Good Monday morning. The Axios Science Stream launched this morning to narrate the most important trends and stories that matter to you. In addition to checking out our posts in the Stream, sign up here for Alison Snyder's weekly newsletter, delivering the most important news from the frontiers of medicine, space, neuroscience, physics and more. 
 
 1 big thing: ​The absence of love, fear and need Presidential power over a party or Congress comes from enough lawmakers needing, fearing or genuinely liking them. Donald Trump has none of this. Almost four months into office, Trump has been unable to gain leverage over his party, especially in the Senate, much less Congress as a whole. Senate Republicans don't need him. They're pressing ahead with their investigations into Russian interference in the election and pushing sanctions against Vladimir Putin. They're pushing their own health care bill on their own timetable and hardly rushing to Trump's defense. With a very favorable set of 2018 races, it's hard to see a need materializing. I'm told Senate Republicans will also go their own way on tax reform, unconstrained by White House policy priorities or timetable. 
 
 They're pressing ahead with their investigations into Russian interference in the election and pushing sanctions against Vladimir Putin. They're pushing their own health care bill on their own timetable and hardly rushing to Trump's defense. With a very favorable set of 2018 races, it's hard to see a need materializing. Most Republicans don't like him. President Obama used a mix of need and genuine affection to jam through Obamacare in his first two years. There are very few Trump Republicans, much less lawmakers who dig their president. They tolerate him and they often vote with him, because Trump has largely embraced conventional GOP ideas. But most think he's blowing it. 
 
 President Obama used a mix of need and genuine affection to jam through Obamacare in his first two years. There are very few Trump Republicans, much less lawmakers who dig their president. They tolerate him and they often vote with him, because Trump has largely embraced conventional GOP ideas. But most think he's blowing it. No one fears him. Not long ago, Republicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more. And Democrats certainly don't fear a president opposed by most Americans. In fact, as Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in his weekly Sneak Peek newsletter last night, they're ready to effectively shut down the Senate to force a special prosecutor for the Russia probe. 
 
 Not long ago, Republicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more. And Democrats certainly don't fear a president opposed by most Americans. In fact, as Axios' Jonathan Swan reported in his weekly Sneak Peek newsletter last night, they're ready to effectively shut down the Senate to force a special prosecutor for the Russia probe. Why all this matters: A top GOP lobbyist tells me: "Business feels the agenda is going down the toilet. ... This said, his supporters are hanging in there." Read more ... N.Y. Times front page, above fold, "Senate G.O.P. Is Edging Back From President," by Jennifer Steinhauer ... WashPost A1, at fold, "Senate GOP wrestling with agenda full of peril," by Sean Sullivan and Kelsey Snell. 
 
 2. Warning of more cyberattacks on "significant scale" The global ransomware attack showed that 1) U.S. defenses are relatively strong, and corporate investments in cybersecurity are worthwhile; and 2) a wide range of industries are still scarily vulnerable: "Global alert to prepare for fresh cyber attacks," per the Financial Times (paywall): "Businesses must brace for further cyber attacks this week on a potentially 'significant scale,' British intelligence officials have warned, less than 48 hours after the debilitating WannaCry infection swept across the world." 
 
 per the Financial Times (paywall): "Businesses must brace for further cyber attacks this week on a potentially 'significant scale,' British intelligence officials have warned, less than 48 hours after the debilitating WannaCry infection swept across the world." "More than 200,000 computers in at least 150 countries have so far been infected. ... There is a high probability that Russian-language cybercriminals were behind the attack." (Bloomberg) 
 
 computers in at least 150 countries have so far been infected. ... There is a high probability that Russian-language cybercriminals were behind the attack." (Bloomberg) "Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith, in a blog post Sunday, said the attack is a 'wake-up call' for governments in the U.S. and elsewhere to stop stockpiling tools to exploit digital vulnerabilities." 
 
