Michael D'Antonio, the author of " The Truth About Trump ," is writing Trump Watch , a series of columns on President-elect Donald Trump for CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Watch Donald Trump get ready to take over the world's biggest job and a central question will likely come to mind: Is he carrying out a strategic plan months in the making, or is he largely winging it?

If his 40-year career is a clue, the odds are you are seeing a man who is improvising as he has throughout his long life in the public eye. As a businessman/ entertainer Trump improvised narratives that could close a sale or make a TV show succeed. In the process he often staked out extreme positions as the first step in a negotiation that ended with him getting most of what he wanted. And if he didn't, he was always willing to walk away.

Trump shakes hands with President Barack Obama following a meeting in the Oval Office on November 10. Obama told his successor that he wanted him to succeed and would do everything he could to ensure a smooth transition.

Ryan listens as Trump speaks to the press at the US Capitol on November 10. Trump talked about his eagerness to join forces with Ryan to begin implementing new policies.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews Trump and his family at his New York home on Friday, November 11. It was Trump's first television interview since the election.

Trump waves to a crowd at The New York Times building after meeting with some of the newspaper's reporters, editors and columnists on Tuesday, November 22. Six takeaways from the meeting

Trump, left, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney share a meal in New York on November 29. Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling high-level positions for the new administration, and Romney is reportedly in the running for secretary of state.

Trump visits the Carrier air-conditioning company in Indianapolis on Thursday, December 1. Carrier announced Tuesday, November 29, that it had reached a deal with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is currently governor of Indiana, to keep about 1,000 of 1,400 jobs at its Indianapolis plant rather than move them to Mexico. The Carrier plant had been a theme of Trump's campaign promise to prevent more jobs from being outsourced to other countries.

Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.

Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.

Trump greets retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, right, at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, December 6. Trump says he will nominate Mattis as his defense secretary.

Trump greets retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, right, at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, December 6. Trump says he will nominate Mattis as his defense secretary.

Trump shakes hands with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad at a "USA Thank You" tour event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, December 8. Trump officially re-introduced Branstad as his pick for US ambassador to China.

The elements of Trump's approach are constant -- his ego, his flamboyance, his scorn for those who oppose him, his readiness to strike back at any criticism, no matter how justified or well intended. When challenged in the past, by New York Mayor Ed Koch or the likes of Rosie O'Donnell or Cher, he defined them with insults. He prevailed in the 2016 election with similar name-calling -- Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary -- that defied convention and gave him the reward he sought.

To his credit, Trump's record shows that he can back up his aggressive talk. During his feud with Mayor Koch he declared that he could renovate the ice skating rink in Central Park. The Koch administration's renovation of the famous Wollman Rink had been a disaster, with costs rising and deadlines missed. In addition to criticizing the mayor, Trump boasted that he could do the job for less and ahead of schedule. Koch gave him the job and Trump performed as promised.

As president-elect, Trump has shown he is willing to follow his instincts and continue defying convention by choosing a recently retired general to head the Department of Defense and putting the CEO of ExxonMobil atop his list of candidates for secretary of state. The same is true of his decision to break with decades of US policy and presidential practice by speaking with Taiwan's president.

Staying true to form, Trump trusts his instincts and understands that almost anything can be explained after the fact. Indeed, the explanation can be changed, as it was in the case of the call to Taiwan, to fit whatever story works best after the world reacts.

When he becomes president, Trump will have the world's attention for whatever stories he will tell to support his policies. In the past Trump's improvisations led to a significant number of failures, including several massive bankruptcies, to go with his achievements. In the Oval Office his moves will have far more serious effects on the economy, public safety, and even global security. And the world is such a complex and unmanageable place that Trump will soon discover the limits of his freewheeling style.

Trump dressed in mod suits with shoes dyed to match and brandished a mobile phone at a time when almost no one else had one.

