Americans will get the Trump card they picked

A new wax figure of US President-elect Donald Trump is viewed a day after it was launched at Madame Tussauds in Washington, DC on January 19, 2017. (Photo: AFP)

After 10 weeks, dozens of tweets and one rollicking news conference, Donald Trump's transition into the White House has left little doubt that the man Americans elected in November is the president they'll get.

Trump will be sworn in Friday at 8pm, Kenyan time as the 45th US president.

The immense responsibilities of the office and the daunting decisions that await Trump have not changed the confrontational, divisive republican.

Hours before his inauguration, Trump was still litigating old campaign fights and picking new ones with intelligence agencies and Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat and civil rights movement veteran.

Trump has refused to be boxed in by the conservative ideology his party prefers. He has launched a battle against journalists, yet still craves their attention.

To his supporters, Trump's handling of his transition period was proof that the political novice-turned-president-elect plans to follow through on his campaign promises to take a sledgehammer to Washington's traditional ways.

"The American people voted for change," Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said. "He is the instrument of that change."

It's clear, however, that a solid majority of Americans are not behind him. Trump is poised to enter the Oval Office with a far lower approval rating - 42 per cent.

The lowest was George W. Bush, who won positive marks from 59 per cent during his transition to office. Bush, like Trump, also lost the popular vote in a tightly contested race.

Gallup opinion poll found just 44 per cent of those questioned approve of the way the incoming president has handled his transition, compared with 83 per cent approval of Barack Obama's transition and Bush transition's 61 per cent.

That leaves a hefty task ahead for Trump, who must take the stage today and, after taking the oath, address perhaps his largest, broadest audience to date.

During such addresses, past U.S presidents typically called for unity and common purpose. David Axelrod, a longtime political adviser to Obama, cast doubt on whether that was something Trump will do. He pointed to Trump's post-election "thank you" tour that took the republican only to states he won.

"It might not be within his emotional range to be a unifying figure," Axelrod said.

He acknowledged that some Democrats might resist any overtures from Trump, though he said total resistance would not serve his party well either.

Advisers and others who have spoken with Trump since the election say that despite his combative public presence during the transition, he is aware of the grand sweep of history as he approaches the presidency.

He has told friends that he is drawn to both the ambition and style of Presidents Ronald Reagan, a republican, and John F. Kennedy, a democrat.

During a lunch with presidential historian Douglas Brinkley and other guests at his South Florida club, Trump said he was thinking about spending his first night in the White House sleeping in the famed Lincoln bedroom.

A participant in the lunch first recalled the conversation and Brinkley confirmed its accuracy.

Several people detailed their recent interactions with Trump on the condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions with the new U.S president before he took office.

Trump is said to have become particularly fixated on veterans issues, evaluating numerous candidates to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs before settling on David Shulkin, an Obama nominee who is the department's undersecretary.

Trump said he interviewed "at least 100 people" for the job, though aides said that was an exaggeration.

Between meetings at Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago in Florida — and sometimes during them — Trump was said to be constantly making and taking calls on his personal cellphone from lawmakers, foreign leaders, aides and journalists.

But any behind-the-scene diligence and focus has largely been overshadowed by Trump's remarkably public battles — against the intelligence agencies, Hillary Clinton, actress Meryl Streep and, most recently, against civil rights movement veteran, John Lewis.

One of the biggest questions facing Trump is how his confrontational and unpredictable style will affect his ability to enact his agenda and manage the inevitable crises he will face. He has the benefit of a republican-led Congress, but potential intra-party disagreements loom over spending and entitlements.

Health care will be an early test for Trump and the republicans. Trump says he expects Congress to repeal and replace Obama's signature health care law "essentially simultaneously," though he has not specified for lawmakers what he expects to be in a new measure. Some republicans believe the complexity of the current system makes a fast overhaul nearly impossible.

Trump's relationship with Russia will no doubt overshadow his inauguration tonight. The Senate Intelligence Committee says it will investigate possible contacts between Russia and the people associated with U.S. political campaigns as part of a broader investigation into Moscow's purported meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The investigation will include interviews, and potentially subpoenas, for Trump aides.

During a freewheeling news conference last week, Trump acknowledged publicly for the first time that he accepts the intelligence community's assessment that Russia was behind the election-year hacking of Democratic groups.

But one person who spoke with him following his full briefing with intelligence officials said the Trump was still raising questions about what proof there was of Russia's role.

Democrats are yet to decide how they plan to approach a Trump presidency. Lewis, who worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, said he does not view Trump as a legitimate president, leading Trump to criticise the congressman in several tweets. Lewis and a small number of other Democratic lawmakers plan to skip tonight's inauguration celebrations.

Obama, who has been offering advice to Trump both publicly and privately since the election, questioned whether a president can be "improvisational" in office. But in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," he also suggested his successor's 'unorthodoxy' should not be misjudged.

"Don't underestimate the guy," Obama said. "He's going to be the 45th president of the United States."