Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10? — Taking the bait — Bannon's tipping point — Women of Silicon Valley — Coach K's "t?wo biggest assassins"
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2017 06:12:20 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Qualcomm:

Taking the bait — Bannon's tipping point — Women of Sili=on Valley — Coach K's "two biggest assassins"

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Presented By Qualcomm

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 15, 2017

Good Wednesday morning. Axios will add SCIEN=E to its STREAM, per Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox: The "new media ventu=e is already expanding beyond its core sweet spots."

1 big thing: Taking the bait

It's Day 55 of the Trump presidency, and we still take =he bait. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow tweeted before her show las= night: "BREAKING: We've got Trump tax returns," implying a cache. It turn=d out to be two pages, and the White House preempted her by releasi=g the info first:

The White House statement: "=ou know you are desperate for ratings when you ... push a story about two =ages of tax returns from over a decade ago. ... [In 2005,] Trump paid $38 =illion ... on an income of more than $150 million," an effective rate of 25=percent (more than Romney).

Maddow to Lawrence O'=onnell: "I don't think there's any reason to ... expect that this will be =he only Trump tax document that ever comes to light. ... [T]he mo=e we learn about this, the closer we're going get to the truth about wheth=r or not his foreign entanglements explain more about what just happened i= our election."

The story raced onto the front pa=es of The Times, The Post and USA Today. The Boston Globe's lead story: "T=ump releases 2005 tax returns." Um, no.

A quick column by CNB= executive editor Jay Yarow pointed out that the fracas amounted to "a nic= victory" for Trump: "[T]his story has created the appearance that Trump d=es in fact make a lot of money, and he pays millions in taxes."

N.Y. Times' Michael Grynbaum: "On Twitter, jo=rnalists complained that Ms. Maddow had overhyped."

Wh=t was the mental opportunity cost?

A more cons=quential MSNBC headline — "GOP SKEPTICISM OF HEALTH PLAN=GROWS AFTER CBO REPORT" — got shorter shrift. The two-column lead=of today's WashPost is "Trump =llies call Ryan's bill 'a trap,'" by Bob Costa and Phil Rucker: "A si=mering rebellion of conservative populists loyal to President Trump is fur=her endangering the GOP health-care push." (Wall Street Journal lead story: "GOP Plan Hits Snag With Own Senat=rs.")

Over on CNN, we learn that Sen. =heldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said FBI Director Comey promised on March 2 to =ell him TODAY whether the FBI is investigating ties between Russia and the=Trump campaign.

The Fed is expected to raise=interest rates today (statement at 2 p.m.; Yellen presser 2:30 p.m.).
=li>"Trump's revised travel ban =ill be scrutinized in federal courtrooms across the country — =he day before it is supposed to go into effect."

And driving the non-Fed day ... "Polls open in Dutch election =hat is barometer of populism" — AP/The Hague: "Polling booths opened ... in Dutch parlia=entary elections that are being closely watched as a [sign] of the strengt= of far-right populism ahead of national votes in France and Germany later=this year."

We only have so many hours and br=in cells. They're a terrible thing to waste.

2. Bannon's ideology: "middle class v. elites"

Wall Street Journal front-pager, "BANNON'S JOURNEY TO E=ONOMIC NATIONALISM: Trump adviser cites father's 2008 financial trauma as = turning point," by Michael Bender in Richmond<=a>:

"On Oct. 7, 2008,
says the moment crystallized his own anti=stablishment outlook and helped trigger a decadelong political hardening. =.. 'The world is probably 95% Marty Bannons, and 5% Steve Bannons.'"

3. In the real world ...

Mood music, 22 days from Trump's Mar-a-Lago summit with=China President Xi Jinping ("the world's two=most powerful men"):

"China begins=new work on disputed South China Sea island ... =ew satellite images show, a sign that Beijing is continuing to strengthen =ts military reach." (Reuters)

<=span>"Taiwan says Chinese military threat grows, U.S. reg=onal strategy unclear." (Reuters)

=hoose your news (both from same presser) ... "China urge= cooperation with US ahead of Trump-Xi summit" (CNBC... China Premier "Li Keqiang warns Donald Trump against trade war =ith China" (The Guardian)
<=i>Trump's nominee for U.S. trade representative, Bob Ligh=hizer vows at confirmation hearing "to crack down on unfair China practice= ... says Trump is committed to getting tough with Beijing." (FT)
P.S. "Trump Wins Saudi Praise for 'Turning Point' Afte= Meeting Prince," by Bloomberg's Nafeesa Syeed: "Trump welcomed Deputy Crown Prince Moh=mmed bin Salman to the White House. ... The effusive praise ... reflects t=e eagerness among Sunni-led Arab nations for a renewed alliance after deep=strains with ... Obama, who crafted the 2015 nuclear deal with their Shiit= rival Iran."

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Qualcomm inventions helped launch the mobile revolution and can be found=in billions of devices around the world, from smartphones and tablets, to =ameras and cars. They remain relentless in their pursuit of the next big t=ing, to make people more connected, to make a difference in everyday life.=Learn more.

4. Worker trends: Business also seeing this

Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

"The federal government's rapidly aging IT force," by A=ios' Shane Savitsky and Andrew Witherspoon: "Last ye=r, nearly 80% of federal IT workers were aged 40 or above — and mo=e than half were over 50."

