(CNN) She's just five years old but might just be Donald Trump's biggest diplomatic win in China.

A video of Trump's granddaughter Arabella Kushner reciting Chinese poetry is being shared across the country.

During his bid for the US presidency, Trump had nothing but tough talk for Beijing.

But the little girl's command of Mandarin is being interpreted by some as a hidden sign of Trump's affinity with the country.

"Trump's craziness and unreliability are just being deceptive," said Weibo user @Ananqiumao in one top rated post.

"Look at his children and family, each one is cuter and more adorable than one another. That's the result of family education. Trump is a man of achievement."

"Feel like Trump would be more friendly to China," said user @caiairenweimian.

In the video, Arabella is wearing a red Chinese style ball gown standing on a table. Other traditional Chinese elements -- the Chinese character for happiness, lanterns and Monkey stickers -- are visible in the background.

"Arabella wanted to have a pre-bedtime #ChineseNewYear party this past Sunday evening," Trump's daughter Ivanka wrote in the post earlier this year. "She got all dressed up and performed songs and poems for Jared, Joseph and me."

Ivanka told the South China Morning Post magazine four years ago that her daughter was studying Mandarin from a Chinese nanny. She added that she was also learning the language and she could "pretty much name every animal in the zoo."

Of course, others cautioned against reading too much into the video.

"The little girl's language skill is a result of Ivanka's education, nothing to do with Trump himself," said user @Jason_ZFQ.

"Those who fantasize about Trump's friendliness to China give me a break. Of course, his real attitude to China remains to be seen."</s>President-elect Donald Trump is going after The New York Times again.

In a series of tweets Wednesday, Trump attacked a Times story about firings and infighting that have left his transition team in a "state of disarray" -- reporting backed up by CNN and other major news organizations.

"The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition," Trump tweeted. "It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders."

The Times story also described revelations that American allies were "blindly dialing in to Trump Tower to try to reach the soon-to-be-leader of the free world."

Related: President-elect Trump's Sunday morning tweetstorm at the New York Times

During his Twitter tear, the president-elect said he had taken calls from "many foreign leaders." He also claimed the Times "is just upset that they looked like fools in their coverage of me."

The Times released a statement saying its journalists "are reporting around-the-clock to provide our readers with penetrating and comprehensive coverage of the incoming administration."

"We are incredibly proud of their work and we will never alter our approach to reporting the facts, without fear or favor, as we have always done," the statement read.

Trump's latest feud with the Times follows a Twitter rant Sunday in which he claimed that the newspaper "is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the 'Trump phenomena.'"

Trump did not cite evidence to back up that claim, and the Times shot it down. The newspaper's parent company, in a tweet responding to Trump, said new subscriptions are surging. Stock in the Times' parent company has climbed 9% since Election Day.

Media outlets have expressed widespread concern about the lack of access to Trump. On Tuesday night, he took his family to a New York restaurant for dinner, and the so-called press pool, which is meant to be the public's eyes on the president-elect, was not notified.

CNN's Sara Murray told Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night that this "appears to be yet another misunderstanding of exactly how much gravity his new title as president-elect holds. If something, God forbid, were to happen to him, that's a matter not only of public record but also a matter of national security, given that he is next in line to take the White House."</s>Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like. Close

This election has divided the nation. Some steadfastly refuse to associate with any given supporter of Donald Trump. For these people, support for a particular political candidate says everything.

‘Racism’ has been one of the more popular buzzwords these past few months. There’s no shortage of people who hold the thought that he and his supporters are universally racist.

Surely, if Trump’s supporters are willing to support a candidate they perceive as racist, then his supporters must be the same way. Media outlets spent the entire election cycle promulgating the notion that Trump is racist. As a result, it becomes easy — almost habitual — to associate his supporters with these same characteristics.

However, this election was not an indication of the country suddenly becoming rife with evil and racism. The belief that Trump was elected because his supporters are racist is statistically unfounded. Nate Cohn, a writer for the New York Times, wrote that “Clinton suffered her biggest losses in the places where Obama was strongest among white voters. It’s not a simple racism story.” Trump won by flipping historically blue states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. All these states voted for Obama twice.

Trump’s voters did not succumb to the people who denigrated them. If one had a different opinion — or if one was a Trump supporter — he or she was racist, evil and deplorable. Not surprisingly, ad hominem insults did not persuade voters to abandon their candidate.

As Bernie Sanders said days before the election, “I do not believe that most of the people who are thinking about voting for Mr. Trump are racist or sexist. Some are, but I think most are people who are hurting, they’re worried about their kids, they’re working longer hours for lower wages.”

 Come January, President Trump will become a reality. President Obama, after his first meeting with Trump, told reporters “I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together, to deal with the many challenges that we face.”

