Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 6 — Fight Club — Apple sneak peeks —? Fun new Saturday feature: My 6 big things
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2017 09:51:11 -0400 (EDT)

Presented by The Boeing Company:

Fight Club — Apple sneak peeks — Fun new Saturday featur=: My 6 big things

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Presented By The Boeing Company

Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Jun 03, 2017

1 big thing: The Comey presidency

Jim Comey, who at 6 foot 8 has at least five inches on =onald Trump, has loomed over his campaign and presidency for months �=94 first through his bombshell statements about Hillary's email, then by d=ggedly pursuing the Russia investigation and eventually getting fired for =is zeal.

Next week, Comey comes out of the shadows= with Senate Intelligence Committee testimony scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursd=y that promises to be the most gripping television to come off of Capitol =ill since the Clinton impeachment hearings or Watergate.

Le=ks about Comey's conclusion that Trump was pressuring him, and hi= real-time documentation in potentially devastating memos, has the White H=use and its allies worried that this could be their worst week since takin= office. The signs of worry:

The W=ite House floated a trial balloon about invoking executive privil=ge to block Comey's testimony, but quickly popped it — two officia=s tell the N.Y. Times' Michael Schmidt that Trump=doesn't plan to go that route. White House officials realized the optics w=re terrible: It'd look like they had something to hide. Plus Trump aides r=alize executive privilege isn't absolute — so it wasn't a slam dun=, anyway. And even if the claim stopped Comey's testimony, it cou=dn't stop a free, fired man from just walking out and giving an interv=ew or a press conference.

Fight Club: Trump is sc=ambling to set up an outside war camp — possibly run by former cam=aign operatives David Bossie and Corey Lewandowski — to battle Com=y's charges. A top official tells me it's hard to bring these guys inside =ecause of their reputations and styles. So one option, reported last night=by Fox's Ed Henry, is an outside group set up as a 501(c)4 nonprofit. A Tr=mp aide told me it'd be a way to get the campaign band back together in ti=e of need.

The Comey chaos is making staff chang=s extremely difficult, even though Trump continues to ruminate to friends =bout his lineup. Top officials, beginning with Chief of Staff Reince Prieb=s, are ensnarled as possible witnesses. Plus, Trump needs more, n=t less, internal help. On the flip side, the West Wing is having a difficu=t time finding people who are willing to pay for — or can afford =E2�� the hundreds of thousands in legal bills they are likely to incur=from joining a White House under investigation.

Quote =f the week ... Jeremy Bash to Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC: "Pro tip:=If you want to exert executive privilege, don't fire the guy."

2. Out in the cold

Images from the Newseum. =ee more front pages here.

I'm told that in addition to Ivanka Trump, t=e presidential confidants making a last-minute pitch to soften the Paris d=al included national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who argued to Preside=t Trump that he could accomplish what he needed to domestically, while add=ng significant caveats that would avoid alienating allies.

T=ump rejected the advice in part because he thought a clean exit l=oked stronger, and partly because he was tired of all the conflicting advi=e he was getting.

But the biggest reason was all a=out that base: Using the muscle memory from the campaign, Trump is increas=ngly obsessed with his core voters. Officials explain that Trump and his i=ner circle learned in the darkest days of the campaign that they could pow=r through by doubling down and focusing on the the base, so they're bringi=g those instincts to government.

Sound smart:

CNN's Jim Acosta, on White House unwillingness =o say whether Trump still t=inks climate change is a hoax: "It guarantees the question will be ask=d over and over again."

WashPost lead story, "Europe's view of U.S. ties darkens," by Michael Birnbaum in Brussel=: "The pullout left the United States a global outlier and, many European =eaders and experts said, a severely diminished force in the world. And it =ave China fresh weight in a newly unbalanced landscape where longtime U.S.=allies are searching for stability."

3. The talk of tech

Sneak peek at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, =n San Jose next week ... "Apple set to turn up the volume in ba=tle of talking helpers," by Tim Bradshaw in S.F.: "[T]he company is ex=ected to up its game against Amazon's voice-controlled Alexa and Google's =dvances in computer vision, with new outlets for its own talking helper Si=i and an overhaul of its iOS operating system."

"While=recent previous annual gatherings of app makers have focused on s=ftware and services, Monday's opening keynote address, led by Tim Cook, ch=ef executive, could also see Apple unveil new hardware, including a Siri-p=wered hi-fi to compete head-on with Amazon's Echo and Google's Home."
=li>"Apple could alter reality: Next iPhone may give the p=ysical world and extra kick," by USA Today's Jon Swartz in S.F.: "e next v=rsion of iPhone, expected in September or October, could include augmented=reality (AR), giving the technology a burst of momentum. ... [L]ongtime Ap=le analyst Gene Munster predicts Apple will sell more than 100 million aug=ented units of the forthcoming iPhone."

