Mr. President, give Gov. Bevin a job — now

Being from Hazard, I’ve been very happy to see the first family paying so much attention to my little corner of the country. All the presidential children but Eric and Tiffany have made their way to coal country lately. Donald Jr. even came back and brought his son along.

But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they keep leaving one big piece of luggage behind every time they come: Gov. Matt Bevin.

I’m not sure they may have had time to get to this up in Washington, but down here things aren’t looking to bright for us Republicans.

In the past few years, our fearless leader has taken us to some pretty bleak places. He’s picked fights with everyone from public-sector workers to innocent bystanders like the former first lady.

He’s made some gaffes that would’ve even put the big man at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to shame, like saying that protesting teachers essentially condemned some children to a day of molestation.

He’s picked fights with education institutions to the point that one of our flagship universities came dangerously close to losing its accreditation. He’s shepherded legislation that would make it next to impossible for mining families to receive black-lung benefits.

And here’s the kicker: Just last year he insisted the legislature boldly redefine the benefits of our education professionals — a move that will likely cost many legislative veterans in my party their seats. That was all in vain since the law is likely to fail at the Supreme Court and the state’s bond rating went down anyway.

Now, I’m certain the Trumps have a great admiration for the man all the same. After all, from the outside looking in, I’m sure he looks a lot like conservative icons like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. I know leadership like this may work in other places, but in the commonwealth it’s not going so well.

Ask anybody besides the Kentucky Today publication, and you will find Bevin is one of the least popular governors in the country. His chances for re-election look pretty slim at this point, no matter who emerges from the other side of the aisle.

There’s not a whole lot we can do about that here right now, but I hear there are some openings in Washington. Surely Rick Perry could use some help at the energy cabinet or maybe Sam Brownback needs help as ambassador for international religious freedom. Bevin was made for stuff like that, his allies tells us all the time how he’s doing God’s work. Is it about time to let him go up to the big leagues?

Keeping Bevin here is essentially guaranteeing that a Democrat will be in the governor’s mansion for at least the rest of Trump’s term. How would it look if the GOP lost in one of the most decidedly red states in the country before the president ratchets up his re-election campaign?

So, I only have one request: Take him. Take him, take him, for the love of all things holy and or the blessed future of this state and the party.

I’m sure there’s been some guarantee out there that the Bevin would find a soft landing in the nation’s capital should things go wrong here next fall. But as a Republican who was here before Bevin got here, who will be here after he leaves and has dreamed of the day his party would get to make some real contributions to this state: I’m just asking, “Why wait?”