| | | | | | | Presented By Facebook | | | | Axios Sneak Peek | | By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Kadia Goba ·May 10, 2021 | | Welcome back to Sneak. This should be a momentous week on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue. ⚡ Situational awareness: A day after dropping all pretense, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy went overt: He told his colleagues they'll vote Wednesday on whether to recall Rep. Liz Cheney, Punchbowl News scooped. Today's newsletter — edited by Glen Johnson — is 980 words, a 3.5-minute read. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Pelosi's Republican playbook |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | As Republicans fight among themselves, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is showing the myriad ways she deals with the GOP herself, Axios' Alayna Treene and Glen Johnson write. Between the lines: We've seen Pelosi cut opponents off at the knees, like she did with President Trump, or pretend to forget their names, as she did to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). Now she's feeding oppo research against her House counterpart, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), so others can use the same harsh rhetoric to frame the Republicans as the party of dysfunction. - The spectrum of her tactical range will be on full display this week.
- House Democrats must react to Republican efforts to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as GOP conference chair as early as Wednesday. And the "Big Four" congressional leaders will meet that same day with President Biden at the White House.
What we're hearing: This is all being driven by Pelosi. - "The messaging is 95% her, 5% her team," a Democratic congressional aide told Axios.
- Keep in mind: Pelosi has said this will be her last term, so she has little to lose by going all in and taking on her political enemies.
One of the last times Pelosi, McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gathered in the Oval Office, in December 2018, the senators' roles were reversed. - Pelosi famously stood up to Trump from across a coffee table, telling the-then president "please don't characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats" as he conjectured about her ability to avoid an impending government shutdown, referring to her as "Nancy."
Another tactic deployed by Pelosi is feigned forgetfulness. - She once called Sen. Johnson by the name "Don" instead of "Ron" while criticizing him over his response to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The third iteration is at work today. Pelosi's office has ramped up its opposition research emails attacking McCarthy and other Republican leaders amid the drama surrounding Cheney's ouster. - The subject line from one such email, dated May 4, read: "From the GOP Leadership: Help Wanted — Non-Threatening Female."
Keep reading. |     | | | | | | 2. 🚨 China increases spending 500% to influence America |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | New foreign-agent filings are finally detailing a massive Beijing propaganda operation that's fueled a sixfold increase in Chinese foreign influence efforts in the United States in recent years, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports. Why it matters: Propaganda is central to China fulfilling its geopolitical aspirations, and its efforts to sow discord and disinformation in the U.S. have very real consequences for the American business, political and social climates. - According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Chinese foreign agent spending has skyrocketed from just over $10 million in 2016 to nearly $64 million last year.
- Thanks largely to its stable of propaganda operations, China is now the top spender on foreign influence operations in the U.S.
- American laws designed to force disclosure of paid foreign influence are beginning to reveal the huge sums Beijing has devoted to its effort.
What's happening: State-run Chinese news service Xinhua is the latest to reveal some of the inner workings of its U.S. operations. - Xinhua's U.S. arm officially registered as a foreign agent last week, three years after the Justice Department notified the company it was required to do so, as first reported by Foreign Lobby Watch.
- Its initial filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act is largely generic, describing Xinhua as "an independent legal entity" that's simply "subject to government oversight."
- In fact, the media organ is owned by the Chinese government, run by senior Communist Party officials and widely seen as a Beijing mouthpiece.
- Its new FARA filing disclosed $8.6 million in payments since March 2020 from Xinhua's Chinese parent to its U.S. arm, including payments directly to bureaus in Washington, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco and Chicago.
The bottom line: The new FARA filings aren't revealing new Chinese influence measures — only shining a light on ones that have existed for years. Keep reading. | | | | | | | | 3. By the numbers: The rise and fall of voter turnout |  Data: Analysis by Brooking Institution's William H. Frey of U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios Forty-four states plus Washington, D.C., saw an increase in voter turnout in 2020 compared to 2016, according to a new census data analysis by the Brookings Institution that was reviewed by Axios' Stef Kight. By the numbers: Turnout for non-college-educated, white voters — a key voting bloc for Donald Trump — dropped in just six states. Meanwhile, turnout for white college grads fell in 15 states, and non-white voter turnout fell in 13. - Despite being a critical battleground state, turnout in North Carolina fell from 2016.
- Black voters in South Carolina played a critical role in Joe Biden's nomination as the Democratic candidate, but the state saw the biggest decline in non-white voter turnout — dropping 11 percentage points.
- The blue state of New Jersey landed at the top for voter turnout (excluding Washington, D.C.). The state saw a whopping 30-point jump among 18-to 29-year-olds and made the greatest gains of any state among non-white voters and white, college-educated voters.
| | | | | | | | A message from Facebook | | The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too | | |  | | | | It's been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: - Protecting people's privacy
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| | | | | | 4. Scoop: Voting rights group using John Lewis speech in new ad |  | | | Rep. John Lewis speaks during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call | | | | The late Rep. John Lewis is the voice behind a new ad campaign pushing senators to support a comprehensive federal voting rights bill that backers say is needed to counter the efforts by Republicans to curb voter access in many states, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. Driving the news: Just Democracy, a left-leaning civil rights group, is launching the "Your Vote Is Precious" ad as the Senate Rules Committee prepares to consider the For the People Act during a hearing Tuesday focused on what legislation will go to the Senate floor. The House passed its version of the bill in March. - The $500,000 ad buy also is aimed at answering Americans for Prosperity's recently placed ads advocating for keeping the filibuster.
Details: The ad, scheduled to run in Arizona, Georgia and the nation's capital starting Wednesday, features sound and video of Lewis. The Democrat, civil rights icon and former Georgia congressman — who died last July — is heard speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, and shown standing at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. - "Your vote is precious, almost sacred," Lewis begins.
Keep reading. | | | | | | | | 5. Pic du jour |  | | | Photo: Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images | | | | Lafayette Square — closed last June to tourists amid protests over the police killings of George Floyd and other Black men — reopened to tourists and the rest of the public today. | | | | | | | | A message from Facebook | | Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations | | |  | | | | 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It's time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. See how we're taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations. | | | | 🙏🏽 Thanks for reading Sneak! Please let your family, friends and colleagues know they can subscribe to any of Axios' free newsletters — including new ones focused on Latino issues and Gaming, as well as our locals in Charlotte, Tampa, Minneapolis, Des Moines and Denver — through this link. | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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