The wealthy playboy act of Trump's youth won him lavish attention in the press, which he used to build his business brand. His first two projects, New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower, were smashing achievements that proved that his base instincts and natural abilities were the truest guides to success. As he told me in 2014, "I consider talent much more important than experience. Much more important. Not even a contest."

The result, besides division, was an election victory. For the first time in his life, Trump went for a job outside of the family empire and it turned out to the most powerful office in the world. What more evidence does he need to confirm that style -- or to be more accurate, his style -- works?

When Trump tweets his complaints about how Alec Baldwin portrays him on "Saturday Night Live," he diminishes the dignity of the office he was elected to fill and affirms the idea that he is thin-skinned and emotionally over-reactive. This is precisely the quality called into question by critics who wonder if Trump's temperament is suited to the Oval Office. His response during the campaign -- "My strongest thing is my temperament" -- reflected his belief that the White House doesn't need someone who fits a familiar template of sobriety, care, and maturity. It needs him.

Trump sees his winning ways as proof that he is right, even if side effects included threats by his followers against Jones and his family.

Is Trump affected by the idea that his comments can damage a major American exporter like Boeing or cause Chuck Jones to fear for the safety of his family? It is hard to say that he would be moved by these events.

In love Trump has also practiced a self-interested style that justifies going to extremes. His first marriage ended in a blaze of tabloid scandal. After his second came apart he engaged in another messy and public battle over the terms of the divorce. In his third marriage he has reached a kind of stability where his public image is concerned, but it didn't keep him from engaging in the kind of grotesque banter that any wife would find extremely painful to hear.

When it was made public, the "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump making lewd comments about women shocked people with tender sensibilities but it showed Trump in typical form, playing to his audience and acting on gut instinct.

We should expect to see more of Trump acting on instinct and improvising as he settles into the presidency. He won't likely be caught saying anything as gross as his comments to "Access Hollywood," but other politicians have been caught in so-called "hot mic" moments. If Trump has his own, we should expect him to confidently sell us on the idea that he planned it all along.</s>© Ben Brewer/REUTERS Ballots from the 2016 U.S. presidential election are recounted, following a request by the Green Party, in Madison, Wisc., on Dec. 2, 2016.

Republican Donald Trump's victory in Wisconsin was reaffirmed Monday following a recount that showed him defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 22,000 votes.



Wisconsin finalized its recount on the same day that a federal judge issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania's presidential election and scan some counties' election systems for signs of hacking.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein successfully requested, and paid for, the Wisconsin recount while her attempts for similar statewide recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan were blocked by the courts. Stein only got about 1 percent of the vote in each of the states that Trump narrowly won on his way to the White House. She argued, without evidence, that voting machines in all three states were susceptible to hacking.

The numbers barely budged in Wisconsin after nearly 3 million votes were recounted. Trump picked up a net 162 votes and still won by more than 22,000 votes. The final results changed just 0.06 percent.

In Pennsylvania, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond said there were at least six grounds that required him to reject the Green Party's lawsuit, which had been opposed by Trump, the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.

Suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election "borders on the irrational" while granting the Green Party's recount bid could "ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts" given Tuesday's federal deadline to certify the vote for the Electoral College, wrote Diamond, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, a Republican.

"Most importantly, there is no credible evidence that any 'hack' occurred, and compelling evidence that Pennsylvania's voting system was not in any way compromised," Diamond wrote. He also said the lawsuit suffered from a lack of standing, potentially the lack of federal jurisdiction and an "unexplained, highly prejudicial" wait before filing last week's lawsuit, four weeks after the Nov. 8 election.

The decision was the Green Party's latest roadblock in Pennsylvania after hitting numerous walls in county and state courts. Green Party-backed lawyers argue that it was possible that computer hackers changed the election outcome and that Pennsylvania's heavy use of paperless machines makes it a prime target. Stein also contended that Pennsylvania has erected unconstitutional barriers to voters seeking a recount.

A lawyer for the Green Party said Monday they were disappointed and unable to immediately say whether they would appeal.

