A story came to our attention today, describing a meeting at Trump Towers on Monday. Present at the meeting were Republican candidate Donald Trump and Chris Crane, president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council. And no one else, apparently.
It was no surprise that they met. After all, immigration is absolutely at the top of Trump’s agenda, and he can’t do any of the things he says he wants to do without full ICE cooperation.
On top of that, in a recent survey of morale among government agencies, ICE came in at rock bottom, 314th in a field of 314. So a warm hug and a ‘well done’ from the big guy with the quiff would have been most welcome. And newsworthy.
But it is surprising that only one single news source reported that meeting. A news source that’s known for its rabid support of Trump. A news source whose CEO, Steve Bannon, was (surprisingly?) unveiled as Trump’s latest campaign adviser the very next day.
Google it any way you like. No one else reported it.
It’s also worth noting that Chris Crane has a record of throwing verbal acid at anyone Trump doesn’t like. Obama and Clinton, naturally. But also any of Trump’s Republican foes. When Marco Rubio was still in the running for the candidacy, Crane did a demolition job on him, which Rubio reacted to angrily. The spat made headlines even outside the U.S.
But where did the report of this row come from? You guessed it. That same, Trump-loving news source.
And it’s interesting that, just days before the reported meeting, Crane bared his teeth and savaged another Trump adversary, Paul Ryan. In an open letter, reproduced in The Washington Examiner, he told Ryan:
“Foreign nationals flood across our border because they have been led to believe that if they can make it here, they can stay. I am sorry to say that your rhetoric could be adding to that perception. Children crossing our border are molested and perish. Any political leader who truly cares about these children will stop the rhetoric and begin working with law enforcement to develop sound immigration policy to end the crisis.”
Yet after his meeting with Trump, and according to this one solitary report, his anger was suddenly, miraculously gone. Coming out of it like a boy who’s just had his first, proper kiss, he gushed:
“The very first thing he [Trump] asked about was: ‘How are our employees doing? How are our officers doing? How’s morale?’”
And he wasn’t finished there. Crane went on to swoon:
“That’s leadership. Leadership is about mission accomplishment, It’s about taking care of your troops. Real leaders care about the people who work for them, and they understand how important it is to take care of your people and to make sure morale stays high. And for me, [Trump’s questions] demonstrated a genuine concern for our people, but it also showed a real understanding of leadership.”
Here’s Chris Crane doing his master’s bidding in 2013, taking a shot at Obama.
Featured image: YouTube screengrab.
