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Good Monday morning. It’s snowing! Fairfax schools are delayed two hours. A running list of school delays and closures http://wapo.st/2kF3nf8
THIS IS WHEN IT’S GOING TO GET TOUGH for President Donald Trump. Congress comes back to Washington and the 292 Republicans who were sent to Capitol Hill will all be on the hot seat, forced to answer for an immigration policy that was clearly not thought through. Top senators and members of the House -- Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul -- have given lawmakers cover to criticize the executive order, which curtailed travel from seven Muslim-majority countries.
LESSON NO. 1 FOR TRUMP: Sometimes it makes sense to go through Congress. Yes, it’s slow, messy and cumbersome. But you’ll end up with something safer -- and you’ll share the political risk. THE QUESTIONS NOW: Will Republicans on Capitol Hill pass something to help clean up the mess Trump created? Or will they force him to own it? Absent congressional action, will Trump tweak the order? Or is that admitting defeat -- something Trump doesn't like to do. One thing is for certain: Every time Congress has to spend hours and political capital on something like this, it makes tax reform, replacing Obamacare and an infrastructure package that much harder.
WHILE TRUMP IS CERTAINLY A SINGULAR FIGURE, we’ve seen people like him before in Washington. Rich business owners get elected or appointed to positions of power all the time and, in their quest to shake things up in a confining political environment, screw things up instead. Running a private company, where you’re accountable to only yourself, is different than running a country, where you’re accountable to 324 million people and 535 lawmakers, who won election just like the president.
SURE, TRUMP could try to change the subject -- and he might, as ABC’s Jon Karl reported Sunday that the president might announce his pick for the Supreme Court a few days earlier than planned. The move would be classic Trump — flood the zone with a bunch of news to try and distract the press corps and the public from what has become a no-win news cycle. So far, Trump has continued to defend the order and gone out of his way to blast Republicans like McCain and Graham for not supporting it.
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GOOD MORNING, MR. PRESIDENT -- N.Y. TIMES -- 5 of 6 stories about Trump http://nyti.ms/2jJaghe … WaPo -- every story about Trump, under banner headline “Trump stands by order as confusion, discontent swirl” -- photo shows protests at Trump Hotel in D.C. http://bit.ly/2jMPzi1 … N.Y. POST -- “BORDER WAR … Protests mount over ‘Muslim ban’ … Trump defends order” http://nyp.st/2jMyTam
STEPHEN MILLER said on Jeanine Pirro’s Fox News show that the protest to Trump’s policy was from a small group of people.
-- WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE OUT THERE: THE STATE (Columbia, S.C.): “CONTROVERSY AND CHAOS AT SOME AIRPORTS … Protests don’t dent Trump’s travel bans … President stands by his order despite legal battle and national demonstrations” http://politi.co/2jlJSvq … LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: “OUTCRY OVER IMMIGRATION MOVES … AIRPORTS CENTER STAGE FOR PROTESTS … WHITE HOUSE STANDS FIRM” http://politi.co/2k8g6HF … DES MOINES REGISTER: “RALLIES AGAINST BAN SPREAD … Government stands pat in face of marchers, several holds by federal court” http://politi.co/2kiGUHg … CHARLOTTE OBSERVER: “Travel ban party eased amid criticism, chaos … Most green card holders now OK’d … Iraqi translator was bound for Charlotte … Veterans, many faith groups outraged” http://politi.co/2kKYRel … ARIZONA REPUBLIC: “OUTCRY CONTINUES OVER MIGRANT BAN … Hundreds protest in Phoenix; McCain, Flake break from Trump” http://politi.co/2juzxsj … THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL (Memphis): “Mayor: Immigration order ‘unwise’” http://politi.co/2jMVvrl
STORY OF THE DAY -- A1 of the NYT -- “How Trump’s Rush to Enact an Immigration Ban Unleashed Global Chaos,” by Mike Shear and Ron Nixon: “As President Trump signed a sweeping executive order on Friday, shutting the borders to refugees and others from seven largely Muslim countries, the secretary of homeland security was on a White House conference call getting his first full briefing on the global shift in policy. Gen. John F. Kelly, the secretary of homeland security, had dialed in from a Coast Guard plane as he headed back to Washington from Miami. Along with other top officials, he needed guidance from the White House, which had not asked his department for a legal review of the order. Halfway into the briefing, someone on the call looked up at a television in his office. ‘The president is signing the executive order that we’re discussing,’ the official said, stunned. …
“Jim Mattis, the new secretary of defense, did not see a final version of the order until Friday morning, only hours before Mr. Trump arrived to sign it at the Pentagon. Mr. Mattis, according to administration officials familiar with the deliberations, was not consulted by the White House during the preparation of the order and was not given an opportunity to provide input while the order was being drafted. Last summer, Mr. Mattis sharply criticized Mr. Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration as a move that was ‘causing us great damage right now, and it’s sending shock waves through the international system.’” http://nyti.ms/2jMSirN
GROWING UNREST -- “Rubio, Scott say they’re ‘uneasy’ with Trump’s immigration order,” by Marc Caputo in Miami: “U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Tim Scott issued a joint statement Sunday night saying they were ‘uneasy’ and have some ‘concerns’ with President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning Syrian refugees and immigrants from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The two Republicans, who made their statement after a handful of fellow GOP colleagues also voiced criticisms, also said they had ‘unanswered questions’ about the order but didn’t list specifics.” http://politi.co/2kiy9xo
-- NOTE: The joint statements expressing concern -- from McCain and Graham, and Scott and Rubio -- convey that no one is going out on a limb. They’re all in this together. Even the solo statements leave nothing to the imagination. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said the administration should “immediately make appropriate revisions.”
