WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump is preparing to sign executive actions on his first day in the White House on Friday to take the opening steps to crack down on immigration, build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and roll back outgoing President Barack Obama’s policies. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump salutes the statue of Abraham Lincoln as he and his wife Melania take part in a Make America Great Again welcome concert in Washington. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst 
 
 Trump, a Republican elected on Nov. 8 to succeed Democrat Obama, arrived in Washington on a military plane with his family a day before he will be sworn in during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. 
 
 Aides said Trump would not wait to wield one of the most powerful tools of his office, the presidential pen, to sign several executive actions that can be implemented without the input of Congress. 
 
 “He is committed to not just Day 1, but Day 2, Day 3 of enacting an agenda of real change, and I think that you’re going to see that in the days and weeks to come,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Thursday, telling reporters to expect activity on Friday, during the weekend and early next week. 
 
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 Trump plans on Saturday to visit the headquarters of the CIA in Langley, Virginia. He has harshly criticized the agency and its outgoing chief, first questioning the CIA’s conclusion that Russia was involved in cyber hacking during the U.S. election campaign, before later accepting the verdict. Trump also likened U.S. intelligence agencies to Nazi Germany. 
 
 Trump’s advisers vetted more than 200 potential executive orders for him to consider signing on healthcare, climate policy, immigration, energy and numerous other issues, but it was not clear how many orders he would initially approve, according to a member of the Trump transition team who was not authorized to talk to the press. 
 
 Signing off on orders puts Trump, who has presided over a sprawling business empire but has never before held public office, in a familiar place similar to the CEO role that made him famous, and will give him some early victories before he has to turn to the lumbering process of getting Congress to pass bills. 
 
 The strategy has been used by other presidents, including Obama, in their first few weeks in office. 
 
 “He wants to show he will take action and not be stifled by Washington gridlock,” said Princeton University presidential historian Julian Zelizer. 
 
 Trump is expected to impose a federal hiring freeze and take steps to delay a Labor Department rule due to take effect in April that would require brokers who give retirement advice to put their clients’ best interests first. 
 
 He also will give official notice he plans to withdraw from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, Spicer said. “I think you will see those happen very shortly,” Spicer said. 
 
 Obama, ending eight years as president, made frequent use of his executive powers during his second term in office, when the Republican-controlled Congress stymied his efforts to overhaul immigration and environmental laws. Many of those actions are now ripe targets for Trump to reverse. 
 
 BORDER WALL 
 
 Trump is expected to sign an executive order in his first few days to direct the building of a wall on the southern border with Mexico, and actions to limit the entry of asylum seekers from Latin America, among several immigration-related steps his advisers have recommended. 
 
 That includes rescinding Obama’s order that allowed more than 700,000 people brought into the United States illegally as children to stay in the country on a two-year authorization to work and attend college, according to several people close to the presidential transition team. 
 
 It is unlikely Trump’s order will result in an immediate roundup of these immigrants, sources told Reuters. Rather, he is expected to let the authorizations expire. 
 
 The issue could set up a confrontation with Obama, who told reporters on Wednesday he would weigh in if he felt the new administration was unfairly targeting those immigrants. 
 
 Advisers to Trump expect him to put restrictions on people entering the United States from certain countries until a system for “extreme vetting” for Islamist extremists can be set up. 
 
 During his presidential campaign, Trump proposed banning non-American Muslims from entering the United States, but his executive order regarding immigration is expected to be based on nationality rather than religion. 
 
 Another proposed executive order would require all Cabinet departments to disclose and pause current work being done in connection with Obama’s initiatives to curb carbon emissions to combat climate change. 
 
 Trump also is expected to extend prohibitions on future lobbying imposed on members of his transition team. 
 
 ‘THE HIGHEST IQ’ 
 
 Washington was turned into a virtual fortress ahead of the inauguration, with police ready to step in to separate protesters from Trump supporters at any sign of unrest. 
 
 As Obama packed up to leave the White House, Trump and his family laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery and attended a concert at the Lincoln Memorial. 
 
 Trump spoke earlier to lawmakers and Cabinet nominees at a luncheon in a ballroom at his hotel, down the street from the White House, announcing during brief remarks that he would pick Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets of the National Football League, as U.S. ambassador to Britain. 
 
 “We have a lot of smart people. I tell you what, one thing we’ve learned, we have by far the highest IQ of any Cabinet ever assembled,” Trump said. 
 
 Trump has selected all 21 members of his Cabinet, along with six other key positions requiring Senate confirmation. The Senate is expected on Friday to vote to confirm retired General James Mattis, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, and retired General John Kelly, his homeland security choice. 
 
