Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach would have acquiesced to being the Trump administration’s immigration czar — but only if they agreed to his ten-point list of demands.
The administration ultimately decided that a private jet, free weekends and unfettered access to the Oval Office was too much, opting for former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli instead, per the New York Times.
The Times previously reported that Kobach’s dealbreakers included being named DHS Secretary by November, some coveted West Wing real estate and to be the main television presence on immigration issues,
The White House was reportedly taken aback by Kobach’s presumptuousness.
Kobach has long been the king of unflattering headlines.
In April 2017, he clutched plans for amendments to the National Voter Registration Act while grinning next to the President. Too bad for him, the plans were facing outward and caught by the Associated Press’ sharp camera, eventually leading to a judge demanding that he hand the document over as part of a case centered on his strict voting laws.
A couple months later, a judge shot down part of those voter restrictions, his proof of citizenship requirement, and smacked Kobach with ordered legal education classes for his “non-compliance” with court orders and “flagrant violations” of various courtroom rules.
Kobach, unswayed, geared up for a gubernatorial run where he ultimately lost dramatically to Democrat Laura Kelly, shattering the Republican trifecta in the state. Kelly won, in part, by winning over more moderate Republicans who bristled at Kobach’s extreme views.
He bounced back. Just last month, he popped onto Fox Business network to share his plan to create processing towns on the border for immigrants, made up of “empty mobile home trailers.”
Unfortunately for Kobach, it looks like these masterstrokes still fell short of earning him a private jet in the end.
