President-elect Donald Trump won the 2016 election as the ultimate Washington outsider, but he may need to brush up on what his job will be inside the White House.
Several unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal that Trump “seemed surprised by the scope” of the job of president, as WSJ put it, after President Barack Obama walked Trump through the duties of the president during a meeting on Thursday.
Unlike every other U.S. president in history, Trump, a businessman and former reality TV star, has never held public office nor served in the United States military.
During his first major interview since winning the presidential election, Trump told 60 Minutes that the job of president is unlike any role he’s encountered.
“It’s enormous. I’ve done a lot of big things, I’ve never done anything like this,” Trump said of winning the presidency. “It is—it is so big, it is so—it’s so enormous, it’s so amazing. … I realized that this is a whole different life for me now.”
The Los Angeles Times further reported that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, “drew notice from Obama’s staff” during a tour of the White House because he did not appear to realize that all staff in the West Wing would need to be replaced by a Trump administration.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, and other members of Trump’s transition team will help fill the 15 cabinet positions and some 1,000 other high-level positions.
Obama, too, will help Trump grow into the role of president. According to WSJ, the outgoing commander-in-chief will spend an inordinate amount of time with Trump during the final two months in office to prepare him to take over as leader of the free world.