 Senate Republicans had hoped to confirm as many as seven Cabinet members on Friday, but Democrats balked at the pace. Trump spokesman Spicer accused Senate Democrats of “stalling tactics.” 
 
 Also in place for Monday will be 536 “beachhead team members” at government agencies, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said, a small portion of the thousands of positions Obama’s appointees will vacate. 
 
 Slideshow (3 Images) 
 
 Trump has asked 50 Obama staffers in critical posts to stay on until replacements can be found, including Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Brett McGurk, envoy to the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State. 
 
 The list includes Adam Szubin, who has long served in an “acting” capacity in the Treasury Department’s top anti-terrorism job because his nomination has been held up by congressional Republicans since Obama named him to the job in April 2015. 
 
 The Supreme Court said U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will administer the oath of office on Friday, met with Trump on Thursday to discuss inauguration arrangements. ||||| The litany of misery wasn’t always consistent. On the one hand, “Jobs have already started to surge,” he said. On the other, “Jobs are pouring out of the country.” Trump’s doomsaying on the economy cut directly against a triumphant tweet Thursday morning, in which he boasted, “Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism - even before tax plan rollout!” 
 
 There’s been a boom in the cottage industry of diagnosing the president’s mental health from afar these days, the kind of thing that shouldn’t even be done by licensed professionals, much less amateurs. But it’s hard not to suspect that Trump isn’t having a lot of fun. He’s eyed the presidency for decades, and now that he’s in the White House, he seems deeply unhappy. 
 
 And who can blame him? The administration is plagued by leaks, from rival factions sniping at each other within the West Wing to intelligence officials speaking for stories that have damaged the administration and brought down National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. (Yes, Virginia, that was this week, even though it feels like forever ago.) Trump’s signature immigration executive order has been halted by federal courts. The storied wall isn’t under construction, and Mexico still won’t pay. Several Cabinet spots remain unfilled. There’s little progress on repealing and replacing Obamacare. He is beginning to learn just how slowly the wheels of action turn in politics. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have slowly begun to agitate for investigations into various questionable Trump moves. 
 
 Trump tried to insist everything was fine. “I turn on the TV, open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos. Chaos,” he said. “Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my cabinet approved.” 
 
 He argued that, in the face of the evidence, he had already accomplished much. “In each of these actions, I’m keeping my promises to the American people. These are campaign promises,” he said. “Some people are so surprised that we’re having strong borders.” 
 
 His mood and words suggested otherwise. “I’m not ranting and raving,” he ranted and raved. There are other signs of frustration. Rather than spend weekends at the White House, he has made a habit of going to Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort where he apparently feels more comfortable. On Saturday, he’ll hold what his aides have described as a campaign rally, effectively starting his 2020 reelection race. These are excuses to leave Washington, but they also point to a president who misses the presidential campaign, when he was an underdog who kept beating expectations, and before he had to wrestle with the work of governing. That nostalgia manifested itself in a reverie about the election, and how no one thought he could win. ||||| People cheer as President Trump walks out to speak during a campaign rally in Nashville on March 15. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) 
 
 Donald J. Trump is the president of the United States. 
 
 One hundred days ago, I took the oath of office and made a pledge: We are not merely going to transfer political power from one party to another, but instead are going to transfer that power from Washington, D.C., and give it back to the people. 
 
 In the past 100 days, I have kept that promise — and more. 
 
 Issue by issue, department by department, we are giving the people their country back. After decades of a shrinking middle class, open borders and the mass offshoring of American jobs and wealth, this government is working for the citizens of our country and no one else. 
 
 1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × A look at President Trump’s first 100 days View Photos The beginning of the president’s term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. Caption The beginning of the president’s term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 The same establishment media that concealed these problems — and profited from them — is obviously not going to tell this story. That is why we are taking our message directly to America. 
 
 We have opened the White House doors to listen, engage and act. We’ve invited in labor leaders, factory owners, police officers, farmers, veterans and Democrats, Republicans and independents. 
 
 The change began with the termination of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a 12-nation pact that would have shipped millions more jobs to other countries. 
 
 But leaving the TPP was only the beginning. We have also launched an investigation into foreign trading abuses and taken steps to protect the production of American steel and aluminum. After years of federal contracts going to foreign bidders, we are ensuring that government agencies enforce “Buy American” rules and give preference to American companies — and that American companies hire American workers. 
 
 Crucially, to bring back our jobs, we are going to pursue a complete renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement: We’ve lost nearly a third of our manufacturing jobs in the 23 years since that terrible deal was approved. 
 
