Donald Trump's Transition Team of Insiders, Obama and Trump Meet, The Women Who Helped Elect Trump and More

President-elect Donald Trump has gone full speed into the transition period — just 10 weeks — before his swearing-in ceremony Jan. 20. After just a little more than 24 hours following his Election Day win, Trump was welcomed at the White House by President Obama.

"I have great respect," Trump said of Obama. "The meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half, and as far as I'm concerned, it could have gone on for a lot longer. We discussed a lot of situations, some wonderful and some difficult. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future."

But the New York businessman who ran on an anti-Washington establishment platform is now beginning to understand exactly how difficult it is to move into the White House without those very insiders by his side. It's less a criticism than it is a reality for governing in the largest office in the country.

“Who else are you going to go to?” one lobbyist told Politico. “Unless you get some used car salesman from Dubuque, Iowa, you go to policy people.”

Top Stories

Insurgent Trump Taps GOP Insiders, Lobbyists for Transition: "Donald Trump campaigned as an outsider who vowed to 'drain the swamp' in Washington, but the president-elect’s transition team is packed with veterans of the GOP establishment, as well as with lobbyists for the fossil fuel, chemical, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries." (Politico)

Trump Meets with Obama at the White House as Whirlwind Transition Starts: "President-elect Donald Trump and President Obama met for the first time Thursday and pledged to work together, starting the whirlwind transition that will unfold over the next 10 weeks until Trump is sworn into office Jan. 20." (The Washington Post)

Democrats Try to Pick up the Pieces: "The sting of defeat is still fresh. But Democrats are embarking on a soul-searching exercise to determine how they ended up in the political wilderness, losing the House, the Senate and the White House at a time when President Barack Obama's approval ratings are at record highs." (CNN)

The Women Who Helped Donald Trump to Victory: "In interviews here in the Lehigh Valley — a bellwether region in a swing state that helped elect Mr. Trump — and around the country, female supporters said theirs was a vote for Mr. Trump and not against Hillary Clinton. America was on the wrong track, the women said, and Mr. Trump alone could fix it." (The New York Times)

From the Twitterverse

President-elect Donald Trump has very mixed feelings about protesters:

Today's Numbers

• Leonard Cohen — acclaimed musician, poet and author of "Hallelujah" — dies at 82.
• GM plans 2,000 layoffs in Ohio and Michigan in early 2017.
• Around 4,000 people took to Portland, Oregon's, streets for anti-Trump protests, some confronting drivers, spray-painting buildings and smashing electrical boxes with baseball bats.
• People watched an estimated 600 hours of Netflix in 2016.

Quote of the Day

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday's loss:

"I'm as disappointed as anyone. We had the opportunity to elect a candidate -- the first woman president -- who would have brought people together, created jobs, strengthened our nation's leadership across the globe, and opened up ladders of opportunity for countless Americans. It pains me to say that Hillary Clinton is not going to be our next president."

Allen McDuffee is a politics and policy reporter, investigative journalist, blogger and podcast host. He has written for The Atlantic, Wired and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter: @AllenMcDuffee

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons