| | | | | The US Capitol early Monday morning on the third day of the government shutdown. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images | | | Shutdown End in Sight: The Senate reached a deal to reopen the government
Where You At, POTUS?: Trump scrapped a planned weekend celebration at Mar-a-Lago, on lockdown at WH
How Melania Marked One Year: Out of all the pics she could have posted, she chose one without her husband | | | BREAKING: Senate votes to end government shutdown.
What the White House is Talking About:
President Trump is scheduled to speak later this afternoon, following the 81-18 vote in the Senate to end the government shutdown. Jeff Zeleny reports Trump spent the morning in the residence, watching coverage of the shutdown and talking to Republican leaders on the phone.
What the White House Press Corps is Talking About:
Government shutdown drama.
ALSO THE VENDING MACHINE IN THE BREAK ROOM IN THE PRESS AREA HAS BEEN EMPTY FOR DAYS SO WE FELT IT TOO, GUYS. | | Credit: @Acosta/Twitter
However, on the bright side, if you were working out of a bureau the past few days, or over the weekend, as I was, you have likely had lots of supplied food from your outlet. CNN has literally fed us around the clock and I love/hate them for it. Friday was off the chain.
Where You At, POTUS?:
The story of Trump and the shutdown was largely a tale of silence. The weekend was quiet for the commander-in-chief. He was apparently bummed he had to miss his big donor party in Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, saying in a videotaped message to the guests who did go, "I had to stay here in DC, which I'm becoming pretty proficient at....We had to stay here for the purpose of shutdown." While the late nights and closed-door negotiations were happening up on Capitol Hill, Trump -- by all accounts -- stayed away as the two sides duked it out in the hope of coming up with a solution that would please Democrats and the White House. On Saturday, Sarah Sanders tweeted a pic of Trump "hard at work," but he actually has his coat on? Everyone else looks really happy, though. | | Credit: @presssec/Twitter
Also, pretty clear who Trump is blaming: | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump Tweets About ... Youth Sports?:
Which in the midst of a government shutdown is, let's face it, odd. But, PS, if this theory holds true, the 3-pointer my 12-year-old daughter shot at the buzzer in her game yesterday pretty much means she will be president someday, amirite?
Our Daily Melania:
CNN had new poll numbers out on Saturday, one year into Melania's tenure as first lady, and it's clear the people dig her the most out of all of the Trump family. She bested the President by seven percentage points in favorable ratings, coming in with 47% to his 40%. One year ago, she was only at 36%. But I think it's interesting that a good deal of the respondents, 12%, still feel like they don't know her well enough to have an opinion one way or the other, even a year later.
Ivanka Trump didn't do all that much better than her dad in this latest poll, coming in a 41% favorable; in that number, men like her more than women, at 48% to 35%. Worst in the findings? Jared Kushner, who only had a 17% favorable.
Of ALL The Pics from ALL the Months:
I think it's very interesting that Melania chose to commemorate her first year as FLOTUS by posting a picture and a message that did not even hint at a mention of her husband, the President. Instead, she picks one that shows her with essentially an anonymous military escort, his face obscured. I mean, fascinating, right? She's been quiet all week in the face of ugly headlines about affairs and porn stars, but she's often quiet -- so maybe we could just take the post at face value. But I think she does everything with intention. You? | | What Washington is Talking About:
The Senate has reached a deal to reopen the government after the shutdown dragged into its third day. It was the first shutdown in American history to occur when a single party has control of the Senate, House, and White House.
What America is Talking About:
The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles are advancing to Super Bowl LII February 4 in Minneapolis.
Poll of the Day:
One year into President Trump's administration, and 44% of Americans said it's been about what they expected, according to a Gallup poll. Among Repubs and Repub leaners, 46% said it's gone better than they expected, while among Dems and Dem leaners, 52% said it's gone worse than expected. | | Credit: Gallup
How do you think it went? Regardless of whether you voted for the guy, was his first year about what you imagined it would be, better or worse? Curious to hear your thoughts; email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com
What the Shutdown Meant in Washington:
The shutdown put thousands of federal employees on furlough, so many didn't show up to work today. Agencies across the District are ghost towns, with only a small number of employees considered "essential" coming in. One General Services Administration employee who asked to remain anonymous sent in this pic from this morning of an empty hallway in its F Street headquarters "Eerie," the tipster wrote. | | Credit: Eagle-eyed tipster
The shutdown is estimated to affect as many as 367,000 federal employees and 450,000 federal contractors in the Washington area, or about a quarter of region's workforce, Stephen S. Fuller, a George Mason University economist, told the Washington Post. He said:
"It's hard to point to an economy in the country where one company represents between 25 and 30 percent of local GDP."
