Feb 3, 2019

Trump says he'd have a "hard time" if his son Barron played football

Barron Trump and President Trump. Photo: Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images

President Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview taped ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl that he "would have a hard time" if his 12-year-old son, Barron, decided to play football, which he called a "dangerous sport."

Details: Trump said that while he wouldn't steer Barron, a noted soccer fan, away from football if he wanted to play, he doesn't "like the reports that I see coming out having to do" with the sport. President Obama, the father of two daughters, told the New Republic in a 2013 interview that if he had a hypothetical son, "I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football" due to the risk of head injuries.

Go deeper: We asked four experts for a hard look at pro football

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Rashaan Ayesh

America's rundown roads add to farmers' struggles

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

American farmers are struggling to safely use the roads that cut through their fields; decades of neglect and lack of funding have made the routes dangerous.

The big picture: President Trump has long promised to invest billions in rural infrastructure, and his latest proposal would allocate $1 trillion for such projects. Rural America, where many of Trump's supporters live, would see a large chunk of that money.

Go deeper16 mins ago - Economy & Business

Axios

South Korea and Italy see spikes in coronavirus cases

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

The novel coronavirus continues to spread to more nations, and the U.S. reports a doubling of its confirmed cases to 34 — while noting those are mostly due to repatriated citizens, emphasizing there's no "community spread" yet in the U.S. South Korea's confirmed cases jumped from 204 on Friday to 433 on Saturday, while Italy's case count rose from 3 to 62 as of Saturday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has now killed at least 2,362 people and infected more than 77,000 others, mostly in mainland China. New countries to announce infections recently include Israel, Lebanon and Iran.

Go deeperUpdated 23 mins ago - Health

Orion Rummler

Centrist Democrats beseech 2020 candidates: "Stand up to Bernie" or Trump wins

Bernie Sanders rallies in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 21. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Center-left think tank Third Way urgently called on the Democratic front-runners of the 2020 presidential election to challenge Sen. Bernie Sanders on the South Carolina debate stage on Feb. 25, in a memo provided to Axios' Mike Allen on Saturday.

What they're saying: "At the Las Vegas debate ... you declined to really challenge Senator Sanders. If you repeat this strategy at the South Carolina debate this week, you could hand the nomination to Sanders, likely dooming the Democratic Party — and the nation — to Trump and sweeping down-ballot Republican victories in November."

Go deeper3 hours ago - Politics & Policy