By shunning and disparaging Trump’s supporters — 60 million Americans — without knowing anything else about the individual, people are disregarding our current president’s plea for unity. Once Americans can realize they aren’t enemies, the future will be bright.</s>When Donald Trump won the presidential election, many Hillary Clinton supporters expressed concerns — some more peacefully than others — about how he will handle the presidency after his “harsh” campaign, as it has been referred to.

It appears that the businessman-turned-politician is taking his upcoming role as president seriously, placing an emphasis on his willingness to be cooperative and understanding.

Throughout his campaign, Trump made mention of his plans to completely reverse Obamacare if he was elected into the seat at the Resolute desk. Not only that, but it was made to seem as if he and President Obama do not see eye to eye on, well… anything.

When the two met for the very first time inside the White House last Thursday, America was on the edge of its seat waiting to see how the meeting went.

Surprise, America! It went considerably well. Both Trump and President Obama handled the meeting with class.

In fact, when the two discussed Obamacare, a compromising Trump agreed to consider preserving two key provisions of the healthcare policy — the part that bans insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions and the part that allows young Americans to remain on their parents’ healthcare plans until age 26.

It adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try to keep, said Trump to the Wall Street Journal, in reference to considering Obama’s advice.

It appears that Trump and President Obama, in the midst of violent uproar over the election outcome, are trying to set an example of civility and respect for Americans.

In a recent news conference, President Obama encouraged Americans to give Trump a chance, while also urging the president-elect to reach out to minorities who are concerned about his upcoming presidency.

Trump is doing just that, it seems.

"I want a country that loves each other," he said to the Wall Street Journal.

During their meeting in the Oval Office, President Obama said to Trump, “I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are gonna want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed then the country succeeds.”

If President Obama, one of Trump’s biggest political rivals, can shake his hand and offer him words of encouragement as the next leader of our country, then why can’t we all shake hands despite differing political views?

Protesters and rioters see Trump as a hateful man who wants to destroy them and rip away their rights. I, however, see a man who is honored to have been elected into such a position of responsibility and who wants to serve as everyone’s president — regardless of race, sexual orientation, religion or gender.

Maybe he isn’t a career politician, but don’t be so sure that it makes him unqualified for the job. He’s passionate about this country’s well being, and that’s important. He put himself through a treacherous campaign and then decided to deny a presidential salary and lead America for just $1 per year.

Yes, he has said some things that have offended some Americans, but he is a human being. I dare say that we all have said things that we regret.

Of the many descriptions for Trump throughout the presidential campaign and after the election, only one matters — president-elect.

Can we give him, and democracy, another chance?</s>(CNN) Donald Trump's turbulent transition already suggests that the instinctive off-the-cuff leadership style that powered his outsider campaign is a prototype of the impromptu approach he will adopt from inside the Oval Office.

He hires people, he fires people, he sets them against one another, he says things and takes them back, with the chaos often unfolding in real time on cable TV. It happened in the campaign and there's no reason to think his presidency won't be the same.

Trump has only been President-elect for a week. But he's already dismembered the team that under Chris Christie spent months preparing the transition and put his future vice president Mike Pence in charge. He's set up future competing power centers in his White House, including son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner, who is at the center of the effort against Christie, sources say. And though he's been restrained on social media, Trump has still fired off contradictory tweets on protests against him and the Electoral College.

It's clear the President-elect is just getting started.

Trump is the only person elected to the top job without political, diplomatic or military executive experience. And he ran a campaign rooted in breaking the mold of the gridlocked capital city. So no surprise that Trump is already approaching his presidency in an unorthodox manner.

"He comes from from a different school of thought than we are used to here in Washington. People here, they want everything choreographed. They are by nature risk averse. He is going to be very different from that perspective," said Howard Schweitzer, managing partner of Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies, who had high level posts in the Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations.

"He is not going to be afraid, nor should he be, to throw some spaghetti against the wall and see if it sticks. He is not afraid to have people with differing views on his team and play around with some things and throw people overboard if merited," Schweitzer added.

While Trump's transition appears chaotic from the outside, the President-elect Tuesday night tweeted that things are "organized" and proceeding apace.

"Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!"

But Peter Emerson, a Democratic communications consultant who took part in the Jimmy Carter and Obama White House transitions, said if Trump Tower wanted to make things run more smoothly, it could.

"If the Trump people wanted it to be the no drama Obama transition then Trump would make it happen -- but they don't," he said.

Wannabe White House advisers and would-be cabinet members are streaming in and out of Trump Tower in New York.

Tuesday's day of meetings was for going over cabinet names and plans for various departments, a source tells CNN.

"This was a 'dig in with a CEO who knows how to get things done day,'" said the source, who called it "very productive."

Pence, meanwhile, is scheduled to visit the Trump transition offices in Washington Wednesday morning.

But leaks regarding potential administration appointments proliferate by the hour, about Trump loyalists who are angling for jobs and others apparently trying to elbow their way into his administration.