 "Tom Bossert, ... Trump's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, held emergency meetings with cabinet members Friday night and Saturday morning at the White House." (WSJ) 
 
 3. The next FBI director An intriguing possibility to replace Comey was discussed by ABC's Jonathan Karl on George Stephanopoulos' "This Week" roundtable: "[T]he president knows he needs to have somebody that is politically bulletproof. I would not be surprised to see it's somebody who is not [being talked about], somebody like — even like [Comey's predecessor] Robert Mueller, ... who served under Democratic and Republican presidents [Obama and Bush 43], universally respected ... Mike Rogers has some big fans in the West Wing." "[D]on't rule out Merrick Garland [Obama's failed nominee for Supreme Court], who was floated by Senator Mike Lee [R-Utah]. ... Garland ... could be confirmed 100-0 in the Senate." But would Garland do it? The WashPost's Dave Weigel says the idea is "like Wile E. Coyote putting down a nest made of dynamite and writing 'NOT A TRAP' on a whiteboard next to it." Weigel quotes Slate's Dahlia Lithwick: "Garland probably won't want to give up his lifetime tenure as the chief judge of the second-most important court in the land, and surely the most significant bulwark against Trump administration overreach, in exchange for a 12-minute gig on The Apprentice before he uses the wrong color highlighter and gets fired." Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who was fired by Trump, has a WashPost op-ed, "Are there still public servants who will say no to the president?": "I join in the common-sense call for an independent and uncompromised special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation. ... History will judge this moment." 
 
 4. "Significant advance" by North Korea A woman walks by a TV news program showing images of North Korean missile launch, published in the country's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, at Seoul Railway station today / AP's Lee Jin-man Enormously destabilizing if true ... Some worrisome aftermath to this weekend's North Korean missile launch: North Korea boasted today that "the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of long-range ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead." (AP) 
 
 today that "the missile it launched over the weekend was a new type of long-range ballistic rocket that can carry a heavy nuclear warhead." (AP) "Outsiders also saw a significant technological jump, with the test-fire apparently flying higher and for a longer time period than any other such previous missile." (AP) 
 
 a significant technological jump, with the test-fire apparently flying higher and for a longer time period than any other such previous missile." (AP) North Korean propaganda must be considered with wariness. 
 
 must be considered with wariness. But monitors said today that the apparently successful launch of a mid-to-long range missile indicated a significant advance in its drive for an intercontinental ballistic missile, a worrying sign for the Korean peninsula and the United States. (Reuters) 
 
 that the apparently successful launch of a mid-to-long range missile indicated a significant advance in its drive for an intercontinental ballistic missile, a worrying sign for the Korean peninsula and the United States. (Reuters) Wall Street Journal front-pager, "North Korea Accelerates Long-Range Missile Work": "In the past three years, North Korea has launched more major missiles than in the three previous decades combined." 
 
 5. And don't forget al Qaeda On "60 Minutes" last night, "What bin Laden documents reveal about al Qaeda," by correspondent Holly Williams: John Miller — the former journalist who heads the NYPD's counterterrorism and intelligence, and is one of the few Westerners to have interviewed Osama bin Laden — tells her: "The mistake that we risk making is to look back on 9/11 as a singular event and say, 'Well, al Qaeda was a one-attack wonder. And since then they've been falling apart.' Al Qaeda has sustained itself in the shadows. And while other groups are getting more attention, they're getting bigger. And they're patient." 
 
 — the former journalist who heads the NYPD's counterterrorism and intelligence, and is one of the few Westerners to have interviewed Osama bin Laden — tells her: "The mistake that we risk making is to look back on 9/11 as a singular event and say, 'Well, al Qaeda was a one-attack wonder. And since then they've been falling apart.' Al Qaeda has sustained itself in the shadows. And while other groups are getting more attention, they're getting bigger. And they're patient." " Al Qaeda now has footholds in around a dozen countries throughout the Middle East, Africa and into South Asia ... owing much of its growth to the Arab Spring." 
 
 in around a dozen countries throughout the Middle East, Africa and into South Asia ... owing much of its growth to the Arab Spring." Why it matters: Osama's message lives and now there's a new messenger — his young, charismatic son, Hamza bin Laden (around 28 years old): "I think we're not done with the bin Ladens yet." 
 
