legislative points on the board.

MSNBC's Chris =atthews made a clarifying point, highlighted in Brian Stelter's "=eliable Sources" newsletter: "[W]e're only learning the truth of all these=endless meetings with the Russians because of good reporting ... We're get=ing great print coverage by the hour. And that's the only reason this admi=istration is admitting things. Trump didn't act on Flynn until it was expo=ed by the press. The attorney general didn't recuse himself until today be=ause the report ran in today's newspapers. This is an administration being=driven by truth that's coming from somewhere else."

Top Trum= officials tell us they authentically believe the Russian connect=on is less than meets the eye, and that their accusers and opponents are w=sting their time and breath. But it now looks like it would take months, a= the very least, for that to become clear — time carved out of th= fabled 100 days and the first year, which is the best and often only chan=e for a president to pass big things.

This White House, so disruptive at campaigning, needs to do a self-oppo dive and get al= the facts it possibly can, so it at least knows what it's dealing with an= isn't reacting to media stories every night. Are the blanket denials true= or too lawyerly, or just wrong?

What can Trump an= his team learn from past administrations that faltered or fell based on t=eir mishandling of a storm like this? There's been this long parade into t=e White House of CEOs, labor leaders and activists. The next luncheon shou=d be with historians.

2. 30-second catch-up on Russia

Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S., in 2013 / AP

N.Y. Times lead story,="Sessions Recuses Himself From Russia Investigation": The attorne= general "insisted there was nothing nefarious about his two meetings with=the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, even though he did not disclose=them to the Senate during his confirmation hearing and they occurred durin= the heat of the race between Hillary Clinton ... and Mr. Trump, whom Mr. =essions was advising on national security."

"Sessions' decision to recuse himself ="from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any =ay to the campaigns for President"] was one of his first public acts as at=orney general."

Trump statement last night in a tweet quartet (ellipses omitted):

"Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He di= not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately= but it was clearly not intentional. This whole narrative is a way of savi=g face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were su=posed to win.

"The Democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election, and now they hav= lost their grip on reality. The real story is all of the illegal leaks of=classified and other information. It is a total 'witch hunt!'"

WashPost : "Sessions recuses self in Russia probe": Sessions= " "spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, said Sessions did not meet with Kisly=k as a Trump supporter but, rather, in his capacity as a member of the Arm=d Services Committee. One meeting was in September; the other in July, whe= Sessions was approached after an event on the sidelines of the Republican=National Convention."

Why it matters: By hangi=g their hat on this distinction, defenders are arguing that a flock of amb=ssadors were seeking out the gentleman from Alabama rather than the inside= from Trump Tower.

This might all be smoke =E2�� but dang it's smokey in here.

3. Bipartisan names call out Session

Axios' Alayna Treene Lazaro Gamio Andrew Witherspoon pu= together this evolving guide to resign v. recuse.

=a href="http://link.axios.com/click/9032729.36842/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXhpb3=uY29tL3RoZS1iaWctYmlwYXJ0aXNhbi1uYW1lcy1jYWxsaW5nLW91dC1zZXNzaW9ucy0yMjk0N=kzODAxLmh0bWw_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2Nh=XBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NhbQ/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cBce93856e" targe=="_blank">Click here for an interactive version; ho=er over a photo to see the name.

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4. Trump Week 6, in 3 grafs

Chris Krueger of Cowen Washington Research Group: "Equa= parts 'Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,' 'Spies Like Us,' and 'Rocky IV.' Tu=sday speech was all style, almost no new substance. Only new substance was=creation of establishment of Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement offic= at DHS (the mention of which resulted in audible gasps from the Democrats=in attendance). Regardless, Trump played the role and will likely result i= a polling bump.

"Conceptually,=Trump drew a close line to Speaker Ryan's ObamaCare and tax refor= plans — though no real detail on either. So the clock continues t= tick with the April 7 'soft' deadline approaching for ObamaCare Repeal/Re=lace/Repair, then the two-week Easter/Passover Recess, and then the hard c=talyst of the April 28 government funding resolution (that needs 60 votes =n the Senate, i.e. at least 8 Democrats).

"Time is an increasingly valuable — and pricel=ss — commodity in Washington for the Trump White House and Congres=ional GOP. Momentum begets momentum, and they have very little right now. =he speech calmed GOP lawmaker nerves, but the Russian allegations have cau=ed a new wave of heartburn — with a side of borscht."

5. "Nice speech. What about the budget?"

