It is a “very stressful process” he says. As a government official with many years of experience, both in Congress and the White House, Angell says he thinks Trump is facing a very difficult transition. That is because of his lack to government experience.

　　Angell says preparing a budget at the beginning of the Clinton presidency was a very difficult experience.

　　“And we were working 18 hours a day, and throwing together two or three meetings a day for the president and the team. And it had to be done very quickly and in the end the worst thing was you didn't want to fail. Because you'd be failing at a level you've never failed at before.”

　　As a former top Congressional official , Angell says Trump faces hard choices about cutting government and cutting programs that are popular with Americans. Trump will be working with a Republican Congress. Some members will have their own ideas of what to cut, and what to keep.

　　Dorrance Smith gives a funny example of how these things can work.

　　After losing the 1992 election, President Bush’s administration wanted to cut the yearly “pardoning” of a live turkey at Thanksgiving time in November. In the ceremony, the president appears with a real turkey at the White House and says the turkey will be pardonednot killed for a meal.

　　But when they took the event off the president’s schedule, they were in for a surprise. Smith says The White House was “swamped” by turkey industry supporters demanding that the pardon ceremony continue.

　　“I guess there are a lot of turkeys in a lot of congressional districts with a very stronglobby because we had to put it back on. And the lame duck president had to go pardon the turkey one more time.”

　　What will happen next in the current presidential transition is hard to predict. Smith says Trump’s campaign and election “blew up all of the models.”

　　The Trump transition team will work on filling those 4,000 jobs. Their new administration will need to be ready for whatever happens on January 21, the first full day of the Trump presidency.

　　I’m Anne Ball.

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　　Words in This Story

　　transition n. a change from one group or state or condition to another

　　assets n. investments or other items worth money

　　swamp n. a wet and muddy place outside

　　pond n. a body of water

　　daunting adj. difficult

　　task n. a job for someone to do

　　inauguration n. the ceremony when the new president is sworn into office

　　pardon v. to be forgiven, so one will not face punishment

　　lobby v. to try to influence government officials to make decisions for or against something