It appears to have been five years since I last bothered to note the existence of Ken Cuccinelli. Back then, I called him a “looney-toon freakazoid” and a “buffoon in tri-corner hat.” Prior to that, we focused on him mainly because he was a climate science denier and a red-hot opponent of sodomy. I’m not sure I ever cared about him enough to note that he was early adopter of Birtherism. I did have a soft spot for him though, largely because he’s so radical that he convinced the Chamber of Commerce to disown him when he ran for governor of Virginia in 2013. His home county Chamber actually endorsed Terry McAuliffe in that race.
The Republican establishment in Virginia doesn’t like Cuccinelli because he’s a nut case who hurts their brand. However, President Trump loves the guy even though he hadn’t always retuned the favor.
Cuccinelli was, however, no fan of Trump during the 2016 primaries. Cuccinelli supported Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and disgustedly threw his convention credentials on the floor to protest Trump’s nomination. “Shame! Shame!” he shouted when pro-Trump forces shut down an effort to change the party’s rules to make the nomination process friendlier to conservatives.
But, much like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Cooch warmed up to Trump once he realized that the war on dark-skinned people ran through the Oval Office. Now he’s getting his reward:
The Trump administration will hire conservative firebrand and former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II to coordinate immigration policy at the Department of Homeland Security, three administration officials said Tuesday.
Cuccinelli will work at DHS in a senior role and will report to acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan, while also providing regular briefings to President Trump at the White House, according two officials briefed on the appointment.
I think Trump actually wanted Kris Kobach for this job, but Kobach had a ludicrous list of demands. He and Cuccinelli share the distinction of losing governor’s races largely because half the Republicans in their respective states thought the Democrat was a better choice. Senator McConnell reportedly tried to dissuade Trump from making this appointment, but it’s not a position that requires Senate confirmation, so there wasn’t much Cocaine Mitch could do to stop the insanity.
I suppose this means that Cuccinelli won’t be continuing his work to kill Dominion Energy’s monopoly on delivering electricity to the Commonwealth. It was less than two weeks ago that he announced he was going to be a leader on that project. I haven’t had time to look into the Virginia Energy Reform Coalition to see what interests are really pushing this reform, but it was certainly a more defensible investment of time than what he’ll be doing for Trump at the Department of Homeland Security.
Another senior administration official who welcomed the appointment said there was an acute need for someone to be an immigration policy field marshal.
“The president’s frustration is not directed at DHS alone,” the official said. “It’s DOJ, DOD, State. So this job will ensure closer coordination at a senior level, and it’s an effort to acknowledge you need someone who can have conversations with department heads about policies and drive them to the same place.”
It’s not going to end well for Cuccinelli. But a lot of things are not going to end well for a lot of people so long as we have a president who think people like The Cooch are good prospects for important administrative jobs.