BUT, BUT, BUT -- “Early wins against Trump immigration order may not last,” by Josh Gerstein and Seung Min Kim: “[L]awyers pressing the cases acknowledged that their courtroom wins so far may directly benefit no more than a couple of hundred people essentially caught in limbo when Trump signed his order Friday afternoon limiting travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The flurry of legal rulings Saturday and early Sunday do not appear to have disturbed the central thrust of Trump's order. The directive suspends immigration and tourism from nationals of the seven countries and halts refugee admissions while stricter vetting protocols are implemented. Tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people could be impacted by those changes.” http://politi.co/2jMSh73
-- FT: “Iran says Donald Trump’s travel ban is a ‘gift to extremists’”: Iran’s foreign minister … Javad Zarif said on his Twitter account that the Islamic Republic would no longer issue visas to US nationals, in retaliation to an executive order that ‘will be recorded in history as a great gift to extremists and their supporters.’ … This ‘shows the baselessness of US claims of friendship with the Iranian people,’ said Mr Zarif.” http://on.ft.com/2k8mtL6
WSJ EDITORIAL PAGE IS UNHAPPY -- “Trump’s Refugee Bonfire: A blunderbuss order sows confusion and a defeat in court”: “President Trump seems determined to conduct a shock and awe campaign to fulfill his campaign promises as quickly as possible, while dealing with the consequences later. This may work for a pipeline approval, but the bonfire over his executive order on refugees shows that government by deliberate disruption can blow up in damaging ways. Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise of ‘extreme vetting’ for refugees from countries with a history of terrorism, and his focus on protecting Americans has popular support. But his refugee ban is so blunderbuss and broad, and so poorly explained and prepared for, that it has produced confusion and fear at airports, an immediate legal defeat, and political fury at home and abroad. Governing is more complicated than a campaign rally. …
“Mr. Trump is right that the government needs shaking up, but the danger of moving too fast without careful preparation and competent execution is that he is building up formidable political forces in opposition. The danger isn’t so much that any single change could be swept away by bipartisan opposition, but that he will alienate the friends and allies at home and abroad he needs to succeed. Political disruption has its uses but not if it consumes your Presidency in the process.” http://on.wsj.com/2kJGyKJ
HOT TAKE – ELIOT A. COHEN on TheAtlantic.com, “A Clarifying Moment in American History”: “Precisely because the problem is one of temperament and character, it will not get better. It will get worse, as power intoxicates Trump and those around him. It will probably end in calamity -- substantial domestic protest and violence, a breakdown of international economic relationships, the collapse of major alliances, or perhaps one or more new wars (even with China) on top of the ones we already have. It will not be surprising in the slightest if his term ends not in four or in eight years, but sooner, with impeachment or removal under the 25th Amendment. ... For the community of conservative thinkers and experts, and more importantly, conservative politicians, this is a testing time. Either you stand up for your principles and for what you know is decent behavior, or you go down, if not now, then years from now, as a coward or opportunist. Your reputation will never recover, nor should it.” http://theatln.tc/2kEVaYK
