Obama urges Americans to give Trump a chance

Steve Bannon, a major proponent in the ultraconservative alt-right movement, will be Trump’s right-hand man and senior adviser.

On Wednesday, President Obama is expected to tour the Acropolis and deliver a speech about democracy. “Some things that he feels very good about”, Trump said.

In a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Obama said his proposals on jobs, education and infrastructure would have helped the same voters whose frustration drove Trump’s success at the polls – if only they’d been implemented.

What do you think about President-elect Donald Trump softening on his campaign stances?

However Mr Obama would not be drawn into the row about Mr Trump’s choice as Chief Strategist.

Obama’s approval rating has risen recently into the mid-50s, probably because people think he can’t do much more harm at this point. It will be up to him to set up a team that will serve him well and reflect his policies.

Now that bust will reportedly be making a return to the White House and Oval Office after President Obama had it removed almost eight years ago. “We’re going to have to show up everywhere”.

White House officials say Obama has not changed his view of Trump since the campaign this fall, when he condemned Trump as a bigot who had cozied up to white supremacists and could not be trusted with the nuclear codes.

The memo said the Trump administration would focus on US trade relations in the first 200 days and could scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

It was also the clearest sign yet that the president did not accept Trump’s election as a repudiation of his policies, despite Trump’s ardent rejection of almost every piece of Obama’s legacy.

“He’s going to be the next president and regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office”, said Obama.

Mr Obama said it’s too soon for the American people to cast judgment on the President-elect, saying they need to give him a chance to prove himself over his term.

Trump did win, and Obama still isn’t sure what he would have done differently.

“He expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships”, Obama said during his first news conference since the election.

MCEVERS: Not only have Democrats lost the White House and both houses of Congress, but Republicans have also gained ground in state houses around the country.

“It took a lot of really hard work to make significant policy changes, even in our first two years when we had larger majorities than Mr. Trump will enjoy when he comes into office”, Obama said. One of the things you discover about being President is that there are all these rules and norms and laws, and you got to pay attention to them.

Euronews correspondent Stamatis Giannisis concluded: “Had Hillary Clinton won last week’s presidential election, Barack Obama’s visit to Athens could have served well as a political bridge between the next USA administration and the left wing Greek government”.