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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by the National Retail Federation

07/23/2017 11:23 AM EDT

By ANNA PALMER (anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc), JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com; @JakeSherman) and DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman)

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Driving the Day
Good Sunday morning. SPOTTED: H.R. McMaster at a vineyard outside Santa Barbara Saturday ... Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke running on the Mall Sunday morning.

THE PRESIDENT is at his golf course in Virginia today.

THE PRESIDENT'S WEEK: THE WHITE HOUSE says the theme of the week is "American heroes." MONDAY: The president is going to West Virginia. TUESDAY: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is coming to the White House at 2 p.m. The president is also going to Ohio. WEDNESDAY: Trump is speaking at the American Legion Boys Nation and American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation. THURSDAY: The president is participating in an event for first responders. FRIDAY: Trump is going to New York.

SUNDAY BEST -- THE SCARAMUCCI SHOW -- ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI had a fascinating interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union":

-- 'COMMUNICATIONS PROBLEM' SCARAMUCCI: "Listen, there's obviously a communications problem, because there's a lot of things that we have done as it relates to executive orders, bills that have been signed, economic progress."

-- ON RUSSIAN MEDDLING: SCARAMUCCI: "You know, somebody said to me yesterday -- I won't tell you who -- that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those e-mails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them, meaning that they're super confident in their deception skills and hacking." ... TAPPER: "Well, you're making a lot of assertions here. I don't know who this anonymous person is that said, if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn't have been able to detect it, but it is the unanimous..."

SCARAMUCCI: "How about it was -- how about it was the president, Jake?" TAPPER: "OK. It's the consensus of the intelligence community." SCARAMUCCI: "I talked to you yesterday. He called me from Air Force One." TAPPER: "Yes." SCARAMUCCI: "And he basically said to me, hey, you know, this is -- maybe they did it. Maybe they didn't do it. And I'm going to maintain for you -- hold on a second."`

-- ON HAIR, MAKEUP AND THE PRESS BRIEFING: SCARAMUCCI: "So, Sarah Huckabee is the president secretary. If you're asking me for my personal opinion -- and maybe the president will be upset for giving my personal -- we should put the cameras on. That's no problem. I don't think we need to have the cameras off.

"But if the president doesn't want the cameras on, guess what? We're not going to have the cameras on. It's going to really be up to him. But I think we should put the cameras on. ... The only thing I ask Sarah -- Sarah, if you're watching, I loved the hair and makeup person that we had on Friday. So, I would like to continue to use the hair and makeup person."

-- NOTE: Scaramucci signaled to Tapper that he didn't know if Trump would sign the new Russian sanctions bill. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos that the "administration is supportive in being tough on Russia ... we support where the legislation is now." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e039f73a3047658c1809bfbee9cffc6c79a0403fbc1beaa48b5eada9fb0ef866b2b392c50d712b38aa11187561f5004039b

-- SCARAMUCCI to Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday": "One of the first things I want to do, as was just mentioned, we got to get the leaks stopped, Chris. ... So my three simple things is I would like to reset the culture inside the comms department so that people recognize that I'm actually there to serve them, and they're going to be working with me, not for me. That's a very big distinction. And that all of us are there to serve the President of the United States and his agenda ...

"If we don't get the leaks stopped, I am a businessperson, and so I will take dramatic action to stop those leaks. And then the third thing is I'll be traveling with the president this week and we're going to focus and refine the messaging from the White House. He's one of the most effective communicators that's ever been born, and we're going to make sure that we get that message out directly to the American people. And I think that arbitrage spread, the gap between how certain people think of him and how I see him, or say like someone like Ivanka sees him, that will start to narrow so."

SCARAMUCCI on CBS'S "FACE THE NATION": DICKERSON: "What happens to leakers on your watch?" SCARAMUCCI: "They're going to get fired. I'm just going to make it very, very clear, okay? Tomorrow I'm going to have a staff meeting. And it's going to be a very binary thing. I'm not going to make any prejudgments about anybody on that staff. If they want to stay on the staff, they're going to stop leaking. If the leaks continue, we are strong as our weakest link. And I'll say it a little differently in a pun. We're strong as our weakest leak. So if you guys want to keep leaking, why don't you guys all get together and make a decision as a team that you're going to stop leaking? ... But if you're
going to keep leaking, I'm going to fire everybody. It's just very binary."