 6. Powerful daughters ... ... are a theme in New York magazine's Work Issue: Caitlin Flanagan has a long piece on Ivanka, "The People's Princess": "Sometimes, she seems not just essential to his idea of being president; sometimes, she seems the point of his being president. ... [Trump] is Lear — 'All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience' — but Lear with only one relevant daughter, and to her has fallen the task of keeping his terrifying impatience from destroying not just their shared empire but the world itself. He is strangely dependent on her now. And so are we." 
 
 has a long piece on Ivanka, "The People's Princess": "Sometimes, she seems not just essential to his idea of being president; sometimes, she seems of his being president. ... [Trump] is Lear — 'All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience' — but Lear with only one relevant daughter, and to her has fallen the task of keeping his terrifying impatience from destroying not just their shared empire but the world itself. He is strangely dependent on her now. And so are we." Gabe Sherman, in a piece on the "toxic" workplace culture at Fox News, reveals: "The Murdochs are quietly looking for a new programming executive to run the network. ... James wants to recruit David Rhodes from CBS News (Rhodes is under contract). Rupert is interested in Wall Street Journal editor Gerry Baker, or Rebekah Brooks. One source said Rupert's daughter Elisabeth is also being discussed as a candidate." 
 
 7. Big energy to Trump: Slow down deregulation Rebecca Zisser / Axios A memorable, essential point by Axios' Amy Harder' in her weekly "Harder Line" energy column: "Ironically, it's the regulated industries proving to be a countervailing influence against the GOP's most conservative ranks. Automakers and companies producing oil, natural gas and coal want to ensure changes endure through leadership changes in Washington and legal fights despite environmental opposition." 
 
 8. Callista Gingrich set to be ambassador to Vatican Callista Gingrich, the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, has been chosen as ambassador to the Vatican, and the White House hopes to announce her nomination before President Trump meets with Pope Francis on May 24 in Rome, per CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Caroline Kenny. Backstory from N.Y. Times' Rome bureau chief Jason Horowitz: "[D]uring the transition Mr. Trump half-jokingly said he was intrigued by the idea of picking Ms. Gingrich because it could also get Mr. Gingrich ... out of his hair." 
 
 Mr. Trump half-jokingly said he was intrigued by the idea of picking Ms. Gingrich because it could also get Mr. Gingrich ... out of his hair." "Over recent months, Ms. Gingrich and her husband grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the vetting process, and Ms. Gingrich even threatened to take her name out of the running." 
 
 Ms. Gingrich and her husband grew increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of the vetting process, and Ms. Gingrich even threatened to take her name out of the running." "Others who were considered include Rick Santorum." Funny story by Jonathan Swan in last night's Sneak Peek newsletter: "About six weeks ago, the President was kibitzing about the Vatican ambassador role. Trump told our source he was reluctant to send Callista to the Vatican because he likes seeing her husband Newt defending him on TV. Our source told the President they were sure satellite hook-ups could be arranged for Newt at the Holy See." 
 
 9. From our new Science Stream "Understanding the software of life," by Science Editor Alison Snyder: "Once disparate fields of science are intersecting in unprecedented ways — physicists are flocking to solve biology's complex problems, geologists and astronomers mind meld over the search for alien life, and ecologists and economists collaborate to try to figure out how we compete and cooperate." ||||| President Trump aimed a fresh barrage of criticism at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday, escalating an extraordinary fight with a key Republican leader that could undermine the party’s ability to regroup and pass shared legislative priorities this fall. 
 
 In demeaning tweets and public statements, Trump blamed McConnell (Ky.), who remains popular among GOP senators, for the party’s inability to muscle through an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. The president also urged McConnell to “get back to work” on that and other campaign promises, including cutting taxes and spurring new infrastructure spending. 
 
 Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, Trump declined to say whether McConnell should resign but said they should ask the question again if the Senate leader doesn’t deliver on the president’s leading priorities. 
 
 Declaring that he was “very disappointed in Mitch,” Trump said he was particularly miffed by a Senate vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act that failed by a single vote. 
 
 “For a thing like that to happen is a disgrace, and frankly it shouldn’t have happened,” he said. 
 
 (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 Trump associates said the attacks, which began Wednesday night and resumed Thursday, were intended to shore up Trump’s outside-the-Beltway populist credentials and would resonate with core supporters frustrated by a lack of progress in Washington. 
 
 But the tweets were quickly met with public and private defenses of McConnell — and rebukes of Trump. 
 
 Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), tweeted: “@SenateMajLdr has been the best leader we’ve had in my time in the Senate, through very tough challenges. I fully support him.” 
 
 Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), a Trump adviser, said on Fox News Channel that the president bears some responsibility for the Republican failure on the health-care legislation. 
 
 “I think the president can’t dissociate himself from this,” Gingrich said. Trump “is part of the leadership team. He is not an observer sitting up in the stands. He is on the field. It was a collective failure.” 
 
 Even some Republicans close to the president suggested that the attacks on McConnell would hurt him on Capitol Hill, where relations with GOP leaders have seriously frayed as Trump’s agenda has stalled. 
 
 “Yelling at his Senate quarterback isn’t going to help him achieve these wins,” said one GOP strategist close to the White House who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. 
 
 1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Scenes from Trump’s second six months in office View Photos A look at the second half, so far, of the president’s first year in the White House. Caption A look at the second half of the president’s first year in the White House. Jan. 24, 2018 President Trump speaks to a group of mayors in the East Room of the White House. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 [Trump takes issue with McConnell’s accusation that he had ‘excessive expectations’ for Congress] 
 
 Trump, who is on a working vacation at his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., remains bitter about the collapse of Republican efforts to repeal and replace former president Barack Obama’s health-care law, a pledge the party has made since 2010 and a marquee campaign promise for Trump. 
 
 “Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn’t get it done,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!” 
 
 A few hours later, the president took to Twitter again, writing: “Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!” 
 
 The tweets came in the wake of McConnell’s suggestion earlier in the week that Trump’s lack of political experience had led to “excessive expectations” for passing major legislation. 
 
 The president has faced heavy criticism for the fate of the health-care legislation. While he repeatedly called on lawmakers to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, he did relatively little to help develop — or sell — their replacement plans to the public at a time when polls showed the effort was highly unpopular. 
 
 Trump’s attacks this week come as lawmakers are poised to try to tackle other shared but challenging priorities when they return from their August recess. Besides Trump’s leading agenda items, they also are faced with trying to craft a budget and raise the nation’s debt ceiling. 
 
 “Discerning a particular strategy or goal from these tweets is hard,” said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee communications director and a former Capitol Hill staff member. “It just doesn’t help enact any part of his agenda, and it sends a further troubling sign to Capitol Hill Republicans already wary of the White House.” 
 
 Heye said that with Trump’s job-approval numbers declining among the Republican base, “now is the time to build support within the party.” 
 
 White House aides said Trump has a general frustration with McConnell that extends beyond the health-care debate. 
 
 “You can see the president’s tweets,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Thursday. “Obviously, there’s some frustration.” 
 
 McConnell has been one of the most steadfast supporters of Trump’s agenda in Congress, and, at least publicly, Trump has had a smoother relationship with McConnell than he has with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and other congressional leaders. 
 
 In April, McConnell orchestrated the confirmation of Neil M. Gorsuch, Trump’s Supreme Court pick, changing the Senate rules so that Democrats could not block the nomination. The Gorsuch confirmation is Trump’s largest victory on Capitol Hill. 
 
 McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, another prominent Washington figure, serves in Trump’s Cabinet as transportation secretary. Trump said Thursday that Chao “is doing a very good job.” 
 
 In his remarks Monday to the Rotary Club in Florence, Ky., McConnell said, “Our new president had, of course, not been in this line of work before.” He added, “I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.” 
 
 [Can this marriage be saved? Relationship between Trump, Senate GOP hits new skids.] 
 
 Sanders said that Trump and McConnell spoke by phone Wednesday, a conversation in which Trump made clear that he wants to continue to press for passage of a health-care bill. The same day, Trump took his first shot at McConnell on Twitter. 
 
 “Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so,” the president wrote. “After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?” 
 
 In another sign of frayed relations between Trump and Republican senators, one of the president’s largest political benefactors is providing a $300,000 contribution to a super PAC that aims to unseat Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), who has been critical of Trump. 
 
 Politico first reported that Robert Mercer, a hedge-fund billionaire heavily involved in Trump’s political ascendancy, is making a donation to a group supporting former Arizona state senator Kelli Ward, who is challenging Flake in a Republican primary next year. 
 
 Ward emailed a fundraising pitch to supporters Thursday, calling out McConnell for “finger-pointing at President Trump” instead of working to pass a GOP health-care plan. 
 
 Flake, meanwhile, defended McConnell, saying that the leader “has a tough job and I think he does it well.” 
 
