Ambitious Democrats are increasingly jumping into a universe of podcasts and internet shows they once shunned: right-leaning ones geared toward men.

• Why it matters: President Trump won the majority of male voters last November — and made huge gains among those under 30, a group President Biden had won in 2020. Now Democrats are scrambling to counter Trump's version of masculine appeal, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

Trump made a point of going on popular shows in the "manosphere," sitting down with Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Lex Fridman and Andrew Schulz.

🗳️ Since November, several potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates have appeared on those shows, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

• Buttigieg, sporting a new beard, joined the "FLAGRANT" podcast and its right-leaning comedian hosts for over two hours. Trump appeared on it last fall.
• Earlier this month, Shapiro joined "The Men At Work Podcast," which describes itself as asking "thoughtful, dumb guy questions." Shapiro also has been making the rounds to talk about football and the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
• In January, Khanna was on the PBD podcast, which is hosted by right-wing commentator Patrick Bet-David, and has a mix of politics and sports. Trump went on the podcast last fall.

🎙️ Between the lines: As these podcasts boomed, prominent Democrats shied away because of the hosts' controversial, sometimes offensive, comments that could upset the base of the party.

• Buttigieg acknowledged that dynamic to the hosts of "FLAGRANT." He said that, sometimes unfairly, there's a "contagion of cancel culture" associated with sitting down with some hosts: "To me, it's worth some risk in order to reach everybody."
• Buttigieg later wrote on Substack: "One thing that is clear from the last election is that my side of the aisle must examine not only what we have to say, but how and where we say it."

Schulz, one of the "FLAGRANT" co-hosts, has stirred controversy in the past with his jokes about race. Earlier this year, he said that "with Black people, if a white person isn't like a little racist around you, then you shouldn't trust them ... They got to be a little racist ... You got to let a little out."

• The liberal group Media Matters wrote last year that Bet-David's podcast was "a platform for far-right figures to promote conspiracy theories and bigotry."

Since Trump's victory, Democrats — for now, at least — aren't getting as much backlash for appearing on such shows — a marked change from how many Democrats reacted during Trump's first term.

• Keep reading.

The Trump administration has quietly been holding discussions and consulting outside experts as it considers options for potentially restarting dialogue with North Korea, a senior U.S. official and three additional sources familiar with those discussions tell Axios' Barak Ravid and Dave Lawler.

• Why it matters: North Korea has made alarming nuclear advances since President Trump and Kim Jong-un held two dramatic but ultimately failed summits. While nothing appears imminent, Trump has made clear he'd like to reconnect with Kim — perhaps face-to-face — and his national security team is preparing for that scenario.

State of play: North Korea is relatively low on Trump's priority list for now, but the world's newest nuclear power rarely stays off the international agenda for long.

• "We are convening agencies to understand where the North Koreans are today. A lot has changed in the last four years. We are evaluating, diagnosing and talking about potential avenues, including engagement," a senior U.S. official said.

👀 Between the lines: The "closed-door discussions" involving think tank experts and current and former U.S. officials "suggest the Trump administration is sizing out different scenarios for another Trump-Kim meeting," said Andrew Yeo, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Trump's "many positive statements" about Kim over the past six months suggest interest in that path, Yeo added.

• A former senior U.S. official said members of the administration were doing some "initial planning," knowing that it might only take "one flowery letter" from Kim to catch Trump's attention, "then you're off to the races."

Zoom in: The Swedish ambassador to North Korea, who represents U.S. interests in the country, visited Washington last week for consultations with U.S. officials and experts

• One source familiar with the visit said it was mostly about taking the temperature in Washington on engagement with Pyongyang.

☢️ What we're watching: The former senior U.S. official told Axios the regime's willingness to engage would depend on the nature of the conversation.

• While past talks have focused on denuclearization, Kim is unlikely to seriously entertain that idea at this point, the former official says. North Korea's status as a nuclear power has been enshrined in the country's constitution and the Kim family lore.

Keep reading.

The New York Times' Kate Kelly and Mike Walker reviewed documents and audio recordings and interviewed pilots, officials and air traffic controllers for a sweeping investigation (gift link) into what led to the Jan. 29 crash at Ronald Reagan National Airport, which killed 67 people.

• "You have to have an aggressive defensive posture coming into DCA," Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, who is also an American Airlines pilot, told The Times. "You have to take your A-game and add a plus to it."

Zoom in: The Times identified missteps and risky practices that contributed to the tragedy.