-- TAKEAWAYS: Scaramucci's maiden Sunday show performance as communications director featured some very unusual tactics. 1. He spoke directly to Trump. 2. He mentioned his credentials of going to Harvard Law School at least twice.


GLENN THRUSH on A1 of the NYT: "Trump's 'Great National Infrastructure Program'? Stalled" (print headline: "Infrastructure, Trump Priority, Is Pushed Aside"): "As a candidate, President Trump billed himself as a new breed of think-big Republican, pitching a $1 trillion campaign pledge to reconstruct the nation's roadways, waterworks and bridges - along with a promise to revive the lost art of the bipartisan deal.

"In the White House, Mr. Trump has continued to dangle the possibility of 'a great national infrastructure program' that would create 'millions" of new jobs as part of a public-private partnership to rival the public works achievements of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. He chastises anyone who forgets to include it near the top of his to-do list, telling one recent visitor to the Oval Office, 'Don't forget about infrastructure!'

"But an ambitious public works plan, arguably his best chance of rising above the partisan rancor of his first six months in office, is fast becoming an afterthought - at precisely the moment Mr. Trump needs a big, unifying issue to rewrite the narrative of his chaotic administration. Infrastructure remains stuck near the rear of the legislative line, according to two dozen administration officials, legislators and labor leaders involved in coming up with a concrete proposal. It awaits the resolution of tough negotiations over the budget, the debt ceiling, a tax overhaul, a new push to toughen immigration laws -- and the enervating slog to enact a replacement for the Affordable Care Act.
... 'Right now, it doesn't appear that they have a plan,' said Richard L. Trumka, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., who is pushing for more federal spending." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e039e7316d8429e0b4a403183ac54752445df5233c6bfa05300a4c47856bb31f109dae2551b3fe7d26b5f2e57ea236db59d

BOSTON GLOBE'S ANNIE LINSKEY in BOARDMAN, OHIO: "GOP misread Trump victory as mandate to gut health care": "There's a deep love for Donald Trump here in the Mahoning Valley, once a reliably Democratic swath of northeastern Ohio that turned purple in the last election. But when it comes to Republicans in general, there's far less affection from the base, particularly in the wake of a stalled agenda in Washington.

"'It's like they're still not listening, listening to the people,' said Ruth Nabb, a senior citizen from the area and a Trump supporter who spent Friday morning at the Republican headquarters here. 'We're all tired of it.' She's floored that the Republican leadership in Congress didn't have a workable health care plan ready to swiftly replace the Affordable Care Act. She's livid that Republican senators, including Ohio's Rob Portman, stood in the way of passing the Senate version of a health care overhaul. But she also doesn't like the idea of reducing entitlement programs that benefit her family and community, including less funding for Medicare and dramatic spending cuts to Medicaid that
are a core feature of the House and Senate Republican plans.

"'They've been bitching about this for 7½ years,' Nabb said of the Republicans in Congress. 'So they've had time to get their ducks in a row.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03ddf060bb2ed6018d53c931bad79b01b72c29f15a22b1f8b35c6e0c4299480ea1983765019c05a0aec865b9797cdde486


****** A message from the National Retail Federation: {Podcast} Members of Congress might think they know a lot about retail because they are also consumers. But the truth is, they have a lot to learn. Hear why in the latest Retail Gets Real podcast. ******

SCHUMER VS. HILLARY -- "Trump had 'The Art of the Deal.' Now Democrats say their economic agenda is 'A Better Deal,'" by WaPo's Ed O'Keefe and David Weigel: "'When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don't blame other things - Comey, Russia - you blame yourself,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview previewing the new plan. 'So what did we do wrong? People didn't know what we stood for, just that we were against Trump. And still believe that.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e037ff1dcebdc56e68ec55ce79bd8357e8de5f66a138d99fe543333dd8bbd535a7e3842a57613ac44d1764026317ab7e0e5 (h/t Aaron Blake)

DAWSEY DOWNLOAD, HEALTH CARE EDITION -- "White House officials have low expectations for this week's health care vote and have started considering privately what President Trump will do it if fails. Trump has recently taken more of an interest in health care, frustrated by the failure in the Senate. One senior administration official said news coverage of a failure -- or potential failure -- sharpens his focus on an issue. When the bill was yanked from the House floor it sharpened the president's focus.

"Trump has been annoyed by stories that say he doesn't know much about health care. That has led to the president's increasing focus on the topic. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would rather be talking about judicial nominees or 'almost anything else,' one person familiar with his thinking said. Many senators are also said to be tired of the ongoing debate. So while health care is not what Trump would prefer to be talking about, he is likely to keep pushing for a 'deal, some kind of deal' instead of moving on."

