Subject: ?Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — 100-day report card — Trump loves Spicer's ratings — Fooling Apple — O'Reilly comeback?
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2017 06:43:09 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by Bank of America:

100-day report card — Trump loves Spicer's ratings — Fo=ling Apple — O'Reilly comeback?

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Presented By Bank of America

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Apr 24, 2017

1 big thing ... ​100-day report card: Trump's hits, misses

Trump on Thursday holds up a directive ordering an investigation into th= impact of foreign steel on the American economy, the start of a series of=planned moves on trade / Reuters' Aaron P. Bernstein

Hits:

Winning confirmation of Justic= Gorsuch: Trump did it fast, with little drama and huge consequen=e. The win tipped the Court, invigorated conservatives, and bought him cre=ibility with the establishment. It's the president's one achievement so fa= that will outlast him, regardless of what else unfolds.

P=o-business executive orders and regulatory changes: Nothing lifts=a presidency (or increases the chance of reelection) more than a rising ec=nomy. Trump's early pro-business rhetoric and assault on regulations has b=osted many industries. And the market "Trump bump" has given business a ne= spring in its step.

Encouraging CEOs to thin= more systematically about American jobs: Businesses talk openly =bout trying to "bait" a positive tweet from Trump (or insulate themselves =rom assault) by announcing factory openings or job expansions. These overt=res aren't always all that they seem: Some were already in the pipeline, o= may never come to fruition. But he has forced huge companies to reckon wi=h the issue.

Operation N=rmal I: Installing experienced national-security and economic tea=s, obviating the fears of some Republicans that a Trump Cabinet would have=a bit of a clown-car aura.

Operation Normal I=: Post-Flynn, establishing a national-security decision-making pr=cess that has produced well-executed policies that have been regarded as s=nsible by mainstream Republicans. This includes the Syria strike, the embr=ce of NATO and the China state visit.

Misses:

No significant new laws: He has full =epublican control of Washington — and little to show for it. In re=rospect, some White House aides think they screwed up by rushing into heal=h care, and wish they had plunged into tax reform or an infrastructure pac=age.

Little personal growth in office: His loose =tyle, resistance to structure and amorphous views (and loyalties) leave Wh=te House aides insecure, and create internal inefficiencies and blind spot=. This chaos contributed to the health-care debacle, provoking weeks of pu=lic butt-covering and finger-pointing. To this day, many aides tell us the=West Wing reality is even worse than is publicly portrayed.

=/span>Failure to articulate a theory of the case, foreign or domes=ic: International allies and Congressional Republicans are left u=certain of what he believes, and opponents have an opening to define the v=cuum on their terms.

Inability to get over it= The president hasn't kicked any of his bad campaign habits, all =f which complicate governance — score-settling, name-calling, rec=less tweeting, petty grievances, and unnecessary shots at allies and other= he will one day need to succeed.

Resistance =o reaching out to the 54% of 2016 voters who voted for so=eone else: Trump's low approval ratings make it harder for Democr=tic leaders on the Hill to make deals with him. Ditto his continued incite=ent of the Democratic base.

2. Article of the day

"Trump's obsession with cable TV" ... =allons of juice in a WashPost front-pager<=a> by Ashley Parker and Robert Costa, "In a reality star's presidency, cab=e TV is the guiding light"

"During a=small working lunch at the White House last month, ... one of the=attendees wondered whether press secretary Sean Spicer might be the first =o go. ... 'I'm not firing Sean Spicer," [Trump] said ... 'That guy gets gr=at ratings. Everyone tunes in.'"

Echoing a New York Times headline, "Trump even likened S=icer's daily news briefings to a daytime soap opera, noting proudly that h=s press secretary attracted nearly as many viewers."

=strong>"Some White House officials ... have started tuning into F=x News' 'Fox & Friends' because they know the president habitually cli=ks it on after waking near dawn.

"Foreign diplomats have urged their governments' leaders to a=pear on television when they're stateside as a means of making their case =o Trump.'

"On his campaign plane, Trump watched t=levision on full volume — usually Fox News, sometimes CNN �=94 almost constantly, ... shushing his aides whenever he himself came on t=e screen ... When Hillary Clinton appeared, he'd similarly quiet his team,=often before pointing a finger at the TV and scolding: 'She's lying! She's=lying!'"

"He is still in touch with =oger Ailes."

3. "A political earthquake"

The New York Times

France is now in uncharted territory: No traditional pa=ty made the May 7 runoff, proving that the new, Trumpian politics has gone=global. The F=nancial Times says the result "stunned ... established parties," and p=ovokes "a national fight over global order."

Two distinct wo=ld views now go head-to-head. Th= Wall Street Journal: "Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right politici=n Marine Le Pen led the first round of voting ... as voters redrew=the political map, placing the European Union at the center of a =ew divide."

Macron is the favorite in the runo=f, with the French establishment coalescing behind him to sink Le Pen.The N.Y. Times c=lls them "a political novice" and "a far-right firebrand."

