By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
Good Thursday morning. TOP TALKER – “Trump terrifies world leaders,” by Isaac Dovere and Bryan Bender: “According to more than two dozen U.S. and foreign-government officials, Trump has become the starting point for what feels like every government-to-government interaction. In meetings, private dinners and phone calls, world leaders are urgently seeking explanations from Obama and ... Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and Trade Representative Michael Froman.” http://politi.co/22PVkKK
INSIDE THE CAMPAIGNS -- “Trump sends aides to court the GOP elite: After relentlessly slamming the process, the billionaire pivots to an inside game,” by Alex Isenstadt and Shane Goldmacher in Hollywood, Fla.: “The billionaire is dispatching his most senior aides, including newly ascendant political strategists Paul Manafort and Rick Wiley, to woo the delegates here at the beachfront hotel and resort where the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting is underway. ... On Thursday afternoon, Wiley and Manafort are scheduled to hold a 90-minute presentation to lay out the case for the real estate mogul. After that, retired surgeon Ben Carson, a former Trump primary rival who is now an outspoken surrogate, will greet RNC members at a reception.” http://politi.co/243gtU5
--“Cruz Seeks to Mend Fences with Republican Elites,” by Time’s Zeke Miller in Hollywood, Fla.: “Cruz campaign’s high command, including campaign manager Jeff Roe, strategist David Polyansky, and delegate-hunters Ken Cuccinelli and Saul Anuzis, made the case for Cruz as the party’s stronger choice for the general election.” http://ti.me/1Sv8iuC
--“Trump campaign brings in lobbyists for key posts: ... Manafort has recruited veterans of his lobbying firm to help Trump’s effort,” by Ken Vogel and Isaac Arnsdorf: “Laurance Gay ... and Doug Davenport ... join another former Manafort lobbying partner named Rick Gates, who was identified as an agent of a Ukrainian oligarch ... And Manafort this week met with Marc Palazzo, a former lobbyist for a Koch Industries subsidiary.” http://politi.co/1WH3ohe
--“The Loophole That Could Cost Donald Trump the Nomination,” by Upshot’s Nate Cohn: “Pennsylvania, which holds its primary next Tuesday, uses a nonbinding ‘loophole’ primary ... If the state adopted the delegate rules of any other primary, he would probably be an even-money favorite, or better, to amass the 1,237 delegates needed.” http://nyti.ms/1VlUZjL
SHOT – “Trump revives ‘Lyin’ Ted,’” by Brianna Gurciullo: After calling him “Senator Cruz” in his victory speech Tuesday night, “Trump returned to calling the Texas senator a liar on Wednesday during a rally in Indianapolis. ‘In the case of Lyin’ Ted Cruz. Lyin’ Ted. Lies. Ooh, he lies. You know Ted. He brings the Bible, holds it high, puts it down, lies ... And, you know, the evangelicals, they’ve been supporting Donald Trump. It’s been great.” http://politi.co/1Sxtq6P
CHASER: WSJ A1, above fold, “Trump: ‘I’m Not Going to Blow It,’” by Monica Langley and Reid Epstein (online: “Trump Plans to Adopt More-Traditional Campaign Tactics”): “including giving a policy speech on foreign affairs and using teleprompters and a speechwriter. ... Trump, in an interview, acknowledged the need for a shift. ‘The campaign is evolving and transitioning, and so am I ... I’ll be more effective and more disciplined.’ ... The foreign-affairs speech [is] set for [Wednesday] in Washington. One theme, Mr. Trump said, will be the relationship between economics and national security. ‘We’re protecting nations, and we’re not being properly compensated for that protection’ ...
“Trump will deliver the speech with teleprompters, which he has often derided. This week, a pair were set up in his office, which he was using to practice. Still, he won’t use them at his rallies. More policy speeches are in the works, with jobs a likely topic. As the campaign sets up an office in Washington, it plans to hire a speechwriter. Mr. Trump has never used one, preferring to riff at his rallies, from his hand-scrawled notes of just a few words. ...
