Zimpapers Logo

Donald Trump

Washington — Megyn Kelly is calling on president-elect Donald Trump’s social media director to stop encouraging hostile elements among some of his supporters.

London’s The Guardian reports the Fox News anchor said at a speaking event in Washington on Monday that a small group of Trump supporters “really enjoys nastiness and threats”. She said Dan Scavino’s job during the campaign was “to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that”.

Scavino was highly critical of Kelly after she sparred with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in October, over allegations of sexual misconduct made against Trump.

Scavino tweeted that Kelly “made a total fool out of herself” and said “watch what happens to her after this election is over”.

Scavino is now a member of Trump’s transition team.

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday selected a political ally with close ties to China as ambassador to Beijing, stressed his determination to create US jobs and revealed he consulted with Barack Obama on his cabinet picks.

The Republican’s election victory shocked the US establishment and alarmed the world, which is now waiting with bated breath to see if the political novice will follow through on a slew of threats to tear up free trade agreements, abandon treaties and punish American companies relocating jobs overseas. He antagonised China last week by taking a protocol-busting telephone call from the leader of Taiwan, and then railed against Beijing for alleged currency manipulation, unfair taxes and militarising the South China Sea.

Beijing, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, on Wednesday urged Washington to block President Tsai Ing-wen from passing through the US after reports said she may stop in New York to meet the Trump team.

But on Wednesday, Trump dangled potentially welcome news for Beijing: His pick of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who has close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping dating back to the mid-1980s, as ambassador to China.

“Governor Branstad’s decades of experience in public service and long-time relationship with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders make him the ideal choice to serve as America’s Ambassador to China,” Trump said.

Upon reports of Branstad’s nomination, China called him an “old friend”.

Trump has pledged to create jobs by commissioning giant infrastructure projects to overhaul America’s ailing roads, bridges, tunnels and airports, and by slashing corporate tax rates in an attempt to drive investment. “We have to look at it almost as a war,” he said on Tuesday in Fayetteville, North Carolina on the second leg of an unorthodox victory tour of key swing states that propelled him into office.

Trump boasted of securing a $50bn Japanese investment from SoftBank to create 50 000 American jobs and his intervention last week to save hundreds of manufacturing jobs from leaving Indiana for Mexico.

In an interview with Time, published to mark his accolade as the magazine’s “person of 2016”, Trump said he also asked Apple to build a plant in the US. The bulk of the company’s products are assembled overseas. — AFP