 At the center of our economic agenda, we’ve undertaken the most far-reaching effort in history to remove job-killing regulations. I’ve ordered that for every one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. We’ve signed a record 13 Congressional Review Act resolutions to scrap job-crushing regulations, and I’ve signed 29 pieces of legislation in total — a mark not surpassed in the first 100 days since Harry S. Truman. 
 
 Those newly enacted laws include Veterans’ Choice legislation — which became law while at the same time we’ve increased by 42 percent the number of veterans approved to see the doctor of their choosing. And we’ve provided transparency by publishing all wait times at the Veterans Affairs health system online, backed up by a new Veterans Affairs Office of Accountability. 
 
 (Alice Li,Jayne Orenstein,Julio Negron/The Washington Post) 
 
 On energy, the change has been profound. We’ve canceled restrictions on the production of oil, natural gas and clean coal. 
 
 What we’ve accomplished on immigration and criminal enforcement is nothing short of historic. After decades of unending illegal immigration and mass uncontrolled entry, we’ve turned the tide as never before — illegal border-crossings are down 73 percent. Visa processes are being reformed to substantially improve vetting and screening, and we’ve launched prototypes and bidding for the border wall to stop the scourge of drugs, human trafficking and illegal immigrants from coming into our country. 
 
 Federal law enforcement has begun a crackdown on sanctuary cities that harbor criminal aliens — because we know the first duty of government is to protect American citizens. 
 
 The Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State, and the director of national intelligence, have formed an inter-agency group for the express purpose of dismantling transnational criminal cartels. The handcuffs have been removed from our prosecutors, and they’re targeting the drug dealers and gang members who prey on our citizens — and they’re working to eradicate the violent cartel MS-13. 
 
 The change on defense has been profound as well. The Defense Department has begun to rebuild and restore our military readiness. We’ve reasserted American leadership by holding the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria accountable for its monstrous use of banned chemical weapons against helpless, innocent civilians. Our successful missile strike enforced the red line that the previous administration drew but ignored, thus restoring our credibility with our friends and our deterrence with our foes. Finally, NATO countries are starting to pay billions of dollars more since I have made clear that the United States expects all of its allies to pay their fair share. 
 
 I delivered on one of my biggest promises, appointing and confirming a new justice to the Supreme Court who will be faithful to the U.S. Constitution. This is the first time a new justice has been confirmed in the first 100 days in 136 years. 
 
 As we’ve made these changes — on the border, on our economy, on our security — confidence has soared. And a survey of manufacturing reveals record-breaking optimism in the future. Consumer confidence hit a 16-year high . Thousands of new jobs are being re-shored back to America — including jobs at Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Sprint, Intel and so many more. 
 
 We are proving that Buy and Hire American isn’t just a slogan — it’s now the policy of the U.S. government. It, along with the many other things we are doing, will Make America Great Again. 
 
 No longer will we listen to the same failed voices of the past who brought us nothing but war overseas, poverty at home and the loss of companies, jobs and our wealth to countries that have taken total advantage of the United States. 
 
 The White House is once again the People’s House. And I will do everything in my power to be the People’s President — to faithfully, loyally and proudly champion the incredible citizens who love this nation and who call this God-blessed land their home. ||||| Here’s the transcript if you can’t be bothered to watch. There are people who believe Trump has thought these issues through and will therefore want to carefully consider what he says here. There are other people who suspect Trump’s spent maybe eight minutes contemplating foreign policy — America first, China bad, fewer wars, hit terrorists hard, strength strength strength — and won’t really have an idea of what he wants to do until he holds his first cabinet briefing. Guess which group I’m in. 
 
 Here’s your quote of the day, from before the speech: 
 
 NEW: Trump advisor previews his foreign policy speech: "There will be no details in this speech." https://t.co/qWwFz9eIVe — Jill Colvin (@colvinj) April 27, 2016 
 