GLENN THRUSH and MAGGIE HABERMAN in the NYT, “Bannon Seizes a Security Role From Generals”: “Mr. Bannon is a deft operator within the White House, and he has been praised by Republicans who view him skeptically as the most knowledgeable on policy around the president. But his stated preference for blowing things up -- as opposed to putting them back together -- may not translate to his new role. ... People close to Mr. Bannon said he is not accumulating power for power’s sake, but is instead helping to fill a staff leadership vacuum created, in part, by Mr. Flynn’s stumbling performance as national security adviser. ... Mr. Flynn, a lifelong Democrat sacked as head of the Pentagon’s intelligence arm after clashing with Obama administration officials in 2014, has gotten on the nerves of Mr. Trump and other administration officials because of his sometimes overbearing demeanor, and has further diminished his internal standing by presiding over a chaotic and opaque N.S.C. transition process that prioritized the hiring of military officials over civilian experts recommended to him by his own team.” http://nyti.ms/2kEUz9b
SEAN SPICER PROFILE – NYT Business Day front, “Sean Spicer, Trump Press Secretary, Is ‘Not Here to Be Someone’s Buddy,’” by Mike Grynbaum: “Statements from the White House, Mr. Spicer argued, should be given the same leeway afforded a news organization. ‘I don’t know how many corrections are in The New York Times any given day,’ Mr. Spicer said. ‘But I don’t wake up every day and go, “O.K., you’re all liars.”’ ... After graduating from Connecticut College, he bounced around working on campaigns, briefly living in an R.V. without heat or hot water. Years ago, a line drive at a softball game smacked into Mr. Spicer’s jaw, leaving his mouth wired shut for weeks. ‘Be careful,’ his teammate told doctors on the way to the hospital. ‘He talks for a living.’ ... ‘Sean Spicer is much too polite to the media,’ Mr. Bannon [said]. ‘I’m the guy who wanted them out of the building.’ (He was referring to a proposal, scrapped for now, to move the White House briefing room from its current West Wing home.)’” http://nyti.ms/2jlKD7N
BREAKING OVERNIGHT -- “Gunmen kill 6, injure 8 in attack on worshipers at Quebec City mosque,” by WaPo’s Derek Hawkins, Alan Freeman and Ben Guarino: http://wapo.st/2jlJDAo
THE JUICE… KOCH RETREAT --
-- KOCH WORLD, TRUMP DIVISION ON DISPLAY: Unsurprisingly, the Koch network and President Trump aren’t on the same page. Case in point: Trump’s immigration ban. After first saying they needed more time to review the president’s executive order, the group put out a statement Sunday calling the travel ban “the wrong approach and will likely be counterproductive.” While network seminar co-chair Brian Hooks told donors that they see “big opportunities to work with this new administration and this new Congress,” he added that they would “hold all politicians accountable.” What to look for: This is the first of what is likely numerous areas where Koch World and Trump disagree. They are already at odds over the border adjustment tax as part of tax reform. But unlike congressional lawmakers who rely on the Koch network for funding and grassroots support, Trump owes them nothing -- so there’s very little Koch World can do that is likely to alter his approach.
-- LEE SILENT ON TRUMP BAN: Sen. Mike Lee wanted to talk to reporters about criminal justice reform, but little else. The Utah Republican told reporters, “I’m more here to discuss a different issue and I’ve got to leave right now to go catch a plane.” When pressed by AP reporter Steve Peoples that this was his chance to comment, Lee said: “I wasn’t aware that I was going to lose my First Amendment rights after walking out this door.”
-- CHARLES KOCH SAYS HE’S NOT GOING ANYWHERE: “Slowing down, are you kidding me? … I’ve invested all these years, all this money and a good part of my life … when we are right on the verge of breakthroughs on fantastically helping people improve their lives. No.”
-- NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED: Attendees shuttled into seminars are greeted by network employees handing out gray and neon green cell phone holders for donors to “lock” their phones during the off the record seminars.
-- QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ll say this because I’m never running for office … I’m glad they got Sessions out of the Senate because it got him out of the way, because he was one of the bigger roadblocks [on criminal justice reform].” — Doug Deason, president of the Deason Foundation based in Dallas, Texas.