FOR DON MCGAHN -- "Can the President Be Indicted? A Long-Hidden Legal Memo Says Yes," by NYT's Charlie Savage: "A newfound memo from Kenneth W. Starr's independent counsel investigation into President Bill Clinton sheds fresh light on a constitutional puzzle that is taking on mounting significance amid the Trump-Russia inquiry: Can a sitting president be indicted? The 56-page memo, locked in the National Archives for nearly two decades and obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, amounts to the most thorough government-commissioned analysis rejecting a generally held view that presidents are immune from prosecution while in office. 'It is proper, constitutional,
and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president's official duties,' the Starr office memo concludes. 'In this country, no one, even President Clinton, is above the law.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03772f410de71b20bc18406228a7ebeebd83dead773396a52c3183a57c3cb2b61195692720b7571547dd4612407f622f3c ... The memo http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03bcfa671d364d2f193ae02c5bdc2f54f39699e891cea7ef0bd6c33381d4434cccf078544863c8a665c4d35828790c8a50

ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR TRUMP -- "U.S. Lawmakers Reach Deal on New Sanctions Against Russia," by WSJ's Natalie Andrews: "Congressional negotiators reached a deal late Friday to advance a bill that would punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 election and restrict the president's power to remove sanctions on Moscow. It remained unclear whether President Donald Trump would sign the bill if it reaches his desk, which is now likely. ... The House is slated to vote Tuesday on a package of sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, according to guidance released by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.)." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e036ba7acf9f8ce49b7683ad1e142291398744af5d4ecf4fbdb156a63f583045e5c573d7a96a19d645bc82b2162d70c6885

-- DAVID SANGER and MATT FLEGENHEIMER: "The new legislation would sharply limit the president's ability to suspend or terminate the sanctions -- a remarkable handcuffing by a Republican-led Congress six months into Mr. Trump's tenure. ... Now, Mr. Trump could soon face a decision he hoped to avoid: veto the bill -- a move that would fuel accusations that he is doing the bidding of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia -- or sign legislation imposing sanctions his administration has opposed." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03adcf6d59555c072259ba378a1d2d6e7373ddc9c72deb88b38cfc6c330882ae8fff9da25cb364c74acf27efb4860237cd

PETER BAKER in the NYT, "Trump's Attack on Russia Inquiry Is From Familiar Playbook: The Clintons'": "More than eight months after his election, President Trump still attacks Hillary Clinton, disparaging her campaign and accusing her of illegality. ... But in one way, at least, Mrs. Clinton has become something of a role model for Mr. Trump. As he faces the sort of politically charged investigation that dogged Bill and Hillary Clinton when they were in the White House in the 1990s, Mr. Trump has consciously adopted a strategy from the Clintons' playbook. Much as the Clintons did, Mr. Trump is assembling a team of lawyers both inside and outside the White House to draw issues related to the
investigation away from the rest of the West Wing.

"And he has embarked on a campaign to discredit the investigators before they can even get very far in their investigation, hoping to do to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, what the Clintons did to Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel.Advisers to Mr. Trump have studied and privately expressed admiration for the no-holds-barred way the Clintons attacked Mr. Starr's integrity at every turn in an effort to shift attention from their conduct to his during the Whitewater and Monica S. Lewinsky investigations. The Clintons, Mr. Trump's advisers said, knew how to 'go to the mattresses,' a phrase sometimes used approvingly in this White House, and they added that they were trying to
do the same thing." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03b2d5b3422d510f6364fcaa4aee2c7c325c450b9f1c3ac5c4916bb3dd76ce9c29f4c04c6f2deb28e858b1fc80fa6134ea

\u041f\u0440\u043e\u0449\u0430\u0439! -- @RusEmbUSA: "Ambassador S.Kislyak has concluded his assignment in Washington, DC Minister-Counselor D.Gonchar will act as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim".

SCARAMUCCI DELETES -- @Scaramucci: "Full transparency: I'm deleting old tweets. Past views evolved & shouldn't be a distraction. I serve @POTUS agenda & that's all that matters" ... "The politics of 'gotcha' are over. I have a thick skin and we're moving on to @POTUS agenda serving the American people".