Rumors are flying about already bitter internecine warfare already raging between various parts of Trump world, the role of the billionaire's children and sources inside the operation are using phrases like "knife-fight" and "buffoonery" to describe the spectacle.

One establishment figure, former Rep. Mike Rogers, seen as a rare safe of hands in Trump's orbit and a possible CIA chief has quit -- apparently a casualty of too close ties to now out-of-favor Christie.

There are also signs of disarray in the Trump foreign policy shop, such as it is.

"After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming "you LOST!" Will be ugly," said Eliot Cohen, a former George W. Bush foreign policy official in a tweet Tuesday.

Trump has only made two appointments so far: Reince Priebus will serve as White House Chief of Staff and far more controversially, Stephen Bannon, who has close ties to the white nationalist alt-right movement, will be a counselor and senior adviser to Trump.

Anyone who thinks that the wails of protest among political elites at Bannon's suitability to grace the White House would sway Trump were not watching his populist, convention-busting campaign closely.

The contrast between the buttoned up, intricately choreographed transition minuets by the future Bush and Barack Obama administrations could not be more pronounced.

From Washington, it all looks chaotic, disorganized and made up on the fly and utterly at odds with the conventional wisdom about how best to prepare a presidency.

"They are choosing to not have Trump lay down the law," Emerson said, arguing Trump was the first reality show president of the Kardashian era.

"In previous transitions its been top-heavy -- that is to say either the president or his designated adviser have said no leakage to the press we are going to do everything internally," he added.

What's it mean for Trump's Oval Office?

The question that will arise as the transition moves ahead over the coming weeks is if Trump's instinctive, gut level, improvisational management style is suited not just to the job of building an administration but to the presidency itself. On the one hand, the business of policymaking, enacting an agenda and maintaining alliances with friends abroad requires a high level of planning and execution for which Trump seems ill prepared.

After all, in running his family business, Trump has had to answer to no one but himself, and has the freedom to do what he wants when he wants, something the President, with all the constraints on his power, rarely has the option to do.

"For sure he is going to have to adapt to Washington but Washington is going to have to adapt to him," said Schweitzer.

"The sacred cows that people here hold so dearly are not going to be as sacred to him," Schweitzer said, though added "I do think he will have to adapt. He is going to find out that the reality of governing is very different from the reality of even being in government or not having any power. "

Some Republicans are watching the media coverage of the last few days, and predictions of strife to come between Priebus and Bannon especially, a sensing a bit of a double standard.

"This whole conversation is something that speaks to Trump supporters and Republicans who think they can't get a fair shake," said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee communications director on CNN Tuesday.

"In 2008, at this point, when there were internal divisions, in the Obama transition, we were told it was a team of rivals and something to be applauded," Heye said. "And now we are being told this is a Game of Thrones knife fight."</s>Special to TPN - Boy Scouts of America president Randall Stephenson announced that President-elect Donald Trump will become an honorary scoutmaster at the organization's National Jamboree to be held in July 2017. "Mr. Trump exemplifies all those characteristics we hold dear in scouting," said Stephenson. "These include being courteous and kind, among others. Without these qualities, his Republican comrades never would have flocked to him in his hour of need."

Stephenson also said that in recognition of the President-elect's expertise in two fields of endeavor that all scouts aspire to, Gambling and Misogyny will be added to the long list of merit badges scouts can earn. "Both badges need little in the way of equipment, and we urge all dads to take their sons to a Trump casino to sharpen their skills. By contrast, Misogyny can be practiced at home on their mothers and sisters. Dad can help here as well."

To accommodate Trump while at the jamboree, a huge Winnebago motorhome is being outfitted with a hair salon and mirrored paneling. It will be designated RV-1, which will be embossed on the sides in gold lettering. Trump is also being fitted for a scoutmaster uniform with five gold stars stitched onto both shoulder epaulettes. His official title will Master of the Masturbators.

In other news, Bernie Sanders was rumored to have joined an ISIS cell in New Hampshire.</s>Earlier in the day, a close aide of Mr. Trump from South Carolina said that Ms. Haley was being considered for a Cabinet position, including that of the Secretary of State.

Indian-American Nikki Haley will meet U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, the presidential transition team has said amid reports that the two-term Governor of South Carolina is being considered for a Cabinet position, particularly for the high-profile post of Secretary of State.

In a conference call with reporters last night, the transition team’s spokesman Sean Spicer listed 44-year-old Haley as one of the candidates Mr. Trump would be meeting on Thursday.

Among others the 70-year-old Trump would be meeting include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Gen (rtd) Jack Keane, Admiral Mike Rogers and Ken Blackwell.

While some of these meetings are about potential cabinet members, others are about sharing ideas and advice.

Earlier in the day, a close aide of Mr. Trump from South Carolina said that Ms. Haley was being considered for a Cabinet position, including that of the Secretary of State.

