Axios PM

May 20, 2025
Good Tuesday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Natalie Daher, is 674 words, a 2.5-minute read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.
π Situational awareness: Mike Donilon, the longtime top strategist for former President Biden, was paid about $4 million to work on the 2024 Biden campaign at the president's insistence, CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson write in their new book, "Original Sin" (out today).
- "The president told the campaign: Pay Mike what he wants," the authors report. "Senior campaign staff were outraged when they heard about this arrangement." Go deeper.
1 big thing: Trump's Capitol visit

President Trump warned congressional Republicans during a visit to the Capitol today to not to "f**k around" with Medicaid, Axios' Andrew Solender and Victoria Knight write.
- It was a stark pushback to conservative lawmakers demanding steeper cuts to the program in Trump's "one big, beautiful bill."
Why it matters: Trump is already floating political retribution for Republican holdouts who don't get in line.
π¬ The president also tore into Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been a firm "no" on the bill throughout the process, blasting him publicly and privately as a "grandstander" and saying he should be "voted out of office."
- Trump warned the GOP's blue state holdouts not to push too hard on the SALT deduction cap.
π The intrigue: House Speaker Mike Johnson cautioned the Senate at a closed-door lunch today not to make big changes to the bill, Axios' Stef Kight scooped.
- If Johnson can get his conference in line, his problem will soon move to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) β with an important July deadline looming on the debt ceiling.
Sources tell Axios that Johnson projected a lot of confidence in the meeting.
2. π° Musk's tightening wallet

Elon Musk said he plans to spend "a lot less" on political donations moving forward during a remote interview at Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum today.
- Musk spent more than $250 million in a push to return Trump to the White House βΒ and pulling back could come as a disappointment for Republicans in 2026.

The Tesla CEO also vowed to exact vengeance on people who violently targeted Tesla over his political support for Trump.
- "We are coming for those who organized the violence & death threats against Tesla," Musk said on X. "Remember this statement."
3. Catch me up

- Opioid use disorder can cost almost $700,000 per case, according to a comprehensive analysis provided first to Axios' Maya Goldman. The cost burden falls unevenly, with states in a belt stretching through Appalachia to New England typically having bigger caseloads and a higher cost per case.
- π President Trump touted $25 billion in initial funding for the "Golden Dome" and put Gen. Michael Guetlein, the vice chief of space operations, in charge of realizing the hemispheric missile shield. Go deeper.
- π¨ Home Depot doesn't plan to increase prices because of tariffs, officials said on an earnings call today. Go deeper.
- π New COVID booster rules could limit shots for people under 65. Go deeper.
4. β 1 for the road: Star rating psychology

Ever notice the plethora of star ratings on sites like Amazon or Tripadvisor?
- Visual star customer ratings are perceived as being higher than those presented numerically, Axios' Felix Salmon writes.
Why it matters: Consumers evaluate ratings differently depending on the format in which the ratings are presented, per a new paper published in the Journal of Marketing Research.
The big picture: When we see pictures of stars, we count how many lit-up stars there are, including any partially lit stars. When we see a number, we focus on the initial digit.
- Let's say someone uses a moon-based rating system and gives an object 2.5 moons out of 5.
- When asked, some 70% of respondents will say that's "around two moons" since most people round down rather than up.
- On the other hand, if the same object gets a rating of πππππ, 80% of respondents will say that's "around three moons" since most people round up rather than down.
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