Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — "30 guys in control of the government" — CEO lessons — New children's book: "The President and the Big Boy Truck"
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2017 10:36:10 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Starbucks:

"30 guys in control of the government" — CEO lessons — N=w children's book: "The President and the Big Boy Truck"

View in browser

Presented By Starbucks

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Mar 26, 2017

1 big thing: Trump rewrites his playbook

Trump leaves dinner at Trump International Hotel last night / Reuters' Y=ri Gripas

Amid high-stakes postmortems that include conversations=with President Trump about White House staffing and operations, aides are =ewriting their plans for the next legislative fight — with a weak=ned President and Speaker, emboldened House hardliners, and a party at war=with itself.

"It's like you're =n a room with 2-year- olds, and one side complains about any atte=tion you give the other," a White House official said.

=strong>Forget pie in the sky like tax reform or a massive infrast=ucture package. Now aides fear a government shutdown when the current cont=nuing resolution runs out at the end of April.

"I'm worried about everything right now,"
The ne= White House sequence: Focus on the Supreme Court confirmation of=Judge Neil Gorsuch between now and the Easter congressional break. After t=at, work urgently on funding the government, and begin the conversation ab=ut tax reform.

The bottom line: Trump advisers tell us they're pessimistic about figuring out how to get anything done �=94 the "lessons learned" don't include even a theoretical path to victory.=/p>
A White House official: "We und=restimated the vitriol in the Republican conference. The animosit= between [the hardline House Freedom Caucus] and leadership is such that i='s hard to see how the coalition comes together. Each time there was an ac=ommodation, there was a new demand."

2. "30 guys in control of the government"

Trump =weeted from the White House this morning: "Democrats are smil=ng in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and H=ritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!"

A top Wh=te House official said Trump is "deeply disappointed in the Freed=m Caucus," and specifically with Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.).

The senior Republican operative said the hardline House Freed=m Caucus "just proved that you have 30 guys in control of the government."=/p>
"They have been given power by the circumstances, a=d they're wielding it," the operative said. "Their view is: 'We got rid of=a Speaker [Boehner], we're taking on another Speaker, and we stared down t=e president.'"

Good Cop was a flop. White House aid=s are debating whether they should have be more aggressive with the hardli=ers, including flying into their districts and threatening them with prima=ies.

"Something in this dynamic has to change," th= operative said. "Nobody has taken them on or held them accountable or eve= mildly messed with them. One of the things you could do is say, on Twitte= and in their districts: Obamacare is still the law of the land because of=them."

Breaking ... House Freedom Caucus Chair =ark Meadows, to George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," on whether tax=cuts have to be fully funded with other revenue increases or spending cuts= "Does it have to be fully offset? My personal response is no." (Video)

<=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">

3. Trump dreaming of Dems

Trump, flanked by HHS Secretary Tom Price (left), and Vice President Pen=e, after health bill is pulled / AP's Pablo Martinez Monsivais

White House aides are so doubtful about uniting warring=factions of House Republicans that they now are debating how they could lu=e 15 or so Democrats to join Republicans on big measures:

The White House euphemism, as aides discuss the str=tegy internally: "a broader coalition."

The theory: If you could fold in a few Dems with moderate and establishment Republic=ns, you'd have a better chance of passing tax reform or a huge infrastruct=re bill.

A White House official: "Ty=ically, tax reform would be something that could be bipartisan. That would=really be our hope."

The road not taken: Some Trump friends think he has made a huge mistake since the inaugura=ion by antagonizing Ds rather than courting them. Because of his tweets an= rants, they're less likely to give him the benefit of the doubt than they=were Jan. 20, and any ambitious Dem who tried to work with him would get f=ercer blowback from the base.

Plan B? A longtime Trump confidant said the irony of the loss "is that there is a=scenario where this path leads POTUS to realize that he is better off buil=ing a coalition with moderate Rs and some reasonable Ds ... [I]t is totall= who he naturally is, and he would love the accolades and positive=feedback and improving numbers."

Why=it's unlikely: White House officials understand that Ds sense wea=ness and have no incentive to help bail out Trump.