“It would be like how Mr Trump is bringing fresh eyes to running our government,” South Carolina Lt Governor Henry McMaster told The Post and Courier. The daily did not provide any other details.

Mr. McMaster was one of the earliest ones to have endorsed Trump during the primaries and has been praised by the President-elect several times in the past.

Ms. Haley had endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio during the primaries and was also critical of Mr. Trump in her Republican response to the State of the Union Address by US President Barack Obama in January.

However, before the general elections, Ms. Haley came out in support of Mr. Trump, saying that she would be voting for the billionaire tycoon from New York.

The Trump transition team has so far not given any indication of who all will be filling various Cabinet positions. The President-elect himself has tweeted that only he knows the final list.

Mr. McMaster, who started speaking with the Trump team soon after their historic victory told the local South Carolina daily that the first women governor of the State, who is also the first Indian-American woman governor, is being considered for various Cabinet position, including the State of State.

Neither the office of the South Carolina Governor nor the Trump transition team have responded to this report so far.

While the news was welcomed in South Carolina, a political analyst appeared to be skeptical of such a proposal.

“Secretary of state is going to be a bit of a stretch for Haley’s area of expertise. Haley has yet to be vetted about foreign policy, trade and protectionism,” said College of Charleston political scientist Kendra Stewart.

Ms. Haley is the second Indian-American name being floated for a Cabinet position in the Trump Administration. Former Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal is also appearing in many short lists of potential Cabinet names.</s>Sir, – I don’t get how someone with generally conservative views, like the ones expressed in Meghan Kelly’s article on Saturday, could be so happy about Donald Trump (“Why Donald Trump’s victory makes America great”, Opinion & Analysis, November 12th).

I don’t get how she can be happy with a democratic system that for the second time in 16 years has awarded the presidency to the loser of the popular vote. I don’t get why anyone with an issue with the liberal elite of America would conclude that a member of the conservative elite is somehow any better. I don’t get what the appeal is of a candidate who might not even continue with the policies that got him elected. And finally I don’t get how someone can simultaneously be pleased with the defeat of the establishment and also be pleased with the potential appointment of establishment Republicans from Mike Pence to Sarah Palin to Mr Trump’s cabinet.

Meghan Kelly’s article only served to leave more questions unanswered about Mr Trump’s supporters that I may never understand. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – Several people have argued in these pages for an end to the US electoral college, to be replaced by a national popular vote. One reason given is that, if this change had been enacted, Donald Trump (and George W Bush) would not have been elected. This is not necessarily the case. Due to the nature of the US electoral college, campaign strategies are not national in scope. The vast majority of campaign expenditures occur in swing states; very little money is spent in California (reliably Democrat), while millions are spent in Florida (a toss-up). If the vote were national, this would change. To whose benefit I cannot say, as arguments could be made either way, but I can say assuming a national popular vote would have led to a Clinton victory is inaccurate. We just don’t know. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – The profoundly funereal tone of The Irish Times’s coverage since Donald Trump’s election prompts me to wonder if I missed the little notice ending in “Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2. House private. No flowers please. Donations instead to Democratic National Committee, Washington DC, USA. American newspapers please copy”. – Yours, etc,

A chara, – I wish to add my name to the names of the millions of people all over the world who are filled with horror and terror at the election of Donald Trump as president of the US. I am filled with foreboding at the thought that our leaders in Ireland will invite Mr Trump and his entourage to visit Ireland. Not in my name. – Is mise,

Sir, – Against the odds, Barack Obama was elected to the White House. He will leave office with his country and the wider world in better shape than he found them. Against the odds, it is the turn of Donald Trump to take up the baton. Will he carry it as high as his predecessor does to the finish line? – Yours, etc,

Sir, – We are now told that we should keep an open mind and that Donald Trump is an unknown quantity and has made so many conflicting and unrealistic statements that we have no idea how he is going to govern. We should ask ourselves a number of questions before accepting this narrative.

Does Donald Trump draw a distinction between the rule of law and extra-legal violence in the pursuit of his ends? Should we conclude from his campaign that he will act as the president of all Americans or that he will resort to dealing with social and political difficulties on the basis of scapegoating and brute force? Has he given any sign, ever, that he will exercise restraint with the immense military and surveillance apparatus that the next president will have at his disposal? Is he likely to regard the office of the presidency as a privilege conferred upon him by the people and himself as a public servant, or as confirmation of his own immense self-regard? Will he listen to those who speak of constitutional limits to executive power (themselves greatly eroded) or to the intellectuals and ideologues in his circle who are anti-democratic as a point of political philosophy? Has he ever given any indication that he will willingly relinquish power when the time comes or has he given indications of the opposite?

Has he not repeatedly told and shown us how he intends to govern?

