| | | | | President Trump stands with the Florida Atlantic University band and cheerleaders at the Trump International Golf Club before a Super Bowl party Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images | | What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump has no public events on his schedule today.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Countdown to State of the Union. Also, taking (unofficial) bets on if/when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam resigns.
"You Can't Impeach Somebody for Doing The Best Job of Any President":
I'm pretty sure that's not how it works, but that was Trump's answer to Margaret Brennan's question on CBS' "Face the Nation" as to whether the President is concerned about Democrats possibly seeking to have him impeached.
Other nuggets from the interview included Trump saying he's leaving the decision of whether or not to release the Robert Mueller investigation to the public, "totally up to the attorney general." And that he "has not thought about" if he would pardon Roger Stone.
Four in 10 People Call This The Worst Governing of Our Time:
So, there's that. CNN's newest polling on Trump and the government reveals the President is at a 40% approval rating, with a 55% disapproval rating. And while the majority of those polled overall aren't in favor of Trump's handling of the border funding issue, his base is overwhelmingly in his corner. Among conservative Republicans, there is massive support for another government shutdown (78% would favor that if no agreement is reached including wall funding) or for the declaration of a national emergency in order to build the wall (72% favor that). And here's the take on the government, writ large: "Almost 7 in 10 say the federal government is doing a bad job of governing, including 43% who say it's the worst job of governing in their lifetimes. That's about double the share who said the same in early 1996 (21%) following a government shutdown that was the longest on record until last month. Just 19% say the federal government is doing a good job."
Also, An Alarming Number of People Don't Know Who Mike Pence Is:
Something in this new poll that jumped out at me: 12% of people have never heard of (NEVER HEARD OF!) Mike Pence. That's up (UP!) 2% from this time last year.
Make It Executive Time:
Axios yesterday published a scoop revealing details of 51 of the President's daily schedules. It's sort of an incredible leak, just in and of itself, but considering some presidents have made their schedules part of public record, it's not super-crazy that they are now out for people to see. The wow factor lies in the amount of "executive time" Trump takes each day, which is averaging about 3 hours, mostly in the Executive Residence, even though the calendars list the Oval Office. Here's a statistic from the story: since the mid-terms, Trump has spent approximately 60% of his time having unstructured executive time. Granted, Trump operates differently than any former president in that he spends his executive time holding meetings, summoning people to the residence, taking and making phone calls and catching up on news. It's not regimented, but it's not to say he's not "working," according to a White House source in the story. One person deeply upset by the leak to Axios is Trump's personal secretary Madeleine Westerhout, who tweeted her dismay, and defense -- and former West Wing aide Cliff Sims, whose tweet agreed that whomever leaked the information clearly has an agenda: | | Credit: @Cliff_Sims/Twitter
Dress Like the First Lady:
It's back! This weekend marked the first official public photos of Melania Trump since Christmas -- well, December 27th, to be exact. On Friday she departed the South Lawn of the White House with Trump (and son, Barron) en route to Mar-a-Lago. She was wearing another coat I hadn't seen before -- this one from Roksanda, available here on sale for $1,550. Melania wore it without the belt, and she accessorized with her oft-worn Gianvito Rossi caramel leather boots (on sale here for $1,625) and a red Hermes Birkin (there's one on 1stdibs.com for $20,950). | | | Credit: farfetch.com, Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images, gianvitorossi.com, 1stdibs.com | | What Washington is Talking About:
This week will be the first we get to see what oversight under a Democratic House really looks like; Sens. Tim Kaine, Mark Warner and Tim Scott are among the lawmakers calling for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign following the revelation of a racist photo in his medical school yearbook; and the Washington Post ran a Super Bowl ad narrated by Tom Hanks.
What America is Talking About:
The New England Patriots are now tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl wins, with six; and the World Record Egg account on Instagram cracked open this morning to draw attention to mental health.
