| | | | | | | Presented By BlackRock | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Sep 13, 2022 | | Hello, Tuesday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,494 words ... 5½ mins. Edited by Noah Bressner. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Biden's win streak |  | | | Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios | | | | President Biden and Democrats have ridden a wave of good news all summer — on an improving economy, big legislative wins, even unlikely gains by Ukraine, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Josh Kraushaar report. - Why it matters: Democrats spent the first half of the year facing seemingly hopeless headwinds. Now, they're praying they can keep their positive momentum.
The big picture: Inflation's fury has cooled. Gas prices are down. Democrats have racked up legislative successes, including last month's passage of a landmark climate, health and tax package. - The Supreme Court's abortion decision energized Democratic voters, with women registering to vote at unusually high levels, and Republicans losing their advantage in the generic House ballot.
- 🛒 The August Consumer Price Index, out today, will be a new data point for the political weather.
🇺🇦 At the end of last week, Biden's team celebrated a small but significant breakthrough in their long-running effort to help Ukraine fight back against the Russian invasion. - Elections are rarely driven by foreign policy. But compared with the political impact of last year's Afghanistan withdrawal, Ukraine showing new fight against Russia is welcome news to the administration.
🐘 Between the lines: Republicans' self-inflicted troubles have helped Democrats. - Former President Trump is again the center of repeated news cycles, giving Dems a powerful turnout machine.
- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are privately bemoaning the quality of Trump-backed candidates in key Senate races. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chairman of the GOP's Senate campaign arm, has botched his fundraising strategy and is in an open war with McConnell.
- Several Trump-endorsed Senate candidates — especially Blake Masters in Arizona — are underperforming Republican expectations.
🥊 Reality check: Republicans still have a clear path to retaking the Senate. They only need to net one seat — and there are plenty of paths. - If Republicans hang on in Wisconsin and hold the other Trump states, they need to win only two of six other battlegrounds — Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, New Hampshire, Arizona and Colorado.
Share this story ... Axios' Hans Nichols and Lachlan Markay contributed reporting. |     | | | | | | 2. ⚖️ 40 Trump allies subpoenaed | | Former President Trump drives a cart yesterday at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP The Justice Department blanketed current and former advisers to former President Trump with about 40 subpoenas, "in a substantial escalation" of the criminal probe into the Capitol attack and his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, The New York Times reports (subscription). - Why it matters: Investigators are "casting a wide net on a range of issues, including Mr. Trump's postelection fund-raising and the so-called fake electors scheme," The Times adds.
📱 Federal agents with search warrants seized phones last week from at least two people in Trump's orbit: Boris Epshteyn, a former White House official who currently helps coordinate Trump's legal strategy, and Mike Roman, who was the Trump campaign's director of Election Day operations in 2020, The Times learned. - Among those subpoenaed were Dan Scavino — Trump's social-media guru in the White House, who has remained an adviser — and Bernard Kerik, who was NYPD commissioner on 9/11, and promoted vote-fraud claims with his friend Rudy Giuliani.
| | | | | | | | 3. 📺 Queen eclipses Ukraine on TV |  Data: Stanford Cable TV News Analyzer. Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios Viewers of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News got lots more news in the past week about Queen Elizabeth's death than they did about the potential turning point in the Ukraine war, Sara Fischer found for her weekly Axios Media Trends newsletter. - For the week of Sept. 5-11, there were 159.7 min. of coverage about the Queen, 15.2 min. on Ukraine and 10.3 min. on inflation.
💣 Why it matters: Ukraine recaptured 3,400 square miles in one week, which is more than Russia did in the last five months (2,000 square miles), The New York Times reports (subscription). | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock | | Invested in the future of education | | |  | | | | Americans everywhere are working hard to build a better future. So at BlackRock, we're hard at work to help them achieve financial freedom. We're proud to help families invest to save for education by managing their 529 College Savings Plans. Learn more. | | | | | | 4. 📊 Axios-Ipsos poll: Roll credits on COVID |  Data: Axios/Ipsos poll. Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios Two and a half years into the pandemic, Americans say they're doing well in most aspects of their lives — except possibly their personal finances, Adriel Bettelheim writes from the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index. - The public's perception of personal risk is at a low point. People are starting to pick and choose more where they deem it necessary to take precautions, including masking.
Why it matters: Many of us appear ready to roll the credits on the pandemic, despite lingering political divisions over the response. 🧮 By the numbers: Overwhelming majorities say they had very or somewhat good physical health (83%), mental health (85%), emotional well-being (84%) and home life (90%). - 78% reported having very or somewhat good personal finances.
Between the lines: The results should encourage Democrats, who are wary of discussing COVID or reminding people there's still a health threat in the run-up to the midterms. - But it could also make it difficult for the Biden administration to spark interest in getting reformulated booster shots.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | 5. 📚 First look: Pence "angry" on 1/6 |  | | | Cover: Simon & Schuster | | | | Former Vice President Mike Pence writes in a memoir — "So Help Me God," out Nov. 15 — that when the Capitol was attacked while he was presiding over a joint session to certify the 2020 election results, "I was not afraid, but I was angry." - "I was angry at what I saw, how it desecrated the seat of our democracy and dishonored the patriotism of millions of our supporters, who would never do such a thing here or anywhere else," Pence writes on the book's back cover, seen here for the first time.
Between the lines: Much of the book is about Pence's faith journey; the final chapters are about Jan. 6. - Pence viewed his role as being loyal to President Trump and articulating his policies. So the book includes more about Pence himself — and his behind-the-scenes policy pushes on abortion, tax cuts, regulatory relief and national security, including Israel and Iran.
More on the book ... Share this story. | | | | | | | | 6. 🕶️ First look: Souvenir from Biden victory lap |  | | | The White House | | | | Above is the program for this afternoon's South Lawn event celebrating last month's signing of the Inflation Reduction Act — the green-energy-and-more package that passed with Congress on the way out of town for the summer. - "The Inflation Reduction Act is one of the most significant laws in our Nation's history," President Biden says.
President Biden greets Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at his event yesterday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP 🚀 In remarks yesterday about his Cancer Moonshot Initiative — on the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's clarion call to win the space race — President Biden said: [W]e know we can change the trajectory. For example, to prevent cancers, scientists are exploring whether mRNA vaccine technology that brought us safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines could be used to stop cancer cells when they first arise. Read Biden's speech ... Fact sheet. | | | | | | | | 7. 💰 Out today: How to be a billionaire |  | | | Cover: Simon & Schuster | | | | David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group and huge philanthropist, is out today with "How To Invest: Masters on the Craft" — interviews with fellow billionaires and pioneers about building wealth. - 🧠 A big takeaway, synthesized from advice by Warren Buffett and others: Don't sell so much! Hold on for a long time: You avoid transaction costs, avoid taxes and keep compounding.
Rubenstein, who's donating the book's proceeds to several children's hospitals, told me he set out to "put together a book that would talk about what the insights are from the greatest investors — recognizing that the average person reading it is not going to become one of the greatest investors in the world." - "Make sure you know what you're doing," he said. "You spend so much time working to earn the money. Spend as much time reading about what you should do with your money."
"Investing is not about greed," Rubenstein said. "Most of the investors who really make money are giving away the bulk of it." - "Secondly, I think that they are doing something useful for society by actually allocating capital to useful things. The venture capitalists who put money into Moderna [maker of a COVID vaccine] did a pretty good thing for society."
Rubenstein's dream for the book? "Well, if I can get my children to read it, that would be Number 1." Don't worry: They're in private equity. | | | | | | | | 8. A Broadway first | | Angelica Ross during a photo call in New York last month for her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical "Chicago." Photo: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images Angelica Ross — star of FX's "Pose" — debuted last evening as Roxie Hart in the hit musical "Chicago," becoming the first openly transgender woman to star on Broadway, Axios' Ina Fried reports from New York. - Why it matters: Ross' groundbreaking role comes amid a legislative attack on transgender civil rights in states around the country.
Ross and co-star Amra-Faye Wright acknowledged the juxtaposition at the show's end, telling the audience that the performance comes as many people question the future of America and what the country stands for. - A host of celebrities and members of the LGBTQ community turned up to see Ross' debut, including writer and activist Raquel Willis and the cast of "Strange Loop," another Broadway musical.
"It meant so much," Ross told Axios after the show. "Especially when I looked out into the audience when the lights came up and I saw so much family — so many trans folks, so many non-binary folks." | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock | | Invested in the future of first responders | | |  | | | | We're proud to manage the pensions of those who serve others. All across the country, we're helping Americans invest for their future. Meet Joshua, one of the hundreds of thousands of first responders whose retirement plan assets are managed by BlackRock. Learn more. | | | | 📬 Invite your friends to sign up to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | |
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