Is It Awkward Or Blatant Political Stunt

US President-elect Donald Trump has said it was a “great honour” to meet President Barack Obama for transition talks at the White House. Mr Obama said he was “encouraged”...

US President-elect Donald Trump has said it was a “great honour” to meet President Barack Obama for transition talks at the White House.
Mr Obama said he was “encouraged” by their “excellent” and “wide-ranging” conversation, lasting over an hour.


During the election campaign, Mr Trump vowed to dismantle Mr Obama’s legacy and he has previously questioned his US citizenship.
Mr Obama, meanwhile, had called Mr Trump “uniquely unqualified”.
But following Mr Trump’s shock defeat of Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s election, Mr Obama appealed for national unity and said he was “rooting” for him.

After Thursday’s behind-closed-doors meeting in the White House, Mr Obama said: “My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful.”

President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office

He said they had discussed domestic and foreign policy and he had been “very encouraged” by Mr Trump’s interest in working with President Obama’s team on issues facing the US.
Mr Trump said he would “very much look forward” to dealing with President Obama in future.


“I have great respect, the meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half, and it could’ve, as far as I’m concerned, it could’ve gone on for a lot longer,” the president-elect said.

“We discussed a lot of different situations – some wonderful and some difficulties.”

Melania Trump and Michelle Obama in conversation

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the two men did not resolve their differences but “the meeting might have been at least a little less awkward than some might have expected”.
“President Obama came away from the meeting with renewed confidence in the commitment of the president-elect to engage in an effective, smooth transition,” he said.
Mr Trump flew from New York on his private jet and landed at Reagan National Airport, just outside the nation’s capital.
The president-elect was accompanied by his wife, Melania, who had a meeting with First Lady Michelle Obama.


He, along with Vice-President-elect Mike Pence, then met Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying they “can’t get started fast enough, whether it’s healthcare or immigration”.
Mr Ryan described it as a “fantastic, productive meeting”.
President Obama congratulated his successor in a phone call in the early hours of Wednesday.

The defeated Mrs Clinton also told supporters Mr Trump had to be given a “chance to lead”.

Despite appeals for unity, thousands took to the streets of major US cities on Wednesday. Many chanted: “Not my president.”

Sixty-five people were arrested in New York, while shop windows were smashed and missiles hurled at riot police during demonstrations in Oakland, California.

In Chicago, crowds blocked the entrance to Trump Tower, chanting: “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascists USA”, and a mass anti-Trump rally shut down the key 101 freeway in Los Angeles.

Mr Obama and Mr Trump have a history of mutual hostility.

Mr Trump led the charge in challenging the legitimacy of Mr Obama’s presidency through the “birther” movement, which falsely claimed the Hawaii-born commander-in-chief was actually born outside the US.
The businessman also called Mr Obama “the worst president in the history of the United States”.

For his part, the president famously skewered Mr Trump in person at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, which some have suggested may have spurred the New York billionaire to seek revenge.

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter

Donald Trump launched himself onto the national political stage by questioning Barack Obama’s US citizenship and eligibility to be president.

Mr Obama spent the last few months of the 2016 presidential election assailing Mr Trump’s fitness to occupy the nation’s highest office.
Now they’ve met for the first time ever – as president and president-elect. Talk about awkward.
Although both candidates played nice in their Oval Office get-together, there’s no denying that the two men present a clear contrast in manner and style.

In the past, the American public has displayed a tendency to seek qualities in their next president that the current occupant of the Oval Office is perceived to lack. Contrast George W Bush’s board-room manner with Bill Clinton’s improvisational chaos or Jimmy Carter’s squeaky clean reputation after Richard Nixon’s Machiavellian manoeuvres.

In this case, they have opted for Mr Trump’s blunt talk and bombast after Mr Obama’s detached professorial coolness.
Although it wasn’t on display this morning in the White House, Inauguration Day could provide a severe case of presidential personality whiplash.

With the Republicans now holding a majority in both chambers of the US Congress, Mr Trump can more easily target key Obama initiatives like such as his healthcare reforms.
Mr Trump is already setting up bilaterals ahead of his January inauguration as the nation’s 45th US president.

The office of British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that the president-elect had invited her in a phone call to visit him “as soon as possible”.
Ms May’s office said in a statement that Mr Trump had praised the trans-Atlantic “special relationship” while discussing his “close and personal connections” with the UK.

Mr Trump has family and business ties to Scotland.

The president-elect’s transition team for the 10-week period until inauguration will be led by Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey.
Mr Trump, who has never held elected office, has said his immediate priorities will be restoring the country’s infrastructure and doubling its economic growth.
As president-elect, he is entitled to get the same daily intelligence briefing as President Obama, which includes information on covert US operations and other data gathered by America’s 17 intelligence agencies.

Mr Trump’s team is understood to be focused on quickly filling key national security posts.
It is not yet clear who will sit his cabinet or fill senior posts in his administration, such as chief of staff, but several figures in his inner circle have been mentioned.



(Adopted from BBC News)

Categories
General reading

Related By:

  • Xpeng’s NGP User Interviews

    黑人工程师克服挑战直至遇到“干杯和烤鱼” 程雷(Emmanuel)已经来中国5年多了。解决问题,适应环境,他一直乐此不疲。 在此之前,他是某公司的首席信息技术官,喜欢“去做别人都不愿意做的”棘手事情。换工作的时候,华为和IBM都找到了他。但是,程雷想要尝试一个更有开创性的领域,所以他选择了前者。 他说,自己骨子里就喜欢挑战,喜欢逆袭的感觉。来自加纳的程雷,正是依靠着新兴科技适应了中国的一切。 作为一名来自加纳的工程师,程雷觉得,人们经常会因为他是黑人而有误解。有一次他去试驾,销售员一来就给他找说唱嘻哈音乐,令他哭笑不得,“他觉得我会喜欢吧”。 语言不通,程雷却靠着百度翻译在中国生活了那么多年。他经常说,挑战促使他往前走,“正是因为这一切,事情才有趣”。 他一直就是这样,灵活适应着周遭的一切。闲暇时候,他会去游泳、骑车、做设计,弹首曲子或者下个厨房,还会去旅… Read more at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FXRa0a5YtHxEZUOeN7tyLA...
  • Making Architecture great again

    I thought it was an interesting read. I’ve generally positioned the calling out AgileEA as an oxymoron but the case still stands for a smart way to deliver architectures...
  • China “Positive Propaganda” machinery takes off. Africa could do same too.

    China’s largest television network has re-launched its international on-air and online presence in an effort to promote “positive propaganda” overseas. Central China Television (CCTV) launched the new overseas offensive...
  • Is it time for a global passport? | World Economic Forum

    ...