 No kidding. I’ll say this for him, though: The core message of his foreign policy is exactly the same as the message of his domestic policy. We, i.e. you, are being taken advantage of. Our leaders are weak and treacherous. I, through my Trumpy superpowers, will solve every problem, judiciously avoiding interventions that will sap of us blood and treasure yet intervening heroically to smash America’s enemies whenever they threaten us. He likes to note the fact that he won’t describe his plans in detail for fear of tipping off the enemy, which is his way of trying to convince his marks that he’s not totally winging this, but one thing that strikes me is that Trump seems like an exceptionally easy guy for foreign leaders to read. Given his image and how invested he is in it, it shouldn’t be hard to bait him into reacting however you like by doing something that either undermines perceptions of his strength or enhances it. For instance, Trump preaches variations of isolationism and prudential restraint on the trail, but I think no candidate running this year on either side (with the exception of Rubio) would be as likely to lash out over a terror attack as Trump would. He’s already raised the possibility of 30,000 American troops(!) to engage ISIS. What would the number be if suicide bombers hit several U.S. embassies a few months after he was inaugurated? The policy considerations would be a function of considerations about his image: He got elected as a strongman, promising to protect the American people, with his biggest fans viewing him as some sort of creepy father figure. Daddy not only has to beat up the bully, he has to do it more convincingly than any of the people he defeated in the election — even if that’s what the bully wants. Nothing would restore some prestige to ISIS and reverse the flow of all the fighters who’ve been leaving lately like a glorious ground war with American troops. 
 
 On the other hand, if you’re a cannier operator like Putin who wants to advance your country’s interests at America’s expense but needs to do it without military confrontation, you could go a long way with Trump by handing him cosmetic diplomatic victories. Putin already pulled that on Obama, in fact, when he helped O out of his “red line” jam a few years ago by brokering an agreement with Assad to “voluntarily” give up his WMDs in return for America calling off a bombing run. That didn’t work out so hot in practice but Putin was shrewd enough to know that Obama would accept a fig-leaf diplomatic “win” that gave him a pretext for calling off an air attack for which there was little public appetite. In so doing, Putin kept America’s military footprint in Syria light, which came in handy when Russia waded into the fight on Assad’s behalf a few years later. Trump would be an even bigger mark than Obama for plays like that. He doesn’t know policy as well as O so he’d have a weaker sense of the chessboard and his impulse towards isolationism is stronger than O’s so he’ll probably be even more amenable to unfavorable yet face-saving diplomatic “deals” if they can avert military action. Trump called Obama’s Iran deal “disastrous” today and vowed that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon if he’s president, but the Iran deal is precisely the sort of bargain that I think Trump would be susceptible to as president. He’s a salesman; as long as he can sell the deal as a win, it’s a win. And the more he can sell it as a product of his own personal greatness, the more easily seduced he’d be, I expect, to sign onto it. Putin’s already discovered the value of flattery with Trump. I’d bet big money that every “deal” the two make if Trump wins will favor Russia in substance but will come larded up with praise for his excellency, the president, and how he’s ushered in a new era of peace between former rivals. 
 
 A few exit questions for you. Take your pick. One: Is Trump still pretending that he was against intervening in Libya? He should stop doing that. Two: Does he really not know that the term “America First” comes with a pedigree, or is he making that allusion deliberately? Three: The same guy who’s not sure if NATO’s worth keeping up is worried that “our friends are beginning to think they can’t depend on us”? What? ||||| Ready on Day One? 
 
 To Obama officials’ public and private complaints about the president-elect’s transition process, Team Trump retorts: ‘This is the best you can expect.’ 
 
 Outgoing Obama administration officials are muttering darkly of a Team Trump unstaffed and unprepared to take on major crises on Day One. But Trump transition officials tell The Daily Beast the controlled-chaos standard in any White House handover is on track—a mantra of “we got this” combined with a little bit of “enough already!” 
 
 “I actually think it’s gone pretty well and this is the best you can expect,” said Trump transition team member James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation. 
 
 He likened the process to a merger and acquisition—merging Trump’s campaign staff with those who will set policy and acquiring the White House from the Obama administration. 
 
 “If anybody expects this to be a frictionless process, they’re kind of nuts,” he added Wednesday. 
 
 Obama officials complained privately and publicly that they hadn’t had much time to do a handoff because there was no one to hand off to, and some are getting eleventh-hour requests to stay on, but they’ve already made other plans. They warned that the uncertainty in staffing could complicate President-elect Donald Trump’s response to an early post-inauguration national -ecurity crisis, like a North Korea missile launch, perhaps to test Trump’s tweeted claim that North Korea won’t be able to develop nuclear launch capability under his watch. 
 
 The rancor reflects a certain degree of anguish and anxiety over the incoming Trump administration’s promised repudiation of many of President Barack Obama’s key policies, from health care to the Iran nuclear deal, and also the boisterous, competitive nature of the different factions of the incoming team. The would-be policymakers, who are the relative newcomers to the team, clash with campaign officials, who all get trumped by Trump family members who serve as his closest advisers. 
 
 The churn, which somewhat resembles an episode of The Apprentice, has left some high-profile would-be Trump candidates in the wind and some Obama administration officials—from a notoriously hands-on, detail-oriented White House—twitching in near panic. 
 