• "See and avoid": This aviation practice relies on pilots visually detecting and avoiding other aircraft, often without controller help. It's common for pilots flying helicopters or smaller aircraft to do this, but it can be problematic. Difficulty in "see and avoid" has been implicated in at least 40 fatal collisions since 2010, per the National Transportation Safety Board. "On the night of the crash, the Black Hawk ... either did not detect the specific passenger jet the controller had flagged, or could not pivot to a safer position." The Times reports.
• "Stepped on": Radio communications also broke down. Some controller instructions were "stepped on" — cut off when the helicopter crew pressed a microphone to speak — and important information was likely missed. Tracking technology on the Black Hawk was turned off per Army protocol to simulate a secret evacuation, but some experts believe this eliminated a key safety measure.
• Runway 33: Moments after they crossed the Tidal Basin, the Black Hawk crew was informed that Flight 5342 was circling to Runway 33. "Aviation experts said that development may have blindsided Captain Lobach. Though she had flown four or five similar practice rides there over the years, she might have never confronted a landing on Runway 33, because it is used only 4 to 5 percent of the time."

Go deeper: N.Y. Times' 5 findings (gift link).

People began visiting Pope Francis' tomb in St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome today, a day after he was bade farewell by the powerful of the world and a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

• The tomb was opened on the second of nine days of official mourning for Francis, after which a conclave will be held to elect the next pope, AP reports.

Above: President Trump (center-right) attends the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican yesterday.

Below: A photograph taken from St. Peter's Basilica shows the scale of the funeral mass (Francis' coffin at bottom of frame).

More photos.

A passel of polls dropped this weekend ahead of President Trump hitting his 100-day milestone on Tuesday. The Smart Brevity:

• 😨 "Chaotic," "scary": "The turbulent early months of Mr. Trump's administration are seen as 'chaotic' and 'scary' by majorities of voters — even many who approve of the job he is doing. Voters do not view him as understanding the problems in their daily lives and have soured on his leadership." — N.Y. Times (gift link)
• 📜 Lowest 100-day approval in 72 years: "Trump's approval rating stands at 41%, down 4 points since March and 7 points since late February, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds. That's lower than any newly elected president dating back at least to Dwight Eisenhower." — CNN
• 📉 Short honeymoon: "39 percent of adult Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job, compared with 55 percent who disapprove ... In February, those numbers were 45 percent positive and 53 percent negative. Among registered voters, the deterioration has been even larger. ... Most presidents enjoy a honeymoon during their first months in office, only to see their ratings decline later in the first year. Trump may be an exception." — WashPost (gift link)
• 🪚 As Elon Musk gained power, "his popularity has fallen, an AP-NORC poll finds ... Just 33% of U.S. adults have a favorable view of Musk ... down from 41% in December." —AP

Go deeper: 5 NYT takeaways (gift link) ... Explore NYT data (free) ... Explore WP data (gift link) ... Explore AP data (free).

Cities and states that once championed progressive approaches to mental health and drug use are continuing their yearslong course reversal — and are increasingly open to involuntary commitment, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports.

• Why it matters: The push to get people with severe mental illness help — especially those who are homeless — is a response to public backlash, but may be outpacing the availability of high-quality treatment for them.

🗳️ State of play: Some cities are responding to 2024 election results, in which voters elected candidates to office based on who spoke to their desire for addressing "this nexus of addiction, mental illness and homelessness," said Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University.

• San Francisco voters elected Mayor Daniel Lurie, who told the New York Times that his success depends on "if we grow our economy, if we get people off the streets and into mental health beds, if people feel safe walking down our streets again."

San Jose's Democratic mayor recently called for arresting homeless people after they resist shelter three times, the NYT recently reported.

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year proposed making it easier to take people having a psychiatric crisis to a hospital involuntarily. Homelessness and mental illness are also becoming big issues in New York City's mayoral race.

Read on.

California is the 4th largest economy in the world, Gov. Gavin Newsom's office reports from new global and national data.

• The Golden State used to sit at No. 5, but has recently surpassed Japan with a nominal GDP of $4.1 trillion, ahead of Japan's $4 trillion. Now only the U.S. ($29 trillion), China ($19 trillion) and Germany ($4.7 trillion) are ahead of California.

🇮🇳 Reality check: 4th place might slip away. India (current No. 6) is projected to pass California by 2026.

Actors Lynda Carter (former Wonder Woman and Miss USA) and Jason Isaacs, of "White Lotus" and "Harry Potter" fame, were among the stars spotted in Washington for last night's White House Correspondents' Dinner.

• Isaacs was photographed in Georgetown at Tammy Haddad's 32nd annual White House Correspondents' Weekend Garden Brunch.

👀 We'll be back this afternoon with an Axios AM Deep Dive taking you inside nerd prom, including an inspiring speech by Axios' award-winning Alex Thompson. (Watch a clip.)

• Go deeper: "Washington's Besieged Journalists Raise a Cocktail Glass, Darkly," by the N.Y. Times' Michael Grynbaum and Katie Robertson (gift link) ... "White House journalists use annual press dinner to celebrate First Amendment" (AP).

Full list of winners.