-- "Read Anthony Scaramucci's old tweets. You'll understand why he deleted them," by WaPo's Kristine Phillips: "New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci hasn't always shared the political views of the administration he now serves. In previous tweets, the Wall Street financier called Hillary Clinton 'incredibly competent" and appeared to be at odds with his new boss on issues such as gun control, climate change, Islam and illegal immigration ...

"In a pair of 2012 tweets, one of which has not yet been deleted, he said that the United States has too many guns and that he's 'always been for strong gun control laws.' 'We (the USA) has 5% of the world's population but 50% of the world's guns,' he wrote in the deleted tweet. 'Enough is enough. It is just common sense it apply more controls.' ... Scaramucci also praised former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2011 for staying out of the 'Trump spectacle' and called former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally, an 'odd guy' who's 'so smart with no judgment.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e031d69a4f0f29b06bdf8edd2a46ca0e420972f979a7e8cd64f45f009c83fcb09687851a3266cb60c0e06edfed06510a0be

MAKE GERMANY GREAT AGAIN -- "Germans are learning to love Germany again, and Merkel takes note," by WaPo's Isaac Stanley Becker in Berlin: "Germans' wary attitude toward patriotism and the idea of a national culture is decades old. But circumstances both global and domestic are forcing a reconsideration. As the country decides how it might serve as a custodian of the liberal international order, it is also sorting out how to integrate migrants who began arriving in enormous numbers in 2015. Both undertakings bear crucially on German values -- and on the issue of whether a unified set of national principles even exists." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03745f640443be9e2d937cd46a9bbfa9a4a8e7bff673bdd96286bcdef4e5d293e1ba5e67991b381196d9a04190b777aee7

YIKES! -- "How ISIS nearly stumbled on the ingredients for a 'dirty bomb,'" by WaPo's Joby Warrick and Loveday Morris: "On the day the Islamic State overran the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, it laid claim to one of the greatest weapons bonanzas ever to fall to a terrorist group: a large metropolis dotted with military bases and garrisons stocked with guns, bombs, rockets and even battle tanks. But the most fearsome weapon in Mosul on that day was never used by the terrorists. ... Locked away in a storage room on a Mosul college campus were two caches of cobalt-60, a metallic substance with lethally high levels of radiation. ...

"In terrorists' hands, it is the core ingredient of a 'dirty bomb,' a weapon that could be used to spread radiation and panic. Western intelligence agencies were aware of the cobalt and watched anxiously for three years for signs that the militants might try to use it. Those concerns intensified in late 2014 when Islamic State officials boasted of obtaining radioactive material, and again early last year when the terrorists took over laboratories at the same Mosul college campus with the apparent aim of building new kinds of weapons." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e030896f78e053913947ddc7302b250a703b160288a053bc83b902441bb278fc748c3cbe3b135dc745150d3a8beb2a5057c

WHAT AMERICA IS READING -- THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS (Ala.): "Alabama 'Dreamers' living on edge ... Future is uncertain for those brought to U.S. illegally as children" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e036a41e6f57e812508202fd94af33cfdb1918f8a0d918968c2602cd97ebd5c818cea39d8d392fd0841db68314c8fbe7a9a ... DENVER POST: "Colorado Divide ... Rural-urban chasm runs through culture, economy and politics of state" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e036e660b448a5ebbbdbd1a90fbfa2e3e1c0f329f71c73ee816a1debac3d11d3ac40d003a4edfdbfa03f1f36c45114ccae5 ... PALM BEACH POST: "Voter fraud probe comes to naught ... Case being dropped after detectives examining absentee ballot allegations in county races can't single out a suspect" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e032befe3a97364e147ae7c776dc3e3e514453672884527df05f07ceb40846ff51920f14b308b8cb71b73e08d10a830a1af ... CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: "Ohioans' reaction mixed on failed bill ... Some are relieved,
some still
anti-ACA" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03ba8e3ba1543f95e4e371518541c34a6ac60f64e0451286db3431b6c15755060dbf2683daa66292289e08ac6fd8effae8

PIC DU JOUR -- @MeghanMcCain: "Amazing hike with Dad @SenJohnMcCain this morning. Thank you all for your best wishes!" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03a53192bd8d66eea67fcb3bbe406a22a4fb9e7173996f260f0bfd50e19360cdcf2c7cbc506f260483a1d051e86df85b91

THE JUICE ...

-- THE CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND got a half-million dollars from Hillwood Development Company on June 30. Hillwood is run by Ross Perot Jr.


