🚨 Axios PM: Inside the Biden bunker

Plus: Dylan overload | Friday, July 12, 2024

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Amazon   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Jul 12, 2024 Good afternoon, and happy Friday! Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 442 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.     1 big thing: Biden's shrinking inner circle   Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Current and former Biden aides are worried that the president is surrounded by a shrinking group of "yes" people who block negative information from getting to him, Axios' Alex Thompson reports. Democrats inside and outside the White House tell Axios they're worried President Biden isn't receiving a 360-degree view of his — and his party's — perilous political situation. 💬 What we're hearing: Biden's recent comments expressing doubts about his poor polling numbers have reinforced some aides' fears that he's not getting complete information. Behind the scenes: The White House now is being run by "the family and staff who are effectively family," according to a person familiar with the West Wing power structure. Those in the tighter inner circle are careful about the tenor of the information they put in front of Biden and shy away from telling him things that could be hurtful, current and former Biden aides say. 🤐 No one wants to tell the president the hard truth: that his path to victory is exceedingly narrow, a former administration official said. Go deeper.     2. 🇮🇱 Hostages' families request Bibi meeting   Leebie Goldberg Polin (C) holds photos of her brother Hersh Goldberg Polin, a U.S. citizen held in Gaza, along with families and supporters of other hostages during a protest in Tel Aviv. Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images   The families of U.S. hostages held in Gaza asked to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his upcoming trip to Washington, Axios' Barak Ravid scoops. The families want to push Netanyahu to move forward with the hostage-release and ceasefire deal that is on the table. "We believe the time is ripe to discuss the Israeli government's strategy for securing the release of our loved ones and how the Prime Minister intends to implement that strategy," the families wrote in a letter requesting the meeting. Netanyahu hardened his demands yesterday for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas, even as the White House expressed optimism that a deal was getting closer. Go deeper.     A message from Amazon "Amazon gave me all the tools needed to be successful"     Roman turned his part-time warehouse job in California into a marketing career with Amazon Music through Amazon Career Choice. "At Amazon, you can always keep growing," he said. Even better: Since 2012, more than 200,000 employees have used Amazon Career Choice to learn and earn more. Learn more.     3. Catch me up   The upper stage engine of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket malfunctions after lifting off from California yesterday. Photo: SpaceX via AP 🚀 A SpaceX rocket carrying 20 Starlink satellites failed while in orbit, ending a streak of more than 300 successful launches, Space.com reports. 🩺 Sen. Amy Klobuchar remains cancer-free three years after a bout with breast cancer in 2021, but doctors recently removed a small calcification, and she'll undergo precautionary radiation therapy. Go deeper. 🚔 Bitcoin is losing the hearts and minds of criminals. Go deeper.     4. 💿 27 discs of Dylan   Bob Dylan performs with The Band at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 30, 1974. Photo: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns via Getty Images Bob Dylan superfans will soon have a lot more of him in their lives — a new box set featuring 27 shows from his 1974 tour with The Band. The set will contain 21 different versions of "Lay Lady Lay" alone, and a total of more than 400 previously unreleased performances. It's only the third-biggest box set Dylan has released. Plug in.     A message from Amazon "With free skills training, there's no limit to what you can achieve"     Kathy turned a job at Amazon's Appling, Georgia fulfillment center into a robotics career with the help of Amazon's Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship. The impact: "After completing the apprenticeship, I doubled my income," she said. Read more success stories.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Advertise with us. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: