Eric Fehrnstrom, a longtime Massachusetts Republican political operative, offers Democrats his assessment of their many failings in the election (“Dems know why they lost, but won’t fix their problems,’’ Opinion, Nov. 17). Meanwhile, he suggests that President-elect Trump “is finally making a hoped-for pivot to the middle.’’ We’ll see.

Fehrnstrom might want to follow Governor Baker’s lead rather than engage in the spin game at which he excels (“Baker cautions on judging Trump,’’ Page A1, Nov. 17). The governor rightly said, “Let’s judge people on the totality of their work, on what they say, and how they pursue what they’re up to.’’ In the coming weeks and months, vigilance must be the order of the day. We all need to take a hard look at Trump’s appointments, what he says and does, when he moves to the middle and when he does not.

But one thing is clear: It is not a good idea to swallow whole the partisan positioning of the Fehrnstroms of the world. The “swamp’’ that Trump ran against so successfully may be centered in Washington, but its lieutenants and beneficiaries in the political class are spread far and wide.

Richard Kazis

Brookline