Sorry Trump, NY Times says subscriptions rose since election

President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday (AEDT) that his transition was not in disarray, assailing news media reports about firings and infighting and insisting in an early-morning Twitter burst that everything was going “so smoothly”. Journalists became aware that he was leaving home only when they spotted the large motorcade. Soon, she was in the elevator, presumably headed to see Trump.

Trump aides have released few details about the president-elect’s schedule or phone calls since the election.

Trump planned to meet Thursday in NY with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his first get-together with a world leader as president-elect.

The good news is there are common sense, collective solutions for the looming press crisis.

Now the Trump Tower atrium is busier than ever.

The truth is, nobody knows exactly how the Trump White House will function in terms of dealing with the press.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he believes Donald Trump is a leader in whom he can have great confidence after meeting with the president-elect Thursday.

He seems to be confirming as much.

Here is hoping the press can, even if it is a collective last gasp given Trump’s attitude toward the First Amendment, earn back the respect of the American public because that means they will have finally done their job. The post does not require Senate confirmation. Instead, it’s a tradition.

“It is unacceptable for the next president of the United States to travel without a regular pool to record his movements and inform the public about his whereabouts”, he said.

But if Trump doesn’t have to, why would he? Trump ignored all of those.

“He has been a private person up to this point – he has been public, but on his own terms”, said Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the nonprofit White House Transition Project.

Clashing with what Trump has called the “dishonest” and “rigged” media was a cornerstone of his campaign. “We expect the traditions of White House press coverage to be upheld whether in Washington or elsewhere”, the letter continues. It’s an important first step. “I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposefully negative and terrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money”. In the seconds before Bloomberg and other news organizations debunked the claim and reported the hack, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped about 1 percent, wiping out $136 billion in value, before quickly rebounding. The cold shoulder has renewed a nagging question for reporters: “Will President-elect Trump’s behaviour be a preview of his approach, or perhaps non-approach, to his relations with the news media when he takes office?”

Meanwhile, Trump has at his disposal an array of dishonest “alt-right” media outlets that will proudly serve as propaganda arms for the federal government. Trump told CNN in June that while he would not revoke credentials from reporters as president, he would also not be shy in pointing out errors where he saw them.

Journalists recognize a crisis may be looming with Trump.

And while the signatories acknowledge that to do so might cause “personal discomfort”, they firmly state: “Failure to follow this course of action will create conflicts of interest of unprecedented magnitude”.

“At this time I will not be entertaining any prospective opportunities”, she said. The move elicited a letter from 15 different press freedom groups calling on Trump to “commit to a protective press pool from now until the final day of your presidency”. Indeed, the departments of State, Defense and Justice say meetings are being set up. What if there’s a complete and total lockdown on information and denial of access?

Trump was not the first president-elect to preside over a disorderly transition.

Trump has mostly stuck to normal practice for a US president-elect with the order in which he has spoken to foreign leaders on the phone since his election victory.

However, Reuters quoted Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, who is reportedly in play for the post of attorney-general, as saying that Trump’s team is mulling a Muslim registry for immigrants from Muslim countries.