The Nuclear Novice Finally Gets A Clue

'It's very, very scary': President Trump reveals what it's like to get America's nuclear codes 

By Jennifer Smith and Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent For Dailymail.com 23:39 EST 25 Jan 2017, updated 04:00 EST 26 Jan 2017

The president admitted gaining control of the nuclear codes was 'sobering'

He told ABC's David Muir he nonetheless believed he'll do 'the right job'

The interview was the president's first since taking office on Friday

He also discussed the 'beautiful' letter he received from Barack Obama and how he thinks Chicago's violence is 'worse' than Afganistan's

The president shared his belief that waterboarding 'absolutely' works and will leave torture up to his generals

He also addressed his immigrant bans on Muslim nations and said it was going to become 'extremely hard' to get into the country with his new 'extreme vetting'

President Trump said 'the world is as angry as it gets' and that he couldn't have therefore inflamed the issue of immigration and terror because it was already out of hand

Complained again that voter fraud cost him the popular vote but said if he had campaigned for it he would have won it

In his first interview since taking office, President Trump gave glimpses of being humbled by his 'sobering' new responsibilities between intrepid promises to maintain his campaign vows.

Speaking with ABC's David Muir, he went from gently praising the 'beautiful' letter left for him in the Oval Office by Barack Obama to brazenly describing Chicago as more violent than Afghanistan.

Among his admissions was that receiving the nuclear codes was a 'very scary' experience which brought home the enormity of the job.

'When they explain what it represents and the kind of destruction that you're talking about, it is a very sobering moment. It's very, very, very scary in a sense.'

Not quite scary enough to keep him up at night, he said. 'I have confidence I'll do the right thing, the right job, but it's a very scary thing.'

He later told of the 'beautiful' letter he'd been left in the Resolute Desk by Barack Obama but did not, as is tradition between presidents, reveal its contents.

'I won't show it you, read it to you, but a just a beautiful letter. There were numerous lines, so well written, so thoughtful - so thoughtful. I doubt too many of them were written in this manner.

'He really - in fact I called him and thanked him for the thought that was put into that letter. It was long, it was complex, it was thoughtful and it took time to do it and I appreciated it.'

He repeated his earlier condemnation of Chicago's rising gun violence, describing its shooting epidemic as worse than the brutality seen in war zones.

'It's carnage. You know, in my speech I got tremendous - from certain people the word carnage. It is carnage. It's horrible carnage. This is Afghanistan - is not like what's happening in Chicago. People are being shot left and right. Thousands of people over a period - over a short period of time.

'Chicago is like a war zone. Chicago is worse than some of the people that you report in some of the places that you report about every night,' he mused.

He said he would 'love' to help state law enforcement to address the violence which was getting in the way of Chicago being a 'great city'.