White House staffers sound dejected and deflated. They're not surprised; they're not mad. They just realize that President Trump, self-indulgent and self-destructive, has wound up in a cul-de-sac of his own making.
Their new fear: An erratic Trump — with few friends, and fires all around — will get nothing done legislatively and roil markets, thus undoing the one consistently good indicator of '17.
That's one day. When he's on vacation.
On the stock market's worst day since May (Dow off 274 points, or 1.2%), CNBC and Bloomberg TV speculated all day about whether economic adviser Gary Cohn might resign because of Trump's Charlottesville remarks:
Sound smart: The markets are so fragile that the mere rumor of a senior staffer leaving rattles confidence and prices.
Watching media coverage, you'd think Trump is nearly alone in believing "both sides" share fault for the Charlottesville violence. Turns out, most Republicans have his back.
SurveyMonkey findings, previewed first for Axios readers, for an online poll yesterday with 2,181 respondents:
Why it matters: These findings reflect the fact that, because of the nation's partisan divide and fractured media, we no longer agree on basic facts. That makes civil debate impossible.
James Murdoch — CEO of 21st Century Fox, which includes Fox News — sent this email to friends last evening with the subject line, "Personal note from James Murdoch re: ADL":
Be smart: The sentiment is unsurprising: The Rupert Murdoch sons, James and Lachlan, have a globalist perspective and have never supported Trump. But the harsh letter is a memorable milestone in Trump's march away from parts of the establishment with whom the Manhattanite might have been expected to make common cause in service of his agenda.
P.S. Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, at an employee forum in Seattle: "The moral fiber, the values, and what we as a country have stood for is literally hanging in the abyss." (AP)
As Jim VandeHei just tweeted: "This is the most consequential change/story overshadowed by a national fixation on Trump."
Tech behemoths Google, Facebook and Amazon are feeling the heat from the far-left and the far-right, and even the center is starting to fold, Axios' David McCabe writes.
P.S. Wall Street Journal front page: "The government review of AT&T Inc.'s $85 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc. has reached an advanced stage, ... a significant milestone in a deal that was closely watched for signs of how the Trump administration would view large mergers."
Terrorists have turned to vans and trucks to murder more than a hundred people across Western Europe in a matter of months — Daily Mail: "Low tech attacks using stolen and hired vehicles to randomly rammed into crowds, have been increasingly used by terrorists unable to get hold of guns and explosives."
Barcelona latest — BBC: "Spanish police say they have shot dead five suspected terrorists in the town of Cambrils in a second vehicle attack, hours after another in Barcelona killed 13 people and injured dozens. Police said the men were linked to the Barcelona attack, which [ISIS] said it had carried out."
"A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M.: Like many in the housing-starved San Francisco region, Sheila James has moved far inland, gaining affordable space at the price of a brutal commute," by N.Y. Times' Conor Dougherty and Andrew Burton, from Stockton, Calif.:
Long commutes are a byproduct of the region's tech boom, which has given rise to a full-blown housing crisis. As home prices have escalated beyond middle-class reach, areas far inland have become an oasis of (relative) affordability. Ms. James wakes up in a city where the median home price is below $300,000 ... Prices rise steadily along her commute until she gets off her last train in San Francisco, where a typical home costs more than $1 million.
"Battling Demons in Community Looking to Trump for Change" — AP from Aberdeen, Wash.:
Why it matters: "[S]ome maintain confidence that Trump will rise above the chaos to deliver on his pledge to resurrect the American dream. But others fear new depths of hopelessness if he fails."
In less than a month, more than 29 million unique viewers have watched "Stay Tuned," NBC News' daily Snapchat Discover show, Axios' Sara Fischer writes:
The glow of the tech in our bedrooms cuts through the darkness and tricks our brain into thinking it's daytime, the Houston Chronicle's Jenny Deam writes on the front page.
Why it matters: 1 in 3 of us report being sleep-deprived.