"But one thing is clear," said the lawyer, Ilann Maazel. "The Pennsylvania election system is not fair to voters and voters don't know if their votes counted, and that's a very large problem."

In Pennsylvania, Trump beat Clinton in Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes out of 6 million cast.

A federal judge halted Michigan's recount last week after three days. Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes out of nearly 4.8 million votes cast.

___

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.</s>Presidential election recount efforts came to an end Monday in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with both states certifying Republican Donald Trump as the winner in contests that helped put him over the top in the Electoral College stakes.

Trump's victory in Wisconsin was reaffirmed following a statewide vote recount that showed him defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 23,000 votes. Meanwhile, a federal judge issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request for a presidential recount in Pennsylvania that complained the state's reliance on aging electronic voting machines made it highly vulnerable to hacking.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein successfully requested and paid for the Wisconsin recount while her attempts for similar statewide recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan were blocked by the courts.

Stein got only about 1 percent of the vote in each of the three states, which Trump narrowly won over Clinton. Stein argued, without evidence, that voting machines in all three states were susceptible to hacking. All three states were crucial to Trump's victory, having last voted for a Republican for president in the 1980s.

The numbers barely budged in Wisconsin after nearly 3 million votes were recounted. Trump, a billionaire New York real estate mogul, picked up 131 votes and won by 22,748 votes. The final results changed just 0.06 percent.

Trump took to Twitter to celebrate the recount result.

"The final Wisconsin vote is in and guess what - we just picked up an additional 131 votes," he tweeted. "The Dems and Green Party can now rest. Scam!"

Stein said she was disappointed not all Wisconsin counties did hand recounts, although most did. She said the goal of the recount was never to change the outcome but to validate the vote and restore confidence in the system.

"The recount in Wisconsin raised a number of important election integrity issues that bear further assessment and serious action to ensure we have integrity and confidence in our electoral system," she said, without naming what they were.

Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairman Mark Thomsen said before certifying the recount results there was no evidence of a hack.

In Pennsylvania, state officials certified the results of the election in the hours following the decision by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond.

Trump beat Clinton in the state by about 44,000 votes out of 6 million cast, or less than 1 percent, according to the final tally after weeks of counting provisional and overseas ballots. Green Party voters had petitioned some counties to do partial recounts, affecting few votes, county officials said.

Diamond said there were at least six grounds that required him to reject the Green Party's lawsuit, which had been opposed by Trump, the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.

Suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election "borders on the irrational" while granting the Green Party's recount bid could "ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts" given Tuesday's federal deadline to certify the vote for the Electoral College, wrote Diamond, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush.

"Most importantly, there is no credible evidence that any 'hack' occurred, and compelling evidence that Pennsylvania's voting system was not in any way compromised," Diamond wrote.

He said the lawsuit suffered from a lack of standing, potentially the lack of federal jurisdiction and an "unexplained, highly prejudicial" wait before filing last week's lawsuit, four weeks after the Nov. 8 election.

The decision was the Green Party's latest roadblock in Pennsylvania after hitting numerous walls in county and state courts. Green Party-backed lawyers argue it was possible that computer hackers changed the election outcome and that Pennsylvania's heavy use of paperless machines makes it a prime target. Stein also contended Pennsylvania has erected unconstitutional barriers to voters seeking a recount.

A lawyer for the Green Party members said Monday they were disappointed and unable to immediately say whether they would appeal.

"But one thing is clear," said the lawyer, Ilann Maazel. "The Pennsylvania election system is not fair to voters and voters don't know if their votes counted, and that's a very large problem."

A federal judge halted Michigan's recount last week after three days. Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes out of nearly 4.8 million votes cast.</s>NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he has picked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, calling him “among the most accomplished business leaders and international deal makers in the world.”

“Rex Tillerson’s career is the embodiment of the American dream. Through hard work, dedication and smart deal making, Rex rose through the ranks to become CEO of ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest and most respected companies,” the billionaire real estate mogul said in a pre-dawn news release from Trump Tower in New York.