FROM 30,000 FEET – NYT A11, “In a Week, Trump Reshapes Decades of Perceptions About America,” by David E. Sanger: “By some measures, President Trump has altered the perception of American foreign policy more in the past seven days than his predecessors did in the past seven decades. A nation that built its brand around the world as open to the world’s needy and ambitious is now viewed, after Mr. Trump’s immigration executive order, as closing its doors in a way it never did even after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Twenty years of stop-and-go efforts to rebuild a relationship with Mexico -- on trade, counterterrorism and drug interdiction -- crashed into an avoidable blowup with the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who canceled his visit here.” http://nyti.ms/2jMDNEq
TRUMP ON THE WORLD STAGE -- “Merkel ‘explains’ refugee convention to Trump in phone call,” by The Guardian’s Sam Jones and Philip Oltermann: “A spokesman for Angela Merkel said the German chancellor ... had ‘explained’ the obligations of the refugee convention to the new president in a phone call on Saturday. ... ‘The … refugee convention requires the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds. All signatory states are obligated to do. The German government explained this policy in their call yesterday.’” http://bit.ly/2kJD0s5
INTRAPARTY WARFARE -- “Jewish Republicans chide Trump on Holocaust statement,” by Alex Isenstadt: “The Republican Jewish Coalition, an organization that is heavily funded by GOP mega-donor and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson, released a statement from a spokesman, Fred Brown[:] ... ‘The lack of a direct statement about the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust was an unfortunate omission. History unambiguously shows the purpose of the Nazi's final solution was the extermination of the Jews of Europe’ ... Also weighing in was Mort Klein, the national president of Zionist Organization of America. ‘Especially as a child of Holocaust survivors, I and ZOA are compelled to express our chagrin and deep pain at President Trump, in his Holocaust Remembrance Day Message, omitting any mention of anti-Semitism and the six million Jews who were targeted and murdered by the German Nazi regime and others,’ he said. ... Klein said his organization was ‘shocked’ by Priebus’s decision to defend the statement – and called it ‘disgraceful.’” http://politi.co/2k87QHE ... ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt’s Medium post http://bit.ly/2k88fK0
BUSINESS BURST -- “Message from Howard Schultz to Starbucks Partners: Living Our Values in Uncertain Times”: “There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business. And we will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel in the various countries where our military has asked for such support.” http://bit.ly/2jlwJlM
-- “Uber, under pressure, pledges to compensate drivers affected by border block,” by Tony Romm in New York: “Uber pledged Sunday to lobby against President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting many Muslim refugees while compensating affected drivers and creating a $3 million defense fund to help with ‘with immigration and translation services.’ The commitments, communicated in a blog post by CEO Travis Kalanick, is Uber’s second statement in as many days against Trump’s directive — and it comes amid criticism that Uber continued to operate in New York City even as some local cab drivers paused their rides in opposition.” http://politi.co/2juvgop
DEEP DIVE – “The Desperate Battle to Destroy Isis: A SWAT team of Iraqis, all of whom have suffered at the hands of terrorists, join the fight to retake Mosul -- and plan to exact revenge,” by Luke Mogelson in The New Yorker: http://bit.ly/2kJvLQI
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK -- DCCC RAISED $3.2M FROM DIGITAL IN JANUARY: DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena penned his first memo as the group’s top aide, highlighting the $3.2 million the party committee raised from its grassroots in January. Sena also outlines the map as they see it. Full memo: http://bit.ly/2jMNenh
VIDEO DU JOUR – 45Committee is releasing its third ad this month, “Leader,” urging the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of education. http://bit.ly/2k86n3O
MEDIAWATCH -- MICHAEL BARBARO’S NEW PODCAST TO DEBUT ON WEDNESDAY - The show is called “The Daily,” and it is a 15- to 20-minute audio briefing on the day’s top headlines that will drop Monday through Friday around 6 a.m. ET.
SPOTTED: Jared Kushner grabbing some & Pizza off DuPont Circle last night (NOTE TO JARED: Come on, man. 2amys, Pete’s or even Pizza Paradiso! When in doubt, call JMart!) ... Mitch McConnell getting Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons with Elaine Chao, Angela Chao and Jim Breyer.
TRANSITIONS -- Ninio Fetalvo, Kelly Love, Michael Short and Natalie Strom have been appointed as assistant press secretaries in the Trump White House. … Jesse Hunt is starting with the NRCC as their national press secretary. He was previously comms director for Sen. Richard Burr’s campaign and did comms in New Hampshire for Jeb and for Sen. Scott Brown. ... Austin Carson, legislative director for Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas and previously senior policy advisor for Rep. Blake Farenthold, is departing the Hill to become executive director for the non-partisan think tank TechFreedom.
HILLARY ALUMNI - Ben Krauss, speechwriter for HRC and Tim Kaine, has returned to Fenway Strategies as managing partner, building out an East Coast branch of Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor’s strategic communications firm.
