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| Presented By Amazon |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Feb 26, 2021 |
| ☕ Happy Friday! Smart Brevity™ count: 975 words ... < 4 minutes. 🎬 On Sunday's "Axios on HBO" (6 p.m. ET/PT on all HBO platforms): Reddit CEO Steve Huffman tells Axios' Erica Pandey how the company changed its salary philosophy during COVID, why users are allowed anonymity, and his own approach to financial advice from Reddit. Watch a clip. |
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| 1 big thing: Dems drub Trumpless GOP online |
 Data: Twitter/CrowdTangle. Chart: Will Chase/Axios In a swift reversal from 90 days ago, Democrats are now the ones with overpowering social media muscle and the ability to drive news, Axios' Neal Rothschild writes. - Why it matters: Democrats slogged through the Trump era powerless to break through the president's ability to commandeer the national conversation through his Twitter feed.
Stars from the Democratic primary — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg — accrued massive followings over the last few years. - With the Trump show crowding out everyone else over the last four years, few other Republicans had a chance to build their profiles.
- Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul — all of 2016 GOP primary fame — have the three biggest Twitter followings among elected Republicans.
The picture for Republicans is particularly grim on Instagram, which has become a home for young, progressive politics. - AOC has 8.9 million followers and Sanders has 6.7 million. Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw (2.3m) is the only elected Republican with over a million.
Outside of elected officials, Republicans have a bigger bench of social clout, including the Trump family, Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo. |
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| 2. Rail's big moment is arriving |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| Passenger rail could be the big winner if Congress moves ahead with President Biden's ambitious infrastructure plan, Axios Navigate conductor Joann Muller writes from Detroit. - Why it matters: Under Biden, the infrastructure focus has shifted to sustainable projects that fulfill his climate and equity goals.
Rail advocates see a rare opportunity to go big with "Amtrak Joe" in the White House. - Jockeying has already begun among backers of various high-speed rail projects.
- In Charlotte, light-rail plays a critical role in an ambitious transportation plan that could cost $8 billion to $12 billion, Axios Charlotte reports.
Share this story. |
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| 3. First look: Business puts muscle behind Biden |
| President Biden speaks virtually to the National Governors Association winter meeting yesterday. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Business Roundtable, the voice of America's top CEOs, today launched "Move the Needle," a campaign to support President Biden in rolling out COVID vaccines, increasing vaccine uptake and encouraging masks. - Business Roundtable president and CEO Josh Bolten said: "Masks and vaccines are working. Now is the time to keep at it, overcome pandemic fatigue, and double down on the measures that will end this public health and economic crisis."
The announcement explains the campaign's name: "Business Roundtable companies have been 'moving the needle' by producing, distributing and administering the vaccine. " - "America's leading employers will ramp up engagement with their employees, suppliers and customers to advance wider and consistent adoption of COVID-19 safety practices and vaccines," the release says.
- The campaign will push the hashtag #IGottheShot.
Also today, the White House will announce alliances with top business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers, and leaders in Hispanic, African American, AAPI and other minority business organizations: Over the coming weeks, the Biden administration, in partnership with these groups, will provide businesses with toolkits and best practices on COVID-19 to help organizations provide accurate and up to date information to their employees and customers. YouTube: New PSA on vaccines. |
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| A message from Amazon |
| It's time to raise the federal minimum wage |
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| In 2018, Amazon established a $15/hr starting wage which is more than 2X the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr. The company has seen the positive impact it's had on its employees and their families. That's why they're calling on Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act. |
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| 4. GameStop II: New Wall Street drama |
 Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals 🔔 Sign up here for Axios Closer, a new weeknight newsletter by Courtenay Brown, with all the day's hot talkers from the business world. |
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| 5. Catch-up quick: D.C.'s day of drama |
| Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm elbow-bumps Vice President Harris during ceremonial swearing-in at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images In President Biden's first known military action, a U.S. airstrike hit facilities in Syria linked to Iran-backed militants — a move the Pentagon described as a response to threats against U.S. personnel in Iraq. - The Senate parliamentarian dealt Democrats a blow by ruling that a provision to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour can't be included in Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.
- Three House Republicans joined all Democrats to pass the Equality Act, expanding federal protections for LGBTQ people by prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
- A Customs and Border Protection staffer told top Biden officials the agency is projecting a peak of 13,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border in May, Axios' Stef Kight scooped in Sneak Peek.
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| 6. Sovereign state of Facebook |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| Facebook's 3 billion monthly active users, its mountain of money and its control over the flow of information all put the company on a footing with governments around the world — and, increasingly, it's getting into fights with them, Axios' Sara Fischer and Scott Rosenberg write. - Why it matters: Facebook's power alarms governments fearful that the tech giant could tilt the political scales inside their borders.
Facebook yesterday took the unprecedented step of banning the Myanmar military, which seized power in a coup, from using its service. - The ban puts Facebook "squarely on the side of the pro-democracy movement" in the country, the N.Y. Times writes (subscription).
Keep reading. |
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| 7. 🎞️ Rare eye inside COVID ward |
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| Photo: Luisa Conlon/The New York Times. Used by kind permission. |
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| It's hard to watch, but a video from New York Times Opinion — "Death, Through a Nurse's Eyes," made in Phoenix by Alexander Stockton and Lucy Ki — will give you a better idea of what's happening in America. - It's "a firsthand perspective of the brutality of the pandemic inside a Covid-19 I.C.U."
A friend texted me: "You should really consider featuring this ... It's just extraordinary journalism, and incredibly moving and important." Photo: Luisa Conlon/The New York Times. Used by kind permission. |
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| 8. 🗞️ Time capsule: The beginning of the end? |
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| 9. Movies boom in China |
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| Poly Cinema in Beijing yesterday. Photo: Andy Wong/AP |
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| With coronavirus under control in China and cinemas running at half capacity, moviegoers are smashing China's box office records — setting a new high mark for ticket sales in February, with domestic productions far outpacing their Hollywood competitors, AP reports from Beijing. - February marked China's all-time biggest month for movie ticket sales, which have so far totaled 11.2 billion yuan ($1.73 billion).
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| 10. Mr. Potato Head brand goes gender neutral |
| The new Potato Head world. Photo: Hasbro via AP After 70 years, Hasbro boxes will be branded "Potato Head" rather than "Mr. Potato Head" starting this fall, in an effort to make sure "all feel welcome in the Potato Head world," AP reports. - The new playset will let kids create potato families that include two moms or two dads.
Why it matters: Many toymakers have been updating classic brands, hoping to relate to today's kids and reflect more modern families. - Barbie now comes in multiple skin tones and body shapes. The Thomas the Tank Engine toy line added more girl characters. And American Girl now sells a boy doll.
🥔 Axios' Ina Fried, the voice of Lumpy in the '80s cartoon Potato Head Kids, says she fully supports her parents' more expansive gender. |
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| A message from Amazon |
| Watch what happened when Amazon raised their starting wage to $15/hr |
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| Amazon saw the need to do more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. In 2018, they established a $15/hour starting wage, and they've seen the positive impact it's had on their employees and their families firsthand. That's why they're calling on Congress to pass the Raise the Wage Act. |
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