 Despite the public criticism, Trump and McConnell have been in frequent contact, usually by telephone, to discuss legislative strategy, aides said. 
 
 Privately, senior GOP congressional aides across Capitol Hill have said it’s Trump and his team — not McConnell — who deserve the blame for the collapse of the GOP’s health-care plan. The aides gripe that Trump seriously damaged relationships with key Republican senators over the months-long debacle. 
 
 At one point this summer, Trump was flanked at a White House meeting by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who both voted against the health-care measure. At the mid-July meeting, it was Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) seated next to Trump. The president called him out with cameras rolling for wavering on the health-care bill. 
 
 “Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesn’t he?” Trump said as Heller laughed uncomfortably. 
 
 Heller ultimately voted for the bill, but the exchange with Trump is a scene that Democratic aides have vowed will appear prominently in future campaign attack ads against the senator, who is the most vulnerable Republican facing reelection next year. 
 
 Trump’s long-standing feud with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hasn’t helped the overall dynamic either. The senator voted against the health-care plan in a closely watched late-night vote — even after Trump made a direct last-minute appeal by phone. 
 
 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who has had a contentious relationship with McConnell, said Thursday that he was sympathetic to Trump in the wake of the health-care bill’s failure. 
 
 “President Trump is at his desk with a pen ready to sign what Congress was going to send him and we didn’t,” Johnson said in an interview on CNN. “And I completely feel his frustration. I’m every bit as frustrated.” 
 
 This week marked Trump’s first attacks against McConnell. Throughout the 2016 campaign, while other GOP lawmakers wavered in their support of Trump, McConnell never did. He criticized some of Trump’s more outlandish statements, but his critiques usually were muted, and he preferred to deliver them in private. 
 
 So when Trump lashed out at fellow Republicans, it was directed mostly at Ryan and McCain, who frequently criticized Trump in public. Trump even threatened to support primary opponents running against Ryan and McCain last year. 
 
 However, inside the White House, Trump has a collection of advisers who have had antagonistic relationships with McConnell and Senate GOP leaders. 
 
 Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, came from Breitbart, a news organization that regularly antagonized McConnell’s leadership team. Stephen Miller, chief policy adviser to Trump, was not considered an ally to the Senate leader’s staff when Miller was a top adviser to Jeff Sessions (Ala.) in the Senate. 
 
 Moreover, one of Trump’s top legislative affairs advisers is Paul Teller, who served as Sen. Ted Cruz’s top aide during a period when the Texas Republican accused McConnell of lying about trade legislation. 
 
 And Mick Mulvaney (S.C.), Trump’s budget director, was a constant critic of the Senate during his three terms in the House, regularly opposing fiscal compromise deals that McConnell brokered with the Obama White House. 
 
 O’Keefe reported from Prescott, Ariz. Philip Rucker in Bedminster, N.J., and Kelsey Snell in Washington contributed to this report.
– President Trump's controversies may be wearing thin on both sides of the aisle in the Senate. Two different outlets on Monday have posts with a similar theme: New York Times: "Senate Republicans, increasingly unnerved by President Trump’s volatility and unpopularity, are starting to show signs of breaking away from him as they try to forge a more traditional Republican agenda and protect their political fortunes." Senate Leader Mitch McConnell may still be a reliable Trump defender, but that appears to be changing among the rank and file, as seen in the public and private criticism of Trump in the aftermath of the James Comey firing. The story includes a quote from Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who says that among his GOP colleagues, "there is a lot less fear of him than there was just a month ago." Axios: It notes that Senate Republicans are going their own way on health care and the Russian investigation, and it predicts the same will happen on tax reform. Trump can't get leverage over his own party because Senate Republicans don't need him for the 2018 races, don't particularly like him, and no longer fear him, per the post. "Not long ago, Republicans worried about a Trump tweet fired their way. No more." NBC News and the Washington Post, meanwhile, have stories explaining how the Comey firing is the latest example of a surprise distraction taking away from the GOP agenda in the Senate, particularly on health care. "Anytime you have something else come along when you’re debating legislation, while you’re trying to iron out something, it can—it takes some of the momentum away," GOP Sen. Mike Lee said on Fox News Sunday. But, he added, "We’re going to get it done one way or another."