Donald Trump is not yet the president-elect of the United States. The electoral college will elect the 45th president of the United States on December 19th. The changing of the result of this election by faithless electors would be neither contrary to federal law nor, given that the popular vote went to Hillary Clinton, undemocratic. – Yours, etc,

Sir, – Is Conor McGregor Ireland’s version of Donald Trump, and if so what are his chances of his becoming our next president? – Yours, etc,</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the first world leaders to congratulate Donald Trump when he was elected the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8.

In the congratulatory message, posted by the Kremlin, Putin espoused the hope that the two leaders could “lift Russian-U.S. relations out of the current crisis, resolve issues on the international agenda, [and] look for effective responses to global security challenges.” The missive went on to highlight hopes for “a constructive dialogue based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, and genuine consideration for each other’s positions.”

Russian politicians were barely able to hide their glee at the news of Trump’s victory over the Democratic nominee. The Russian parliament burst into applause when Trump’s victory was announced. Sergey Zheleznyak, a member of Putin’s party United Russia, said in a statement, “people supported [Trump’s] intention to address the serious problems that have accumulated in America, and to move from confrontation to cooperation with Russia and the world.” Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the Liberal Democratic Party, said merrily, “We will make up Mr. Trump a telegram of congratulations: Dear Donald, we congratulate you on a well-deserved victory. Grandmother Hillary can take some rest now.”

Russian-U.S. relations have been in a downward spiral since the spectacular failure of the “reset.” The reset was symbolically launched in 2009 with the gifting of a big red button (meant to read “reset” it actually translated to “overload”) by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The reset policy was meant to repair ties damaged by Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, and introduce nuance to the relationship. The Obama administration hoped it could work with Russian in some areas, while acknowledging disagreement in others.

A 2010 U.S.-Russia “Reset” Fact Sheet noted, “President Obama sought to reset relations with Russia and reverse what he called a ‘dangerous drift’ in this important bilateral relationship” by engaging Moscow “to pursue foreign policy goals of common interest — win-win outcomes — for the American and Russian people. “

The reset policy was deeply criticized by the Republican establishment at the time. In late 2011, as U.S. President Barack Obama and Putin both headed for re-election, Republican Sen. John McCain asked in a speech on the Senate floor, “What has been the result of the administration’s good-faith desire for a so-called reset of relations with Russia?” “The answer, I’m afraid, is preciously little,” he answered.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee famously said during that year’s presidential debates that Russia “is without question our number one geopolitical foe.”

Fast forward — through Putin’s re-election, the crisis in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, Western sanctions on Russia, and the devastating crash in oil prices — to arrive at a U.S. presidential campaign that broke countless precedents and stretched the bounds of traditional analysis (not to mention polling).

Russia was among the campaign’s many issues, but not in the way it was in 2012. In 2012, the accusation (from the Republican side) was that the Democrats were being too lenient with Russia. In 2016, the core Russian issue was not Ukraine or Syria, but the accusation (from the U.S. intelligence community) that the Russian government had stolen and leaked thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee and others associated with the Clinton campaign with the clear aim to “interfere with the U.S. election process.”

Russia is happy to see Trump elected president because he represents an opportunity to, dare I say it, reset relations. “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect,” Trump said in December 2015.

Trump was criticized by Democrats for lauding Putin, calling him a “bright” person and “strong leader.” At the same time, Trump always struck a tone that resonated in Moscow while avoiding discordant notes. Absent from Trump’s vocabulary is the language of human rights — something Moscow is quite pleased about. The perception in Moscow has long been that Western advocacy of human rights and political freedoms were little more than “color revolutions” in disguise.

Improved relations between the U.S. and Russia would be a boon for some and a disaster for others. In Syria, for example, the U.S. and Russian positions have been divergent when it came to the legitimacy of the Assad regime. Trump, who has said he has a secret plan to defeat the Islamic State group, toes the Kremlin line in depicting the conflict as a choice between fighting IS or fighting Bashar Assad. Other winners may be Russian businessmen and their American partners, as there is an expectation that Trump will work to ease sanctions.

The losers are harder to define because they are the people who will fall between the cracks when big states decide to turn a blind eye to the domestic sins of their foreign partners. Certainly the besieged people of Syria and those in eastern Ukraine stand to lose with the apparent abdication by Trump of long-standing American ideals which, even imperfectly applied, were global in scope.

While many admire Trump’s “pragmatism” and have raged against American interventions, the consequences of Washington receding to the sidelines and conducting international relations like cold business transactions could be devastating around the world as leaders see success in abandoning the language of hope and progress.

Catherine Putz, special projects editor for The Diplomat, writes on politics, security and culture in former Soviet spaces, particularly where they link to greater Asia. © 2016, The Diplomat; distributed by Tribune Content Agency</s>Congratulating Trump, Jewish groups call on president-elect to unite the country

(JTA) — Donald Trump’s first priority must be to “address the wounds of an extraordinarily divisive contest,” the American Jewish Committee said in a congratulatory statement — one of several Jewish groups that called on the president-elect to serve as a uniting force.

