😎 Good Monday morning! Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,326 words ... ~ 5 minutes.
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😎 Good Monday morning! Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,326 words ... ~ 5 minutes.
Illustration: "Axios on HBO"
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) told Jim VandeHei on "Axios on HBO" that it’s highly likely Republicans will wind up as a third party nationally in 10 to 15 years because of their "xenophobia" and "hyper-masculinity."
Why it matters: Newsom runs America’s largest state, one in which non-whites are the majority. California has sued the Trump administration a record 50 times, making Newsom the de facto leader of the Democratic resistance.
Governor Newsom also warned his mogul-constituents in Silicon Valley that they're "gonna to get completely steamrolled" if they don't do more to "get ahead of" government intervention that's just warming up.
Newsom said he sees an "empathy gap in the Valley — I've been very pointed for a decade now on this."
Watch a clip of Newsom on why he thinks Facebook should have taken down the deepfake Pelosi video.
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
On "Axios on HBO" last night, Jonathan Swan revealed a trove of nearly 100 internal Trump transition vetting documents, which include a host of "red flags" about officials who later got some of the nation's most powerful jobs.
Takeaways:
📑 See the documents: We're publishing a selection of the vetting documents.
Swan showed Chris Christie the vetting file on him, and he read aloud — on camera — a question about his relationship with Jared Kushner.
Photo: "Axios on HBO"
Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will introduce legislation today to require Facebook, Google, Amazon and other major platforms to disclose the value of their users' data, Kim Hart reported on "Axios on HBO."
Between the lines: Warner says an individual's data is probably worth around $5 a month. Other estimates put it around $20 a month or more.
Two siblings from the seven-generation Flying Wallendas safely crossed Times Square last night on a high wire between two skyscrapers, 25 stories up, per AP:
The two were wearing tethered safety harnesses required by the city.
Pete Buttigieg faced catcalls and raw emotion at a town hall in South Bend yesterday, as the mayor "attempted to soothe the pain caused by the recent killing of a black man by a police officer," CNN's Dan Merica and Donald Judd report.
Buttigieg stood his ground while trying to calm the raucous, belligerent crowd:
I don't want to seem defensive, but we've taken a lot of steps. There clearly haven't been enough, but I cannot accept the suggestion that we did nothing. If it were not for the conversations that we had, we might not have done what we did on bias training, civil rights training, community policing, introducing [body] cameras, online transparency.
But I acknowledge it has not been enough.Â
The unwritten rules that have prevented the Democratic race from devolving into all-out conflict are breaking down, AP's Steve Peoples writes:
Between the lines: No one expects the escalation that lies ahead for Democrats to sink to the level of the Republican presidential debates in 2016, which were plagued by deeply personal attacks.
It may be all about Biden: "The dynamic is very simple: 19 against 1," Biden adviser Anita Dunn said.
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
This week's Democratic presidential debates will showcase just how far left the party has moved in the last several years — especially on energy and climate change, Amy Harder writes in her "Harder Line" column.
The bottom line: This presidential contest will be one of the clearest tests of voters' appetite for aggressive climate policies.
Foreign Affairs today publishes an essay by Sen. Bernie Sanders (following similar pieces by Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren), "Ending America’s Endless War ... We Must Stop Giving Terrorists Exactly What They Want":
I am very concerned that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the Trump administration’s moves against Iran, and Iran’s moves in response, could put us in direct conflict. ...
We have to view the terrorism threat through the proper scope, rather than allowing it to dominate our view of the world. .... American power should be measured not by our ability to blow things up, but by our ability to build on our common humanity ...
Do you have a solution to one of the mega-issues that flummox world leaders?
Mayor Mike Bloomberg today announces a contest for you.
Danielle Jones tweets that this sounds "Oniony" ...
"Enough With Hamilton, Say Fans of Other Founding Fathers ... Success of Broadway show steals limelight from Jefferson, Franklin and others" — Wall Street Journal A-hed by Valerie Bauerlein and Cameron McWhirter (subscription):
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