U.S. President-elect appoints RNC chairman Priebus chief of staff; campaign head Bannon made chief strategist
In the first appointments that he announced and the first television interview that he gave after being elected the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump appeared to strike a balance between the existing order of politics and the nationalistic rhetoric that fuelled his ascent.
Reince Priebus, a long-time Washington insider and that current chairman of the Republican National Committee, will be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, a position considered the most important in the White House. His campaign chief Stephen Bannon, a far-right activist, will be the President-elect’s chief strategist and senior counsellor.
Though Mr. Bannon said he and Mr. Priebus had “a very successful partnership on the campaign” and “will have that same partnership” in the days to come, the arrangement might create two power centres in the White House. Mr. Trump typically allows multiple centres of power in organisations that he creates.
Mr. Priebus, as head of the party, helped Mr. Trump’s campaign efforts wholeheartedly even as most senior leaders either turned their back or turned hostile to the nominee. Mr. Bannon led the efforts to build the promise to “take back the country,” the motif of the winning campaign.
Meanwhile, in his first detailed interview, Mr. Trump toned down his campaign rhetoric and promised to be more restrained on Twitter. He said remaining a “monotone character” is easier for him to do, but some amount of rhetoric is essential.
“Well, sometimes you need a certain rhetoric to get people motivated. I don’t want to be just a little nice monotone character and in many cases I will be,” he said on CBS News, when asked whether he would continue with the type of rhetoric that he used during the campaign.
He took a conciliatory approach to abortion rights, on building a wall along the border with Mexico and on appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. On the rights of gay people and same sex marriages, he reiterated his earlier position, which is not in tune with the conservative position. Asked if he supports same-sex marriages, Mr. Trump said: “It — it’s irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. And, I’m fine with that.”
Pro-life justices
He said he would appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court and they might allow States to decide on abortion laws. “Yeah, well, they’ll perhaps have to go, they’ll have to go to another State,” he said of women seeking abortions. Asked whether he found that acceptable, the President-elect said: “It’s got a long way to go, just so you understand. That has a long, long way to go.”
During the interview, Mr. Trump first denied knowledge of the racial slurs, and threats to African Americans, Latinos and Muslims that have been reported from across the country since his victory, but then added that he heard of some instances and was saddened by it. “I would say don’t do it, that’s terrible, ‘cause I’m gonna bring this country together,” he said.
When pointed out that some of his supporters were harassing Latinos and Muslims, he said: “I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it — if it helps. I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: ‘Stop it.’”
Mr. Trump also defended his decision to rope in several Washington lobbyists to his transition team but added that he would phase out their influence. “…they know the system right now, but we’re going to phase that out. You have to phase it out.”
No Hillary probe
The President-elect has no plans to carry out his promise to pursue investigation against Hillary Clinton, his former opponent. “I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people. I don’t want to hurt them,” he said of Hillary and Bill Clinton.
On President Barack Obama, he was even nicer. “I found him to be terrific. I found him to be — very smart and very nice. Great sense of humour, as much as you can have a sense of humour talking about tough subjects, but we were talking about some pretty tough subjects.”
He also rejected a suggestion that his victory was a repudiation of Mr. Obama’s presidency. “No, I think it’s a moment in time where politicians for a long period of time have let people down.”
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