Donald Trump scrambles to form a government, believing it ‘bad luck’ to prepare during presidential election, by Ruth Sherlock.

Donald Trump last night replaced top aide Chris Christie as the head of his transition team in favour of Vice-President elect Mike Pence, as he scrambled to assemble a government after his surprise win.

A reign of chaos has taken hold inside Trump world, sources have said, after Mr Trump banned planning during the campaign because he considered it “bad luck”. …

Whilst Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, had a team of up to 1,000 people quietly working to ensure a smooth transition to power should she win, Mr Trump’s operation was dramatically smaller and is said to be somewhat haphazard. …

The team created a document laying out his first 100 days, which included an overly ambitious, and unlikely, first day in which he would cancel climate change agreements, and in the words of one transition team aide “wipe Barack Obama from the history books”.

In an unprecedented move, Mr Trump’s team this week created a website — greatagain.gov — inviting Americans to apply for positions in government, including for jobs that required high level security clearance.

When political power changes hands in Britain, senior civil servants remain in place. However in America this is not the case and as many as 4,000 posts could be open to political appointees.

hat-tip Stephen Neil