Tillerson “knows how to manage a global enterprise, which is crucial to running a successful State Department,” Trump said. In a tweet, Trump added that Tillerson “has vast experience at dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments.”

In an accompanying statement, Tillerson said he was “honored” by his selection and shares Trump’s “vision for restoring the credibility of the United States’ foreign relations and advancing our country’s national security.”

But Tillerson has close ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, which is certain to draw scrutiny and fuel a potential Senate confirmation fight. Leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties as they contend with intelligence assessments saying Russia interfered with the U.S. presidential election to help Trump.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will hold confirmation hearings in January, called Tillerson “a very impressive individual” with “an extraordinary working knowledge of the world.” Corker, who had been considered for the secretary of state job, said Trump called him Monday to inform him of the pick.

Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, said Tuesday that Tillerson was chosen because he is “a diplomat that happens to be able to drill oil.” Tillerson has “had to maintain relationships across the world in many places that aren’t the easiest places to have relationships,” Priebus said on MSNBC.

“The good Lord didn’t put oil in all freedom-loving democracies across the world and yet Rex Tillerson was able to make this work. Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson, they hit it off and they have a similar vision of how to get things done,” Priebus said.

Trump has made it clear he sees Tillerson’s deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As ExxonMobil’s head, Tillerson maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, an honor for a foreign citizen.

For weeks, Trump has teased out the secretary of state decision process publicly, often exposing rifts in his organization.

Besides Corker, he also considered former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a one-time vocal Trump critic. Romney wrote on Facebook Monday that it “was an honor to have been considered” for the job.

Trump’s unconventional Cabinet vetting procedures are in keeping with his presidential style thus far, unconcerned with tradition or business as usual. In recent weeks, he’s attacked CIA intelligence, spoken to the leader of Taiwan — irritating China — and has continued his late-night Twitter tirades.

Beijing is looking forward to working with the new secretary of state “to push forward greater progress of the bilateral relationship on a new starting point,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Tuesday.
• Russia tried to get Trump elected, CIA assessment concludes
• Former astronaut, U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio dies at 95
• One officer fatally shot in Georgia, other critical; shooter at large

In Washington, a congressional investigation is in the works over a CIA assessment that Russia interfered in the November election on his behalf, a conclusion Trump has called “ridiculous.”

The issue is raising red flags among lawmakers concerned about the sanctity of the U.S. voting system and potentially straining relations at the start of Trump’s administration.

On Twitter Monday, Trump pushed back, saying: “Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!”

Putin, meanwhile, said he was ready to meet with Trump “at any moment.”

In the transcript of his interview with journalists which was released Tuesday in Moscow, Putin said “it’s widely known that the elected president of the United States has publicly called for the normalization of the Russian-American relationship. We cannot but support this.” Putin added that he thought a meeting with Trump would be more likely after Trump’s January inauguration.

“We understand it will not be a simple task considering the extent of degradation of the Russian-American relationship,” he said. “But we are prepared to do our bit.”

If confirmed, Tillerson would face immediate challenges in Syria, where a civil war rages on, and in China, given Trump’s recent suggestions that he could take a more aggressive approach to dealing with Beijing.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to ExxonMobil Corp. as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. Groomed for an executive position, Tillerson came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company’s central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

Early in the company’s efforts to gain access to the Russian market, Tillerson cut a deal with state-owned Rosneft. The neglected post-Soviet company didn’t have a tremendous amount to offer, but Exxon partnered with it “to be on the same side of the table,” Tillerson said, according to “Private Empire,” an investigative history of Exxon by Steve Coll.</s>Presidential election recount efforts came to an end Monday in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with both states certifying Republican Donald Trump as the winner in contests that helped put him over the top in the Electoral College stakes. Trump's victory in Wisconsin was reaffirmed following a statewide vote recount that showed him defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by ...</s>Of his many blood-freezing attributes, Donald Trump’s refusal to receive daily intelligence briefings is one of his most haunting. Here is a man with fewer qualifications than any president in history, his grasp on global affairs more inadequate than the average American teenager, turning away classified information integral to his job because he finds them dull.