 “It took them more time than we expected for them to be ready to engage with us,” outgoing National Security Adviser Susan Rice told The New York Times of the incoming Trump national-security team. It took two weeks after an election the Trump team did not expect to win to replace New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s team with a new one. Now, Rice said, “we’re racing to make up lost time.” 
 
 Trump officials say they’ve got it all in hand, or will soon. 
 
 “I want to personally again thank Ambassador Rice and her entire team for their preparation: the transition materials… that they’ve provided to us, the initiation of various NSC reform measures that she has already undertaken, and the time that she and her team took to help guide us and to help us be as well prepared as we can be prior to Inauguration Day,” said incoming National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, sharing the stage with Rice on Jan. 10 at the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Passing the Baton event celebrating the peaceful transition of power in Washington, D.C. 
 
 The reform he’s referring to includes the shrinking of the NSC from a high of 400 or so staff to fewer than 200 today—a change enshrined in the latest defense authorization bill to keep the national-security staff from ever ballooning again. 
 
 “The NSC, particularly under this administration, though under Bush as well, has micromanaged decisions by Cabinet members as well as senior uniformed officers,” said a senior Hill staffer who worked on the legislation, speaking anonymously in order to discuss contentious debates. 
 
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 Previous Obama NSC staffers say Obama was so detail-oriented, and so distrustful of some of his Cabinet members, that he had his staff questioning the smallest details. 
 
 NSC spokesman Ned Price countered that the Obama NSC has already been whittled down to 180 people, with 90 percent of them detailed from other agencies rather than being political appointments. 
 
 Flynn has told Capitol Hill staff that he’ll keep his team similarly lean and let Trump’s Cabinet secretaries run their departments. That means there will be only 20 or so political appointees at most. 
 
 But Team Trump is becoming aware of the gaps and has asked some Obama appointees to stay on, according to former Department of Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem. “Three friends, at three different agencies…. got calls this week asking if they would consider staying on. They had long ago made other plans,” she tweeted, and later confirmed by email. 
 
 
 
 And Obama officials gripe the incoming Trump appointee roster keeps changing. 
 
 
 
 One official complained of briefing incoming NSC staff for sensitive jobs in counterterrorism and the cyberfront at the National Security Council, only to have them fired or forced to withdraw by Team Trump—Monica Crowley the most public recent example. 
 
 “We’ve briefed at least 10 people, but they’ve all gotten fired by the transition after we trained them,” said one administration official working at the White House. 
 
 NSC spokesman Price said they’d left approximately 300 memos for the incoming team, adding that “members of the departing NSC team will make themselves available for continued consultations following the transition.” 
 
 Another senior administration official at a large national-security agency said he was also instructing his staff to leave notes on their desks with their personal email addresses and phone numbers so that Team Trump could reach out to them for institutional knowledge, like who they’d contact to get the quickest or most reliable answer out of a database of international counterterrorism counterparts. 
 
 That was standard practice in previous handovers, according to former Obama transition official Derek Chollet, who said it is often the only way to let the incoming team know what happened at those ranks of empty desks at the NSC. 
 
 “It’s nothing to do with politics. It’s just to do with records management. When you leave the NSC, you have to have files empty, wipe your hard drive, which presents challenges for continuity, as you have to understand what came before,” said Chollet , who now works at the German Marshall Fund. 
 
 So in the handover from President George W. Bush to Obama, the incoming and outgoing teams improvised. 
 
 “We called people up all the time after transition,” Chollet said. “The Bush team was terrific in terms of being open, helpful, disclosing things, to make sure the baton did not get dropped. That’s what [Bush NSA Stephen] Hadley championed and that’s the posture of the Obama team.” 
 
 Chollet said he was aware that the new teams are already communicating, with daily conversations happening at the senior staff level. 
 
 One of the places transition talks have been going well is the CIA, according to a U.S. official briefed on Trump CIA director nominee Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS). 
 
 “I’ve heard that the agency and senior staff have been very welcoming and supportive of Congressman Pompeo,” confirmed former CIA and NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden on Wednesday. “He has indeed reached out to all former directors and I spent an hour or so with him. In that private meeting, he came across the same way he came across in his confirmation hearing: knowledgeable, confident, enthusiastic,” Hayden emailed to The Daily Beast. 
 
 That’s high and unexpected praise, considering Hayden strongly criticized how the president-elect compared the intelligence community to Nazis and implied CIA Director John Brennan leaked a controversial portfolio on alleged Russian attempts to gather compromising material on him. The CIA declined to comment. 
 