A message from Starbucks

Starbucks to create nearly 70,000 new U.S. jobs

Sixty-eight thousand new Starbucks jobs over the next 5 years – =nd over 3,400 new stores in the U.S. – represents huge investments= Also included: 100 Military Family stores. Learn more.<=a>

4. What the White House is reading

We know, because they keep sending us the link!

<=trong>Maureen Dowd's rapier column, "Donald, This I Will Tell You=:

"Dear Donald, We've=known each other a long time, so I think I can be blunt. You know how you =aid at campaign rallies that you did not like being identified as a politi=ian? Don't worry. No one will ever mistake you for a politician. After thi= past week, they won't even mistake you for a top-notch negotiator.
"I was born here. The first =mage in my memory bank is the Capitol, all lit up at night. And my primary=observation about Washington is this: Unless you're careful, you end up tu=ning into what you started out scorning. And you, Donald, are getting a re=utation as a sucker. And worse, a sucker who is a tool of the D.C. establi=hment."

"You got played. It took W. years to smash everything. You're way ahead of schedule."

5. Some 'splaining to do

Trump-promoted Fox host tells Paul Ryan to step down ..= Axios' Justin Green=/a> has the call:

Yest=rday President Trump tweeted: "Watch @JudgeJeanine on @FoxNews to=ight at 9:00 P.M."

The opening =tatement delivered by Judge Jeanine Pirro: "Ryan needs to step do=n as Speaker of the House. The reason, he failed to deliver the votes on h=s health care bill ... You come in with all your swagger and experience an= sell them a bill of goods which ends up a complete and total failure and =ou allow our president, in his first 100 days, to come out of the box like=that, based on what?" (V=deo)

Axios' Jonathan Swan is skeptical abo=t the connection, although Trump or the White House should have explained =t quicker.

Swan tweets that this is a much more likely explanation ...=Yesterday morning, "Fox & Friends" was running this promotional box:="TRUMP WIRETAP CLAIMS: Stunning New Details ... Justice w/ Judge Jeanine .=. 9PM ET."

A leadership aide tells Swan: "The president and speake= spoke by phone for almost an hour today about regrouping and moving forwa=d on the agenda."

6. What Trump is asking

From the N.Y. Times' two-column lead story=/a>, "Trump Becomes Ensnared In Fiery G.O.P. Civil War," by Glenn=Thrush and Maggie Haberman: "On Friday evening, a somewhat shellshocked pr=sident retreated to the White House residence to grieve and assign blame. =n a search for scapegoats, he asked his advisers repeatedly: Whose=fault was this?"

"Increasingly, that=blame has fallen on Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, who co=rdinated initial legislative strategy on the health care bill with Mr. Rya=, his close friend and a fellow Wisconsinite."

"Despite the public displays of unity with the speaker, Mr. Trump and his tea= now regret outsourcing so much of the early drafting to Mr. Ryan. One aid= compared doing that to a developer's staking everything on obtaining a pr=perty without conducting a thorough inspection."

A fr=end of Priebus told me the chief felt fine: He was in the office=yesterday, and attended a Greek Independence Day event with this family.
"You could get rid of Ryan or Reince and you're going=to have the same problem, no matter what" — the math in the House= the friend said.

But the friend added: "Anyone wh= works for the President is on the clock."

7. CEO 101

Nuggets from Barron's CEO profiles=/a>, illuminating the state of the art:

Warren Buffett= "At 86, Buffett is as sharp as ever, even though his body, as he=said, 'is getting down to salvage value.' He hates meetings, spends much o= the day reading, and makes split-second investment decisions. And he stil= eats like a kid, washing down a McDonald's breakfast with a Coke."
Reed Hastings, Netflix: "Hastings' next challenge is to =ailor more original content to local tastes in 190 countries, the likes of=which no media company has ever done."

Larry Page, Alphabet: "As head of the tech world's only holding comp=ny, which owns Google, he has delegated day-to-day responsibilities to a n=mber of high-profile deputies. ... His fascination with the next big thing=has led him to pursue private outside investments, including pouring milli=ns into two start-ups working on flying cars."

Fred Smith: "One key to FedEx's success has been Smith's willing=ess 'to take short-term pain for long-term gain' ... FedEx spent about $4 =illion on improvements in its air- and ground-delivery segments in the lat=st fiscal year, 40% more than two years ago. Capital spending depressed pr=fit margins in the ground operation but will produce 'a faster network dow= the road.'"

