Trump will get wake-up call when he takes
office, Obama says
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[November 15, 2016]
By Roberta Rampton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect
Donald Trump is in for a quick wake-up call and will have to adjust his
temperament when he confronts the realities of his new job on Jan. 20,
President Barack Obama said on Monday.
In a news conference at the White House, Obama said the freewheeling
Trump could not be as outspoken as he was during the long and bitter
campaign that ended last week with the Republican's surprise win over
Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Subdued and carefully choosing his words, Obama gave what appeared to be
dispassionate advice to his successor free of much of the partisan
rancor that marked the election campaign.
"This office has a way of waking you up," Obama said. "Those aspects of
his positions or predispositions that don't match up with reality, he
will find shaken up pretty quick because reality has a way of asserting
itself."
The two men met in the Oval Office last week to begin the transition of
power. Obama said on Monday he believed Trump would be pragmatic in
office and not approach the country's problems from an ideological
perspective.
"There are going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not
serve him well, unless he recognizes them and corrects them," Obama
said.
"Because when you're a candidate and you say something that is
inaccurate or controversial it has less impact than it does when you're
president of the United States. Everybody around the world is paying
attention. Markets move," he said.
Obama declined to wade into a controversy over Trump's appointment of
right-wing firebrand Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist, saying it
would "not be appropriate" for him to comment on Trump's appointments.
But Obama, who criticized Trump's temperament during the campaign, said
it was important for Trump to send signals of unity after the
hard-fought campaign. He said the political gifts that allowed the
Republican to upset Clinton would be put to good use in the White House.
"I've been encouraged by his statements on election night about the need
for unity, his interest in being president for all people," Obama said.
"In an election like this that was so hotly contested and so divided,
gestures matter."
GIULIANI TO STATE DEPARTMENT?
The president-elect, a businessman who has never held public office, and
his transition team are working on picking members of his Cabinet and
the heads of federal agencies.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has emerged as a leading
candidate for secretary of state, a source familiar with the process
said. John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is
also being considered for the job of the nation's top diplomat, the
source added.
Giuliani became one of Trump's closest advisers during the campaign,
functioning as his most vocal defender on cable news programs and
introducing him at many rallies. Giuliani has also been mentioned as a
possible attorney general or homeland security secretary.
A Trump transition team official denied media reports on Monday that
Trump was seeking security clearance for three of his children and his
son-in-law.
Such clearance would allow Trump to discuss matters of national security
with his daughter Ivanka, sons Eric and Donald Jr. and son-in-law Jared
Kushner. Federal law prohibits him from hiring family members to serve
in his administration, but all four played key advisory roles through
the campaign.
Trump has insisted that to avoid conflicts of interest, his children
would run his sprawling business operations once he assumed the
presidency.
ANGER OVER BANNON
Democrats, civil rights groups and even some Republicans slammed Trump
for choosing Bannon as a key aide, saying it would elevate the white
nationalist movement into the top levels of the White House.
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President Barack Obama holds a news conference in the White House
press briefing room in Washington, U.S., November 14, 2016.
REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Making his first appointments since last week's upset win, Trump
picked Bannon as his chief strategist and counselor, and Washington
insider Reince Priebus as his chief of staff on Sunday, saying the
two would share the task of steering his administration as "equal
partners."
The choice of Priebus was seen as a conciliatory signal of Trump's
willingness to work with Congress. But critics blasted the selection
of Bannon, who spearheaded a shift of the Breitbart News website
into a forum for the "alt-right," a loose online group of neo-Nazis,
white supremacists and anti-Semites.
"There should be no sugarcoating the truth here: Donald Trump just
invited a white nationalist into the highest reaches of the
government," said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, who called on
Trump to rescind the choice.
The Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi,
said Bannon's appointment sent "an alarming signal that
President-elect Trump remains committed to the hateful and divisive
vision that defined his campaign."
Even some conservatives and Republicans voiced dismay on Bannon.
Evan McMullin, who ran as a conservative independent presidential
candidate, wondered on Twitter if any national Republican leaders
would condemn the pick of "anti-Semite" Bannon.
John Weaver, a top strategist for Republican Ohio Governor John
Kasich, tweeted that the "racist, fascist extreme right is
represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant
America." Kasich was one of 16 Republican presidential hopefuls
Trump defeated in the party primaries.
Priebus defended Bannon on Monday, calling him a wise and
well-educated former naval officer and saying he had not encountered
the sort of extremist or racist views that critics are assailing.
"He was a force for good on the campaign," Priebus said on Fox News,
adding they were in agreement on "almost everything" in terms of
advising the president-elect.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump's former campaign manager and a senior
adviser, told reporters in New York she was offended by the reaction
to Bannon, describing him as a "brilliant tactician."
Police in New York on Monday were investigating two cases involving
swastikas drawn or painted in public spaces, as civil rights
activists said there had been a surge in hate crimes following last
week's election.
Local media reported hundreds of students walked out of a high
school to protest Trump on Monday in Silver Spring, Maryland, and
students gathered at the University of Washington in Seattle to
protest Trump.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by John Whitesides
and Ginger Gibson; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)
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