| | | | | President Trump holding a Cabinet meeting Monday morning (and seated across from Attorney General Jeff Sessions). Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images | | | When You've Lost Drudge?: A tweet by Matt Drudge signals Trump's support is waning
Actually, the West Wing *IS* Leaking: And it's coming from ... the ceiling
Who Really Know What's Going on Inside the White House: Clearly, it's the social secretaries | | | What the White House is Talking About:
This morning's swearing-in of new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, followed by a Cabinet meeting (where Jared Kushner was wearing the same thing as President Trump, awks). Later, Trump will hand out the first Medal of Honor of his presidency to former Army Specialist 5 James McCloughan, who acted with valor in his role as combat medic during the Vietnam War. Read more about McCloughan's heroism here.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
A word you will hear a lot today: "Reset." With Kelly starting his new job and the president beginning his day with some positive shout-outs to the economy and employment, there are indicators this week could stabilize the turbulence from last week. Or not.
"We Will Handle North Korea":
This was Trump's statement to reporters at the opening of his Cabinet meeting, sounding a lot like Olivia Pope. It's the second Cabinet meeting of Trump's presidency, and there is a lot of ground to cover, with North Korea presumably near the top of the list.
When You've Lost Drudge?:
Matt Drudge just tweeted this vintage New York Daily News cover of Trump from 1990, perhaps an indication that Drudge, who has been relatively pro-President, is hopping off the bandwagon. The caption, "Life is a circle..." is fascinating. | | Credit: @DRUDGE/Twitter
But Who Would Pay to be in the "Wall Street" Sequel?:
That's my first question upon reading the Daily Beast piece that says Anthony Scaramucci paid about $100,000 to have a cameo in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," the horrendous 2010 sequel to the iconic Michael Douglas movie. The story also says Donald Trump made a list of demands for what was to be his brief scene in the film (a sampling: "If any angle shots need to be taken, please only use Mr. Trump's 3/4 right side angle shot, while still avoiding the back and sides of hair/head"). Ultimately, Trump's scene ended up on the cutting-room floor.
Chris Christie, Just Stop Going to Baseball Games:
Seriously, stop. Yesterday at a Brewers-Cubs game in Milwaukee, Christie was recorded getting well into the face of a heckling Cubs fan. Christie apparently asked the guy if he wanted to "act like a big shot" before going back to his seat, presumably to eat the nachos he was holding in his hand. | | Credit: @BennyHutch/Twitter
Actually, the West Wing IS Leaking:
For reals. After Friday's rains, a White House tipster noted that by the evening, there were trash cans being used as receptacles to catch water from leaky ceilings in the West Wing, particularly the Lower Press area. The image below was snapped Friday night as the drip-drip continued from three separate spots. The leaks apparently also caused what the witness describes as a "foul odor," which members of the White House press corps were still smelling as of this morning. | | Credit: CNN
The Washington Post vs The New York Times:
Via Vanity Fair's Jim Warren, this long look at the rivalry between the two newspaper giants is worth your time, if only to learn about the intensity of one-upsmanship in story-breaking during the time of Trump. It's pretty insane. Also, the photos, including this one by Times photographer Stephen Crowley of New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, are fabulous. The story runs in the September issue, which is on newsstands this week. | | | Credit: Stephen Crowley for Vanity Fair, vanityfair.com | | What Washington is Talking About:
The White House said Friday that President Trump intends to sign the Russia sanctions bill. So Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by saying the US must cut its diplomatic staff in his country to 755. CNN calls it "Moscow's most aggressive move against Washington since the final years of the Cold War."
What America is Talking About:
Attorneys for producer Dr. Luke have demanded Lady Gaga appear in court and provide an in-person deposition in his defamation case with Kesha. A spokesperson for Gaga said in a statement Luke's team is "attempting to manipulate the truth and draw press attention to their case" by involving her.
Poll of the Day:
The most unpopular Trump policy internationally is his proposed border wall, according to a Pew survey of 37 countries. The Wall (coded in green below) had the highest disapproval in 18 countries, including Mexico. | | Flake: Repubs Are Complicit if They Don't Call Out Trump:
When asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" if Republicans are "complicit" if they don't call out their president, Sen. Jeff Flake said, "I do think so. I think that, you know, obviously the last thing you want to do is wake up every morning and see a tweet, and ... it's tough not to just say, 'I'm not going to respond.' And we can't respond to everything. But there are times when you have to stand up and say, 'I'm sorry. This is wrong.'"
CNN reported earlier this month the White House has had conversations with multiple Arizona Republicans who could possibly challenge Flake in a primary.
What to Expect From Scaramucci:
Former Wall Street reporter Heidi Moore wrote in the Washington Post how White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci represents a change in how the White House may treat the press. "Wall Street's methods of fighting negative coverage are more extensive, brutal and personal than Washington's," she wrote. "The reigning philosophy is: 'I can win only if you lose.'"
Politicon 2017:
The last time I saw this many people wearing opposing political beliefs on their sleeves in one place was in Washington for the inauguration. At Politicon in LA I saw MAGA hats and DRUMPF and Bernie shirts. Our Saba Hamedy has a roundup of the most interesting tidbits from the weekend. My personal fav was all the political cosplayers, including the Kellyanne Conway impersonator who was rocking a dead-on version of her Gucci coat from the inauguration: | | Credit: @politicon/Instagram
The Guys Who Really Know What's Going on Inside the White House:
No offense to anyone else, but the COVER/LINE panel with former Obama White House social secretaries Jeremy Bernard (right) and Ebs Burnough (left) was the funnest. And these guys *know* things. The job is much more than throwing parties, and they have a bird's eye view of what's happening across the White House, from East Wing to West. | | Credit: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images
Burnough talked about his steep learning curve when President Obama took office and he had to plan inauguration events and move the new first family into the residence. He remembered being asked what side of the bed Obama slept on, to which he responded "I don't know, I haven't slept with him." Bernard, who was the first man to ever be social secretary, said he's had multiple conversations with Trump social secretary Rickie Niceta since she's taken the job.
Street Art Sighting:
I got to see a few political artists at Politicon, including liberal cartoonist Yehudi Mercado, who said his best-selling work over the weekend was one of the Obamas as superheroes and a Trump poop emoji: | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
There was also a panel called "Art: Effecting Change" with (from left to right) Local Natives' Taylor Rice, poet Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib, conservative street artist Sabo (who was wearing a shirt that read "MUHAMMAD IS A HOMO"), and liberal artist Michael D'Antuono. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
Sabo talked about how liberal art tends to be. "Unfortunately only half of it (the story) is being told because for some strange-ass reason, when a kid decides to be a creative, they're pushed to the left," he said, because either they are trying to rebel against conservative parents or "the left is there to grab them" and indoctrinate them. He left the panel after about 20 minutes, shortly after making a comment about black people with skills that the moderator, panel, and audience found objectionable. He also put some work up around the convention center that probably would not have gone over well had it been discussed there.
Send me your pics of political street art to coverlinehunter@cnn.com, tweet me @hunterschwarz or tag @cnncoverline on Instagram. | | | | | | |
