The Note: Trump steps back from the brink

— -- TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS with ABC’s RICK KLEIN and SHUSHANNAH WALSHE

Day No. 96

THE BIG STORY: President Trump is stepping back from the brink and toward the notion of bipartisan deal-making, at least for the moment. With a government shutdown looming, his signal that funding for a border wall is not critical is almost surprisingly expected, an example of how Washington deals get cut. “The president is working hard to keep the government open,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday. What makes that work easier is the president’s ultimate ideological flexibility; this concession comes as members of Congress from both parties were set to defy his wishes anyway. Now he’s set to test the ideological flexibility of Congress, with his push for a tax overhaul that would include a giant corporate tax cut to 15 percent, from 35 percent. That’s lower than even Republicans in Congress are discussing, and would challenge long-held GOP ideology (as well as blow up a one-time Trump priority) around deficit reduction.

THE SLEEPER STORY: If this is the week Obamacare is repealed and replaced – and it won’t be, almost certainly – a solid majority of the U.S. public thinks President Trump and the Republican Congress are doing the wrong thing. The new ABC News-Washington Post poll shows that Obamacare has gotten more popular since President Obama left office. Only 37 percent want it repealed and replaced, compared with 61 percent who want it saved and fixed. The start-stop-start repeal/replace effort has not included an effort – at least not a successful one – to sell the public on the need for a radical overhaul. Indeed, the very changes GOP leadership is now considering in an effort to round up votes – eliminating nationwide protections for those with pre-existing conditions, and national minimum-care standards – appear to be wildly popular at this moment. The signs are everywhere that this is not the place the White House can expect to go to get its legislative agenda moving.

THE SHINY STORY: There’s another development that’s almost normal: a questionable State Department post promoting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate was taken down late Monday, hours after it was widely covered by reporters. Its origin remains shrouded in mystery but the action was nonetheless quick, with a terse statement now replacing the “winter White House” write-up: “We regret any misperception and have removed the post.” It may mark only a small victory in the effort to force accountability and a separation of the president’s public and private pursuits. But it comes at a symbolically important time, with Ivanka Trump set to represent the United States and her father’s administration in Germany. This looks likely to be the highest-profile Trump administration foreign trip yet, with all due respect to Vice President Mike Pence, fresh off his extended Asia tour. That it’s a member of the Trump family means questions of conflicts and nepotism will be prominent in the coming days.

TLDR: President Trump seems willing to cut a deal to avoid a government shutdown, signaling to conservative reporters at a reception Monday night that he is willing to put off funding his border wall until September, helping to keep the government funded before the 100-day mark of his presidency.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: The first daughter and assistant to the president, Ivanka Trump, is pictured here on a panel for the W-20 Summit in Berlin today. She's with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the panel, the crowd began to hiss at Trump when she said she was proud of her father’s advocacy for women, specifically referring to his campaign proposal for paid family leave. (Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)

NOTABLES

--NEW ABC NEWS/WAPO POLL - LITTLE APPETITE FOR REPEALING OBAMACARE; LARGE MAJORITIES SUPPORT KEY PROVISIONS: As President Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress gear up for another attempt at repealing and replacing Obamacare, an ABC News/Washington Post poll finds broad public preference for keeping and improving it -- including high levels of support for some of its key components. Just 37 percent of Americans in the national survey say Obamacare should be repealed and replaced; 61 percent say it should be kept and fixed instead. Even more broadly, the public by 79-13 percent says Trump should seek to make the current law work as well as possible, not to make it fail as soon as possible, a strategy he’s suggested. http://abcn.ws/2oGdlxI

--TRUMP OPENS THE DOOR TO DELAYING FUNDING OF BORDER WALL: President Trump signaled to a gathering of conservative media reporters on Monday that he may be open to delaying the funding of his proposed border wall, ABC’s KATHERINE FAULDERS reports. The president said -- according to tweets from conservative media at the gathering this evening -- that his administration could get the funding for the wall this week or they could come back to it in September. Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quickly seized on the remarks in an off-camera response Monday evening saying it's good for the country that the president is taking the wall off the table in the funding negotiations. http://abcn.ws/2q06SzE

--FROM A+ TO F, VOTERS GRADE PRESIDENT TRUMP AS HE NEARS 100 DAYS IN OFFICE: With President Donald Trump nearing 100 days in office -- and 96 percent of voters who picked him in November saying they'd do it again today -- ABC's DAVID MUIR traveled to counties in three battleground states to see how residents would grade the commander-in-chief. Muir spoke with voters in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin; just 77,000 votes in those three states decided the election. http://abcn.ws/2opE46I