"I don't have to be told — you know, I'm, like, a smart person," Trump said. "I don't have to be told the same thing and the same words every single day for the next eight years. It could be eight years — but eight years. I don't need that."

What is Trump doing with his time? Receiving Kanye West at his lair in Trump Tower.

West entered the building with an entourage this morning, though without his wife, Kim Kardashian. He reappeared in the lobby shortly thereafter to pose with Trump for photos. According to Trump, the two have been friends for “a long time,” and that they discussed “life.”

West spent much of November at UCLA medical center under psychiatric evaluation, capping off a series of increasingly erratic performances on his Saint Pablo tour. During a stop in California, he paused his show to rant about Trump: "[Voting for Trump] don't mean that I don't think that black lives matter, that don't mean I don't believe in women's rights, that don't mean that I don't believe in gay marriage.”

West did not, in fact, vote for anyone, but said he would have supported Trump if he had. He’s also mentioned running for president in 2020. Why not!

West appeared just before Trump named Texas Governor Rick Perry the head of the Energy Department, an agency that Perry vowed to abolish during his own 2012 presidential campaign. Trump also cancelled a planned press conference during which he was supposed to discuss how he intends to remove himself from his business entanglements while in office.

As the two parted ways, Trump leaned in and told Kanye to take care of himself, and that he’d see him soon.</s>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell… Yes, that Mitch McConnell … is backing a bipartisan investigation into allegations that the Russian government tampered with American elections and maybe, just maybe, helped Donald Trump win the presidency.

So can we all agree that this is a thing now?

Can we all agree that hacking by a foreign power hostile to American interests isn’t politics or sour grapes from Democrats, no matter what the President-elect claims in a series of fact-free tweets? That it’s actually a grave matter of national security?

Because when you have Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and now McConnell, among other prominent Republicans, saying something smells bad about apparent Russian meddling in American electoral politics, that’s more than mere partisan posturing.

Campaign politics is one thing. Malevolent tampering by a serious geopolitical rival is quite another. And it should transcend mere electoral interests– since it affects us all.

But the push, as Vox.com notes, was given some added oomph by the presence of Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, signaling that the “appetite for Republican pushback extended beyond,” Trump’s critics.

In a worrying sign, however, Trump, who claims he’s so smart that he can skip regular intelligence briefings, has dismissed the CIA findings, setting up a dangerous dynamic between the incoming White House and the nation’s intelligence community.

To be sure, there’s a lot at stake for Trump if the hacking allegations are proven to be true.

The New York billionaire clearly benefited from the Wikileaks document dump that so embarrassed Hillary Clinton during the fall campaign.

Thus, any public acknowledgment of a Russian hacking to his advantage would risk delegitimizing Trump’s claim to power at a time when his enemies are looking for any excuse to pry him loose.

“I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country,” Trump said during a Sunday interview with Fox News, conveniently ignoring Clinton’s 2.6 million popular vote advantage.

And, inevitably, the next Leader of the Free World then took to Twitter on Monday to complain about it.

“Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!” he raged.

“Unless you catch “hackers” in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before election?” he vented.

Except that it was, during the Oct. 19 debate with Clinton — by one Donald J. Trump:

“She has no idea whether it’s Russia, China, or anybody else,” Trump said. “Our country has no idea,” Trump said at the time, even as evidence emerged of Russian ties to the hacking attack on the Democratic National Committee.

Just days earlier, in a joint statement, the Department of Homeland Security and Director of National Intelligence concluded that they believed, “based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”

The latest blow up also raises anew questions about Trump’s coziness with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, as well as the longstanding ties between Russia and Trump’s pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

On Monday, real signs emerged that Tillerson’s nomination could be in for a bumpy ride in the Senate, where there are real concerns that he’d put his former company’s financial interests above the national interest.

“Being a ‘Friend of Vladimir’ is not an attribute I am hoping for from a Secretary of State,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said.

