Dunleavy's dreams of a Trump cabinet position vanish

Unless Donald Trump picks Gov. Mike Dunleavy to be the head of the Small Business Administration, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers or the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Alaska governor won’t get his dream job in the Trump cabinet.

There are still plenty of important lower-level positions that Dunleavy might be called upon to fill, division directors and the like, but Trump has just about completed his cabinet with disciples from elsewhere in America.

Even the attack dog of the Alaska Republican Party was mystified about why Dunleavy didn’t cut it for Interior Secretary.

“Although Dunleavy was a logical pick, it’s unclear why Trump went a different direction,” said Dunleavy cheerleader Suzanne Downing. “Some are saying Dunleavy might be in line for the Secretary of Energy, but there are rumors that former Gov. Sarah Palin might get that job. She, too, is close with Trump.”

Not close enough.

Trump picked North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for interior and Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright to lead the energy department.

As to why Trump “went a different direction,” we can only guess.

Perhaps Dunleavy didn’t get on Fox News enough singing Trump’s praises while Trump was watching TV. Perhaps the people around Trump regard Dunleavy as a lightweight. Perhaps it is because Dunleavy’s political constituency is tiny and there are plenty of sycophants in the sea.

It now appears that Trump saying “We like Mike” and praising Dunleavy as “all man” (“Look at that man. He’s all man. Look at him,” Trump said on an Alaska refueling stop.) was not the vote of confidence it appeared.

I still think Dunleavy will be or has been promised a job, but unless it’s high enough in the pecking order, Dunleavy won’t take it or reveal the offer to Alaskans.

My guess is that one thing has kept Dunleavy out of the inner circle—money, the most important political currency in Trumpworld.

Burgum and Wright are exceptionally wealthy. Plus, they are not taller than Trump.

We still don’t know why Dunleavy announced he would hold a big late-night event on November 12 with Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and then canceled it without explanation 90 minutes later. Perhaps Dunleavy was misled by someone at Mar-a-lago.

The likely reason he would appear with Dahlstrom on Facebook Live would be to announce his plans to quit, as she is next in line to become governor.

Dunleavy’s communications director, who gets paid to say nothing, said he had no idea what Dunleavy planned to communicate or why he failed to communicate.

Dunleavy has decided to keep quiet, while continuing to praise Trump’s genius in picking cabinet members.

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