Michael Gerson, top aide to President George W. Bush, w=ites in his WashPost column th=t Trump's budget plans, as revealed so far, do "little by way of outreach =o Democrats, some of whom will be needed to pass appropriations bills requ=ring 60 votes in the Senate":

"=he Trump budget outline is underdeveloped, compared with those of=other presidencies; it leaves the trajectory of deficits unchanged; it imp=ses cruel and indiscriminate cuts in discretionary spending; it is cowardl=, especially on the main drivers of future debt; it is injurious to electe= Republicans who will risk the wrath of the Trump base in order to make ra=ional budget choices; it is an indication of governing unseriousness and a=preference for positioning over leadership.

"But the speech was nice."

6. "Trumpism at Its Best, Straight Up"

David Brooks' N.Y. Times column takes the =peech seriously, but it's no palate-cleanser for POTUS. Brooks says the sp=ech "gave us a view of the political movement he represents, without the c=ownish behavior"

"The first thi=g we learned was that Trumpism is an utter repudiation of modern =onservatism. For the last 40 years, the Republican Party has been a coalit=on of three tendencies [foreign-policy hawks, social conservatives, fiscal=hawks]. ... Trump rejected or ignored all of them."

"Trump's speech ... offered those of us who w=nt to replace him an occasion to ask the big question: How in the 21st cen=ury should government unleash initiative and dynamism while also preservin= order? Trump's answer: Nationalize intimidation but privatize compassion.=Don't look to government to offer a warm hand; look to it to confront your=enemies with a hard fist."

7. Get smart fast

Economist cover leader, "The vote that could wreck=the European Union: Why the French presidential election will have consequ=nces far beyond its borders":

=The Socialist and Republican parties, which have held power since=the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958, could be eliminated in the fir=t round of a presidential ballot on April 23rd. French voters may face a c=oice between two insurgent candidates: Marine Le Pen, the charismatic lead=r of the National Front, and Emmanuel Macron, the upstart leader of a libe=al movement, En Marche! (On the Move!), which he founded only last year.
"The implications of the=e insurgencies are hard to exaggerate. They are the clearest example yet o= a global trend: that the old divide between left and right is gro=ing less important than a new one between open and closed. The re=ulting realignment will have reverberations far beyond France's borders. I= could revitalise the European Union, or wreck it."

8. SNAP pops on Day 1

TIME cover story, "The Genius of Snapchat": "S=apchat accomplishes privacy not just through disappearing messages, which =ther companies had provided before, but by fully divorcing from the Intern=t."

"Snapchat is about sharing<=strong> who you are right now. And the most effective way to do that is by=seeing each other."

Wall Street Journal front page, Snapchat Shares Surge 44% in Market Debut<=a>": "The newly public shares, trading on the New York Stock Exchange unde= the ticker 'SNAP,' surged 44% above their offering price to close at $24.=8."

"That made for the=biggest one-day pop for a U.S.-listed IPO raising at least $1 billion in m=re than two years."

9. The Cabinet so far ...

... after yesterday's Senate confirmations of Ben Carson for housing sec=etary (58-41). Later, Rick Perry was confirmed for Energy (62-37).

10. 1 fun thing: Graceland grows

A woman watches the Elvis Presley film "King Creole" in a theater in the="Elvis Presley's Memphis" complex / AP's Mark Humphrey

"Graceland unveils Elvis Presley's Memphis," a 200,000-square-foot, $45 million project across from Presley's ma=sion in Memphis' Whitehaven neighborhood — Memphis Commercial Appe=l's Bob Mehr and Wayne Risher: "Elvis the Entertainer and Presley Motors e=hibits anchor the complex, styled after a lifestyle retail center, and giv= fans expanded access to Elvis's cars, motorcycles — even a ski bo=t named Gladys after his mother."

"A purple, 1956 Cadillac El Dorado occupies a prominent corner =acing the new ticketing center, and several items have been brought out of=storage, including two ski boats, a purple 1975 Lincoln and a 1969 Mercede= two-door coupe. Sequined capes, jump suits and other performance costumes=... have been moved to the 20,000 square foot Elvis the Entertainer exhibi=.

"Visitors used to ha=e to look at the costumes from one angle, from behind a glass wall. Now th=y're in display cases that fans can walk around and view from all angles."=/p>

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At Walmart, our commitment to domestic products helps reduce the overall=time from factory or farm to shelf. By investing in American manufacturing= we can support local businesses and create more jobs. Learn more.

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