Good morning. Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,273 words ... 5 minutes.
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Good morning. Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,273 words ... 5 minutes.
The Bahamas soon will seek billions in post-Dorian foreign aid, and the Trump administration is considering the national security implications if China rushes to help.
Sources tell Axios' Margaret Talev that the U.S. is working with Bahamian officials to help them navigate the bureaucracy to pursue avenues of assistance.
The big picture: The official Bahamas tourism site has a whole page on "Our Proximity to the United States," with one island "[j]ust 50 miles off the coast of Florida" and Nassau, the capital, a "45-minute plane ride from Miami."
President Trump's approach to the Bahamas could be shaped by a foreign policy that includes supporting regime change in Venezuela; interest in buying Greenland from Denmark; trying to limit the reach of Chinese telecom giant Huawei into the U.S. and allies; and the trade war with Beijing.
Between the lines: Huawei has already spent years been investing in telecom infrastructure and hardware in Caribbean nations, including the Bahamas. Large swaths of the Bahamas' wiring has been wiped out and must be restored.
Hurricane Dorian, back to Category 3, began raking the Southeast U.S. today, threatening to inundate low-lying coasts from Georgia to Virginia, AP reports.
The UN says 70,000 people in the Bahamas need immediate humanitarian relief.
Dorian turned the Bahamian paradise into a miserable heap, per the WashPost:
The majority of U.S. adults in a new poll by Edelman Intelligence would feel more favorably toward a company whose CEO backs tougher background checks for gun purchases.
The global communications firm, which has conducted the Edelman Trust Barometer research for 19 years, gave Axios a first look at the poll.
Edelman's advice to CEOs, based on the research:
Go deeper: See the full report. ... Jim VandeHei, "CEOs are America's new politicians" .... Sara Fischer and Courtenay Brown, "Issues haunting CEOs."
Dave Acosta, who teaches tactical response, holds a dummy handgun during active-shooter training for teachers in Provo, Utah, yesterday.
"A decade after fueling a crisis that nearly brought down the global financial system, America’s banks are ruling it," writes the Wall Street Journal (subscription).
Why it matters: "Today’s companies are increasingly global. They make more of their money in the U.S. and have swapped a shareholder register stacked with old-line European families and trusts for ... U.S. investment giants."
Ben Geman, author of Axios Generate, watched all seven hours of CNN’s climate town hall with 10 2020 Dems, and was struck by how much more serious the debate has become.
The conversations captured the vast dimension of the problem, going way beyond coal and cars to touch on farming, industry, human migration, deforestation, trade, the food system, economic justice and more.
No matter what President Trump says, coal in America isn’t coming back — and it’s bringing other industries down with it, writes Axios' Amy Harder.
What's new: Coal demand for electricity is likely to drop by more than 50% in 11 years, according to a report by the rating agency Moody's.
Why it matters: Coal makes up 13% of total freight volume, which is the largest single freight commodity moved by rail.
St. Martin’s Press will announce today that former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will publish a memoir about her Trump administration experiences in fall 2020 — right before the election.
Sanders says in a release out later today: "From Arkansas to the White House and back, I'm excited to tell my story about the challenges of being a working mom at the highest level of American politics, and my role in the historic fight raging between the Trump administration and its critics for the future of our country."
The theme for Vanity Fair's sixth New Establishment Summit is "the changing nature of power as Hollywood, Washington and Wall Street are transformed by Silicon Valley."
Headliners for the event, set to take place Oct. 21-23 in L.A., include Ted Sarandos, Sheryl Sandberg, Edward Norton, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katie Couric, Bob Bakish and Gwyneth Paltrow.