“Manafort brought on Tim Clark, a longtime GOP strategist based in Sacramento, as California state director.” http://on.wsj.com/23L8xtW
--Drudge banner, “SPRINGTIME FOR TRUMP: RNC WARMING.”
KARL ROVE column in WSJ, “Trump’s Emptiest Threat: The Donald can’t bolt the GOP to run as an independent—by June it will be too late” (with teaser at top of A1, “Trump Can’t Run As an Independent”): “[B]y the time Republicans gather in Cleveland on July 18, the deadline for Mr. Trump to be listed on the ballot as an independent will already have passed in 12 states with a combined 166 Electoral College votes.” http://on.wsj.com/1ScSKwD
TIME 100 list -- “The 100 most influential people in the world” out at 7 a.m.: Issue includes Amy Klobuchar writing on Hillary Clinton, Renee Ellmers on Donald Trump, Robert Reich on Bernie Sanders and Scott Walker on Ted Cruz. Honorees include, Barack Obama, Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley, John Kerry and Reince Priebus. Full list www.time.com/time100 ... The six covers, featuring Leo DiCaprio, Nicki Minaj, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Christine Lagarde, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Priyanka Chopra. http://bit.ly/1SRg6E5
--“[Speaker Paul] Ryan: Priebus turned around RNC ‘almost single-handedly,’” by Nick Gass: “Noting that the RNC was $25 million in debt when Priebus took office in 2011, Ryan gushed [in Time’s 100 issue] that the chairman ‘paid it all off, and he fixed the political, digital and data infrastructure so that we can compete on a level playing field with the Democrats. ... In stressful times, I often turn to Reince for advice.’” http://politi.co/26gvMej ... Ryan’s essay http://ti.me/1Sd7awZ
WHAT SEAN SPICER IS SHARING: Priebus profiled by CNN’s Jamie Gangel – 9-min. video http://bit.ly/1r1vp7c
SNEAK PEEK: Hillary is on the cover of the upcoming N.Y. Times Magazine, featuring an excerpt of Mark Landler’s forthcoming book about Clinton and Barack Obama, “Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Twilight Struggle Over American Power.” Landler writes: “Clinton’s foreign-policy instincts are bred in the bone — grounded in cold realism about human nature and what one aide calls ‘a textbook view of American exceptionalism.’ It set her apart from her rival-turned-boss, Barack Obama, who avoided military entanglements and tried to reconcile Americans to a world in which the United States was no longer the undisputed hegemon.” http://nyti.ms/1U72VnM ... The cover http://politi.co/1YIhehL ... $25.20 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1WfgC4d
COMING ATTRACTIONS – “Ryan to Hold Town Hall with Millennials at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service”: Today, “House Speaker Paul Ryan ... will hold a town hall with millennials at the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service to discuss his vision for a more #ConfidentAmerica ... moderated by SE Cupp and Mo Elleithee ... 1:45 p.m. ... live-streamed on speaker.gov/live and politics.georgetown.edu.”
#PROTIP, shared with Playbookers by Matt McDonald of Hamilton Place Strategies: “Marc Andreessen had a good tip during the Andreessen Horowitz conference [yesterday]. ... If you go to ‘accessibility’ under your iPhone settings (under ‘general’), you can turn on ‘speak screen’ (under speech). This allows you to swipe down with two fingers and it will read whatever is on the screen. You can do this for tipsheets(!), white papers, news articles ... [H]e suggested to select the voice ‘Alex’ under voices. This is programmed to be the most natural sounding, but it takes up some more space on your phone. My commute will never be the same.”
