Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — Trump's turnaround week? — A personalized N.Y. Times — Toddler holiday
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 06:43:10 -0400 (EDT)

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Trump's turnaround week? — A personalized N.Y. Times —=Toddler holiday

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 20, 2017

1 big thing: Points on the board

Trump talks to the press aboard Air Force One at Palm Beach Internationa= Airport yesterday, accompanied by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft=/ AP's Manuel Balce Ceneta

First day of spring … The White House hopes tha= a trifecta this week of trade, health care and the Supreme Court will be =he start of a points-on-the-board phase — after a spate of tempest= that helped push Trump'= Gallup approval rating to a low of 37%, down 8 points from the week b=fore:

White House officials tell me that Comm=rce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago this week=nd to walk POTUS through an aggressive trade agenda for the coming weeks, =ncluding five executive orders that are slated to begin rolling out this w=ek.

Thursday night is the epic House vote on heal=h care. The votes aren't there yet, but a Republican lobbyist tells me Spe=ker Ryan had to be The Gambler: "It was either call the hand, or fold."
And today at 11 a.m. is the start of an=expected four days of Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for =udge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. Opponents admit it was a savvy pi=k that already looks like a win for the White House.

W=at it means: Trump has a new runway for showing capacity to lead,=govern and cut deals — a chance for the Art of the Donald to preva=l over the self-inflicted din. Allies pray that past performance is not an=indicator of future outcomes.

2. Digital shakeup for both parties

In the third part of their series =n campaign data, Sara Fischer and Kim Hart go inside the ways=competitive politics sharpened data tools and tactics:

"After Trump's surprise victory, sources s=y a major operational shakeup is in store for Democrats, who've enjoyed th= lead in the digital race for nearly a decade. GOP operatives, who signifi=antly grew their data and ground games since 2008, are continuing to devel=p big data platforms and new media tactics to better target specific voter= while also broadening their base."

3. Hot spots

"North Korea rocket-engine test shows 'meaningful' prog=ess," by Reuters' Ju-min Park in Seoul: "[A]n analyst said it was a danger=us step towards the North's goal of developing a rocket that could hit the=United States. [The regime's] news agency said ... the engine would help N=rth Korea achieve world-class satellite-launch capability, indicating a ne= type of rocket engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile."

"The North's announcement of a=successful engine test came as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was i= Beijing at the end of his first visit to Asia for talks dominated by conc=rn about North Korea."

Palace intrigue ... "What China wants from Trump=/a>," by Jonathan Swan: "The Chinese ambassador in Washington �=80� Cui Tiankai, a silky operator — has been focusing intensely =n the White House rather than the State Department, particularly cozying u= to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

"One source says Cui has been dealing mostly with Kushner, a=d has been AWOL at State. Tillerson ... should be responsible for that rel=tionship. But he's still got no Asia lead installed at State (and, in fact= doesn't even have a Number Two there)."

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4. "Pay raises are back in style" — for CEOs

Shot ... Wall Street Journal lead of B1, "CEO Pay Climbs With the Market," by Theo Francis and Joan= Lublin: "Median pay for the chief executives of 104 of the biggest Americ=n companies rose 6.8% for fiscal 2016 to $11.5 million, o= track to set a post recession record."

Chaser ... =inancial Times, top of second front, "Wall Street chill: Analysts rein in profit out=ook as risks emerge to record-breaking stocks rally," by Adam Samson and N=cole Bullock in N.Y.: "Earnings for companies listed on the S&P 500 in=ex ... are predicted to rise 9 per cent in the first quarter, ... a reduct=on from the 12.3 per cent expected at the start of this year."

=/a>

5. Wall Street frets over fate of corporate tax cut

Axios' Chris Matthews writes from New =ork: "Between Election Day and March 1, the S&P 500 rose nearly 11=, but has fallen 0.17% in the roughly three weeks since. This loss of mome=tum indicates that investors are beginning to worry about the fate of corp=rate tax reform, as the debate over healthcare is revealing broader divisi=ns among Republicans in Washington, according to the Wal= Street Journal."

Why it matters: Corporat= tax cuts are the simplest way for Washington to cheer up Wall Street �=80� Goldman Sachs recently estimated that t=e House GOP tax reform plan would boost S&P 5=0 income by 10%, more than enough to justify the recent run up in=stocks. But a closer look at the data shows that investors have lost some =onfidence in the Republican Party's ability to shepherd major corporate ta= relief into law.

6. Hot in Silicon Valley

Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva writes from S.F. ... Uber's exe=utive exodus continues: Jeff Jones, the former Target CMO who joined Uber =ix months ago as its president of ride-sharing, has left the company. Whil= Jones says it's because his values conflict with Uber's, the company has =trongly hinted that it has to do with its search for a COO to become CEO T=avis Kalanick's No.2.

Uber's h=ad of mapping, former Googler Brian McClendon, is also leaving, <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9188197.37898/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnl0aW1=cy5jb20vMjAxNy8wMy8xOS9idXNpbmVzcy9qZWZmLWpvbmVzLWxlYXZlcy11YmVyLXJpZGUtc2=hcmluZy1wcmVzaWRlbnQuaHRtbD91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZGl1bT1lb=FpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c17c54d77a8b8cB4b=eb40f" target="_blank">according to the N.Y. Times. He's leaving on =micable terms and will pursue politics in Kansas, where he grew up.

What's next? One of the bigge=t remaining questions is what exactly happened. Jones' departure seemed ab=upt, and he made a pointed statement about Uber's culture and values to Reco=e — not what you'd expect from a seasoned brand expert who wor=ed at public companies.

@DanPrimack: "Ma=es sense that Jones is leaving Uber after not getting #2 job. Spilling out=into open also makes sense as he may not have vested yet."

T=chmeme's influence in Silicon Valley: In a profile of Techm=me founder Gabe Rivera ("Meet The Man Whose Site Mark Zuckerberg Reads=Every Day"), BuzzFeed looks at the news aggregator's enduring influence on=Silicon Valley's news consumption.

It's the go-to source for top tech execs like the CEOs =f Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, and the tech press regularly reads it ev=n if it's not necessarily concerned with being included among the links it= editors cherry-pick.

7. Tops in media trends

Coming attractions: The newspaper industry's decades-lo=g holy grail, The Daily Me, is coming to fruition — online ...
Liz Spayd reports in her=N.Y. Times Public Editor column: "By mid=ear, The Times will begin an ambitious new effort to customize the deliver= of news online ... What readers see when they come to The Times will depe=d on factors like the specific subjects they are most interested in, where=they live or how frequently they come to the site."

"Several ideas are being evaluated. Some, rea=ers will choose, like signing up for alerts when a favorite columnist publ=shes. Others, The Times will enact on its own. For example, a story could =e moved out of the lead position for a reader who has already seen it, or =t could be kept in the lead longer for those who come to the site infreque=tly. Fans of particular subjects might see more of that content visible on=their mobile device or home page."

8. "Chronicler of wise guys and underdogs"

"A look back at some of Jimmy Breslin'= best columns": "Breslin's legacy was already set in stone by the=time his Pulitzer Prize for commentary arrived in 1986. The Pulitzer board=honored him for 'columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens.'"<=p>
"His award-winning Dail= News pieces that year were not his most famous — there were no le=ends, no murderers. Instead, Breslin's winning works gave a voice to margi=alized New Yorkers, like his story about the AIDS epidemic rendered throug= one gay man dying of the disease."

Best passage in=Dan Barry's A1 N.Y. Times obit, "Acidic Yet =mpathetic, His Pen Rattled the Mighty in New York":

"With prose that was savagely funny, decepti=ely simple and poorly imitated, Mr. Breslin created his o=n distinct rhythm in the hurly-burly music of newspapers. Here ... is how=he described Clifton Pollard, the man who dug President J=hn F. Kennedy's grave, in a celebrated column from 1963 that sent legi=ns of journalists to find their 'gravedigger.'"

"Pollard is forty-two. He is a slim man with = mustache who was born in Pittsburgh and served as a private in the 352nd =ngineers battalion in Burma in World War II. He is an equipment operator, =rade 10, which means he gets $3.01 an hour. One of the last to serve John =itzgerald Kennedy, who was the thirty-fifth President of this country, was=a working man who earns $3.01 an hour and said it was an honor to dig the =rave."

9. A Muppet on the spectrum

Julia, an autistic Muppet character debuting April 10 on the 47th seaso= of "Sesame Street" / Zach Hyman for Sesame Workshop, via AP

"A Muppet with autism to be welcomed soon on 'Sesame St=eet,'" by AP Television Writer Frazier Moore: "Julia, a Muppet youngster w=th blazing red hair, bright green eyes — and autism[,] ... is one =f the gang":

"On this friendliest of streets =actually Studio J at New York's Kaufman Astoria Studios, where 'Sesame Str=et' lives) Julia is about to play a game with Oscar, Abby and Grover. In t=is scene being taped for airing next season, these Muppet chums have been =hallenged to spot objects shaped like squares or circles or triangles. 'Yo='re lucky,' says Abby to Grover. 'You have Julia on your team, and she is =eally good at finding shapes!'"

"She makes her TV debut on 'Sesame Street' in the 'Meet Julia' episode airing April 10 on bo=h PBS and HBO. Additional videos featuring Julia will be available online.=

"Developing Julia and all the other=components of this campaign has required years of consultation with organi=ations, experts and families within the autism community."

, Sesame Workshop's senior vice president of U=S. Social Impact: "In the U.S., one in 68 children is diagnosed with autis= spectrum disorder ... We're modeling the way both children and adults can=look at autism from a strength-based perspective: finding things that all =hildren share."

The role of Julia is=played by "Stacey Gordon ... a Phoenix-based puppeteer who ... has a [13-y=ar-old] son with autism, and, before she started her family, was a therapi=t to youngsters on the spectrum."

10. 1 fun thing: Twin toddlers make a break for it

52 million views <=strong>... Captured by a Nest monitoring system, 2-year-old twins Andrew a=d Ryan Balkin of New York City star in a hyperlapse video of their nightti=e shenanigans, including pillow forts, gymnastics and an earnest chat on t=e sofa.

Their parents, Jonathan and Susana Balkin, keep putting them back in their cribs, but <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9188197.37898/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5mb3gxM25=d3MuY29tL3RyZW5kaW5nLzI0MjQ3NDAxOS1zdG9yeT91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdX=tX21lZGl1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c1=c54d77a8b8cCfa5d6fa8" target="_blank">the overnight party continues.=/p>

A message from Starbucks

Starbucks committed to hiring 10,000 veteran and mi=itary spouses

In 2013, Starbucks committed to hiring at least 10,000 veterans and mili=ary spouses by 2018. Meet retired Marine Corps Master Sargent George Page,=a store manager at Starbucks in San Diego. Watch the video.

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