Like his Chicago Cubs, the team’s co-owner Todd Ricketts just experienced a historic comeback. During the primary, his family bet big and lost against Donald Trump, to the tune of $5.5 million spent against him. But just as the Cubs came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series in seven games, that defeat has not shaped his fate.
The president-elect just drafted Ricketts for a key role in his cabinet roster. In 2017, the Chicago businessman will head to Washington to work as the Deputy Secretary of Commerce.
That’s a stunning achievement even for Ricketts, the son of the billionaire who founded Ameritrade and the brother of Nebraska’s Republican governor.
When the Ricketts family shelled out $5.5 million to an anti-Trump political action committee during the GOP primary, they earned the ire of the New York businessman. A vindictive Trump threatened to launch an ad campaign against the family, telling the Washington Post in March that he’d show America “what a rotten job they’re doing with the Chicago Cubs.”
Both succeeded. The Cubs went on to 103 wins and their first world championship in 108 years. Trump won 303 electoral votes, and everything’s different. Thanks in part to Ricketts, the Cubbies are national champions and Trump is about to become the 44th president of the United States.
After Trump secured the Republican nomination, Ricketts eventually did an about face. He recharged the Future45 super PAC and reportedly raked in upwards of $30 million for the Republican nominee while his parents donated a million of their own money to pro-Trump groups.
That campaign tryout helped Ricketts win a permanent spot in Trump’s economic lineup. On Wednesday, the incoming executive heaped praise on the billionaire and his boys in blue.
“The incredible job he and the Ricketts family did in the purchase and turnaround of the Chicago Cubs — one perfect step after another, leading to the World Championship, is what I want representing our people,” Trump wrote in a statement. “I am very proud to have him on our team.”
Ricketts’ pick might be … it could be … it is … the most remarkable cabinet comeback in 2016. Holy cow.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
