Rauner Had 'Good' Talk With Trump, After Long Avoiding The Topic

By Stephen Gossett in News on Nov 16, 2016 10:36PM

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner at the Illinois State Fair. Photo by Aaron Cynic.

Gov. Bruce Rauner dodged endlessly when it came to the topic of Donald Trump throughout the campaign season, a tradition he seemed to happy to carry on post-election. But he couldn’t keep his lips sealed for four years, and Rauner on Wednesday spilled to reporters that he chatted with he-who-shall-not-be-named-even-by-Rauner on Friday.

“I’ve had some good conversations with the new administration in Washington because I want to try to figure out if we can work together, because I want Illinois to benefit from the changes coming,” Rauner said according to the Tribune and the Sun-Times.

“I talked with the president-elect last Friday afternoon. We talked about working together. It was a good, good, positive conversation. I had never spoken with him before,” Rauner said. “Two of his most senior folks in his administration are good personal friends of mine, and allies of mine in politics, so we’re going to have a voice and a good relations.”

Neither Rauner nor his staff identified to reporters who those senior-position friends were, but speculation circled that they are Nick Ayers and Ron Gidwitz. Ayers spearheaded Rauner’s 2014 campaign before heading Vice President-elect (and forcibly-roundabout Planned Parenthood supporter) Mike Pence; Gidwitz once led Rauner’s fundraising committee and is a perennial Republican donor. He was notably one of the few top Illinois GOP donors who showed no signs of trepidation toward fundraising for Trump while his colleagues either sat on the sidelines or gave to Clinton’s efforts.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and members of the City Council urged Rauner to push back against Trump and support Chicago's status as a sanctuary city for undocumented workers. That did not happen.

Rauner was almost comically evasive about the GOP nominee during the campaign. The closest he came to condemnation was a blanket pearl-clutch against "the rhetoric in this presidential campaign" in the wake of the leaked Access Hollywood audio. And this weird little pas de deux was the closest we saw to an endorsement, as Rauner desperately sought not to undermine Republican candidates he plied with jaw-dropping reams of cash.

Perhaps he got his end game: harness Republican-dominated national politics and make the turnaround agenda great again.