Baker, Biden, Trump and Diehl all on political dance card
Will Joe Biden now endorse Charlie Baker?
Unlikely. It is a Republican primary for governor we are talking about, and an endorsement by the Democrat president of a GOP governor — even if he is a RINO — would do more harm than good.
Biden is a train wreck of a president who has plummeted so far down in the polls that Republican Gov. Charlie Baker may have to endorse him.
Besides, there are already three Democrats running for governor, with the possibility of Attorney General Maura Healey becoming the fourth. And right now, it is not known whether Baker will even seek a third term.
If he does, conservative Republican Geoff Diehl, 52, who was endorsed Monday by Donald Trump, will be waiting to knock him off in the GOP primary. If Baker doesn’t run, then Diehl has a path to the Republican nomination for governor.
Diehl was co-chair of the Trump re-election campaign in Massachusetts.
The former president’s endorsement is no small thing. That is because it is a Republican primary we are talking about and not a general November election. It will help Diehl raise funds.
There are only 469,000 registered Republicans in Massachusetts, most of whom probably voted for Trump in the last election.
While Biden easily defeated Trump in the state, 60.6% to Trump’s 32.1%, Trump did amass 1,167,202 votes. Biden got 2,382,202.
Diehl will not get most of those Trump votes in a GOP primary. But if he can get enough support from voters disaffected with Biden’s swing toward socialism, along with a hefty chunk of Republicans, he has a shot.
Diehl has shown that he can get statewide votes on his own. While he was soundly defeated by Democrat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018, he did get 979,507 people to vote for him in the general election. Warren got 1.634,213 votes, however.
Baker, going on eight years as governor, is still a popular figure. The moderate/liberal chief executive scores well with Independents and Democrats. It is among conservative Republicans where Baker has problems.
This is partly due to the takeover of the Republican Party apparatus — namely the Republican State Committee — by Chairman Jim Lyons, a Trump enthusiast, along with a team of Trump supporters.
Lyons and the committee will control the Republican Party convention, which could be a major embarrassment to Baker should the convention endorse Diehl.
Baker is a longtime critic of fellow Republican Trump. He did not support Trump for president in 2016, or when he was president, or when he sought reelection. He let people know that he did not vote for Trump either. So now it is payback time.
In a typical Trump disjointed statement, Trump called Baker a RINO “who has done nothing for the Republican Party.”
“He has totally abandoned the principles of the Republican Party, never cutting taxes and undermining our agenda,” Trump said.
“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,” the former president said.
Trump’s endorsement, along with Diehl’s reaction, indicates that Trump and his policies will be a major part of Diehl’s campaign. It is a given that he will go after Baker on the vaccine rollout, the scandalous death of 77 veterans at the Holyoke Soldiers Home, the MBTA and a host of other issues.
But Diehl will openly campaign on Trump’s “America First” agenda, which has a lot of appeal among Republicans and conservatives who want to halt the illegal immigrant invasion of the country.
Diehl said, “I am inspired by the president’s (Trump) America First agenda, which he backed up by delivering on his promises during his time in the White House.”
“Like President Trump, I want to ensure a strong economy … I want families to feel safe,” Diehl said. Like Trump, he added, “I want people to feel like government isn’t working against them and that they can enjoy the individual freedoms our state and country were founded on.”
We are in a fascist-like, authoritarian Biden era of mandates. Now the FBI is tasked with monitoring the behavior of parents at local school committee meetings as in the old Soviet Union. Watch what you say, comrade.
A Diehl “Massachusetts First” campaign will appeal to a lot of people.