Mark Zuckerberg: "Facebook is at the=top of its game in the online-advertising world, which means that Zuckerbe=g's apparent stumbles — he has yet to make good on the nearly $20 =illion spent on messaging start-up WhatsApp, for example — are tol=rated by investors."

Also worthy of your time ... N.Y. Times Business front, "Amazon's Ambitions Unboxed: Stores for Furniture, Appliances and M=re," by Nick Winfield in Seattle: "[W]hile most of the attention has been =ocused on Amazon's grocery store dreams, the company has a more ambitious =ollection of [bricks-and-mortar] experiments underway."

"If those experiments work ... they could=have a profound influence on how other stores operate. Over time, they cou=d also introduce new forms of automation, putting traditional retail jobs =n jeopardy. At the same time, locating those stores close to customers' ho=es could also help Amazon further its ambitions of delivering internet ord=rs within hours."

8. NYC's changing architecture

"New York skyscrapers adapt to climate change," by

"Every kitchen has two electrical outlets=— one reserved for refrigerators —connected to a back-up c=rcuit fed by the generators. That means smartphones can be charged during = breakdown."

"'[I]f you can go up and down in the=elevator and your refrigerator works and you have one outlet available tha= you charge your phone on, you can probably survive in New York for a week='"

"Traditionally relegated to the basement, the =eating, ventilation and large electrical equipment have been installed on =he first floor instead, more than 20 feet ... above the street to minimize=the risk of flooding."

"The building's cheapest studios will be av=ilable for rent starting from $3,000 a month, and include the luxury perks=of access to a swimming pool and huge terrace with views of the Empire Sta=e Building in addition to the more prosaic bonus of flood resistance."

9. Darkness to illuminate climate change

A combination photo of the hill of the Acropolis in Athens, before and d=ring Earth Hour / Reuters' Michalis Karagiannis

"Lights go out around the world for 10th Earth Hour," b= Reuters' Peter Gosnell:

"The initiative=began in Australia in 2007 as a grassroots gesture by the World W=ldlife Fund (WWF) Australia against man-made carbon dioxide emissions."
Last night at 8:30 local time, lights were cut for a= hour in 7,000 cities across 172 countries.

Participating:=some of the world's best known skyscrapers and historic buildings=including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai; London'= Big Ben and Houses of Parliament; the Colosseum in Rome; Istanbul's Blue =osque; the Eiffel Tower; Moscow's Kremlin and Red Square; Sydney's Opera H=use; and the Pyramids of Egypt..

10. 1 fun thing: "Vroom, vroom! It is trucks!"

The book comes with a free sticker set.

BuzzFeed has published an actual children's book, "The =resident and the Big Boy Truck," about President Trump's photo opp with an=18-wheeler on Thursday as the health-care bill was collapsing.

Check out Dav=d Mack's text here; buy the book for $9.=9 here (ships by April 7); and absolutely, whatever you do, watch the video here of squealing kids listenin= to the book.

In early orders, people are sending t=e book to President Trump at the White House.

A BuzzFeed spo=esperson tells me: On Thursday evening, "Dao Nguyen, BuzzFeed's p=blisher and head of technology, emailed Ben Kaufman, head of BuzzFeed Prod=ct Labs, about a comment that had been trending on BuzzFeed News' David Ma=k's post on the President's [photo opp] ... The comment suggested we publi=h David's post verbatim as a children's book. By 8 a.m. Friday, we mocked =p a concept, had David over to the Product Lab and launched by Friday even=ng."

Media backstory: BuzzFeed has a new "social commerce" divi=ion to sell us stuff.

=/a>

A message from Starbucks

Starbucks hits military hiring goal, and drives to =5,000 by 2025

Starbucks reached its initial goal to hire 10,000 veterans and military =pouses 1 year ahead of schedule. The company proudly increased its goal to=25,000 hires by 2025. Starbucks will also create 100 more Military Family =tores in the next 5 years. Learn More.

Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 200, Arlington VA 22201

You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios.
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.=/a>

Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.

Follow Axios=on social media:

=                     &nb=p;