POLITICO EUROPE turns 1! John Harris, Shéhérazade Semsar-de Boisséson and Matt Kaminski email the global staff: “Last April, together with our partners and friends at Axel Springer, we launched a publication to cover Europe in a way that no one else was doing. To produce journalism with a laser focus on politics and policy, delivered with authority, speed, depth, hopefully a bit of smarts and some mischief. To bring to life debates and personalities in Brussels that so many once dismissed as boring and to connect the dots between the various power centers across this Continent and beyond. ...
“Since then, we’ve posted more than 6,100 articles on POLITICO.eu and on POLITICO.eu/pro, delivered 1,120 newsletters and 1,230 Pro alerts, and published 46 weekly newspapers and one glossy magazine (the very successful POLITICO 28 list). About 1.5 million readers each month are informed, moved, enlightened and amused by your work.”
FUTURE OF NEWS – Robert “Allbritton ’92 [whose foresight a decade ago produced POLITICO] Talks Future of Journalism,” by Wesleyan Argus’ Aaron Stagoff-Belfort: “[Q]: Does this shift in the way you evaluate content creation also impact the business side of things? RA: Well, the economics of it have changed drastically. Back in the day, you had big newspapers and they had presses and huge subscriber lists and it was really hard to start something. The amount of capital and time it took to develop a reputation was very long. Now if somebody has an idea, they can pop up and try it and see if it catches on. Which is good; it allows for younger competitors to kind of come in.
“But it also winds up where everyone is kind of chasing traffic, which I think is for naught, because at the end of the day we have a traffic goal to get to in this business; say it’s 20 million hits or something. As soon as you get to 20 million, the whole market will go, “No, no, no, you have to get to 30.” As soon as you get to 30, it’s 50. When you get to 50, it’s 80. You get to 100 and its like, “Well, what is your dwell time on site?” It never really ends. It’s really a game that only works for Google and Facebook. ...
“[Q]: So you have a different model than BuzzFeed’s and the Huffington Post’s then? RA: Yeah, the traffic number does not matter as much as it does for other people because our revenue is not as dependent on it. But I don’t know how many models are like that. There are very few. To a certain degree the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, the Economist has a group subscription base. ... But we are almost getting two classes of citizens out there: you have the haves and have-nots. The reality of it is the 1 percent of readers pays for the other 99 percent of journalism that is out there.
“You’re putting out articles that do have an impact on the country and on the world. That kind of progressive tax system of journalism works. Where I’ve seen a lot of other theories say, we will do a non-profit where people will pay ten cents to read an article and I say, ‘Are you kidding me? No one’s going to do that.’ If you’re looking for a charity, you’re only as good as your last round of donations. That’s not a way to have professional careers created. It’s so fundamentally unstable. And that’s what I keep preaching to our guys. ‘Look, we want to do good journalism, but it’s gotta be sustainable. There’s gotta be a business behind it where this is a return, or otherwise, Why are people doing this?’” http://bit.ly/1NCEqbv
HAPPY 32nd ANNIVERSARY to Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, married between 2 primaries in the 1984 campaign. They’re celebrating with a low-key dinner at home.
HOT VIDEO -- “Promo: President Obama’s Final White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN)”:“Here’s a look back at President Obama’s last seven years of delivering comedic remarks at the Dinner, as seen on C-SPAN.” 2-min. video http://bit.ly/1r1qiDP
SPOTTED: @apalmerdc: “Spotted: Former Rep. Aaron Schock going through McDonald’s drive thru in Peoria, Ill., according to tipster.” ... Aaron Schock sitting at the bar at [D.C.’s] Fiola Mare. ... Tammy Haddad, Susan Sher, Valerie Jarrett and Hilary Rosen at breakfast at the Four Seasons.
