Abandon ship

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, one of President Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, said Wednesday that he will not support the president when it comes to the November election.

The governor demurred on the question earlier Wednesday when asked by reporters, saying, “I haven’t decided yet,” according to a Boston-area NBC affiliate. In a statement later in the day, communications director Lizzy Guyton said more definitively the governor would not support Trump.

“The governor cannot support Donald Trump for president and is focused on seeing Massachusetts through the pandemic," Guyton said. "He’ll leave the election analysis to the pundits.”

Baker previously criticized the president for refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power following the election, prompting Trump to attack him as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only.

The Massachusetts governor also joined Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) in urging Senate Republicans to wait until after the presidential election to appoint a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

  The Hill

I don't know if the Republican Party can reclaim itself from the Trumpists and Qanon nuts in its tent. It has only itself to blame. Actively absorbing the Tea Party back when George W was president started them on their swift decline into rabid whacko territory.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

All Republican governors are not in Trump's pocket

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on Monday said that President Trump’s compassion has been “nowhere to be found” in the past several weeks as the nation deals with the coronavirus pandemic and protests following the police killing of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis.

  The Hill

That's because he has none.

“At so many times during these past several weeks, when the country needed compassion and leadership the most, it was simply nowhere to be found,” Baker said. “Instead, we got bitterness, combativeness and self-interest.”

“That’s not what we need in Boston,” he added. “It’s not what we need right now in Massachusetts, and it’s definitely not what we need across this great country of ours either.”

Prepare for retaliatory nasty tweets.

The Democratic Senator from Massachusetts was a little more blunt:

The real resistance kicks in

Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said he will not send the Massachusetts National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border due to the "cruel and inhumane" decision by the Trump administration to separate children from their parents as families arrive at the border.

[...]

A helicopter crew had been set to fly down later this month to work with federal officials to help track illegal activity along the border with Mexico.

[...]

"We told the National Guard to hold steady and to not go down to the border —period," Baker said on Monday. "We won't be supporting that initiative unless they change the policy.

  NBC Boston

UPDATE:



Colorado surprises me.  I thought that was a serious Trump state.