 Another Trump official said the staff churn the outgoing Obama officials complained of was planned. Small transition teams like the one that studied defense issues parachuted into the Pentagon in November and will be replaced by “beachhead” teams, which start work at 12:01 p.m. on Inauguration Day. 
 
 The initial team interviewed current staff and came up with an action plan to turn Trump’s campaign promises into reality. They also came up with potential names to fill political appointee posts but couldn’t share them with Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Ret. Marine Gen. James Mattis, because he hadn’t yet had his confirmation hearing. 
 
 Some of those names got to Mattis, however, especially Trump’s reported choice of businessmen Vincent Viola as secretary of the Army, and that caused friction, according to multiple officials involved in the Trump process. 
 
 Sean Spicer, the incoming White House press secretary, rejected the story first reported by The Washington Post, in a tweet: “Great transition at DoD. Reports to contrary completely false and come from sources who do not have any knowledge of our transition efforts.” 
 
 Carafano, an Army veteran and former speechwriter for the Army chief of staff, said in any event, service secretaries are seldom the Pentagon chief’s choice but are dictated by the White House. 
 
 He predicted that after Friday, reporters would be busy covering a new government in overdrive. 
 
 “People will have something to write about other than tweets,” he said. “People will pay attention to what the government is actually doing.” ||||| Hours shy of his 100th day in power, President Trump strides into the Oval Office. The energy in the world's most famous room changes instantly and perceptibly as he sits down. 
 
 It's a little after 3 in the afternoon. Trump says he already has been up and working for 12 hours. He and first lady Melania Trump have met with Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his wife, Juliana Awada. 
 
 He has signed an executive order, creating an office to protect Veterans Affairs Department whistleblowers. Then he signed another, ordering an investigation of the relationship between aluminum imports and national security. 
 
 Staffers walk briskly in and out of the complex of offices; a line of journalists fills a hallway, waiting to interview the president. 
 
 His daughter Ivanka, perhaps his most trusted adviser, has just departed. 
 
 Now, as an exclusive conversation with the Washington Examiner begins, the words, the tone, the messages are vintage Trump: All the familiar superlatives, the choppy sentences, the insistence that his first 100 days have been the best of any president. 
 
 Over the next 40 minutes, he jumps, in classic Trump fashion, over a range of topics, from his relations with foreign leaders to the danger of North Korea, from the election last year to his hopes for America tomorrow. 
 
 Yet listen closely, especially when he speaks about decisions involving life and death, and you sense that sitting here, in the Oval Office, as the 45th president has humbled even Donald J. Trump. 
 
 "You can make a mistake in deals, and you work it out," he explains at one point. "You make a mistake here, there is nothing to work out. You know it's trouble. It could be big trouble. And it is life-threatening trouble for lots of people, potentially." 
 
 A portrait of Thomas Jefferson hangs to his right, one of Andrew Jackson, perhaps his favorite president, is to his left. A bust of a sober-looking Abraham Lincoln sits beneath Jefferson, while Trump's father smiles broadly from a black-and-white photo behind the Resolute Desk, given by Queen Victoria in 1880 to Rutherford B. Hayes and used by many presidents since. 
 
 "It's a very intensive process," he says of the presidency. "Really intense. I get up to bed late and I get up early." He rarely sleeps more than four hours, which is good, he explains, because he can call leaders around the world in the dark hours while the rest of Washington sleeps. 
 
 "When I was doing many real estate deals at one time, I always thought that was going to be more comprehensive and lengthier than a day like this. 
 
 "It's not." 
 
 So far into his presidency, as with so many modern-era presidents before him, much of his focus has been on challenges from abroad. 
 
 Freeing a prisoner 
 
 The Trump administration flew Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American aid worker, home to the United States after negotiating her release from a three-year captivity in Egypt. (AP Photos) 
 
 Last week, the Trump administration flew Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American aid worker, home to the United States after negotiating her release from a three-year captivity in Egypt. 
 
 Trump felt strongly about achieving Hijazi's release, he says, when he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in April in the Oval Office. 
 
 "As you know, President Obama tried to have Aya released for three and a half years," he says. "They were unsuccessful. I was with President el-Sissi for 10 minutes. During that 10-minute session, I said it would be a great honor for this country and I think it would be a very positive step if Aya were released." 
 
 Trump explains that Sissi replied, "I would like to consider that," to which Trump responded that he considered the issue "really very" important. 
 
 "And he was so great. He not only released Aya, he released her husband, and he released eight people total ... I thought it was fantastic." 
 
 Sissi, he concludes, is a good man: "I know that he didn't like President Obama, and I know President Obama did not like him. But I do like him. And I thought it was a great and brilliant gesture. 
 
