Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 ? — Trump: "I call on all civilized nations to join us" — West Wing at war (with itself) — Bannon: "I love a gunfight"
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 06:26:08 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Bank of America:

Trump: "I call on all civilized nations to join us" — West Wing=at war (with itself) — Bannon: "I love a gunfight"

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Presented By Bank of America

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Apr 07, 2017

1 big thing: Commander-in-chief

The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a Tomahawk lan= attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday / Photo by U.S. Navy Ma=s Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ford Williams, via AP

What Trump is thinking ... Last night's strike on Syria= on Day 77 of the Trump presidency, was the first time the nation and the =orld had seen him act as commander-in-chief. He moved quickly and decisive=y, but now is a central player in what CNN's Fareed Zakaria last night =alled "one of the most complicated international crises I've ever seen=in my life."

Truth is: Trump, for months, has been =elling people in private to expect an unexpectedly harsh response to Syria= aggression.

The attack had the ancillary effect of=separating Trump from Putin, who views the the strikes as "aggression agai=st a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law," and =elieves the attack was done under a "trumped-up pretext," according to his s=okesman.

Trump aides say they're proud of his =ecision. A senior administration official gave me this window into the pre=ident's thinking:

The White House sees this =s "leadership week": the decision to order a missile strike on Syria after=its deadly nerve-agent attack on its own citizens, including children; a p=ime-time announcement to the nation from Mar-a-Lago last night, in which T=ump said, "God bless America and the entire world"; his assertive stance o= North Korea, with the rogue state testing him by firing a ballistic missi=e; and meetings with the heads of state of Egypt, Jordan and, continuing t=day, China.

Trump had said Wednesday
The =fficial said that in his response to the grim, moving photos, Tru=p was acting partly as a father and a grandfather. As he said said on the =ampaign trail, he consulted his generals. He took the briefings, discussed=the options, then acted after "years of dithering" by the United States, t=e official added.

From Trump's three-minute statement to the nation from Mar-a-Lago a= 9:40 p.m.: "Tonight, I call on all civilized nations to join us in seekin= to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of=all kinds and all types. We ask for God's wisdom as we face the challenge =f our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for th= souls of those who have passed.

"And we hope that as long as America stands for justice, then pe=ce and harmony will, in the end, prevail. Good night. And God bless Americ= and the entire world. Thank you."

2. West Wing at war (with itself)

Steve Bannon (left) walks with Reince Priebus on Monday before a lunch w=th Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi / AP's Evan Vucci

President Trump is considering a broad shakeup of his W=ite House that could include the replacement of White House Chief of Staff=Reince Priebus and the departure of chief strategist Steve Bannon, aides a=d advisers tell us.

A top aide to Trump said he's =ontemplating major changes, but that the situation is very fluid and the t=ming uncertain: "Things are happening, but it's very unclear the president=s willing to pull that trigger."

Insiders tell me t=at the possibilities for chief of staff include:

Ho=se Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who developed a bon= with Trump as one of the earlier congressional leaders to support him, an= remains a confidant.

Wayne Berman of Blackstone =roup, a Washington heavy-hitter who was an Assistant Secretary of Commerce=under President George H.W. Bush, and a key adviser on eight presidential =ampaigns.

David Urban of the Washington advisory =irm American Continental Group, and a former chief of staff to the late Se=. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Urban helped Trump win an upset victory in Pennsy=vania, and was in constant cellphone contact with the candidate throughout=the campaign.

Gary Cohn, Trump's economic advise= and the former #2 at Goldman Sachs, who has built a formidable team and i=ternal clout.

The West Wing "Game of Thrones"=has been raging ever since Trump took office. But the war between the nati=nalists and the moderates, led by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, burst in=o the open this week after Bannon was taken off the National Security Coun=il, setting off a torrent of leaks against him.

Bannon calle= reports that he was ready to quit "100 percent nonsense."
Axios' Jonathan Swan reports that Bannon t=ld associates: "I love a gunfight."

The top aide =E2�� along with many other Trump officials, advisers and friends �=80� told us that it seems to be more a question of "when" not "whether" =hange will come: "The tension, the exhaustion, the raw nerves have gotten =uch harder to disguise."

3. Get smart fast

Trump walks from the podium after speaking to the nation from Mar-a-Lag= in Palm Beach last night / AP's Alex Brandon

The latest on Trump's retaliatory missile strike on Syr=a, with an emphasis on the risks ahead:

Reuters' Steve Holland=and Andrew Osborn: "Two U.S. warships fired 59 cruise missile= from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian airbase controlled by th= forces of President Bashar al-Assad."

"It wa= the toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria's six-year-old civi= war and leaves Trump facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since his J=n. 20 inauguration, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia =nd Iran, Assad's two main military backers."

AP: "The =yrian military said at least six people were killed and several wounded."<=li>
Wall Street Journal front page: "Presiden='s order throws new administration into center of complex, treacherous con=lict."

"The N.Y. Times' David Sanger descri=es "considerable risks for Mr. Trump in the next few weeks, o=ce the immediate satisfaction of making Mr. Assad pay a price for acts of =arbarism wears off": 1) "that his gambit with Mr. Putin fails"; 2) "that M=. Trump, in taking a shot at Mr. Assad, undercuts his own main goal in the=region: defeating the Islamic State"; and 3) "that Mr. Trump has no real p=an to bring peace to Syria."

Risk of widening the conflict=... From a front-pager by WashPost's Greg Jaffe: "The biggest diff=rence that Trump and his commanders confront now [compared with 2013, when=Obama last threatened airstrikes against Assad] is the presence of Russian=troops on the battlefield and Russian air defense systems that are capable=of shooting down U.S. planes."