The Number of Known Russian Troll Twitter Accounts Active During 2016 Keeps Growing:
Keep an eye on your inboxes, Twitter users. The company said it will email 677,775 people to notify them that they followed, retweeted, or faved an account linked to the Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency during the 2016 campaign. They also shared some tweets from these accounts that received "significant engagement," like this one from an account that went by the handle @Pamela_Moore13: | | Credit: Twitter
Twitter has now identified 3,814 Russian troll farm-connected accounts that sent a total of 175,993 tweets, 8.4% of which were election-related. That's up from an initial assessment of 200 accounts. Twitter also said it found a total of 50,258 automated bot accounts linked to Russian troll farms. They shared some tweets from the
Twitter said it plans to "monitor trends and spikes in conversations relating to the 2018 elections for potential manipulation activity" and outlined steps to ward off abuse ahead of the midterms.
Facebook: Social Media's Not Always Good for Democracy
In a post titled "Hard Questions: Social Media and Democracy" published today, Facebook admitted the threat its platform poses to democracy. Facebook product manager Samidh Chakrabarti wrote:
"We recognize that the same tools that give people more voice can sometimes be used, by anyone, to spread hoaxes and misinformation."
He wrote that the activity of Russian-connected pages that created 80,000 posts that reached 126 million people "goes against everything we stand for" and that the social network is "making up for lost time" attempting to combat foreign interference and fake news (actual fake news, not things like unflattering media Trump doesn't like or good-faith reporting that inadvertently includes false information that's later corrected).
Facebook's Democratizing News in Your Newsfeed:
Keep an eye on your News Feed, Facebook users. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that his company will ask users in its ongoing quality surveys to rank news sources on whether or not they're trusted, in an effort to sort through real news and fake. This comes a week after Facebook announced it would de-emphasize posts, links, and videos from news organizations and brands in the News Feed, in favor of posts from family and friends. Zuck wrote:
"This update will not change the amount of news you see on Facebook. It will only shift the balance of news you see towards sources that are determined to be trusted by the community."
So in conclusion: Facebook admits Facebook can be bad for democracy, so to try to improve it, they're democratizing Facebook and letting users engage in what is essentially a social media voting process rather than rely on just an algorithm.
Stormy Daniels on Tour:
Stephanie Clifford, the adult actress who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, performed at the Trophy Club, a topless bar in Greenville, South Carolina, Saturday. Her show was called "Making America Horny Again," and paparazzi footage of the performance shows her in a boa with red, white, and blue balloons on stage as Madonna's "Material Girl" plays. The poster for her performance, below, read, "HE SAW HER LIVE • YOU CAN TOO!," and there are more shows in the works, including in Oklahoma City, Nashville, and Shreveport, Louisiana, strip club chain promoter Chris Roberson told the Post's Dan Zak. | | Credit: The Trophy Club/Facebook
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Weighs in on #MeToo:
Speaking at Sundance over the weekend in Park City, Utah, at the screening of "RBG," a film about her, the Notorious RBG recounted an incident when she was a student at Cornell where an instructor made her feel as if he "wanted something in return" for giving her a test early. It was "just one of many examples." She said:
"Every woman of my vintage knows what sexual harassment is, although we didn't have a name for it." | | Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Street Art Sighting:
Artist Robin Bell projected the word "SHUTDOWN" on the side of a building in Washington Saturday for about 10-15 minutes, he told me in an email. He declined to give the specific location of the projection. | | Credit: Robin Bell/Bellvisuals.com
If you spot political street art, I'd love to see it. Here's how you can reach me:
1. Tweet me @hunterschwarz
2. Tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz
3. Email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com | | | | | | |
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