Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 — What Trump is missing — Axios Science launches — Bigger cyberattacks likely — Callista Gingrich to Vatican
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 May 2017 06:07:12 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by BP:

What Trump is missing — Axios Science launches — Bigger =yberattacks likely — Callista Gingrich to Vatican

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Presented By BP

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·May 15, 2017

Good Monday morning. The Ax=os Science Stream launched this morning to narrate the most important =rends and stories that matter to you. In addition to checking out our post= in the Stream, sign up here for Alison Snyder's weekly newsletter, deliver=ng the most important news from the frontiers of medicine, space, neurosci=nce, physics and more.

1 big thing: ​The absence of love, fear and need

Presidential power over a party or Congress comes from =nough lawmakers needing, fearing or genuinely liking them. Donald Trump ha= none of this.

Almost four months into office, =/strong>Trump has been unable to gain leverage over his party, especially =n the Senate, much less Congress as a whole.

Senate Re=ublicans don't need him. They're pressing ahead with the=r investigations into Russian interference in the election and pushing san=tions against Vladimir Putin. They're pushing their own health care bill o= their own timetable and hardly rushing to Trump's defense. With a very fa=orable set of 2018 races, it's hard to see a need materializing.

I'm told Senate Republicans will also go their own way on ta= reform, unconstrained by White House policy priorities or timetable.

Most Republicans don't like him. President =bama used a mix of need and genuine affection to jam through Obamacare in =is first two years. There are very few Trump Republicans, much less lawmak=rs who dig their president. They tolerate him and they often vote with him= because Trump has largely embraced conventional GOP ideas. But most think=he's blowing it.

No one fears him. Not long ago, =epublicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more. And Democ=ats certainly don't fear a president opposed by most Americans. In fact, a= Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in his weekly Sneak Pe=k newsletter last night, they're ready to effectively shut down the Senate=to force a special prosecutor for the Russia probe.

Why al= this matters: A top GOP lobbyist tells me: "Business feels the a=enda is going down the toilet. ... This said, his supporters are hanging i= there."

Read more ... N.Y. Times front page, above fold, "Senate G.O.P. Is Edging Back From Presi=ent," by Jennifer Steinhauer ... WashPost A1, at fold= "Senate GOP wrestli=g with agenda full of peril," by Sean Sullivan and Kelsey Snell.

2. Warning of more cyberattacks on "significant scale"

The global ransomware attack showed that 1) U.S. defens=s are relatively strong, and corporate investments in cybersecurity are wo=thwhile; and 2) a wide range of industries are still scarily vulnerable: <=p>

"Global alert to prepare for fresh cyber attacks," per the Fi=ancial Times (paywall): "Businesses must brace for further cy=er attacks this week on a potentially 'significant scale,' British intelli=ence officials have warned, less than 48 hours after the debilitating Wann=Cry infection swept across the world."

"More than 200,000 =/strong>computers in at least 150 countries have so far been infected. ...=There is a high probability that Russian-language cybercriminals were behi=d the attack." (Bloom=erg)

"Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith, in a bl=g post Sunday, said the attack is a 'wake-up call' for governments in =he U.S. and elsewhere to stop stockpiling tools to exploit digital vulnera=ilities."

"Tom Bossert, ... Trump's homeland secu=ity and counterterrorism adviser, held emergency meetings with cabinet mem=ers Friday night and Saturday morning at the White House." (WSJ)

3. The next FBI director

An intriguing possibility to replace Comey was discusse= by ABC's Jonathan Karl on George Stephanopoulos' "This Week" roundtable:<=p>
"[T]he president knows =e needs to have somebody that is politically bulletproof. I would not be s=rprised to see it's somebody who is not [being talked about], somebody lik= — even like [Comey's predecessor] Robert Mueller, ... who served =nder Democratic and Republican presidents [Obama and Bush 43], universally=respected ... Mike Rogers has some big fans in the West Wing."

"[D]on't rule out Merrick Garland =Obama's failed nominee for Supreme Court], who was floated by Senator Mike=Lee [R-Utah]. ... Garland ... could be confirmed 100-0 in the Senate."
=p>But would Garland do it? The WashPost's Dave Weigel says the idea is =like Wile E. Coyote putting down a nest made of dynamite and writing 'NOT = TRAP' on a whiteboard next to it."

Weigel quotes Slate's Dahlia Lithwick: "Gar=and probably won't want to give up his lifetime tenure as the chief judge =f the second-most important court in the land, and surely the most signifi=ant bulwark against Trump administration overreach, in exchange for a 12-m=nute gig on The Apprentice before he uses the wrong color highlig=ter and gets fired."

Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorn=y in Manhattan who was fired by Trump, has a WashPost op-ed, "Are there still public se=vants who will say no to the president?": "I join in the common-sense =all for an independent and uncompromised special counsel to oversee the Ru=sia investigation. ... History will judge this moment."

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BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

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4. "Significant advance" by North Korea

A woman walks by a TV news program showing images of North Korean missil= launch, published in the country's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, at Seoul Rail=ay station today / AP's Lee Jin-man

Enormously destabilizing if true ... Some worrisome aft=rmath to this weekend's North Korean missile launch:

No=th Korea boasted today that "the missile it launched over the wee=end was a new type of long-range ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy n=clear warhead." (AP=

"Out=iders also saw a significant technological jump, with the test-fi=e apparently flying higher and for a longer time period than any other suc= previous missile." (AP<=a>)

North Korean propaganda must be consider=d with wariness.

But monitors said today that the=apparently successful launch of a mid-to-long range missile indicated a si=nificant advance in its drive for an intercontinental ballistic missile, a=worrying sign for the Korean peninsula and the United States. (Reuters)
Wall Street Journal front-pager, "North Korea Accelerates Long-Range Missile Work": "In t=e past three years, North Korea has launched more major missiles than in t=e three previous decades combined."