Axios exclusiv=, "Apple Music executive Bozoma Saint John plans to leave the company,= by Ina Fried:

"Why it matters: While Apple ha= several women of color in higher-ranking positions, Saint John had a high=profile beyond Apple and was wi=ely praised for her on-stage work last year. She was also fairly uniqu= among Apple executives in maintaining a strong personal brand beyond her =ork identity, with a strong following on Instagramand Twitter. Her exit also comes shortly after Apple shi=ted former HR head Denise Young Smith to a new role as VP of diversity and=inclusion."

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4. The talk of business

American consumers aren't spending with the gusto you'd expect, =/strong>what with U.S. unemployment plumbing a 16-year low of 4.3%, wages =icking up, and the stock market hitting record highs, Barron's columnist K=pin Tan writes in "The Surprising Threat to=the American Economy":

The problem: "Rea= U.S. personal spending is growing at about 2.6% year over year, when it s=ould be closer to 4%, given the much-ballyhooed global recovery."

=strong>The reason: "Our attitude toward spending and debt has cha=ged, as well, and the bursting of the housing bubble has deflated our love=of conspicuous consumption. Families are saving more, despite being penali=ed for saving by zero interest rates."

Key st=t 1: "Thanks to the levitating stock market and recovering home p=ices, household net worth is 37% higher than it was at the housing-bubble =eak ... with 30% of our net worth now tied to stocks and mutual funds."
Key stat 2: "The share of national spending eaten up=by three items — health care, housing, and education — has=ballooned from 25% in 1980 to more than 36% by 2015."

The =ottom line: "A stock market trading at all-time highs carries wit= it the burden of great expectations, but investors might be looking to th= burgeoning middle class overseas to pick up the spending slack and goose =he global economy. American consumers have done their fair share, and they=deserve a break."

P.S. Wall Street Journal 5-column le=d, "Jobless Rate Falls to 16-Year Low [since may 2001]]: Fewer jo=s are being created, though, in a sign firms are struggling with labor sho=tages," by Eric Morath:

"After = robust start to the year, the economy has added an average 121,0=0 jobs over the past three months. That is about two-thirds of the growth =ate recorded last year."

5. Worthy of your attention

"Robert Caro Nears End Of Research on L.B.J.," <=strong>by John Williams on N.Y. Times p. C3: "Those waiting for the fifth =nd final planned installment of Robert A. Caro's award-winning life of Lyn=on B. Johnson might be both heartened and frustrated by the [81-year-old] =istorian's most recent update on his progress. In an interview ... with C-=pan's Brian Lamb, ... Caro said he had most of the research and 400 typed =ages of the manuscript for the next book done. But 'one more big thing' re=ains, he said: A trip to Vietnam. ... The author estimated that less than = percent of the material in his research files has made it into the finish=d books."

"Has science cracked the=peanut allergy? Amid the alarming rise in food allergies, two=new treatments are on the verge of approval," by David Crow in Financial T=mes Magazine: "One is a capsule that is broken and sprinkled over food, th= other a stick-on skin patch placed on a patient's back. Both are underpin=ed by the same scientific theory: that exposing seriously allergic childre= to tiny amounts of peanut flour will retrain their immune systems to cope=better with the real thing."

The office workers who decide "G"=or "NC-17" ... Wall Street Journal A-hed, "These 11 People Wa=ch Every Movie — Especially the Icky Bits: Hollywood's 'raters' pu= in long hours judging sex and gore — also bus accidents," by Eric= Schwartzel: "In years past, it was the proliferation of blood, gore and a=ocalyptic blow-'em-up spectacles. Today, surveys show parents are less sen=itive to violence but are increasingly concerned about smoking and bullyin=."

6. New feature: My 6 big things

Instagram founder Kevin Systrom talks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo =ark, Calif., in 2013 / AP's Marcio Jose Sanchez

Axios AM kicks off a new Saturday treat: "My 6 Big Thin=s" — a quick weekend breakfast conversation with one of the world'= most interesting and consequential people.

Our debut guest =/strong>is Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Instagram — 700 mi=lion people, connected by the power of visual communication:

What is the one thing you won't skip – or shorte= – in the morning? An hour-long workout on my bike.
<=i>What's your favorite trick for getting smart quickl=? Read voraciously, but intelligently. In Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book," he says you should not read ev=ry page in a book, and spend most of your time figuring out the most impor=ant parts to read.

What's your favorite life =ack? If you don't want to do something, make a deal with yourself=to do at least five minutes of it. After five minutes, you'll end up doing=the whole thing.

What's the one thing you are insecure abo=t? My inability to understand the term "business casual."
Name one item on your bucket list. One day, ='d like to ride in the Paris-Roubaix, a road race in northern France. It's=one of cycling's oldest races and boasts some of the roughest terrain. I h=ve some training to do!

What tech gadget or a=p saves you the most time? That's easy – Waze! Bay area t=affic can be trite, but I use Waze every day to avoid sitting on the 101.<=li>

Thank you, Kevin. And happy weekend, all! See =ou tomorrow morning.

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