“American democracy has spoken after a long and bitterly fought campaign,” David Harris, the group’s CEO, said in a statement released Wednesday morning following Trump’s upset of Hillary Clinton. “We wish President-elect Trump well as he prepares to assume the highest position in the land and the most powerful political position on the planet. And we also extend our best wishes to Secretary Hillary Clinton for her many years of distinguished public service to our nation, the strong campaign she ran, and, I would add, her friendship to AJC.”

The AJC said Trump must defend America’s diversity “against any further attempts to demonize or stigmatize on the basis of ethnicity, race, gender or faith,” and called for the United States to “assert strong global leadership, which only our country is capable of.”

The Anti-Defamation League congratulated Trump in a statement emphasizing the importance of acceptance and tolerance.

“We welcome Mr. Trump’s pledge that he will be president for all Americans, and that he will seek the common ground and reconciliation that has been the hallmark of American elections and the transitions that follow,” said the group’s national chair, Marvin Nathan, and CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, in a statement released early afternoon Wednesday.

“Democracy is more than simply what occurs at the ballot box or during a particular election. Democracy encompasses the full collection of our laws, our norms and institutions that enshrine and protect our freedoms. That work begins today to reinvigorate the idealism of e Pluribus Unum and to ensure that America remains a land of economic opportunity and personal freedom for all people regardless of their gender, race, class, faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation or political preference.”

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sent a similar message, congratulating Trump and calling on him to respect the American democratic tradition.

“The strength of our great nation is in the enduring dedication of the American people to our pluralistic democracy and institutions,” the group’s leaders said in a statement Wednesday. “The Conference stands ready to contribute to the hard work of healing the divides in our country which were revealed at times in stark terms during the campaign.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee quoted from Trump’s speech at the pro-Israel lobbying group’s annual conference in May in a statement congratulating the newly elected president. At the conference, Trump had “made clear his commitment on issues critical to the U.S.-Israel relationship,” the group said in its statement released early afternoon Wednesday.

AIPAC also praised the newly formed House of Representatives and Senate — both of which will be under Republican control — as “the most pro-Israel Congress ever.”

The Jewish Federations of North America congratulated Trump on his victory.

“We very much look forward to working closely with you and your administration on uniting our country and on the important challenges ahead of us all,” the organization wrote in a letter to Trump. JFNA added: “[W]e particularly appreciate your message of conciliation, and your pledge to reach out to all Americans to bring this country together.”

The Orthodox Union in a statement said it looked forward “to working with President Trump and his Administration on issues of critical importance to our community, including strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship, expanding educational opportunity and choice for all American children, defending America’s ‘first freedom’ of religious liberty and more,” the statement said.

Separately, Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha Council settlement body and mayor of the Efrat settlement, also congratulated Trump and invited him to the West Bank.

“I invite him to become the first active U.S. President to visit our flourishing communities and witness how our presence in Judea and Samaria is key to ensure a peaceful future for millions of Palestinians and Israelis,” Revivi said in a statement.

Last month, Revivi hosted several dozen Palestinians and Jewish Israelis for a peace event held in his sukkah during the harvest holiday. Four of the Palestinian men who participated in the event were arrested and held for several days by Palestinian Authority security forces.

(JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League decried Donald Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top White House adviser, saying Bannon’s association with “unabashed antisemites and racists” is disqualifying.

Bannon, longtime CEO of the right-wing Breitbart news website, a clearinghouse of “alt-right” views, joined Trump’s presidential bid late in the campaign and helped lead it to victory.

The ADL in its statement, first praised the president-elect for his other hire announced Sunday, Reince Priebus, currently the chairman of the Republican National Committee, as chief of staff.

“At the same time, the ADL strongly opposes the appointment of Steve Bannon as senior adviser and chief strategist in the White House,” the statement, posted on Twitter by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, said. “It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ – a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed antisemites and racists – is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house’.”

Breitbart employs Jews and covers Israel sympathetically, but also has become the nexus of the “alt-right” movement, which includes in it homophobes, misogynists, white supremacists and antisemites. In one recent instance, a writer mocked a critic of Polish populism because she is Jewish.

Bannon’s ex-wife in 2007, in sworn affidavits, said he was resisting sending their daughters to a private school because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.” Bannon denied it.

Before the appointment was made official, Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker who is expected to play a senior role in a Trump administration, dismissed claims that Bannon was an antisemite. Dismissing concerns about Bannon and the “alt-right” as coming from “nut cakes”, Gingrich, who is close to the right wing pro-Israel community, told CBS on Sunday morning that Bannon could not be an antisemite because he had worked on Wall Street and in Hollywood.

Liberal Jewish groups joined in the criticism of the Bannon appointment.

“Those of us who were alarmed by Trump’s campaign when it began over a year ago are starting to see the things we feared come to pass, and this is one of them – the elevation of an avowed bigot to a position of incredible official power,” said Stosh Cotler, the CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, a political action committee that had opposed Trump.

