Gov. Nathan Deal is not one of the Georgia Republicans who’ve tried to leverage President Donald Trump’s popularity. Deal admitted after Trump was elected that they had met only briefly and didn’t really know each other. They met briefly again when Trump came to Atlanta for the College Football National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Trump left at halftime. Deal stayed for the whole game.

But at the moment, they are closely aligned. Deal met Thursday with Trump and other governors, state attorneys general and federal leaders to discuss criminal justice reform. On that topic, Deal has become an expert in his eight years in office. The governor sent out a news release Friday with a photo from the meeting showing Deal talking and Trump listening. Deal was talking about the results of his criminal justice reform efforts in Georgia, which have reversed the growth of the prison population, put accountability treatment courts in all 159 counties to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail and offered a hand up for those being released from incarceration.