Governor Baker vocal over displeasure with Trump concerning election fight

Colin A. Young

President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to sow doubt about the results of last week’s presidential election are bad for the country and distract from efforts to wrestle the COVID-19 pandemic under control, Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday.

The Republican governor said he is “dismayed” to see Trump and other Republicans present “baseless claims” of widespread voter fraud, and said he has seen no credible evidence of impropriety that would change the outcome of the election, which Democrat Joe Biden is projected to have won.

Baker said the Trump administration’s move to have federal prosecutors under the Department of Justice review election results “is so wildly inappropriate.” “Stalling an orderly transition process, especially at a time like this, is equally unacceptable. I can’t think of a worse time to stall a transition than amid a deadly pandemic that the federal government continues to own primary responsibility for responding to,” Baker said. He added, “Orderly transitions of power are good for the country, they’re good for the American people and there’s simply no question on this. And every campaign season, we hear a lot about doing what’s best for the country. And what this president is doing at this point in time is not in the best interest of this country. The administration needs to move forward to cooperate with the president-elect’s transition team immediately.”

Baker has said he did not vote for president in 2016 or 2020 and often appears out of step with national Republicans.

On Tuesday, he recalled knocking on doors, making phone calls, donating money to, raising money for and voting for Republicans for the last 40 years. But he also acknowledged that he disagrees with the direction of some in his Grand Old Party. “I believe in many of the things that the Republican Party I support stands for, which is why I’ve been one for 40 years. One of the things I don’t believe people should stand for, if you’re any place in elective office, is this idea somehow that elections are only legit if you win,” the governor said. “And more and more of what I hear coming out of this conversation implies to me that some of this is just raw double standard and nothing else.”