Trump braces to 'hit the ground running' as presidentWhile the mainstream media camp out in the lobby of Trump Tower, the work being done upstairs by the Trump transition team is a seemingly endless stream of personnel decisions, policy briefings and figuring out the personal and political chemistry of the president-elect’s inner circle.
Trump won the 2016 election on Nov. 8. He now has just over 50 days to prepare to assume the most powerful office in the world. And that means his team needs to get him ready.
“The idea is that when a president takes office Jan. 20, that he can literally step into his desk that first morning and begin to function as commander in chief and handle all the duties of the presidency,” said Reagan White House political director Frank Donatelli.
He told WND and Radio America the first order of business is growing the president’s staff.
“When someone runs for president, chances are they have a small coterie of advisers around them. Of course, once you become president, you need a lot more people than that. So they have to expand the circle pretty rapidly,” Donatelli explained.
While much of the media attention centers on the high-profile cabinet selections, there are a total of about 4,000 political appointments for a president to make.
“Any position that is cabinet-level, deputy secretary or assistant secretary, generally those require Senate confirmation. The president will have some involvement at that level,” Donatelli said.
He adds that while 4,000 may seem like a lot, there are about one million career government employees.
Donatelli said some of the lower political appointments often go to people with a connection to the president or the party.
“The president will give some direction to the kinds of people he wants. Generally, the Office of Presidential Personnel in the White House is responsible for filling out the bureaucracy. They’ll take into consideration campaign workers and key members of the Republican Party and fundraisers for the president, and oh by the way, people who actually have some expertise in the job,” Donatelli said.
In addition to personnel matters, there is the issue of bringing the president-elect up to speed on a wide range of policy matters.
“You want to be able to hit the ground running and so the president needs to be broadly familiar with the issues that are going to be hitting his desk immediately: budget issues, economic issues, obviously foreign policy issues and briefings,” Donatelli said.
(WND)