The early pushback from Republicans is an encouraging sign that they won’t take Trump’s bloviating lying down. But it’s not without some element of risk.

“This is a difficult position to be in: Partisans don’t like to investigate their own party’s president,” Michele Swers, a congressional expert at Georgetown University, told Vox.com on Monday. “But now that you’re getting pushback from Republicans beyond McCain and Graham, it looks like Trump has something to worry about.”

Leave it to a Russian, ironically enough, to sum up the state of affairs between Trump and his fellow Republicans.

“All happy families are alike,” Leo Tolstoy famously observed. “Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

And Republicans can’t be thrilled with the way things are going so far.

An award-winning political journalist, Micek is the Opinion Editor and Political Columnist for PennLive/The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. Readers may follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek and email him at jmicek@pennlive.com.</s>Michael D'Antonio, the author of " The Truth About Trump ," is writing Trump Watch , a series of columns on President-elect Donald Trump for CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Watch Donald Trump get ready to take over the world's biggest job and a central question will likely come to mind: Is he carrying out a strategic plan months in the making, or is he largely winging it?

If his 40-year career is a clue, the odds are you are seeing a man who is improvising as he has throughout his long life in the public eye. As a businessman/ entertainer Trump improvised narratives that could close a sale or make a TV show succeed. In the process he often staked out extreme positions as the first step in a negotiation that ended with him getting most of what he wanted. And if he didn't, he was always willing to walk away.

Trump shakes hands with President Barack Obama following a meeting in the Oval Office on November 10. Obama told his successor that he wanted him to succeed and would do everything he could to ensure a smooth transition.

Ryan listens as Trump speaks to the press at the US Capitol on November 10. Trump talked about his eagerness to join forces with Ryan to begin implementing new policies.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews Trump and his family at his New York home on Friday, November 11. It was Trump's first television interview since the election.

Trump waves to a crowd at The New York Times building after meeting with some of the newspaper's reporters, editors and columnists on Tuesday, November 22. Six takeaways from the meeting

Trump, left, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney share a meal in New York on November 29. Trump and his transition team are in the process of filling high-level positions for the new administration, and Romney is reportedly in the running for secretary of state.

Trump visits the Carrier air-conditioning company in Indianapolis on Thursday, December 1. Carrier announced Tuesday, November 29, that it had reached a deal with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is currently governor of Indiana, to keep about 1,000 of 1,400 jobs at its Indianapolis plant rather than move them to Mexico. The Carrier plant had been a theme of Trump's campaign promise to prevent more jobs from being outsourced to other countries.

Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.

Trump speaks to members of the media in the lobby at Trump Tower in New York on December 6.

Trump greets retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, right, at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, December 6. Trump says he will nominate Mattis as his defense secretary.

Trump greets retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, right, at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Tuesday, December 6. Trump says he will nominate Mattis as his defense secretary.

Trump shakes hands with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad at a "USA Thank You" tour event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, December 8. Trump officially re-introduced Branstad as his pick for US ambassador to China.

The elements of Trump's approach are constant -- his ego, his flamboyance, his scorn for those who oppose him, his readiness to strike back at any criticism, no matter how justified or well intended. When challenged in the past, by New York Mayor Ed Koch or the likes of Rosie O'Donnell or Cher, he defined them with insults. He prevailed in the 2016 election with similar name-calling -- Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary -- that defied convention and gave him the reward he sought.

To his credit, Trump's record shows that he can back up his aggressive talk. During his feud with Mayor Koch he declared that he could renovate the ice skating rink in Central Park. The Koch administration's renovation of the famous Wollman Rink had been a disaster, with costs rising and deadlines missed. In addition to criticizing the mayor, Trump boasted that he could do the job for less and ahead of schedule. Koch gave him the job and Trump performed as promised.

As president-elect, Trump has shown he is willing to follow his instincts and continue defying convention by choosing a recently retired general to head the Department of Defense and putting the CEO of ExxonMobil atop his list of candidates for secretary of state. The same is true of his decision to break with decades of US policy and presidential practice by speaking with Taiwan's president.

