US President Barack Obama on Monday said that President-elect Donald Trump is in for a wake-up call when he takes his seat in the White House on January 20. Obama also added that Trump will have to adjust his temperament when he is faced with the realities of his new job.
Republican Donald Trump gained an unprecedented victory in the US elections last week defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump was very outspoken and made a lot of controversial remarks during his election campaign trail.
Addressing a press conference in the White House, Obama said that Trump cannot be as outspoken as he was during his campaign while dealing with his responsibilities as the president.
The duo had met for the first time in the Oval office of the White House on Friday where President Obama discussed the smooth transition of the administration.
"This office has a way of waking you up. Those aspects of his positions or predispositions that don't match up with reality, he will find shaken up pretty quick because reality has a way of asserting itself," Obama said.
Speaking about his conversation with Trump, Obama said that he believes Trump would be pragmatic in office and he hopes Trump will not tackle the problems of the country with an ideological perspective.
"There are going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognises them and corrects them. Because when you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial it has less impact than it does when you're president of the United States. Everybody around the world is paying attention. Markets move," the US President added.
Obama said that he appreciated Trump's call for unity during his victory speech after the elections night.
"I've been encouraged by his statements on election night about the need for unity, his interest in being president for all people. In an election like this that was so hotly contested and so divided, gestures matter," Obama said.
Trump, after their meeting, said that he found Obama to be a "very good man" and that he talked about some "very tough subjects" with the US president.
"I found him to be terrific. I found him to be very smart and very nice. Great sense of humour, as much as you can have a sense of humour talking about tough subjects, but we were talking about some pretty tough subjects. We were talking about some victories, also. Some things that he feels very good about," Trump said.