5. And don't forget al Qaeda

On "60 Minutes" last night, "What bin Laden documents=/a> reveal about al Qaeda," by correspondent Holly Williams:

<=trong>John Miller — the former journalist who heads the N=PD's counterterrorism and intelligence, and is one of the few Westerners t= have interviewed Osama bin Laden — tells her: "The mistake that w= risk making is to look back on 9/11 as a singular event and say, 'Well, a= Qaeda was a one-attack wonder. And since then they've been falling apart.= Al Qaeda has sustained itself in the shadows. And while other groups are =etting more attention, they're getting bigger. And they're patient."
<=i>"Al Qaeda now has footholds in around = dozen countries throughout the Middle East, Africa and into South Asia ..= owing much of its growth to the Arab Spring."

Why it matt=rs: Osama's message lives and now there's a new messenger �=94 his young, charismatic son, Hamza bin Laden (around 28 years old): "I t=ink we're not done with the bin Ladens yet."

6. Powerful daughters ...

... are a theme in New York magazine's Work Issue:

Ca=tlin Flanagan has a long piece on Ivanka, "The People's Princess": "Sometimes, she seems not just essential to =is idea of being president; sometimes, she seems the point of his being president. ... [Trump] is Lear — 'All the power of h=s wits have given way to his impatience' — but Lear with only one =elevant daughter, and to her has fallen the task of keeping his terrifying=impatience from destroying not just their shared empire but the world itse=f. He is strangely dependent on her now. And so are we."

G=be Sherman, in a piece on the "toxic" workplace culture at Fox News, reveals: "T=e Murdochs are quietly looking for a new programming executive to run the =etwork. ... James wants to recruit David Rhodes from CBS News (Rhodes is u=der contract). Rupert is interested in Wall Street Journal editor=Gerry Baker, or Rebekah Brooks. One source said Rupert's daughter =lisabeth is also being discussed as a candidate."

7. Big energy to Trump: Slow down deregulation

Rebecca Zisser / Axios

A memorable, essential point by Axios' Amy Harder' in h=r weekly "Harder Line" energy column: "Ironically, it's the reg=lated industries proving to be a countervailing influence against the GOP'= most conservative ranks. Automakers and companies producing oil, natural =as and coal want to ensure changes endure through leadership changes in Wa=hington and legal fights despite environmental opposition."

8. Callista Gingrich set to be ambassador to Vatican

Callista Gingrich, the wife of former House Speaker New= Gingrich, has been chosen as ambassador to the Vatican, and the White Hou=e hopes to announce her nomination before President Trump meets with Pope =rancis on May 24 in Rome, per CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Caroline Kenny.=/p>
Backstory from N.Y. Times' Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz:

"[D=uring the transition Mr. Trump half-jokingly said he was intrigue= by the idea of picking Ms. Gingrich because it could also get Mr. Gingric= ... out of his hair."

"Over recent months, Ms. G=ngrich and her husband grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of =he vetting process, and Ms. Gingrich even threatened to take her name out =f the running."

"Others who were considered inclu=e Rick Santorum."

Funny story by Jonathan Swa= in last night's Sneak Peek newsletter: "About six weeks ago, the President =as kibitzing about the Vatican ambassador role. Trump told our source he w=s reluctant to send Callista to the Vatican because he likes seeing her hu=band Newt defending him on TV. Our source told the President they were sur= satellite hook-ups could be arranged for Newt at the Holy See."

9. From our new Science Stream

"Understanding the software of life," by Sci=nce Editor Alison Snyder:

"Onc= disparate fields of science are intersecting in unprecedented wa=s — physicists are flocking to solve biology's complex problems, g=ologists and astronomers mind meld over the search for alien life, and eco=ogists and economists collaborate to try to figure out how we compete and =ooperate."

10. 1 fun thing: Government scientist wins Miss USA

Miss District of Columbia USA, Kara McCullough, a Nuclear Regulatory Co=mission scientist, is crowned in Vegas yesterday / AP's John Locher

Kara McCullough, a scientist from D.C. working for the =.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was crowned Miss USA last night and wil= represent the U.S. at Miss Universe (formerly owned by Trump), per AP's <= href="http://link.axios.com/click/9615145.33578/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcG5ld3MuY29=LzM2MzEwNjczMzJkNDRlMjU5MGUwZDQ4ZmRjOGRlZThhL0dvdmVybm1lbnQtc2NpZW50aXN0LW=yb20tREMtd2lucy1NaXNzLVVTQS10aXRsZT91dG1fc291cmNlPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX21lZ=l1bT1lbWFpbCZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249bmV3c2xldHRlcl9heGlvc2Ft/5871993924c17c54d77=8b8cBa7379491" target="_blank">Regina Garcia Cano in Vegas:

=
"McCullough ... was born in Naples, Italy, and raised=in Virginia Beach."

"[S]he wants to inspire children to pursue car=ers in ... science, technology, engineering and mathematics."

"This was the second year in a row that the representative of =he nation's capital won the Miss USA title. Last year, ... Deshauna Barber=became the first-ever military member to win Miss USA."

Bonus Fun Thing ... Our family got a laugh out of this video from "Saturday Night Live" ... "=he Amazon Echo Silver is specifically designed for the greatest g=neration (Kenan Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Kyle Mooney, Aidy B=yant)." This Alexa responds to Allegra, Odessa, Anita, Clarissa, Ameli= ...

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BP invests more in the U.S. than anywhere else, and over the past 10 yea=s no energy company has invested more in America.

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