The kicker: Federal=IT employees over 60 outnumber those under 30 by nearly 5 to 1.

Where's the young talent? Per Bloomberg, the median age at G=ogle and Tesla is 30. LinkedIn and Facebook are even younger at 29.

5. How campaigns profile and persuade

Greg Ruben / Axios

Axios' Kim Hart and Sara Fischer on the state-of-the-art campaign .... By 2016, voter files were created with digital mod=ling tools that could predict which voters were likely persuadable or more=easily mobilized based on internet consumption data.

W=at's next: Campaigns are going to keep refining their tactics for=reaching specific types of voters while also reaching as broad of a relate= audience as possible. The RNC maintains a voter file of not just every re=istered Republican, but of everyone of voting age in the country —=and campaign operatives are even gathering data on younger teenagers to fi=ure out who to register first.

6. Treasury gets another Goldman

James Donovan, a Goldman Sachs managing director and ad=unct professor at U.Va. Law, was named Deputy Treasury Secretary last nigh=, in a move that won wide praise for an administration that has had troubl= filling top jobs.

Senators Rob Portman and T=m Cotton tweeted support, along with Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and Arthur Bro=ks.

Friends tell us Donovan, who has been Treasu=y's de facto personnel director, is a non-ideological, managerial choice, =reeing Secretary Mnuchin to focus on tax reform and keeping White House st=ff from meddling.

What it means, per a top offici=l: "The administration still isn't hesitant to appoint high-level banking =xecutives, despite knowing it'll generate knee-jerk criticism."

<=>Also named to Treasury last night:

Ad=m Lerrick of Wyoming will be Assistant Secretary for International Finance=

Drew Maloney of Virginia. who was a Hes= Corp. vice president, will be Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs=

David Malpass of New York will be Under Secreta=y for International Affairs.

Sigal Mandelker of =ew York be Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
<=i>Brent James McIntosh of Michigan will be general counse=.

Also named by the White House last night: <=p>

J. Christopher Giancarlo of New Jersey will cha=r the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He's now acting chairman.
=li>Eric Hargan of Illinois will be Deputy Secretary of He=lth and Human Services. He was with Greenberg Traurig, in its Health &=FDA Business practice, based in Chicago.

7. Business paying more attention to D.C. (and vice versa)

The Business Roundtable, made up of CEOs of top compani=s, is drawing top White House names to its quarterly meeting, now going on=in Washington:

Economic adviser Gary Cohn met =ith executive committee members last night, and they'll have breakfast wit= senior adviser Jared Kushner today.

Trump budget director=/strong> Mick Mulvaney will meet with CEOs on the Regulation Committee thi= morning. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and House Ways and Means Chairman=Kevin Brady will address the plenary session.

New members=since Chairman Jamie Dimon and President Josh Bolten took over th=s year, with a focus on recruitment: Tim Cook of Apple, Bob Dudley of BP, =d Breen of DuPont, Phebe Novakovic of General Dynamics, Craig Menear of Th= Home Depot, Steve Fisher of Novelis, Mauricio Gutierrez of NRG Energy, Os=ar Munoz of United Airlines and Hikmet Ersek of Western Union.

8. Tops in tech

The Valley will have an "amen" for this Davi= Ignatius column in WashPost: "The real shocker in the WikiLeaks scoop=is the demonstration, once again, that the U.S. government can't keep secr=ts. It makes little sense for the CIA to argue against disclosing its cybe=-tricks to computer companies if this valuable information is going to get=leaked to adversaries or the hacker underground anyway."

Axi=s' Kia Kokalitcheva writes from S.F.: "[T]he new Atlantic cover s=ory [Liza Mundy's "Why Is Silicon Valle= So Awful to Women?"] is a good read. And I'm sure all the women in th= Valley did a collective nod and sigh — this is all too familiar f=r us."

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

9. The workers Janet Yellen is leaving behind

Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

It's all but certain that the Fed will raise interest r=tes this afternoon, and the decision will tell us some important informati=n about how officials see the economy and the U.S. labor force.

Why this matters: Economists think severe recessions crea=e a class of degraded workers for whom indefinite joblessness is a common =ate. Raising interest rates now may create an economy that leaves those wo=kers behind. The Fed has kept monetary policy loose, hoping that demand wo=ld grow high enough that employers would take a chance on these workers an= even invest in training. A smaller share of those out of the labor force =re finding jobs these days, however, even with the Fed's policy of easy mo=ey.

<=mg width="32" height="32" style="border: none" target="_blank" src=3D"https://static.axios.com/img-email/email-circle.png" alt="Email this =tory">

10. 1 fun thing

On the eve of March Madness, financier and philanthropi=t David Rubenstein (Duke '70) sits down with Duke's Coach K — Mike=Krzyzewski, the winningest men's coach in NCAA history — for the s=cond season of Bloomberg's "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conve=sations."

Posts here=/strong> at 8:30 a.m., and airs on Bloomberg TV tonight at 9.

Coach K: " I was hungry every day."

On the most competitive pro players he has coac=ed: "[P]robably the two biggest assassins ... Jordan is the best player e=er. And Kobe Bryant. ... [Y]ou hear expressions like, 'Leave your egos at =he door.' And I always told them: 'Don't leave your egos at the door, 'cau=e I want you to be LeBron and Kobe. But when you bring 'em in, can we play=for one ego? Can we play for the U.S.?' And thank God they did."

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