CLICKERS – “12 new [D.C.] patios and rooftop bars you probably haven’t tried yet” http://wapo.st/1Nm2rIR
TREASURY SECRETARY JACK LEW posts an open letter on Medium, “When I announced last June that a newly redesigned $10 note would feature a woman, I hoped to encourage a national conversation about women in our democracy. The response has been powerful. You and your fellow citizens from across the country have made your voices heard through town hall discussions and roundtable conversations, and with more than a million responses via mail and email, and through handwritten notes, tweets, and social media posts. ... [W]ith this decision, our currency will now tell more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well as men to our great democracy.” http://bit.ly/1SU6KYa
KATIE COURIC interviews ROBBY MOOK -- On whether the Bernie Sanders campaign had gone too far: “I think the Sanders campaign resorted to some pretty personal attacks, calling Hillary unqualified – some of the surrogates called her some unsavory names.” ... On Hillary Clinton’s love of hot sauce: “Well, all I can attest to is that she loves pepper, you know the hot peppers, and she just eats them straight – so I have seen her put hot sauce on a lot of things… It’s a health thing, she’s counseled me before that this is a very healthy thing to eat those peppers.”
http://yhoo.it/1SbBQPb
TOP TWEET – HuffPost’s Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy): “Bernie Sanders has so far won every county named Clinton County.” With chart http://bit.ly/243dQSc
--HuffPost banner, “BERNIE WON’T BUDGE: ALL THE WAY TO PHILLY!”
--“Sanders’ rough road ahead: He must run a gantlet of closed primaries and Hillary Clinton strongholds next week,” by Daniel Strauss: “The collection of states scheduled to vote next week is a gantlet of closed primaries and Hillary Clinton strongholds that figure to make for a tough night across the Northeast for the Vermont senator. Sanders trails by double-digits in polls in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the three biggest of the five Acela Corridor states that will go to the polls on April 26.” http://politi.co/1Nm3cli
--“Bernie faces Southern revolt: Democratic leaders want Sanders to stop dismissing the South, where Hillary Clinton’s wins have been powered by black votes,” by Gabriel Debenedetti: “Southern Democratic Party leaders who insist their region is a growth opportunity for the national party, especially in the age of Donald Trump.” http://politi.co/1SxgPjY
SPOTTED: WaPo’s Paul Kane, rocking out to Bruce last night at Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena.
WASHPOST LEAD editorial, “Gov. Kasich’s positive approach” (online: “Gov. Kasich’s unusual positivity”): “In a wide-ranging interview with us Wednesday morning, Mr. Kasich attacked the politicians who encourage voters to wallow in grievance.” http://wapo.st/1pk63jk
N.Y. TIMES QUOTATION of the DAY – James G. Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO, discussing rising tensions between the United States and Russia, which is bolstering its submarine fleet: “We are not quite back in a Cold War. But I sure can see one from where I’m standing.” 1-col. lead of the paper, “RUSSIA EXPANDS SUBMARINE FLEET AS RIVALRY GROWS: ECHOES OF THE COLD WAR -- Pentagon Seeks Rise in Budgets to Challenge Bolstered Patrols,” by Eric Schmitt in Naples, Italy http://nyti.ms/1Svkmft
BUSINESS BURST – USA Today 1A, below fold, “Aging bulls: CEOs who won’t let go – Older executives face issue of knowing when to bow out,” by Marco della Cava and Charisse Jones: “Over the past decade, the number of CEOs ages 65 to 69 nearly doubled to 36, while those ages 70 to 74 increased from nine to 13, according to a survey of Fortune 500 CEOs by ... Korn Ferry. ... [A]verage Fortune 500 CEO age has inched up to 58 from 56.” http://usat.ly/20ZU4p3
THE QUEEN IS 90 ... ANNIE LEIBOVITZ pic -- “Queen photographed with youngest royals to mark 90th birthday,” by The Guardian’s Caroline Davies: “Family portrait shot by Annie Leibovitz shows first nonagenarian monarch surrounded by her five great-grandchildren and two youngest grandchildren.” http://bit.ly/1NCIEzI ...
