Immigration/ Politics

Virus notes: Baker hits Trump immigration stance

No more hugs or shaking hands in politics

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GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Tuesday that he disagrees with President Trump’s plan to issue an executive order temporarily suspending all immigration into the United States.

Baker, a moderate Republican who has generally steered clear of the Republican president during the COVID-19 pandemic, said he was opposed to the president’s decision to seek the executive order. “It doesn’t make any sense and I don’t think it makes us any safer,” he said.

Baker noted that the two people who initially brought COVID-19  to Massachusetts were not immigrants but business officials from Europe attending a conference at Biogen in Boston.

Trump announced his plans to sign the executive order just after 10 p.m. Monday night on Twitter. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!,” the president wrote.

Apparently the executive order wasn’t ready to go, as Trump administration officials said the order was still being worked on Tuesday afternoon.

No more hugging or shaking hands

Gov. Charlie Baker suggested COVID-19 may have permanently changed the hands-on nature of politics.

“We got into public life because we like the public part of public life,” Baker said, referring to himself and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. He said they used to attend 15 to 20 events a day, most of which involved personal interactions.

“We hugged, shook hands with, took pictures with, talked to, met with, engaged with hundreds and most of the time thousands of people. And it’s the best part of the job,” Baker said.

“We don’t do that anymore at all,” he said, noting that he works most days from home except when he attends his near-daily press conference. “We don’t have meetings. We talk on the phone, we Skype, we do Zoom or whatever.”

Baker said he and Polito like the opportunity to literally and figuratively embrace the people that they work with, but that doesn’t happen any more. “There’s none of that,” he said. “There’s going to be none of that going forward. We’re not going to shake hands anymore. We’re not going to hug. We’re not going to do any of those things.”

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Bruce Mohl

Editor, CommonWealth
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About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

Just like everyone else, Baker said he can’t wait for the “new normal” to arrive. “But I’m also the person looking at all the data every day,” he said. “I’ll be damned if the way this works is we go through this thing, we flatten the curve, we do all the stuff we were supposed to do, and then we create some run-up again in the fall because we don’t handle the re-entry, the reopening, in a way that actually works and makes sense and keeps people safe.”

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