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A message from Bank of America

76% of Hispanic business owners optimistic about gr=wth

Three-quarters of Hispanic business owners are optimistic about what the=next five years will mean for their companies, according to a new study by=Bank of America. In the first half of 2016, Bank of America invested $5.9 =illion to help small businesses succeed. Read more.

4. The Citrus Summit

Financial Times

"Tr=mp-Xi summit overshadowed by US strike on Syria," by the Fina=cial Times' Tom Mitchell in Beijing and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington:="The US military strike could lend credibility to Mr Trump's threa= to punish North Korea unilaterally for its repeated missile and =uclear tests — or to the US president and his secretary of state R=x Tillerson's warnings that they would take a tough stance on the Chinese =ilitary's "island-building" activities in the South China Sea."

=strong>Trump to China ... AFP's Andrew Beatty: "Trump, in his si=nature red tie, warmly welcomed his Chinese counterpart Xi, decked out in =ontrasting blue ... 'We had a long discussion already. So far, I have gott=n nothing. Absolutely nothing,' [Trump] said to laughs from the delegation= 'But I can see that, I think long-term, we are going to have a very, very=great relationship and I look very much forward to it.'"

"[]nside Mar-a-Lago's ornate dining room — with gold-tri=med chairs, fine cut glass and polished silverware ... Dover sole with cha=pagne sauce and New York strip steak with whipped potatoes."

"The open agenda and the personal setting for the 24-hour summi= are designed to allow the leaders to freewheel and build a rapport, in wh=t is the world's most important relationship."

Beijing's official news agency Xinhua reported =oday that "Xi invited Trump to a state visit in China later this year, an =ffer which it said Trump accepted 'with pleasure.'"

To=ay at Mar-a-Lago, Trump leads an expanded bilateral meeting with =i at 10:30 a.m. (with cameras briefly invited in), and a closed-press work=ng luncheon at noon.

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5. Senate goes nuclear

USA Today front page, "Supreme Court showdown simmering=for decades," by Richard Wolf: "History was made=Thursday in the United States Senate: Democrats mounted a partisan filibus=er of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Republicans blew up the Senate's=rules to clear the way for his confirmation," expected today.

<=trong>Goes back nearly 50 years: "Before Gorsuch, there was Merri=k Garland. Before Garland, there was Miguel Estrada. Before Estrada, John =oberts and Elena Kagan. Before Kagan, Robert Bork. Before Bork, Clement Ha=nsworth. Before Haynsworth, Abe Fortas. All were blocked, at least initial=y, from the courts to which they aspired."

6. Americans trust friends, not media or government

Data: Gallup; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Trust in institutions at historic low, Axios'=Sara Fischer reports: A 2016 Gallup poll ranks the least-trusted U.S. institutions. =ot surprisingly, television, newspapers, big business and Congress all ran= at the bottom of the list with less than 10% of Americans having a great =eal of confidence in those institutions.

7. Futurecast: Danger of the "Internet of Things"

Ec=nomist cover, "Safety last: How to manage the computer-securi=y threat — The incentives for software firms to take security seri=usly are too weak":

Away f=om the headlines, a black market in computerised extortion, hacki=g-for-hire and stolen digital goods is booming. The problem is about to ge= worse. Computers increasingly deal not just with abstract data like credi=-card details and databases, but also with the real world of physical obje=ts and vulnerable human bodies. A modern car is a computer on wheels; an a=roplane is a computer with wings.

The arrival of the "Internet of Things" will see comp=ters baked into everything from road signs and MRI scanners to prosthetics=and insulin pumps. There is little evidence that these gadgets will be any=more trustworthy than their desktop counterparts. Hackers have already pro=ed that they can take remote control of connected cars and pacemakers.

8. The power of "story stocks"

N.Y. Times Business front column by James Stewart, "Bewitche= by the Tesla Story": "Tesla has ascended into a rarefied realm of so-call=d story stocks — companies that have so bewitched investors that t=eir stock prices are impervious to any traditional valuation measures beca=se their stories are simply too good not to be true."

"And to the dismay of short-sellers, who b=lieve they have ample rational reasons to bet against such stocks, their s=are prices can stay in the stratosphere for years, even decades."

Other examples: Amazon, Snap.

9. Twitter vs. U.S.

"The U.S. government is trying to unmask an anonymous a=ti-Trump Twitter account," by The Intercept's Sam Biddle: "Soon after Donald Trump's inau=uration, persons critical of the president and his administration began cr=ating anonymous Twitter accounts claiming to be dissident members of the f=deral government, such as the famous 'Alt BLM' and 'Rogue POTUS Staf' user=."

"Twitter is filing suit against the U.S. government, exposing an attempt [by the Department of=Homeland Security] to expose and attack one such account," @ALT_USCIS.

10. 1 tasty thing

"These Are the World's 50 Best Re=taurants," by Bloomberg's Richard Vines: "Eleven Madison Park=in New York triumphed ... in the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, becom=ng the first U.S. establishment to win the top spot since 2004."

"Chef Daniel Humm's contemporary=American restaurant toppled Italy's Osteria Francescana, which came in sec=nd after winning the title for the first time last year. Spanish restauran= El Celler de Can Roca came in third."

A message from Bank of America

Report finds Hispanic business owners expect big 20=7

A new study from Bank of America found more than half of Hispanic busine=s owners are planning to hire more employees in 2017. As their role in our=economy expands, helping women and minority small businesses succeed is pa=t of how we grow responsibly. Read more.

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