Baker not fazed by Trump’s Diehl backing
Gov. Charlie Baker is unsurprised and unbothered after Geoff Diehl — his potential challenger — swiped an endorsement from Donald Trump, in which the former president personally attacked the governor as a “RINO.”
“I’m not surprised for a whole bunch of reasons,” Baker said. “But the bottom line is I’m really focused on (COVID-19), focused on getting people back to work and focused on making sure that kids have the opportunity to go to school in person this year, and trying to get us back to what I would describe as normal as fast as possible.”
Baker still hasn’t said if he’ll run for a third term and he refused to take the bait on Wednesday, telling reporters at an unrelated event in Salem he’s still talking plans over with his wife.
The popular Republican governor promised a decision “soon” back in July, but has continued to dodge questions even as his campaign has resumed fundraising and he brought in his largest monthly haul in nearly two years in September.
Diehl, a former state representative from Whitman, who in 2018 unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has branded himself as the conservative counterweight to Baker’s moderate brand of Republicanism. It was a theme Trump seized on in his Tuesday evening endorsement, saying Baker has “totally abandoned” Republican principles.
“Baker is bad on crime, disrespects our police, does nothing for our Veterans, has totally botched the Vaccination rollout, presided over the collapse of the MBTA, and has seen crime go to record levels,” Trump stated, highlighting his “complete and total endorsement” of Diehl.
“Baker is definitely not an American First or Make America Great Again kind of guy,” Trump continued.
Public sparring between Baker and Trump is nothing new. The pair frequently traded blows throughout the Trump presidency, with Baker calling out the former president’s “incendiary” language about protesters after the death of George Floyd and eventually calling on Trump to resign in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.