-- BuzzFeed News has hired Matt Mittenthal, who was most recently a spokesman in Hillary Clinton’s Brooklyn campaign headquarters, as senior director of comms. (h/t Morning Media: http://politi.co/2juEYHJ)
OBAMA ALUMNI -- Christopher Le Mon, who served as special assistant to the president, NSC senior adviser for multilateral affairs and human rights, and national security lead for the Presidential Personnel Office, starts this week as the Washington director for Crisis Action, a global human rights NGO that designs and coordinates civil society advocacy to protect civilians in armed conflicts.
--Stephen Krupin has returned to SKDKnickerbocker as SVP and director of executive communications after having served in the White House as a senior speechwriter to President Barack Obama. http://politi.co/2kixU52
RUBIO ALUMNI – Natalie Boyse starts today as a deputy finance director at the MassGOP. Boyse worked for Will Ritter on Romney ’12, at Poolhouse, on Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, and was, most recently, at HourlyNerd in Boston.
--Nate Brand starts today as America Rising Squared’s (AR2) press secretary. Nate was previously rapid response director for Kelly Ayotte’s campaign in NH and prior to that, served in the comms shop for Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. He is a proud graduate of Hillsdale College.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Fred Ferguson, VP for gov’t and industry relations at Vista Outdoor, and Nicole Ferguson, senior designer at The Heritage Foundation, email friends and colleagues: “I am pleased to announce that Millie Reagan Ferguson was born [Saturday] at 8:17 p.m., right on time for her due date. She checked in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 20.5 inches long. Baby and mommy are both doing great!” Pic http://bit.ly/2jMRNhf
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Chris Jansing, MSNBC traveling correspondent/anchor, celebrating with a quiet dinner at an Italian restaurant in NYC -- read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2jlHOn9
BIRTHDAYS: Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Investment Council, former COS to Speaker Boehner, and the pride of Naperville, Ill., is 42 ... Politico’s G. Robert Hillman (h/t Ken Vogel) … Vice President Cheney is 76 ... The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, is 55 ... Bob Ryan, celebrating in Antarctica … Politico Illinois Playbook author Natasha Korecki ... Chris Ariens, TV/media editor at Adweek ... Max Taves ... Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) is 37 ... Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) is 45 ... former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is 78 ... Brad Wing, principal/senior project manager at GS Strategy Group in Boise, Idaho, where he works with Greg Strimple, Brooks Kochvar and Robert Jones ... Alfred C. Liggins III, CEO of Radio One and TV One ... Rohit Chopra, senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America and a CAP and CFPB alum ... Nels Olson, vice chairman of Korn Ferry ... Lisa Desjardins, correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and former CNN Capitol Hill reporter … Sarah Mimms, editor at BuzzFeed and a National Journal alum ... Lauren Schuck ... CBS News’ Steven Portnoy ... Christina Wilson ... Kara Van Stralen, Sen. Cory Booker’s tech and policy adviser (hubby tip: Chris Simeone) ... Ted Strickland alum Lisa Duvall, celebrating in Pittsburgh’s culinary splendor with fellow staff of the former Buckeye State congressman and governor ...
... Maeve Reston, the CNN national politics reporter and LA Times alum ... Gator Girl Julianne Mica ... Nathan Leamer, an outreach manager and senior fellow at the R Street Institute (h/t Caroline Kitchens) ... Caitlin Poling, national security advisor for Sen. David Perdue (hubby tip: Andrew McLennand) ... Phyllis Cook ... Bill Hodgetts, CFO of the Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, MD, the grandfather of Madeleine and Claire, and a Baltimore Ravens fan (h/t son-in-law Mike Beland) ... Drew Bond, start-up CEO at in2lytics and a DOE and Heritage alum ... ABC7’s Kelly Lamp Wasilefski ... Philip Montante ... Adrianne “Dree” Watkins … Matt Warshaw ... Jennifer Hickey ... Brice Anderson, managing editor of Richmond Times-Dispatch ... Wayne E. White, a policy expert at the Middle East Policy Council ... Evan Glass ... Wanda Moebius, VP for comms at Marathon Pharmaceuticals ... Philip Goode ... Marcela Sanchez, comms. officer at World Bank ... Lea Hutchins, owner of Touch Communications ... Shelly Loos … Ileana Futter … Michael Ansara ... Gene Hackman is 87 ... Christian Bale is 43 (h/ts AP)