Playbook Reads


PHOTO DU JOUR: Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and President Donald Trump stand for the presentation of the colors during the commissioning ceremony of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia on July 22. | Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

BULLETIN -- "Police: 8 dead in truck, 20 dire in immigrant smuggling case," by AP's Eric Gay in San Antonio: "Authorities called to a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio overnight found eight people dead and 20 others in dire condition in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer, in what police are calling a horrific case of immigrant smuggling. The truck's driver was arrested and all 28 survivors were taken to hospitals, where 20 were in extremely critical or serious condition ... Temperatures in San Antonio reached 101 degrees (38 Celsius) on Saturday and didn't dip below 90 degrees (32 C) until after 10 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The truck's trailer also didn't have
a working air conditioner system." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e034c0b69fe32ea51bd2446ee00003ad9bc760c816f2a7bf4dc20fae82c595ec2cae1bc3a7c80a830e3a95031a74fab3b01

2018 WATCH -- "McCaskill plays watchdog ahead of tough 2018 race," by Elana Schor in Monroe City, Missouri: "Claire McCaskill has sought to cultivate a familiar brand during her decade in the Senate: the dogged investigator, eager to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse. And the Missouri Democrat has found her next target in the pharmaceutical industry. Talking to voters earlier this month in this tiny, deep-red rural town, McCaskill compared the drug-makers who deny the addictive properties of opioids to cigarette makers that 'told people for years that tobacco is not bad for your health.'

"'We can't do nothing,' she added at a sweltering seniors' center, during what was her eighth appearance in a 10-stop town hall swing. As the top Democrat on the Senate's governmental affairs committee, McCaskill is using her oversight authority to probe the opioid industry's marketing, trying to decipher how the highly addictive drugs sparked a wave of overdoses across the country. Her scrutiny of the opioid epidemic, which has raged across her Midwestern state, also offers McCaskill a chance to burnish her credentials on an issue of bipartisan concern. She's going to need it ahead of what's already turning out to be a bitter re-election battle in a state Donald Trump won by 19 points."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e031548c1f2aa3641f6b71a12da6ed7a83bb3c2bb25c5f892eaabab0045587e696a768a4275ff40c84ee00490cbff3f1172

-- "Meet the lab-coat liberals," by California Playbooker David Siders in Los Angeles: "The lab-coat liberals are marching on Washington. Dismayed by President Donald Trump's perceived hostility to climate science and other areas of research, a surge of scientists is entering the public arena and running for political office for the first time. They represent an evolving brand of Democrat that has been gaining steam for months. What began with rogue Twitter accounts and protest marches has graduated into candidacies in House races in places as varied as California, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York. The handful of scientists who have formally announced their candidacies so far - and the
others who are preparing to join them - have cast themselves as a counterforce to the Trump administration's dismissal of climate science and de-prioritization of innovation funding." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e0333b7f63ead3c24ad6035020cce1c83a3242ca8f87a84a9733249c68d5b1a8cdcc08f3ccaf0f66081ddddd7e1b748890f


****** A message from the National Retail Federation: The overwhelming majority of retailers are small businesses, with more than 98% of all retail companies employing fewer than 50 people. While small in size, their voices are loud and clear when fighting to be heard on decisions and policies that impact their businesses and the customers they serve every day. Hear more industry stories on NRF's Retail Gets Real podcast. ******

TIM ALBERTA and ZACK STANTON in POLITICO Magazine: "Senator Kid Rock. Don't Laugh: Consensus formed at warp speed that Kid Rock's possible U.S. Senate bid shouldn't be taken seriously. That's a huge mistake": "Yes, healthy skepticism is warranted: Not a single prominent Republican in Michigan told us they'd heard from Ritchie or his associates about a campaign. ... [But] he's earned a reputation in his native southeast Michigan as someone who is earnest when it comes to civic involvement, helping local businesses and headlining major philanthropic events. When Mitt Romney asked for his endorsement ahead of the pivotal Michigan primary in 2012, Ritchie invited him to his Metro Detroit home
and peppered him with a list of policy questions, sleeping on the decision before informing Romney the next day he would support him." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e031a9516224b487bb1b5037fe878fd8d954d4274b9055063bb01c314675c386dc96b308bc687996e361b59c05de5fce220

BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- "What early fundraising in California says about the race for Congress: Some incumbents are behind," by L.A. Times' Sarah D. Wire and Christine Mai-Duc: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03a719ecba7c9643b8c6176b0a7678619d6b468d87e67e30c00c185fc6f31ee34e66bcafd229c78e462acf98376aba2d40

BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

--"Atul Gawande on Priorities, Big and Small" - Medium: "The surgeon, researcher, and celebrated writer joined Tyler [Cowen] for a conversation on why Watson will never diagnose your illness, what George Church's narcolepsy teaches us about CRISPR, what's missing in medical education, Michael Crichton's cultural influence, Knausgård versus Ferrante, indie music, why Gawande is a terrible patient, and the thing that makes him 'bawl like a baby.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03a42114b39ad1ad990d24a11a5bc43108c56b8fd89fc700e498598bd6db1022e81126f234fda814c50dd4a3c76c3fb2b2

--"Unlocking the Secrets Behind the Hummingbird's Frenzy," by Brendan Borrell in NatGeo: "The smallest can weigh less than two grams. The largest, the giant hummingbird found in Peru and Chile, tips the scales at 20 grams. You could send something that weight in the mail with a single first-class stamp." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03bfbad898e63f49a998f69194d62cb1c337b5615a3ad39df2ba0adc648fb277d011d297a5ef5ea5bfdc731075a16170a2

--"How a Saudi Prince Unseated His Cousin to Become the Kingdom's Heir Apparent," by WSJ's Justin Scheck, Shane Harris, and Summer Said: "Mohammed bin Salman, known to many as 'MBS,' knelt and kissed his older cousin's hand. At that point it would have been clear to Mohammed bin Nayef that his long career ... was over, say people familiar with the royal court. 'When MBS kisses you,' says one of these people, 'you know something bad will happen.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03e5ed9d8ffbc027b0d0b983322aab2d1cfe67e909365d1cbfc20ef58b29f7e7ca61e32a95fc6a6a77f02a56e70a2ca02a

--"Youth From Every Quarter," by Kirstin Valdez Quade in Longreads: "A teacher at an elite boarding school confronts her own confused leap up the ladder of class privilege." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03989cc70f92535f8530a751dd64db5f7a70de6dc4af6dfb4a62029834497f10ffcd81832e2d77ef24301e02a5a209cb08

--"How Checkers Was Solved," by The Atlantic's Alexis C. Madrigal: "Marion Tinsley - math professor, minister, and the best checkers player in the world - sat across a game board from a computer, dying. Tinsley had been the world's best for 40 years, a time during which he'd lost a handful of games to humans, but never a match. It's possible no single person had ever dominated a competitive pursuit the way Tinsley dominated checkers. But this was a different sort of competition: the Man-Machine World Championship." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03c9153d8834238650bad51a5c79620bfc8cd5f0ff3b40e6f8e3367be1942c34190f6a031065ec3b6b283ee839ec38f338 (h/t The Browser)

--"The Rise and Fall of F. Lee Bailey, the Lawyer Who Set O.J. Simpson Free,"by Andrew Goldman in Town and Country: "More than 20 years ago, Bailey helped Simpson beat murder charges. Now ... the bankrupt, disbarred Bailey opens up about his own incredible saga." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03a50250e32478460a2b4cf57bffa7ef7c0502085a0a7d57b2e4b6ecdd22c6b2d7cecd838f4da388a586c8256cb732baba

--"Globalisation: the rise and fall of an idea that swept the world," by Nikil Saval in The Guardian: "It's not just a populist backlash - many economists who once swore by free trade have changed their minds, too. How had they got it so wrong?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e0371c219669565b2211bb326362434b3ca959d4d6302a8db66465c25cadc90a2811a42e8c3a73dad7b62e1b9e373a76ccd

--"20 Years Later Highway to Hell," by Greg Bishop in SI in June 2014: "After riveting the nation with the bronco chase and dividing it with the trial of the century, O.J. Simpson settled into a strange new life as a celebrity pariah. Now behind bars for unrelated crimes, he's as much a mystery as ever to friends-and perhaps to himself." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03f628572a027a34b0a11afb12e6fa2c178738b6e992f98d1f3983facf3c91dfb0cc45b91a20c05ac9442473bdf7f5cab8

--"A Son's Race to Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality," by James Vlahos in Wired - per Longform's description: "As a father succumbs to lung cancer, his son tries to recreate his personality in the form of a chatbot." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03b25bcf1e08a53de5f4b8e4621da769f895c257dd2d91ff501fbe50dbe5d6bbf9ba9fb1de2237169e7f7215c77ff92b1a