The results soothed investors' fears, Axios' Chr=s Matthews writes: The results make it more likely that Macron will be=France's next president, keeping France in the EU. That should have a posi=ive impact on both French stocks and the U.S. economy.

note to clients calls Macron a "=usiness friendly" candidate that will not get in the way of Europe's impro=ing economy. The U.S. economy has seen the benefits of faster growth in Eu=ope — political stability across the Atlantic is good for business=

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4. Bannon's Hollywood years

Barry Blitt / The New Yorker

"A Hollywood Story ... Steve Bannon in La-La Land,= by The New Yorker's Connie Bruck:

"When Trump announced his candidacy, at Trump Tower, in 2015, Bann=n saw something that others missed. Perhaps it was their temperamental sim=larities, and their faith in their own business instincts despite repeated=failure. Trump, too, ... despised the élites that had always spurned =im. Bannon sensed that he had finally found the figure who could express t=at anger, leading the populist rebellion of millions of Americans who felt=they had been left behind."

P.S. "Trump [today] wil= welcome members of the conservative media for a small reception at the Wh=te House," per Politico's Hadas Gold. "Among those attending= One America News Network, The Daily Caller and Breitbart, as well as some=columnists and talk radio hosts."

Sean Spicer: "They were neglected the last eight years."

5. Swamp Watch

Corey Lewandowski at top of USA Today front page

"Trump,=Pence allies rake in millions as new Washington lobbyists," b= USA Today's Fredreka Schouten and Maureen Groppe:

"Br=an Ballard, a longtime Florida lobbyist and a fundraiser for both=Trump's campaign and inaugural committee, appears to lead the pack, signin= up 20 federal clients since opening his Washington lobbying operation thi= year."

Avenue Strategies, started last year by C=rey Lewandowski, describes him as overseeing "all aspects of a historic pr=sidential campaign where Donald J. Trump won 38 Republican primaries and c=ucuses and received more votes than any presidential candidate in the hist=ry of the Republican Party."

His co-founder is Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser who managed the p=esidential campaign of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.=/li>
"Stuart Jolly, who worked as Trump's=field director in the primaries, recently became president of the Sonoran =olicy Group, and the firm has added New Zealand and the Czech Republic as =nternational clients."

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

6. Fooling Apple

The New York Times

"Uber's C.E.O. Plays With Fire" ... A New York Times front-pager, by Mike Isaac =n San Francisco, says the "blindness to boundaries" that "is not uncommon =or Silicon Valley entrepreneurs" has led Travis Kalanick "to a pattern of =isk-taking that has at times put his ride-hailing company on the brink of =mplosion":

Kalanick ... vis=ted Apple's headquarters in early 2015 to meet with Timothy D. Co=k, who runs the iPhone maker. ... For months, Mr. Kala=ick had pulled a fast one on Apple by directing his employees to help camo=flage the ride-hailing app from Apple's engineers. The reason? So Apple wo=ld not find out that Uber had been secretly identifying and tagging iPhone= even after its app had been deleted and the devices erased — a fr=ud detection maneuver that violated Apple's privacy guidelines.
But Apple was onto the deception,=/strong> and when Mr. Kalanick arrived at the midafternoon meeting sportin= his favorite pair of bright red sneakers and hot-pink socks, Mr. Cook was=prepared. "So, I've heard you've been breaking some of our rules,"=Mr. Cook said in his calm, Southern tone. Stop the trickery, Mr. =ook then demanded, or Uber's app would be kicked out of Apple's App Store.=/em>

7. "The walking dead"

Valley investors are getting pickier, according to Wall=Street Journal front-pager, "Once-Flush=Startups Struggle to Stay Alive"

Boom: "Ve=ture-capital firms remain flush with cash: They raised $44 billion last ye=r, the most since the dot-com boom."

Bust: "But i=vestors are staying away from scores of initially well-funded startups tha= once looked like relatively safe bets, forcing these companies to fight f=r survival as they burn through their stockpiles of cash and scramble for =ew money or buyers."

Why it matters: expects a steady stream of failures."

8. Stat of the day

The Wall Street Journal; *2016 is=an estimate

From a Wall Street Journal front-pager, "Surprise Rebound ... Against All =dds, the U.S. Tobacco Industry Is Rolling in Money":

"A=ericans spent more at retail stores on cigarettes in 2016 than th=y did on soda and beer combined."

The gist ... To=acco companies killing it: While far fewer people smoke today, the compani=s have jacked up prices so much that revenue is higher today than 15 years=ago.

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9. Obama begins new phase of public life

Former President Obama's "Conversation on Civic Engagement" with hundreds of young people at the University of Chicago this morni=g, his first public event since leaving office, will be "a warmup =or more visibility in the coming weeks," the Chicago Tribune's Ka=herine Skiba writes on th= front page:

Globetrotting spring: "Obam= is to receive a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on May=7. Then he flies to Milan for the Global Innovation Food Summit. In Italy,=he'll be with Sam Kass, a good friend and former personal chef both in Chi=ago and the White House. On May 25, Obama is slated to appear in Berlin wi=h German Chancellor Angela Merkel."

Future plans:

<=a>

10. 1 hard fall

Seeds of a comeback? Bill O'Reilly's "No Spin News" pod=ast will be back tonight as he returns from vacation, per the L.A. Times:
<= style="margin-left: 20px;">"'The No Spin News returns,' the broadcaster announced ... on his website. It airs at=7 p.m. EDT, an hour earlier than 'Factor' used to start on Fox News. ... T=e ... podcast ... goes back to 2009 as a premium-access series."

<=i>O'Reilly's site, touting the podcast: "Free through Sunday. Continues for premium members Monday May 1."

Membersh=p is $49.95 a year.

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