Axios

The president wrote a tweet about the "enemy of the American people," the media.

Apparently unsatisfied, he deleted it and tried again:

Hint, hint: Trump tends to go most aggressively after the media when a big story is incoming. So... stand by.

More: How — and when — Trump tweets

President Trump spoke a lot about America's manufacturing sector during an appearance today at a Boeing plant in South Carolina.

His message: U.S. manufacturing has been on the decline, but now it's coming back thanks to the Trump presidency. It's far too early to analyze the second half of Trump's message, but we do have data on the first half, and it's mixed:

Manufacturing jobs: The levels fell pretty drastically between 2000 and 2009, although they subsequently leveled off and even climbed a bit. The most recent unemployment rate in the manufacturing sector was 4.2%, which is lower than the overall unemployment rate of 4.9%. For context, manufacturing unemployment spiked at 13% in January 2010, easily topping the broader figure of 9.8%.

Manufacturing output: U.S. manufacturing output (i.e., the number of things produced) hit an all-time high in Q4 2016, just beating out a previous high from Q1 2008. Also at a high is manufacturing output per worker hours, which has been on a steady rise, outside of a downward blip during the Great Recession.

Takeaway: America is making more than ever before, but needs fewer people to do it. It's a trend that is likely to accelerate, regardless of Trump's policies, as manufacturers employ more advanced automation technologies.

The AP has now released the full text of the draft Homeland Security memo at the center of its report that the Trump administration is considering calling up 100,000 National Guard troops to round up illegal immigrants.

The White House called the AP's report "100% not true" and stated "this is not a White House document." DHS confirmed the memo was authentic but disputed the AP's report that it was authored by Homeland Security secretary John Kelly. A DHS spokesman told Axios that having Kelly's name on the document isn't a sign that he'd seen it, but rather that staffers were passing it back and forth before final approval. Nonetheless, the AP released the memo today, and here it is:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Friday press conference comes before the start of a week-long congressional recess. The highlights:

• Russia contacts: When asked whether he believes Trump's denial that no one from his campaign has been in contact with Russia, he said "I don't know."
• "I'm not a great fan of [Trump's] daily tweets. What I am a fan of is what he's actually been doing." He added that he's also not a fan of "the extra discussions that he likes to engage in. But we're going to soldier on."
• Applauded Trump's Cabinet as "the most conservative" he's seen in his time in office and blasted "left-wing agitators" for delaying the confirmation of Trump's nominees. He hopes that "at some point here the other side will accept the results of last year's election."
• Indicated that any bill intending to end DACA may not be popular among Republicans on the Hill, and there may be support for passing bipartisan legislation to protect them from deportation. Added that he's "very sympathetic" with the Dreamers.
• Republicans will pass their health and tax agendas with or without Democratic votes.
• Incoming infrastructure plan: Predicts legislation on the creation of a new infrastructure investment program will head to Congress soon, and he hopes it will draw bipartisan support.
• Hopes Judge Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat before the start of the next congressional recess in mid-April.

Despite universal warnings from security experts in and out of government, Donald Trump is apparently continuing to use an insecure, off-the-shelf Android phone. Now Ted Lieu is calling on his fellow Congressman to investigate.

In a letter on Friday, the Los Angeles-area Democrat said that if the President wants to do something about cybersecurity, he should start with his own phone, reportedly an Samsung ancient Galaxy S3. Lieu raises other security concerns in the letter, too, calling for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to look into the issue.

This behavior is more than bad operational security—it is an egregious affront to national security.

Why this might not be a big deal: Though there are many, many security issues related to the president using a standard phone, it's unlikely Republicans will take up this issue.

Yahoo and Tumblr (which is owned by Yahoo) today joined a host of other tech companies on an amicus brief contesting Trump's executive order barring citizens citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

Yahoo executives are from a diverse group of countries, including Taiwan, Chile and Lebanon, "so we know firsthand that great things can happen when America welcomes the world's best and the brightest," Yahoo General Counsel Ron Bell wrote in a blog post.

The brief, filed yesterday, urges a New York federal court to grant injunctive relief against the executive order. Other signers include HP, Uber, Airbnb, Tech:NYC, Dropbox and Codecademy.

Why it matters: The companies' brief supports the efforts of New York Attorney General's Office and others including ACLU in the fight against enforcement of the order, piling on the outcry from around 100 tech companies who filed an opposing brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month. Yahoo was among the notable absences on the earlier brief, along with companies like IBM and Amazon.

What's next: Trump is expected to sign another travel ban order next week.

The AP reported earlier today that the Trump administration is considering calling up 100,000 members of the National Guard to round up illegal immigrants, using a memo they reported was written by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the report is "100% false" and Homeland Security denied that Kelly wrote or saw the memo, or even considered mobilizing the National Guard.

But an administration official admitted the existence of such a memo, telling Axios that the disputed memo was an early draft, internal document that Secretary Kelly never saw.

In C-SPAN's third Presidential Historians Survey, Barack Obama came in at #12 — three spots higher than his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton and solidly in the top third of presidents. That's based on the network's polling of 91 historians and other professional observers of the presidency on qualities of presidential leadership like crisis leadership, international relations, and economic management.

Other notables: Lincoln, Washington, and FDR rounded out the top 3; Reagan at #9; Buchanan, as is tradition, brought up the rear.

Food for thought: This list will include Donald J. Trump in the not-so distant future.

Mark Sanford, back in Congress after an infamous sex scandal while governor of South Carolina, unleashed a series of attacks on Trump in an interview with Politico's Tim Alberta.

• Sanford says Trump has "fanned the flames of intolerance," emphasizing that the president has repeatedly misled the public with his false account of events — most recently the national murder rate and the media's coverage of terrorist attacks. "Truth matters. Not hyperbole, not wild suggestion, but actual truth."
• Trump doesn't impress him. "... At some level he represents the antithesis, or the undoing, of everything I thought I knew about politics, preparation and life."
• The president's lack of transparency is extremely concerning. "[It's] something our country cannot afford," said Sanford.
• Many "rank-and-file" members of the GOP are afraid to criticize Trump, as he's someone who "has a proven record of taking people down." At first Sanford had hope for Paul Ryan, who pushed back on Trump during the election campaign, but was disappointed when the House Speaker resigned his fight once the election results came in. "At the end of the day, radio silence is not sustainable in being true to yourself," Sanford added.