--"'America First': Who Really Wins?" by Ian Bremmer in the Friday cover of POLITICO Magazine: "Top 10 winners from Trump's foreign policy." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03900efdb8f20e8ea72d33b343705d7e94663c2ef19de5724e5499ffa2d5eb436f2dae42f6054f0fe8941328af29517da3

--"Fyre Festival: Anatomy of a Millennial Marketing Fiasco Waiting to Happen,"by Bryan Burrough in the August issue of Vanity Fair: "Billy McFarland sold elite millennials (and his investors) on an ultra-luxurious 'Coachella in the Bahamas,' but the much-ridiculed fiasco that actually took place in April derailed the 25-year-old serial entrepreneur's checkered bid for moguldom. Inside what could be the biggest scam of the year." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03cee6e113543e173aed2babb39467298f39469f92721e8496cbcbc6aabd8a996847ca1229d0b62c0a77d74de7c60dbae6

--"10,000 Hours With Claude Shannon: How A Genius Thinks, Works, and Lives," by Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni, authors of "A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age," in Medium: "We got up-close-and-personal with a genius for five years. Here are 12 things we learned." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e038ab6750b646a99af7e5fd4a2b1c7c846eb7c2f9f078b38e0940ab3d189291696569ac67a7a1be8b290f2357142c69b6d ...$17.68 on Amazon http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e038dc9eaaee03a1ab1ce8a719d8980500f9b80bb6651cd563fd808e0445b00e1fc8b5aa257c6ec737303d64e0d0922ac1d

--"The 30-Year-Old Texas Tycoon [Nate Paul] Who Is Building A Real Estate Empire," by Forbes' Nathan Vardi: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e033116b6596f5b00f063b5eab4a728e9fd092cf8a29f5f471ef7f943a699bca6030899183b9e5df0b587cfe86b639f9926

MEDIAWATCH -- "Scaramucci praises Breitbart in first interview since communications appointment," by Brent Griffiths: "'One of the things Breitbart has done is you've captured the spirit of what's actually going on in the country,' Scaramucci told [Matt] Boyle during an interview on 'Breitbart News Saturday' on SiriusXM. Scaramucci further joked with Boyle that he was surprised the editor had not sent in his resume for West Wing consideration yet." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03f83626988b1e349fb6a5b9c749ac7bc725d6f5e43fec103bb997b0a4666e04a6b237cb0f6a62cf49402a3d2f4a80ceb6 ... The full interview http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03a2503fe496d131d6befb081022e298d549ec686fa8521b7c94096269364c8a45371e5b3fc78bd20fefc9587322a43322

--JEN PALMIERI in the WaPo, "The clock may have just run out on the White House press corps": http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03afffb5358acca80eed521fa47690244134cf1e39b9c36fe1cd2b35579e2dc4340bc6b07cbad0ecd2263b224db928d6c4
Playbookers
SPOTTED: Chris Christie at the Mets v. A's game last night ... Joe Biden and Amy Schumer yesterday at "Dear Evan Hansen" on Broadway ... Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with his family yesterday at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery with plain clothed security detail

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- "Samantha Swietlikowski, Ben Strauss" -- N.Y. Times: "The couple met at Ithaca College, from which the groom graduated. The bride attended Ithaca for two years before transferring to Cornell, from which she graduated cum laude. Mrs. Strauss, 29, is a lawyer in the Washington office of Katten Muchin Rosenman, the Chicago law firm. She received a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. ... Mr. Strauss, 31, is a Washington-based freelance writer and author. He writes about sports and politics for The New York Times and Politico Magazine. He also co-wrote 'Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA,'
with Joe Nocera." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03c41fcbe842399b4c593df6db5f629e4cbfa039e10004d2b848f6a5efa9727b874a7e964199470c6f6d4254f7ced36d16

--"Christina Kaiser, Emad Salem": "The bride, 34, and groom, 33, met at American University in Washington, from which the groom graduated with a dual bachelor's degree in economics and international studies, and where the bride graduated magna cum laude and received a master's degree in intercultural and international service.Ms. Kaiser is a corporate communications director in New York for APCO Worldwide, a public affairs and strategic communications consultancy. ... Mr. Salem, is the vice president and the chief operating officer for Battery Dance Company, a nonprofit organization in New York that uses the arts for public diplomacy. He received a master's degree in international affairs
from Columbia." With pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03b02a0cc0a3b9fe96c7ad2a5a69d09c2e10964ada7dde7edeb08d827deaeb6e1dc3496b5bd9c9653b997abcd107a04e26