 "And I very much appreciated it. She would have been in jail for 28 years. She is a young person. She is a good person. She is a totally innocent person." 
 
 Hijazi, a graduate of George Mason University in Virginia, was arrested in 2014 with her husband, Mohamed Hassanein. Both worked at Beladi Foundation, which she founded to care for homeless children in Cairo. 
 
 A smiling Hijazi visited the president at the White House after her release last week. 
 
 A legitimate 'red line' 
 
 Trump authorized the U.S. Navy to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syria in April after the regime of Bashar Assad attacked civilians with chemical weapons. 
 
 In sharp contrast, Trump authorized the U.S. Navy to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syria in April after the regime of Bashar Assad attacked civilians with chemical weapons. 
 
 It was, he admits, his toughest decision so far. 
 
 "I legitimized President Obama's red line in the sand," he says. "Which we had to do. I mean, somebody had to do it." 
 
 Nevertheless, it was, he says, an incredibly difficult moment: "First of all, it is a hard decision. You don't know what is going to happen," once the missiles are fired. "Is one of them going to go haywire and end up in a city or in a town and kill a lot of people? 
 
 "But it was an important decision. Not an easy decision to make. Because you know, when you say 'yes,' there is death. 
 
 "And death is very tough. Very tough. There is a lot of weight on this kind of decision." 
 
 A 'tipping point' in North Korea 
 
 If his Syria decision was "tough," those yet to be made on North Korea and its nuclear weapons sound absolutely nightmarish. 
 
 Trump hopes for a diplomatic solution, he says, while bracing himself for something worse. 
 
 Trump describes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "very threatening ... saying terrible things. And people can't do that." 
 
 "North Korea weighs on me, but we have to be prepared for the worst," he says. "We have to be prepared to do what we have to do. We cannot allow this to go on." 
 
 He describes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "very threatening ... saying terrible things. And people can't do that." 
 
 On the other hand, he has nothing but praise for Chinese President Xi Jinping, especially Xi's efforts to prevent conflict involving its erstwhile ally, North Korea. 
 
 Trump says he has pressed the Chinese leader to use his influence to halt any further North Korean tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles that could, one day, threaten the United States. 
 
 Clearly, he sees Xi as a friend and an asset when it comes to dealing with North Korea. Yet, the relationship sounds deeper, more personal, too — a stark contrast with the presidential campaign, when he frequently cited China as a currency-manipulating rival. 
 
 His meeting with the Chinese leader at Trump's Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, seems to have changed the dynamic between them. 
 
 "President XI of China, who I think is a very good person, wants the best for his people," he says. "... I think he is a fantastic person. Now, maybe he won't do anything for the United States or maybe he will. But I think he is a very good person, and my opinion of that won't change. 
 
 "So when I met him at Mar-a-Lago, which is a dealmakers paradise, and we sat in that living room, in these big beautiful chairs, and we sat there, it was supposed to be a 10-minute one-on-one, then we go into a breakout room where we have 40 people — 40 people, you know, 40 each — and that was going to be the whole day." 
 
 Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, seems to have changed the dynamic between them. 
 
 But Trump recounts being told by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the global private-equity firm Blackstone, "that President Xi is a great guy and, if you could, get to know him one-on-one [rather] than sitting in the big breakout room. 
 
 "So we sat for 10 minutes, but the 10 minutes turned out to be three hours." 
 
 The same thing happened the next day. "And, so, now we have a real relationship. I spoke to him again two days ago. He is a great guy. Now, with that being said, he is in love with China, and he is in love with the people of China. And that is a great thing. 
 
 "But I think he is going to try to help us with North Korea. Because he does not want to see us wanting to attack North Korea. And I think he would love to see if he could work something out." 
 
 Even so, the administration has been pressing the United Nations to enact more sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, while U.S. military maneuvers are being conducted alongside South Korean forces near their capital, Seoul. 
 
 Amid all of the administration's dealings with the U.N., Trump says he likes "a lot" of world leaders. 
 
 "Well, believe it or not, I have a great relationship with [German] Chancellor Angela Merkel," he says, refuting reports that he refused to shake her hand during a meeting. "I shook hands with her four times before I sat down. ... We get along great." 
 
 The same is true, he says, of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and of Britain's Theresa May: "I thought she was great." 
 
 As for Russia's Vladimir Putin, the source of so much trouble for his administration, he says simply that they haven't met yet. 
 
 Staying connected 
 
 Although foreign affairs have been a preoccupation, the one thing Trump insists he will not stop doing is staying connected to Americans, in particular, to those who voted for him. 
 