--COOLEST CLICK: Souvenir cover of today’s Times of London, “HAPPY AND GLORIOUS: The Queen at 90,” with the back cover reprinting the full page from her birth announcement on p. 17 of The Times of April 22, 1926. http://politi.co/1WHelzp
--AP: “On April 21, 1926, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was born in Mayfair, London; she was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and the Queen Mother. Christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the princess became monarch upon the death of her father in 1952, beginning a 64-year-old reign surpassing that of Queen Victoria.”
TAMMY/BETSY PODCAST: On the Bloomberg Politics “Masters in Politics” Podcast, Tammy Haddad and Betsy Fischer Martin speak with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kate Anderson Brower, the author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies.” DWS: “[I]f you look back to our primary in 2008 between then-Senators Obama and Clinton, it was far more divisive than this primary has been.” http://bloom.bg/1Vm9Fzz
CLEVELAND WATCH -- “Eagles' Joe Walsh: I’m dropping out of GOP convention show” – AP:“Walsh says in an emailed statement he’s ‘very concerned about the rampant vitriol, fear-mongering and bullying coming from the current Republican campaigns.’ He says he ‘cannot in good conscience endorse the Republican party in any way.” http://bit.ly/26gfNNg
MAYOR OF THE WORLD – Michael Bloomberg in Bloomberg View, “Here’s Why the U.S. Will Meet Its Paris Climate Goals”: “As world leaders gather in New York on Friday to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, some have expressed concern that as they implement their commitments, the U.S. Supreme Court has put on hold the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. ... The federal government is not the primary force in the U.S. fight against climate change, and even if the Court ultimately strikes down certain parts of the Clean Power Plan, the U.S. will meet and probably exceed its commitment to reduce emissions by 26-28 percent by 2025.” http://bv.ms/1VlVBGa
WASHINGTON, INC. -- “Saudi government has vast network of PR, lobby firms in U.S.,” by WashPost’s Catherine Ho: “The Saudi government and its affiliates have spent millions of dollars on ... some of Washington’s premier law and lobby firms ... Podesta Group, BGR Government Affairs, DLA Piper and Pillsbury Winthrop have been tasked with the job ... Five lobby and PR firms were hired in 2015 alone, signaling a stepped-up focus on ties with Washington. The firms have been coordinating meetings between Saudi officials and business leaders and U.S. media, and promoting foreign investment in the Saudi economy. Some have even been tasked with coming up with content for the embassy’s official Twitter and YouTube accounts.” http://wapo.st/1WH1woI
MEDIAWATCH -- “Salt Lake Tribune sold to Huntsman family,” by CNN’s Dylan Byers: “Paul Huntsman, brother of the former Utah governor and Republican presidential candidate, announced Wednesday that he had acquired the Tribune from Digital First Media.
... Huntsman, who serves as CEO of Huntsman Family Investments, a private equity firm, said he bought the paper in order to ensure that it retained a local and independent voice.” http://cnnmon.ie/1MJOsww
--“NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt Named 2016 NABJ Journalist of the Year”: “The annual award recognizes a black journalist who has distinguished himself or herself with a body of work that has extraordinary depth, scope and significance to people in the African Diaspora.” http://bit.ly/23L0NIA
--“Sites Start Charging Readers to Comment on Articles,” by Bloomberg’s Joshua Brustein: “Tribune Publishing ... turned on SolidOpinion’s software for the San Diego Union-Tribune’s website ... Readers can earn points, which can be used to buy more prominent placement for their comments at the end of news stories, by posting comments, visiting the site regularly, or spending real money ... 800 points for $10.” http://bloom.bg/1Sxn4UX
TRANSITIONS -- “Albright Stonebridge Group announces new partner and senior advisors”:“announced the election of Donald Gips as a partner. ASG also announced that Derek Mitchell, Isis Nyong’o Madison, and Ratih Hardjono have joined the firm as Senior Advisors. ... Ambassador Derek Mitchell joins ASG as Senior Advisor after serving nearly four years as U.S. Ambassador to the Union of Burma (Myanmar), deepening and broadening the capabilities ASG brings to clients across East Asia.” http://politi.co/1Nmb3PZ
