Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — 4 words that'll change your life — Artwork at Axios World HQ — USA soccer star?
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2017 10:27:10 -0500 (EST)

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4 words that'll change your life — Artwork at Axios World HQ �=80� USA soccer star?

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Presented By Walmart

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 11, 2017

Good Saturday morning. Don't forget to sprin= ahead — and get to March Madness "Selection Sunday" an hour soon=r.

1 big thing: Swirl and words

I was a guest on the final segment of Greta Van Sustere='s MSNBC show last night, along with historian Michael Beschloss. The thre= of us sat at her anchor desk and, along with the audience, watched a dizzying day-by-day montage of President Tru=p's first 50 days, deftly edited by Doug Maio.

Day 1: "carnage" ... Day 12: Gorsuch ... Day 14: Arnold ... Day 16: "so-called judge" ... Day =0: Nordstrom ... Day 30: Sweden ... Day =0: "The time for trivial fights is behind us" ... Day 44:=wiretapping ... Day 50: jobs.

You can watch it here, and it's wor=h four minutes of your life: Events catapult past so fast that freeze-fram= moments are more valuable than ever.

The Beschloss sum-up:<=strong> "He has played to his base."

What struck me=most was the swirl of words and irrelevancies that drove these seven weeks=— the lack of a clear, linear march to durable accomplishments, or=patient, intentional moves to elevate an unsettled national mood that's ri=e for a reset.

I understand the in-the-moment advan=ages of the shiny-object school of governing. But it's cotton candy �=94 not steak or vegetables or even green juice.

What's left =/strong>after 50 days or 100 or 1,462 (four years) or 2,923 (eight years)?=

Like an athlete or novelist, you gotta have the cl=ck in your head: What time is it?

A Washington pillar who g=ts the game better than anyone sent me a note that said: "."

Four perfect words for running your life, your business, or the free world.

2. A perfect candidate?

An astute Democrat, contemplating the first 50 days: "T=e American people are going to need a nap soon. A good candidate in '20 wo=ld be solid, stolid, reassuring and calm."

"Someone with the moral authority and biographical bon= fides to treat Trump like a hyperactive and naughty child. Or a slightly =isturbed patient. More knowing glances to the audience and 'There, there, =onald' than hyperbolic overreaction."

3. Trump boots celebrity prosecutor

Preet at Trump Tower on Nov. 30 / AP's Evan Vucci

Friday afternoon is a textbook time to=announce that you're seeking the resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys who wer= holdovers from the previous administration.

The N.Y. Times=popped the shocker: Among them was Preet Bharara, the feder=l prosecutor for Manhattan, who had "made a name for himself as one the na=ion's most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors of public corruption and W=ll Street crime."

Per The Times' Ben Weiser an= Willie Rashbauu: "In past presidential transitions, the storied office [S=uthern District of New York], long known to be so independent of Washingto= that some people referred to it as the Sovereign District of New =ork, has in large measure moved forward unaffected by politics."<=p>
After meeting with the president-elect at Trump Towe= on Nov. 30, Preet had told reporters: "We had a good meeting. I said I wo=ld absolutely consider staying on. I agreed to stay on."

A W=shingtonian reads between the lines: "Preet is a surprise and it =hows that Sessions is strong."

A New Yorker explains: "The danger here is that if a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney brings a cas= against [Mayor Bill] de Blasio, de Blasio will argue to both the public a=d the jury that the prosecution is politically motivated payback for stand=ng up to Trump."

"No one in the=history of that job was as aggressive in taking on political corr=ption as Preet. He has helped change the political culture in New York for=the better."

A message from Walmart

$157M in bonuses for associates at Walmart

More than 850,000 Walmart associates will receive bonuses in their March=paycheck this week. Across the U.S., Walmart awarded over $157M in bonuses=for positive store performance last quarter as part of an effort to invest=more in associates. Learn More.

4. Sound bite of the day

Sean Spicer, <=strong>on yesterday's bullish jobs metrics, which Trump had dismissed as f=ction under Obama: "Yeah, I talked to the President prior to this, and he =aid to quote him very clearly -- 'They may have been phony in the =ast, but it's very real now.' (Laughter.)" (h/t NYT)

5. "White House factions at war over trade"

"A civil war has broken out within the White House over=trade, leading to what one official called 'a fiery meeting' in the Oval O=fice pitting economic nationalists close to Donald Trump against pro-trade=moderates from Wall Street," according to the Financial Times' lead front-page story= by Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in D..C.:

"[T]=e bitter fight has set a hardline group including senior adviser =teve Bannon and Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro against a faction led by=Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs executive who leads Mr Trump's Nationa= Economic Council.

"[P]eople dealing with the Wh=te House said Mr Navarro appeared to be losing influence in recent weeks. =ut during the recent Oval Office fight, Mr Trump appeared to side with the=economic nationalists, one official said."

"N=varro ... was cutting an increasingly isolated figure in the admi=istration.
He has been operating with a very small staff out of an office in the Old E=ecutive Office Building adjacent to the White House, while Mr Cohn has bee= adding staff to his NEC base inside the president's residence itself."

6. Top Trump players

Bush White House alumni have generally been appalled by=the policy apparatus of this administration. But an announcement yesterday=was getting high praise from well-connected Republicans.

