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1/x Before my morning jog, a thread on how and why Kevin O'Connor decided to leave #mapoli behind, as evidenced in this unfortunate political career-ending interview. https://www.lowellsun.com/2020/07/08/kevin-oconnor-for-us-senate-is-a-refreshing-surprise/
2/x Kevin is a good guy. I met him at a MassGOP thing last Christmas. He was doing an RTC tour, testing the waters. Said he "liked Baker's collaborative approach" to politics. (Baker was at the event.) He didn't seem like #MAGA. That was good. He and I spoke for 20 minutes.
3/x He seemed reasonable, and smarter than your average MassGOP candidate. I pointed out that he had the same problem Geoff Diehl did: the voters look at SCOTUS and Trump and don't want another Republican in there. He said he'd have to figure that out. (But I knew he wouldn't.)
4/x Kevin also has a well-known gadfly candidate (Shiva) who is 100% for Trump and thinks Dr. Fauci should be arrested and indicted. Someone near to Kevin told me, "Shiva will make us embrace Trump more than otherwise." (Otherwise they could mostly avoid Trump, like Tedeschi.)
5/x Kevin's campaign has had some nice moments, like the signature lawsuit, and some enjoyable online conversations. It wasn't doing any harm to the party brand. Alas, he never took on Shiva (who is very well-known) and he has made no progress on why a MassGOP senator for #mapoli
6/x But the reason I am doing this thread is to show two things: our primary process guarantees general election defeat now, and every candidate and activists must choose between Charlie Baker and Donald Trump. You can't support both, really. Your heart can only follow one.
7/x First, the primary problem: party officials and our primary voters want Trump. (see polling link) They want him desperately. Not despite his sins, but because of them. They also reject Gov. Baker. Period. https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/02/28/wbur-poll-with-trump-dominant-signs-of-a-shifting-massachusetts-republican-party
8/x So Kevin could, if he wanted, be a Baker guy, and either not support Trump at all, or express reservations about the endless fear, corruption, racism, lies, and "shredding" of the U.S. Constitution, as conservatives called it when a black man did 1% of what Trump does.