OUT TODAY – “No Labels releases its Policy Playbook for America’s Next President, featuring 60 ideas that are ‘good politics and good policy.’ All ideas were poll tested and received majority support from Republican, Democrats and Independent voters. No Labels co-chairs Gov. Jon Huntsman and Sen. Joe Lieberman announce the Playbook today with a power lunch at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. and a BIG THINK essay in Fortune magazine. This precedes the first ever bi-partisan political ‘Davos’ event in December called 1787, Constructing the Peace after the War.” http://for.tn/22PWDJH ... Letter from Fortune editor Alan Murray http://for.tn/22PWFkM
OUT AND ABOUT – “The Department of State recognized ten international emerging young leaders at a ceremony [yesterday] hosted by Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan and Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel. These courageous award recipients represent the power of young people in creating grassroots efforts to improve their communities. ... The awardees, representing Afghanistan, Burma, France, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Malta, Tunisia and the Palestinian Territories, range in ages between 19 to 24. ... The ten awardees will travel to Chicago and Austin as part of an intensive exchange program specially tailored to strengthen their knowledge, skills, and networks.”
BIRTHDAYS: Ken Duberstein, celebrating in Palm Beach for sun, fun and Ken’s favorite: a chocolate/mocha birthday cake (h/t wife Jackie Fain) ... NYT’s Jodi Kantor, the pride of Holmdel, N.J. (hubby tip: Ron Lieber) ... Josh Dorner, a CAP alum, now SKDKnickerbocker ... NBC News’ Matt Rivera (h/t Olivia Petersen) ... Bill Neidhardt, Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s press secretary and John Kraus, Baldwin’s comms. director (h/ts Meghan Roh) ... Felix Salmon, senior editor at Fusion ... Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is 90 ... Lauren Weber, editor of The Morning Email at The Huffington Post and one of the many proud St. Louisans in DC, is 25, who enjoyed winery tours last weekend with the celebration continuing this weekend. Pic http://bit.ly/1SU8CQI (h/t Eli Yokley) ... Greg Lyons, economic research assistant at the FDIC and a Politico alum ... Caroline Wyatt, BBC’s religious Affairs Correspondent, who has served as BBC Defence correspondent and reported from Paris, Moscow, and Berlin/Bonn ... Justin Wilson … former Sen. David Boren … Ben Sparks … Drew Gorman ...
... Eric Weisbrod, CNN’s director of social TV ... Bob Blaemire, director of biz dev at Catalist … Katherine Finnerty ... Brad Cheney, associate VP of legislative affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association, and a Brad Sherman and GPG alum ... Paul Haenle, who served as China Director on the Bush 43 NSC, and before that as the EA to national security advisor Steve Hadley; he is now director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center (the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Beijing office), is 5-0 (h/t Anne Sherman) ... Nate Palmer ... Dominic Bellone ... John Hiller of Freedom House ... Hessy Fernandez, an RNC and McCain-Palin alum, now director of media relations at Miami Dade College ...
... Ben Sparks, alum of Dan Sullivan N.J. GOP, Romney, Scott Walker Recall, Rob Portman, NRSC, now executive director of Alaska’s Future … Phoebe Trabb (Heidi Przybyla) and Sam O’Connor (Patrick) are 7 today … AP veteran Marty Steinberg ... Ron Kaufman … Lindsey Mask, a Buck McKeon alum now founder and executive director of Ladies America ... Marti Anderson ... Mary Clare McMahon ... Paige Reffe ... Kevin Parker ... John Kraus ... Christy Bachmann (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ... actor Charles Grodin is 81 ... Iggy Pop is 69 ... actress Patti LuPone is 67 ... Tony Danza is 65 ... Andie MacDowell is 58 ... Robert Smith (The Cure) is 57 ... Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is 36 ... rock singer Sydney Sierota (Echosmith) is 19 (AP)