ENGAGED -- Austin Walton, a legislative assistant for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), recently got engaged to Vaneese Cope, manager of political affairs at the Dow Chemical Company. He proposed at her childhood river house in Weeki Wachee, Florida, then celebrated with family and friends in St. Petersburg. She emails us: "We met here in DC through a mutual friend who used to live in DC and was in town visiting. It was three and a half years ago at a Sunday brunch [at Madhatter] where he asked our friend for my number. It took him a few days to reach out, but we never stopped hanging out after that!" Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e0376da0f789af6389ae07de1df4d9c8b8aac9c2cf94564f57ead477435391f5106d75f0e4ea0370b4086d760acd594701b

WELCOME TO THE WORLD -- Cory Bythrow, deputy chief of staff at the American Federation of Government Employees, and Julianne Bongiorno Bythrow welcomed Caroline Elizabeth Bythrow, who "was born squarely on her due date at 10:52 p.m. Friday night. Welcomed by an equal parts exhausted (40 hours of labor!) and elated (thank goodness she doesn't have daddy's nose!) Mom and Dad, she weighed in at a healthy 8lbs 1 ounce." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e03e403bafc06b80de3c93c202c2d44393b29bebf218521e65bd4ffd92a5f289152f8dc995cdee38f771ed522a01a0bb094

-- Alexandra Tripiano, a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, and former director of communications operations at AEI, and Jim Tripiano, VP of advisory services at Second Front Systems, email friends and family: "Jim and I are so thrilled to announce that we welcomed Penelope Claire Tripiano into the world on Thursday at 11:49 a.m. She was delivered at Inova Alexandria Hospital, weighing 7 lbs 8 ounces and measuring a whopping 22 inches. Mom and Dad are both so thrilled to finally meet their Sweet Pea. She spent her first evening getting read her first book, the 'ABCs of Washington DC,' complete with editorial comments from dad." Pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e873093743201e0371f49682898a23d2319f327fab2539436e98f13c139d0e57c0bfe7f859ec2d918b740be78f8da825a159dc304724ba99

TRANSITIONS -- The NAACP has named Derrick Johnson as its interim president and CEO. He was previously vice chairman of the board of directors.

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Emily Carpeaux, PBS NewsHour senior producer for field segments (hat tip: Nick Massella)

BIRTHDAYS: Nancy Hamlin ... David Brock (h/t Bradley Beychok) ... Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy ... Monica Lewinsky ... Don Imus ... Adam Mohabbat ... Fritz Brogan, national co-chair of Maverick PAC and D.C. restaurateur (h/ts Blake Waggoner and Ryan Williams) ... CNN publicist Liza Pluto (h/t Lauren Pratapas) ... The Economist's Lane Greene ... Matt Shilling ... John Mihalec, former White House speechwriter for President Ford ... Eric Werwa ... Caleb Zigas ... wine critic Robert Parker Jr. ... Politico's Kat Borgerding and Sam Barnes ... Sujata Thomas, a Fareed Zakaria alum ... Melinda Wittstock ... Catherine O'Donnell ... Carolyn Vadino ... Alex Pareene, politics editor for
Fusion ... Matt Jeanneret, SVP of comms and marketing at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association and an alum Al Simpson and Bush 41 administration, is 5-0 (h/t wife Elizabeth) ...

... Melissa Brown, press secretary for Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), is 26 (h/ts Sarah Westwood, Sophie White, and Maddy Weast) ... Georgetown law professor and tax expert Itai Grinberg ... Marshall Schraibman ... WaPo's Perry Stein ... Square's Joey Rault ... DOT's Aaron Moore ... former Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) ... Tracie Pough ... Josh Gross, VP at Glover Park Group ... Brooks Emanuel ... Melinda Wittstock ... Michael Bruce Hill ... Katherine Boucher ... Cathy Whaley ... David Dewit ... Jeremy D. Goodwin ... Jim Thompson ... Dan Pink ... Brooks Emanuel (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

****** A message from the National Retail Federation: The overwhelming majority of retailers are small businesses, with more than 98% of all retail companies employing fewer than 50 people. While small in size, their voices are loud and clear when fighting to be heard on decisions and policies that impact their businesses and the customers they serve every day. Hear more industry stories on NRF's Retail Gets Real podcast. ******

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