Staying true to form, Trump trusts his instincts and understands that almost anything can be explained after the fact. Indeed, the explanation can be changed, as it was in the case of the call to Taiwan, to fit whatever story works best after the world reacts.

When he becomes president, Trump will have the world's attention for whatever stories he will tell to support his policies. In the past Trump's improvisations led to a significant number of failures, including several massive bankruptcies, to go with his achievements. In the Oval Office his moves will have far more serious effects on the economy, public safety, and even global security. And the world is such a complex and unmanageable place that Trump will soon discover the limits of his freewheeling style.

Trump dressed in mod suits with shoes dyed to match and brandished a mobile phone at a time when almost no one else had one.

The wealthy playboy act of Trump's youth won him lavish attention in the press, which he used to build his business brand. His first two projects, New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower, were smashing achievements that proved that his base instincts and natural abilities were the truest guides to success. As he told me in 2014, "I consider talent much more important than experience. Much more important. Not even a contest."

The result, besides division, was an election victory. For the first time in his life, Trump went for a job outside of the family empire and it turned out to the most powerful office in the world. What more evidence does he need to confirm that style -- or to be more accurate, his style -- works?

When Trump tweets his complaints about how Alec Baldwin portrays him on "Saturday Night Live," he diminishes the dignity of the office he was elected to fill and affirms the idea that he is thin-skinned and emotionally over-reactive. This is precisely the quality called into question by critics who wonder if Trump's temperament is suited to the Oval Office. His response during the campaign -- "My strongest thing is my temperament" -- reflected his belief that the White House doesn't need someone who fits a familiar template of sobriety, care, and maturity. It needs him.

Trump sees his winning ways as proof that he is right, even if side effects included threats by his followers against Jones and his family.

Is Trump affected by the idea that his comments can damage a major American exporter like Boeing or cause Chuck Jones to fear for the safety of his family? It is hard to say that he would be moved by these events.

In love Trump has also practiced a self-interested style that justifies going to extremes. His first marriage ended in a blaze of tabloid scandal. After his second came apart he engaged in another messy and public battle over the terms of the divorce. In his third marriage he has reached a kind of stability where his public image is concerned, but it didn't keep him from engaging in the kind of grotesque banter that any wife would find extremely painful to hear.

When it was made public, the "Access Hollywood" tape of Trump making lewd comments about women shocked people with tender sensibilities but it showed Trump in typical form, playing to his audience and acting on gut instinct.

We should expect to see more of Trump acting on instinct and improvising as he settles into the presidency. He won't likely be caught saying anything as gross as his comments to "Access Hollywood," but other politicians have been caught in so-called "hot mic" moments. If Trump has his own, we should expect him to confidently sell us on the idea that he planned it all along.</s>Presidential election recount efforts came to an end today in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with both states certifying Republican Donald Trump as the winner in contests that helped put him over the top in the Electoral College stakes.

Trump's victory in Wisconsin was reaffirmed after a statewide vote recount that showed him defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 22,000 votes. Meanwhile, a federal judge issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania's presidential election and scan some counties' election systems for signs of hacking.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein successfully requested and paid for the Wisconsin recount while her attempts for similar statewide recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan were blocked by the courts.

Stein got only about 1 percent of the vote in each of the three states that Trump narrowly won over Clinton. Stein argued, without evidence, that voting machines in all three states were susceptible to hacking. All three states were crucial to Trump's victory, having last voted for a Republican for president in the 1980s.

The numbers barely budged in Wisconsin after nearly 3 million votes were recounted. Trump, a billionaire New York real-estate mogul, picked up 162 votes and still won by more than 22,000 votes. The final results changed just 0.06 percent.

In Pennsylvania, state officials certified the results of the election in the hours following the decision by U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond.