The National Jewish Democratic Committee said in a statement that the hire showed that Trump was not serious about Jewish sensibilities, despite his oft-repeated defense that his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish.

“No amount of Jewish family members or potential White House Shabbat dinners will overshadow the fact that Trump has hired a man like Bannon as one of his most senior staffers,” the NJDC said. “We won’t forget.”

Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that is part of the boycott Israel movement, likened Trump to the Israeli government. “From our work on Israel, we are familiar with the deepening violence, hatred and repression that comes from a far right government,” it said. “We cannot sit by and watch that take place here–this is not a time for business as usual.”

WASHINGTON—Although it will be some time before President-elect Donald Trump names the members of his cabinet, the five individuals most often mentioned as contenders for the administration’s top foreign policy post all have strong pro-Israel records.

AMBASSADOR JOHN BOLTON — Asked on the “Hugh Hewitt Show” radio program in August whom he might consider for the position, Trump replied that Bolton “is a good man” and that he was “seriously thinking” about him. Politico reported this week that Bolton remains in contention for secretary of state.

Bolton, 67, served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005-2006 in the George W. Bush administration. Bolton strongly criticized the Obama administration last month for changing a White House press release that had referred to Jerusalem as being in Israel. He said Obama’s stance on Jerusalem is “a more radical position than the official position of the United States.”

“Obama’s got three more months to insult Netanyahu and demean the state of Israel—this is just another example of it,” said Bolton, who has also been a vocal opponent of the Obama administration-brokered Iran nuclear deal.

Bolton played a key role in the successful U.S. effort in 1991 to revoke the U.N.’s “Zionism is racism” resolution while assistant secretary for international organization affairs in the George H.W. Bush administration. He is currently a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank and a commentator on Fox News. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, D.C.

NEWT GINGRICH — NBC News and other sources have mentioned Newt Gingrich as a leading possibility for secretary of state. Gingrich, 73, an 11-term Republican congressman from Georgia, served as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995-1999.

Gingrich long has been known as a strong supporter of Israel and a critic of the Palestinian Authority (PA). In one 1997 speech from the floor of the House, he said the PA’s execution of Arabs suspected of selling land to Jews “is the kind of action we identify with Nazis…Mr. [Yasser] Arafat, you owe it to the world to stop this kind of killing, to protect people engaged in decent commerce.”

In a 2011 interview on The Jewish Channel, Gingrich chided the PA for “stonewalling the peace process” and refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. He also said he admires Netanyahu both because “he’s a guy who really puts Israel’s security first” and because “he’s a very free market guy who helped create the entrepreneurial boom that has made Israel so successful.”

SENATOR BOB CORKER — According to The Hill, another candidate for secretary of state is Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker, 64, charged that the Obama administration “got fleeced” on the Iran deal. He was the author of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which was intended to give Congress a larger say in the Obama administration’s negotiations with Iran.

Corker criticized Obama for giving up on “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, and for effectively agreeing “to move from having [Iran’s] nuclear program dismantled to having its nuclear proliferation managed.” He also urged Obama to reach “a clear agreement with Israel over when and how to respond to Israel’s nuclear program,” since “while our capabilities give us more time, Israel has fewer capabilities and sees their window closing far more quickly.”

Corker’s voting record on Arab-Israeli issues has earned him a rating of zero from James Zogby’s Arab American Institute. Zogby, who co-chaired the resolutions committee of this year’s Democratic Party convention, is a harsh critic of Israel and American Jewish organizations.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS — According to CNN, Senator Jeff Sessions, 69, a four-term senator from Alabama, is also on the short list for secretary of state.

The Mobile Area Jewish Federation last year presented Sen. Sessions with its first “Yedid L’Yisrael” [friend of Israel] award, a sculpture fashioned from a Hamas rocket that had been fired at Israel. The federation praised his consistently pro-Israel voting record and his advocacy of “the principle that it is in the national interest of the U.S. to ally itself with Israel.” Like Sen. Corker, Sessions has earned a zero rating from the Arab-American Institute.

RUDY GIULIANI — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 72, was an early and vocal backer of Trump’s presidential campaign. He served as mayor of New York from 1993-2001, and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

An outspoken supporter of Israel, Giuliani is remembered in the Jewish community for expelling Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Yasser Arafat from a United Nations concert at Lincoln Center in 1995. Giuliani said he took that step because Arafat was responsible for the murders of “dozens of American citizens abroad,” such as Leon Klinghoffer — the elderly, wheelchair-bound New Yorker who was murdered and thrown overboard by the Palestinian hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985.

Trump: Israelis and Palestinians must negotiate peace themselves

(JTA) — In his first long statement about Israel since winning the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump called the Jewish state a “beacon of hope” and vowed to help it make peace with the Palestinians without imposing solutions.

