At his rally on Saturday, Trump talked about the dangers of open borders and vaguely referenced a Friday night event in Sweden: "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden."
There was no terrorist attack in Sweden Friday night. This afternoon, Trump explained what he was referring to:
Toward the end of the rally, I began asking attendees how they would grade Trump's time in office so far. All but one awarded him an 'A+' (and the outlier gave him an 'A'). If pressed, they would often add caveats such as, "given what he's up against..." or, "...considering all he's trying to accomplish." Even if some were grading on a curve, it didn't make their reviews insincere.
Why this matters: For all the chattering about Trump's tumultuous first month, the core of his support hasn't flagged. His approval rating averages out to about 45%, according to Nate Silver, And rallies like the one yesterday tell the president to stay the course.
As President Trump pointed out, his biggest problem has quickly become a leaking administration.
The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by "intelligence" like candy. Very un-American! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
A grain of salt: Obama had major leaking problems too. Like in 2012, shortly after his re-election, when officials leaked to the New York Times that the then-President had authorized secret cyber attacks on Iran. Or Edward Snowden in 2013, the guy whose name has become synonymous with government whistleblowers.
The president is speaking tonight in Melbourne, Florida, in what his White House is openly calling a campaign address. We're in day 30 of his administration.
The staff fired this week were in one of the few top offices that directly report to the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (the office of the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, per CBS.
Why this matters: A former State Department official told Axios the Deputy Secretary of State may have to pick up the slack for this empty office, which may rob the State Department of focused regional policy-making and guidance that helps U.S. diplomats do their job.
"Given the current environment I don't know why you wouldn't take advantage" of the management office, a former senior State Department official told Axios, referring to the other four senior management State officers who were recently asked to pack their bags.
The buzz around State is that Trump could be planning to eliminate this office, a current senior State Department official told Axios.
This adds to the signals that the White House is trying to step up its role in foreign policy. The senior State Department official told Axios this is normal, but that the POTUS traditionally works through the National Security Council. These dismissals also add to the concern that diplomats' ability to influence policy is already under attack since Sean Spicer said diplomats can "either get with the program or they can go" after hundreds signed a dissent channel a few weeks ago.
Apparently the White House has another national security adviser candidate. It's West Point superintendent Lt. Col. Robert Caslen, per the White House pool report. Caslen will meet with Trump tomorrow, in addition to acting national security adviser Keith Kellogg, former UN ambassador John Bolton and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster.
Confirmed: retired Gen. David Petraeus is not a candidate, per the pool.
Politico's Eliana Johnson reports that the White House has dismissed Craig Deare, the National Security Council's senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, after he tore into President Trump and his senior advisors at a private roundtable hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center, one of the nation's most highly-respected think tanks.
Deare's most specific complaint: A lack of access to the president for senior national security advisors.
And don't forget: This just adds to the NSC's problems, as it remains leaderless following last week's firing of national security advisor Michael Flynn.
The Washington Post crunched the numbers and found that President Trump's three Mar-a-Lago trips since the inauguration have probably cost the treasury about $10 million. The Trump family's extravagant lifestyle — plus, the sheer number of Trumps the Secret Service has to protect — could end up costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars in 4 years.
Trump's take on presidential vacations and using Air Force 1 for personal use, back in 2014:
A third White House: In case he gets tired of his Winter White House at Mar-a-lago, Trump could make his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey a third option for a weekend office — another logistical nightmare for the Secret Service.
Today is Day 30 of the Trump presidency. Understandably, there's a lot of hyperventilating about Trump's incendiary (but, in its way, Groundhog Day) tweet yesterday:
Mark Sanford, who was in the news yesterday for ripping on Donald Trump, held a pair of town halls today in his South Carolina district. Among the notables was this quote on the border wall, via BuzzFeed News reporter Alexis Levinson and Charleston Post & Courier reporter Caitlin Byrd:
Univision went hard against Trump in 2016, and now the FT adds up the numbers. They're pretty good, although still lagging behind Telemundo, which is eating up market share.
Primetime viewership in the 18-35 demo is up by 8%, with a spike of 72% on its Mexican TV channel, UniMas.
Profit of $108M in the final quarter of 2016 (compared to $8.6M in the period last year), and sales up 15% on the year.
The company still has roughly $9 billion in debt, per the FT. It's been planning an IPO.
What's next: Trump will make an appearance on the network in the coming months, claims CEO Randy Falco.
What a week in Trumpland it has been. It seemed like there was a massive new breaking story leaking from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue every day. To get through it all, Axios has rounded up the 5 biggest stories of the week and shipped them right to you…
Trump had a wild week, as is the new norm since he became president 30 days ago. From his 80-minute press conference to his series of Tweetstorms... here is a week in Trump, as told by Trump.