Trump beat Clinton in the state by about 44,000 votes out of 6 million cast, or less than 1 percent, according to the final tally after weeks of counting provisional and overseas ballots. Green Party voters had petitioned some counties to do partial recounts, affecting few votes, county officials said.</s>New York: President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he has picked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, calling him "among the most accomplished business leaders and international deal makers in the world."

"Rex Tillerson's career is the embodiment of the American dream. Through hard work, dedication and smart deal making, Rex rose through the ranks to become CEO of ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest and most respected companies," the billionaire real estate mogul said in a pre-dawn news release from Trump Tower in New York.

Tillerson "knows how to manage a global enterprise, which is crucial to running a successful State Department," Trump said. In a tweet, Trump added that Tillerson "has vast experience at dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments."

In an accompanying statement, Tillerson said he was "honored" by his selection and shares Trump's "vision for restoring the credibility of the United States' foreign relations and advancing our country's national security."

But Tillerson has close ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, which is certain to draw scrutiny and fuel a potential Senate confirmation fight. Leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties as they contend with intelligence assessments saying Russia interfered with the U.S. presidential election to help Trump.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will hold confirmation hearings in January, called Tillerson "a very impressive individual" with "an extraordinary working knowledge of the world." Corker, who had been considered for the secretary of state job, said Trump called him Monday to inform him of the pick.

Reince Priebus, Trump's incoming chief of staff, said on Tuesday that Tillerson was chosen because he is "a diplomat that happens to be able to drill oil." Tillerson has "had to maintain relationships across the world in many places that aren't the easiest places to have relationships," Priebus said on MSNBC.

"The good Lord didn't put oil in all freedom-loving democracies across the world and yet Rex Tillerson was able to make this work. Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson, they hit it off and they have a similar vision of how to get things done," Priebus said.

Trump has made it clear he sees Tillerson's deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As ExxonMobil's head, Tillerson maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, an honor for a foreign citizen.

For weeks, Trump has teased out the secretary of state decision process publicly, often exposing rifts in his organization. Besides Corker, he also considered former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a one-time vocal Trump critic. Romney wrote on Facebook Monday that it "was an honor to have been considered" for the job.

Trump's unconventional Cabinet vetting procedures are in keeping with his presidential style thus far, unconcerned with tradition or business as usual. In recent weeks, he's attacked CIA intelligence, spoken to the leader of Taiwan - irritating China - and has continued his late-night Twitter tirades.

Beijing is looking forward to working with the new secretary of state "to push forward greater progress of the bilateral relationship on a new starting point," China's foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said Tuesday.

In Washington, a congressional investigation is in the works over a CIA assessment that Russia interfered in the November election on his behalf, a conclusion Trump has called "ridiculous."

The issue is raising red flags among lawmakers concerned about the sanctity of the U.S. voting system and potentially straining relations at the start of Trump's administration.

On Twitter Monday, Trump pushed back, saying: "Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!"

Putin, meanwhile, said he was ready to meet with Trump "at any moment."

In the transcript of his interview with journalists which was released Tuesday in Moscow, Putin said "it's widely known that the elected president of the United States has publicly called for the normalization of the Russian-American relationship. We cannot but support this." Putin added that he thought a meeting with Trump would be more likely after Trump's January inauguration.

"We understand it will not be a simple task considering the extent of degradation of the Russian-American relationship," he said. "But we are prepared to do our bit."

If confirmed, Tillerson would face immediate challenges in Syria, where a civil war rages on, and in China, given Trump's recent suggestions that he could take a more aggressive approach to dealing with Beijing.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to ExxonMobil Corp. as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. Groomed for an executive position, Tillerson came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company's central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

Early in the company's efforts to gain access to the Russian market, Tillerson cut a deal with state-owned Rosneft. The neglected post-Soviet company didn't have a tremendous amount to offer, but Exxon partnered with it "to be on the same side of the table," Tillerson said, according to "Private Empire," an investigative history of Exxon by Steve Coll.
The completed recount in Wisconsin verifies Donald Trump as the winner of the state's ten electors.