Look Who's Coming to SOTU:
Some members of Congress are hoping to make a statement at tomorrow's State of the Union with their invited guests. Among them are: - Sen. Kamala Harris and guest Trisha Pesiri-Dybvik, an air traffic control specialist who lost her home in the Thomas Fire and was put on furlough.
- Rep. Rob Bishop and guest Jennie Taylor, the widow of Maj. Brent Taylor, who was killed in Afghanistan last year.
- Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and guest Victorina Morales, a former Trump National Golf Club employee and undocumented immigrant rights activist who was featured in last year's New York Times report about undocumented workers at Trump properties.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and guest Ana Maria Archila, who confronted then-Sen. Jeff Flake in the elevator during the Kavanaugh hearing.
You can read a list of SOTU invitees here.
The First Month in AOC:
Speaking of AOC, yesterday was the one-month mark for the 116th Congress (it was also the one-year mark until the 2020 Iowa caucus, btw 😱), and I recapped how the freshman lawmaker spent her first few weeks. She got a Twitter shoutout from Cher, helped push the concept of Green New Deal into the mainstream, and co-sponsored her first piece of legislation, repealing the PAYGO Act. You can read the full list here.
The Rock's Up on Booker's Insta:
Sen. Cory Booker posted a photo from his Stanford football days on Instagram yesterday and wrote in the caption how he once had NFL dreams but was grateful for the actual path his life took after he was cut the last year of eligibility. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson commented on the pic and was basically like ~same~.
"Well said brother CB," he wrote. "We have two similar paths from the gridiron and our dream of making it to the NFL was the best thing that never happened to us."
Adam Levine Opens up About the Halftime Show:
In an interview with ET, Levine said last week's canceled Super Bowl press conference was the NFL's decision, not his or his band's. And he said he made the choice to perform after he "silenced all the noise, listened to myself, and made my decision based on how I felt."
As for the lanterns that were used to spell out "One" and "Love," those words were part of a writing session Levine talked about on Instagram after the performance. He posted a list of words that came to him after they accepted the role, including "Stand," "Kneel," Overcome," and "Listen." My favorite part of the performance was Levine's vest that looked like pillows and curtains. | | Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Cardi on Why She Skipped Super Bowl
Cardi B told the AP she got an offer to perform at the game, but turned it down to show solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. "I got to sacrifice a lot of money to perform," she said. "But there's a man who sacrificed his job for us, so we got to stand behind him." She also called Trump an "arrogant president" and said racism has been reborn.
ICE Arrests 21 Savage:
ICE said it arrested the rapper, a UK citizen, Sunday in Atlanta for illegally being in the US. He's up for two awards at Sunday's Grammys, for Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance for his appearance on Post Malone's "Rockstar."
Street Art Sighting:
An Ivanka Trump look-alike took up a 17-day residency in downtown Washington this weekend for "Ivanka Vacuuming," an interactive performance art piece by artist Jennifer Rubell. The Ivanka impersonator, dressed in bell-sleeves and heels from the Ivanka Trump line (they're from the outfit she wore to the G20 summit), walks out onto a small pink carpet set and silently vacuums. Viewers are invited to throw crumbs provided onto the carpet, which Ivanka cleans up. She's scheduled for 34-hour limited-engagement performance that's live-streamed through a Nest video online, for those who can't make it.
The exhibit describes the first daughter as an icon and "a figure whose public persona incorporates an almost comically wide range of feminine identities -- daughter, wife, mother, sister, model, working woman, blonde," and invites viewers to question their complicity in her role-playing. Last February in New York City, Rubell participated in an exhibition titled "Consent" in which she was pied in the face multiple times a day for six weeks. "Ivanka Vacuuming" runs from 6 to 8 p.m. through February 17 at 916 G St. NW as part of CulturalDC's 20th anniversary season. You can see more photos here. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
Tag or DM me your political street art sightings @hunterschwarz on Twitter or Instagram, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com. | | | | | | |
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