Jan 4, 2017

Megyn's mistake: Sources say she'll flop at NBC

The facts: Kelly's Fox audience was heavy on old white men. The daytime audience she'll now be courting is housewives who are disproportionately minority.

What we're hearing: One longtime TV negotiator said:

"How the hell is this woman who wears dresses with no shoulders, and spiked hair like a biker gal — a smart-mouth big mouth — gonna succeed? It's crazy."

Her new NBC colleagues are likely to hate her because of her big salary ($15m) that will squeeze other salaries, and she's now a new power center competing for big interviews against Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd.

What to watch: The deal calls for a Sunday-night newsmagazine that'll compete with "60 Minutes." Brian Williams, at the peak of his power, with a nightly audience four times the size of Kelly's, tried a Sunday-night newsmagazine, "Rock Center." It was canceled after two seasons.

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Alexi McCammond, Margaret Talev

Biden, Sanders work toward truce on big issues

Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Joe Biden isn’t about to become Bernie Sanders, but he’s signaling that there’s potential for more common ground on issues such as health care, student debt, climate change and more in the weeks ahead.

What to watch: As Biden courts Sanders' endorsement, their teams will hold policy discussions in the next few weeks with the expectation that Biden will incorporate some elements of Sanders' agenda, a person familiar with those plans tells Axios.

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Jonathan Swan

Some Trump aides eye May 1 start to coronavirus reopening

President Trump was flanked at yesterday's briefing by HHS Secretary Alex Azar (far left), Vice President Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

President Trump's aides, encouraged by virus data showing fewer deaths than once projected, are working behind the scenes to deliver on his vow to reopen America "sooner rather than later."

What to watch for: The official said there’s a lot of internal energy pushing for May 1, because that's the end of the White House's "30 days to slow the spread."

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Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler, Marisa Fernandez

U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 14,800

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 2,000 people for the second day in a row, and it's infected over 432,000 others, per Johns Hopkins data.

Where it stands: More than 14,800 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. — including over 4,500 in New York. The state's death toll surged to its highest one-day total on Wednesday — beating the previous day's record. 779 people died in New York in 24 hours. N.Y. has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe.

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