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There was a Wall Street Journal story on Sunday in which “sources” claimed that President-elect Donald Trump was “surprised” when he learned what being president actually entails. He also didn’t know, as of last Thursday, that he needed to fill the White House with his own staffers. He thought he would just keep all of Pres. Obama’s staff. Apparently, Trump was extremely “subdued” after his first meeting with Obama because Obama basically gave him a laundry list of all of the sh-t that he would have to do. So, during the transition, Obama “plans to spend more time with his successor than presidents typically do” because Obama sees that Trump needs “guidance.” Part of me wonders if Obama is attempting some kind of Jedi mind trick on the obviously malleable Trump. I also wondered the same thing following Obama’s press conference yesterday. Obama answered a lot of Trump-related questions – here are some highlights:

Trump isn’t going to dismantle NATO: Trump, Obama said, had “expressed great interest in maintaining [the United States’] existing relationships,” which was a way of saying that he is committed to NATO and the Trans-Atlantic Alliance. For his part, Obama said he appreciates being able to communicate to world leaders this week that there will be “no weakening of resolve” on the part of the United States.

On Trump hiring white supremacist Steve Bannon: One reporter asked about former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, who is a white nationalist. “It would not be appropriate for me to comment on every appointment the president elect starts making,” Obama demurred. “The people have spoken. Donald Trump is going to be the next president… It is up to him to select a team.”

Obama is hopeful Trump will try to unify the country: “It’s important for us to let him make his decisions. The American people will judge over the next couple of years whether they like what they see,” Obama said. “I did say to him that because of the nature of the campaigns, and the bitterness and ferocity of the campaigns, that it’s really important to try to send some signals of unity, and reach out to minority groups or women or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign. I think that’s something that he will want to do but this is all happening real fast. He’s got commitments to his supporters that helped to get him here and he’ll have to balance those.”

Obama thinks Trump is in for a wake-up call: “Regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office, this office has a way of waking you up. Reality has a way of asserting itself. There will be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them. Campaigning is different from governing. I think he recognizes that. I think he’s sincere when he says he wants to be a successful president.”

[From Jezebel]

Part of this is simply Obama trying to be gracious in the face of lunacy. Of course Obama knows that Trump is unfit to be president (in like a thousand different ways), but Obama is an optimist who believes in democracy. Obama also thinks that he can use these two months to influence Trump. We all know Trump thrives on flattery and praise, so imagine how puffed up he’ll be when Obama helps him out through some war games and advises him on diplomacy. But the uncomfortable reality is that once these two months are over and Obama is no longer delivering Jedi mind tricks to Trump on the reg, Trump is just going to be listening to Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani. And it will be awful.

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