 "I love my people," he says. "They are the greatest people." 
 
 "That's the final map of the numbers — not bad, right?" the president says. "The red is us, the blue is Hillary. There is a lot of red." (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner) 
 
 And with that, he reaches across the Resolute Desk for a sheet of paper showing a map of the United States. It illustrates the latest figures from the 2016 electoral map, and it is covered in a sea of red ink. 
 
 "That's the final map of the numbers — not bad, right?" he says. "The red is us, the blue is Hillary. There is a lot of red." 
 
 How does that make him feel? He lingers over the map, takes a deep breath. 
 
 "Very, very honored. And proud. And I love the people of this country. These people are incredible people." 
 
 He is not worried about staying connected to them. 
 
 "I think I am doing that," he says, pointing as one example to the executive orders on protecting U.S.-made aluminum and steel that he signed in the past 10 days. 
 
 "And, you know, that is just a first step. You can't do what you want to do. You have to do the steps, you have to do the study, you have to review the study, you have to go through a process and then you have to do what you have to do." 
 
 Bringing back skilled and well-paid workers involved in manufacturing aluminum, steel, other goods? It's going to happen, he insists, and very soon. 
 
 "We have been tremendously mistreated by the world, with dumping" of foreign-made products, he insists. 
 
 But, he continues, "we have a great country, and it is turning around. And there has never been optimism like this before." 
 
 "Don't forget, I got him [Justice Neil Gorsuch] nominated and confirmed in those 100 days," Trump says. 
 
 He promises, as he did during the campaign, to get rid "of tremendous regulations," to help American companies compete more easily in the world market and to put more of America's citizens back to work. 
 
 That leads, naturally, to an assessment of his own work in his first 100 days, which is, predictably, that no president "has ever done what I have done" even though "the first-hundred-day standard is ridiculous." 
 
 "Well, I think that the Supreme Court is very important," he explains, "because every 5-to-4 decision is because of me. And that could go on for 40 years," since his first appointment to the court, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, "is a young man" at age 49. 
 
 "Don't forget, I got him nominated and confirmed in those 100 days," he adds, not willing to give up the 100-day argument quite yet. 
 
 What about longer-term, after four or even eight years of a Trump presidency? 
 
 "What I would like to do is peace. Have great strength for the country. And jobs." 
 
 As the interview ends, the room suddenly fills with White House officials once again: Vice President Mike Pence, who gives this reporter two big hugs; chief of staff Reince Priebus, who shakes hands warmly and chats happily about political trends and gossip; campaign manager and now presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, smiling broadly and offering an update on her children. 
 
 An atmosphere — friendly, happy, energetic — infuses the Oval Office, already glowing with afternoon sunlight. You find yourself wondering what the next discussion among these figures will be, how it might add to two centuries of history, sometimes good, sometimes terrifying, that has unfolded within these curved walls. 
 
 And you wonder, too, what keeps this president awake at night? 
 
 "Not much," he says, simply. "I don't sleep but, then again, I never did."
– Interviews with Donald Trump and related stories about him and his policies are in full supply two days before he takes office. A sampling: The Washington Post has a feature on Trump's life in Trump Tower: He "rarely leaves, not even for a breath of fresh air," and generally stays surrounded by a close circle of family and advisers. Despite his regular tweets, Trump doesn't use email and almost never surfs the internet, but he does have one unusual access point: He answers his own cellphone, "something that acquaintances and colleagues speak of in almost reverential terms." Read the profile here. Axios has an interview with Trump, and the interviewers write that the president-elect "seemed moved" by his intel briefings. "I've had a lot of briefings that are very … I don't want to say 'scary,' because I'll solve the problems. But … we have some big enemies out there." Read it in full here. The Wall Street Journal also interviewed Trump, and it had real-world implications: "The dollar tumbled to its lowest level in a month after Donald Trump suggested ... he favored a weaker dollar, breaking with decades of tradition and intensifying investor concern over the incoming administration’s capacity to surprise." Read it here. In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times Magazine, Joe Biden sounds worried about Trump's shifting foreign policy pronouncements. "It's like a Rubik's cube trying to figure this guy out," he says. "We have no freakin' idea what he's going to do." Read it in full here. Trump will enter office with only about half of his Cabinet in place. Politico takes a look here. Trump also will enter office as the most unpopular president in at least 40 years (see ABC News), while President Obama exits with his approval ratings at an all-time high (see CNN). The Hill looks ahead and sees five areas where Trump and Democrats can make progress, including a possible boost in minimum wage. The list is here. See Friday's inauguration schedule here.