Trump made the statement to Israel Hayom, an Israeli daily owned by Sheldon Adelson, a Jewish casino tycoon who donated significant funds to the Republican candidate’s campaign. The newspaper published the interview with Trump on Friday, Nov. 11.

“Israel and America share so many of the same values, such as freedom of speech, freedom of worship and the importance of creating opportunities for all citizens to pursue their dreams,” Trump was quoted as saying. “Israel is the one true democracy and defender of human rights in the Middle East and a beacon of hope to countless people.”

Trump added that he hoped his administration would play a “significant role in helping the parties to achieve a just, lasting peace,” saying that any deal would have to be directly negotiated between the two sides. Peace, he added, “must be negotiated between the parties themselves and not imposed on them by others. Israel and the Jewish people deserve no less.”

France is currently pushing for an international conference to discuss peace in the Middle East, but Israel says any talks should be bilateral ones between the two sides.

Israel’s education minister, Naftali Bennett, who heads the Jewish Home party, said Wednesday, Nov. 9 that the U.S. election result meant the idea of a Palestinian state was over. He was one of several right-wing politicians in Israel to hail Trump as a turning point from the policies advanced by President Obama.

Trump has been widely perceived as favoring a more impartial American attitude to the conflict than that of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Trump advisers offer conflicting predictions on U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem

(JTA) — Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump issued conflicting statements on whether he will keep his campaign pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Walid Phares, a senior foreign policy adviser to Trump, said Thursday, Nov. 10 during an interview with the BBC, “Many presidents of the United States have committed to do it, and he said as well he would do that, but he would do it in consensus.” The Palestinians oppose the plan, as do many of their supporters.

But one of Trump’s advisers on Israel and the Middle East, David Friedman, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, Nov. 9 that Trump would follow through on his promise. “It was a campaign promise and there is every intention to keep it,” Friedman said. “We are going to see a very different relationship between America and Israel in a positive way.”

In September, the Trump campaign also offered no caveats in a statement that was widely interpreted as a pledge to move the embassy. “Mr. Trump acknowledged that Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish People for over 3,000 years and that the United States, under a Trump administration, will finally accept the long-standing Congressional mandate to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the State of Israel,” read the statement, which was perceived by supporters and opponents of the move as a commitment to relocate the embassy.

In January, Trump said: “I am for that 100 percent. We are for that 100 percent,” in speaking about the proposed move. Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, but allowed the president a waiver. Each president since then has routinely exercised the waiver, citing the national security interests of the United States.

Asked about the deal with Iran, which outgoing President Barack Obama said would roll back that country’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for some relief in sanctions, Phares said that Trump would not “tear it up.”

“He will take the agreement, review it, send it to Congress, demand from the Iranians to restore a few issues or change a few issues, and there will be a discussion,” Phares said. “It could be a tense discussion but the agreement as is right now — $750 billion to the Iranian regime without receiving much in return and increasing intervention in four countries — that is not going to be accepted by the Trump administration.”

Trump invites Netanyahu to meet in US at ‘first opportunity’

(JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to meet with him in the United States “at the first opportunity.” A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office described a Wednesday phone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu as “warm and heartfelt.”

During the call, Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his victory and said that both he and his wife, Sara, were looking forward to meeting the president-elect and his wife, Melania. Earlier Wednesday, Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his presidential victory, calling him a “true friend of the State of Israel.” Netanyahu said in a statement, “I am confident that President-elect Trump and I will continue to strengthen the unique alliance between our two countries and bring it to ever greater heights.”

(JTA) — Seventy percent of Jewish voters favored Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, with 25 percent opting for Donald Trump, according to a poll. The national survey, which was commissioned by J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, again showed a community that trends more Democratic than the general population. “American Jews remain a bedrock Democratic constituency, with overwhelming disdain for Donald Trump,” J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami said in a conference call with reporters.

Jim Gerstein, the pollster, said Jews continued to remain unstinting in their support of the party. “They voted for Clinton more than Hispanics did, more than any other religious group, including no religion,” Gerstein said.

Trump’s percentage was less than the 30 percent garnered in 2012 by Mitt Romney in his loss to President Obama, but commensurate with the 24 percent won by President George W. Bush in 2004.

The economy led Jewish voters’ concerns in the poll, with 35 percent of respondents listing it as their first or second priority. Tied for second at 27 percent were health care and terrorism. Israel scored ninth, at nine percent.

Those figures are typical when both candidates in an election are seen as basically supportive of Israel.

The J Street poll’s results also comported with national exit polls carried out by a consortium of major media outlets showing Jews favoring Clinton over Trump 71-24 percent. J Street’s poll was conducted by Gerstein Bocian Agne on Election Day and reached 731 self-identified Jews whom the pollster invited from among three million Americans who belong to a web-based panel. It has a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.
Ben Carson, former GOP presidential candidate, current advisor to President-elect Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon, has decided to not accept a Cabinet position in the Trump administration.