Tr=asury Secretary Steve Mnuchin named four counselors to his senior =taff, including Justin Muzinich, who'll work on tax refor=. Muzinich, in his late 30s, was policy director of Jeb Bush's presidentia= campaign, has worked for New York investment firms, and taught at Columbi= Business School. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, and has a J.D= from Yale Law and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.

A Republican with strong ties to Trumpland told us: "Justin Muzi=ich is going to be a grappling hook for everybody in this administration w=o wants to do serious conservative policy. ... Justin will be the seasoned=steward and super-connector for conservatives among the business community=and on the Hill pushing a muscular, pro-growth agenda."

Mnuc=in's other counselors:

Dan Kowalski,=who was deputy national policy adviser on the Trump campaign and deputy st=ff director of the Senate Budget Committee, will focus on the budget, the =ebt limit and infrastructure finance.

Shannon McGahn, an Ohioan who was staff director of the House Financial Services Commi=tee, will advise on legislative and public affairs.

Craig Phillips, a BlackRock alumnus with a 40-year care=r in the financial services industry, will focus on domestic finance, hous=ng finance policy and regulatory reform.

P.S. "Mattis= Alone At Top — After 2 months, Mattis is only Trump pic= at Pentagon," by AP=National Security Writer Bob Burns: "When the Obama administration clo=ed shop in January, only one of its top-tier Pentagon political appointees=stayed in place — Robert Work, the deputy defense secretary. He ag=eed to remain until his successor is sworn in. So far no nominee for deput= has been announced."

=img width="32" height="32" style="border: none" target="_blank" sr=="https://static.axios.com/img-email/twitter-circle.png" alt="Tweet th=s Story">

7. Top-ed

Still life by David Nather, the Andy Warhol of Axios

Peggy Noonan column in the Wall Street Journal, "House =epublicans Repeat an Obama Error: Like the Democrats in 2009, the majority=party's priorities aren't responsive to the moment":

"The GOP's first big legislative endeavor, =he repeal of ObamaCare, has been understood as a classic fight between par=y leadership and the more conservative and libertarian wings ... I wonder =f it will not also become a struggle between the leadership and the Trumpi=n core."

"The new bill lacks an air of appropriate crisis ... We are in the midst of the kind of =rises that can do nations in. It is pleasant to chirp, as Speaker Paul Rya= does, of 'choice' and 'competition' and an end to 'paternalistic' thinkin= on health care. Is it responsive to the moment? Or does it sound like old=lyrics from an old hymnal?"

8. Futurecast

The cover of The Economist is "Subatomic opportunities =.. The strangeness of the quantum realm opens up exciting new technologica= possibilities":

The frontier: "Rather than s=ale devices down, quantum technologies employ the unusual behaviours of si=gle atoms and particles and scale them up."

Give me an exa=ple: "A sensor that can spot hidden nuclear submarines. A compute= that can discover new drugs, revolutionise securities trading and design =ew materials. A global network of communication links whose security is un=erwritten by unbreakable physical laws.

Why t=is matters: "Like computerisation before it, this unlocks a world=of possibilities, with applications in nearly every existing industry�=80�and the potential to spark entirely new ones."

<=trong>The landscape: "has much in common with the state of the in=ernet in the early 1990s: a largely laboratory-based affair that had occup=ed scientists for decades, but in which industry was starting to see broad=r potential. Blue-chip firms are buying into it, or developing their own r=search efforts. Startups are multiplying."

9. Collision of tech, business

Barron's, in its weekly bearish take on Snap (th=s time comparing it to "Ill-Fated GoPro"), points out that "tech IPOs =ave all but dried up in recent years":

"There were just=20 such offerings in 2016, the worst year since 2009.

"Now we get to see if the well-received Snap offering is eno=gh to usher in the next wave of IPOs, particularly with big 'unicorns' suc= as Uber Technologies, Airbnb, Spotify, and Dropbox lurking in the pipelin=.

"[T]he good times won't last forev=r. Eventually the market will correct, suspending IPOs yet again. For all =he unicorns planning to go public, it could be now or never."

1 fun thing

Dortmund's Christian Pulisic celebrates after scoring his side's second =oal during the Champions League round of 16, second leg, soccer match betw=en Borussia Dortmund and Benfica in Dortmund, Germany, on Wednesday / AP's=Michael Probst

"Is an American Soccer Star Finally ... Happening? Cool=American soccer teen Christian Politic [age 18] scored in his first Champi=ns League match. U-S-A! U-S-A!" — GQ's Clay Skipper:
=p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Being an American soccer fan is a bit like being a scorned lover. You want to fall in love. You real=y do. ... Freddy Adu ... turned out to not quite be the American soccer sa=ior we had pegged him to be ...

"[T]he new hope who has our heart aflutter? Baby-faced Christian=Politic ... plays for German powerhouse Borussia ... [I]n the biggest matc= of his to date, the Great American Hope scores a goal and nets an assist.=...

"[S]occer, like love, (sometimes, but often not) rewards bold, spontaneous enthusiasm, so we=re calling it: The U.S.A. is going to win the 2018 World Cup."

=/a>

A message from Walmart

An investment in better training, education and hig=er wages

Since Walmart announced a $2.7B investment in training, education and hi=her wages, 70 new Walmart Training Academies have opened to help workers b=ild new retail skills and this March 850,000 Walmart associates will recei=e bonuses totaling $157M in their paycheck. Le=rn more.

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