--SEAN SPICER DEFENDS TRUMP'S 'SIGNIFICANT' WORK IN 100 DAYS: White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended President Trump's record less than a week before the milepost of the administration's first 100 days. "When you look at the totality of what we've accomplished ... it is unbelievable what he has been able to do," Spicer said at the day's press briefing, writes ABC's MEGHAN KENEALLY. He bristled when asked whether Trump would consider inaction or stalled action on issues that were regular parts of his campaign speeches a failure: http://abcn.ws/2oEnds0

SPEED READ with ABC’s ADAM KELSEY

IVANKA TRUMP GETS HISSED AT IN GERMANY WHILE TOUTING FATHER'S ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN. First daughter Ivanka Trump was interrupted by hissing during a panel discussion at the W-20 conference in Germany today when she said she was proud of her father’s advocacy of women, specifically referencing his presidential campaign proposal for paid family leave. The moderator, after the audience reaction, then suggested that many people are suspicious of President Trump’s stated support for women’s empowerment. “I’ve certainly heard the criticism from the media and that’s been perpetuated,” Ivanka said, prompting further heckling from some in the crowd at the panel on women’s entrepreneurship. ABC's LINZIE JANIS and JORDYN PHELPS has more: http://abcn.ws/2pe6AVN

TRUMP ON TRACK TO SIGN MOST EXECUTIVE ORDERS IN FIRST 100 DAYS. In the week of his 100th day in office, Donald Trump will sign four executive orders, including ones calling for reviews of offshore drilling regulations and national monument designations on federal lands. He also plans to to sign an order establishing an "office of accountability and whistleblower protection" at the Department of Veterans Affairs, explain ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI and ALEXANDER MALLIN. http://abcn.ws/2q6Z7Hg

HALEY TELLS NORTH KOREA, 'WE DON’T WANT WAR, SO DON'T START ONE.' North Korea is trying to show strength at home by detaining another U.S. citizen, but overall, Chinese pressure on the regime is "working," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Monday morning. "I think that North Korea's been playing games from the very beginning," Haley said Monday on ABC News' "Good Morning America." ABC's ELIZABETH MCLAUGHLIN has more: http://abcn.ws/2omBQ7T

OBAMA AVOIDS TRUMP IN 1ST PUBLIC REMARKS SINCE LEAVING OFFICE. Former President Obama yesterday offered a preview of what his "next job" might be during his first public remarks since leaving office, with no mention of his White House successor. "So, what's been going on while I've been gone?" he joked Monday at the start of a panel discussion. Obama, who had taken some vacation time after handing the White House keys to President Trump, made his return to the public stage at the University of Chicago, where he taught constitutional law for years, notes ABC's VERONICA STRACQUALURSI. http://abcn.ws/2pYMly4

RUSSIA MAY BE AIDING TALIBAN, US GENERAL IN AFGHANISTAN SAYS. Russia is believed to be the source of an influx of weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a press conference on Monday. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who appeared with Nicholson at Resolute Support headquarters, said the U.S. would have to "confront Russia" over "denying thesovereignty of other countries," including Afghanistan. ABC's ELIZABETH MCLAUGHLIN and ADAM KELSEY have more: http://abcn.ws/2pZqiri

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN THE FRENCH ELECTION? Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen have advanced to the second round of the French presidential election. Macron, a 39-year-old former banker, won 24 percent of the votes in the first round of the election Sunday, while Le Pen took 21.3 percent of the votes. People will return to the polls on May 7 to choose which of the two candidates, and their vastly different world views, they want for the future of their country. But a lot happens between now and then. ABC’s LENA MASRI notes what you need to know. http://abcn.ws/2purIKD

LEADING FRENCH CANDIDATE TARGETED BY GROUP BEHIND DNC HACKS, RESEARCH FIRM SAYS. Leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign has been the target of cyberattacks at the hands of the same group linked to attacks against the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign team, according to a reputable security research firm. Feike Hacqueboard, a senior threat researcher with security firm Trend Micro, told ABC News that he has identified four internet domain names connected to a group called "Pawn Storm" that were used to target the French centrist's campaign with so-called phishing attacks. ABC’s PAUL BLAKE has more: http://abcn.ws/2opuSPv

WHO’S TWEETING?

@betsy_klein: .@IvankaTrump: "I do label myself a feminist and I think about that in very broad terms." #W20summit

@JoshuaHoyos: Mark your calendars: 9th Circuit Court approves C-Span app to broadcast Hawaii v. Trump proceedings live on May 15 http://bit.ly/2oHMsuk

@dabeard: After outcry, @StateDept removes promo of #Trump #MaraLago from official website, regrets "misperception' https://apnews.com/673ae2d33bf94e459f7f92a51866ecf5 … @bykowicz

@alex_mallin: MORE: 79-13 percent say @POTUS should seek to make ACA work as well as possible, not to make it fail as soon as possible as he's suggested.

@Nawazistan: New Pod: your q's on racism, and @alyssalapertosa & I preview intvu w/ @splcenter @heidibeirich #uncomfortabletalk http://apple.co/2oHJaqZ