
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro hit back at former US President Donald Trump on Thursday, after Trump criticized Shapiro on social media.
“The highly-overrated Jewish governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for president,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social late on Wednesday.
Trump added that Harris “hates Israel and will do nothing but make its journey through the complexities of survival as difficult as possible, hoping in the end that it will fail.”
Shapiro, he wrote, “for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had.”
“I have done more for Israel than any president, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it’s not even close,” Trump claimed. “Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will. Comrade Kamala Harris, the radical left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less. Israel is in big trouble!”
Responding to the comments, Shapiro told WCAU TV in Philadelphia on Thursday that Trump seems to be “obsessed” with him.
“I mean first off, I think it’s clear over the last few weeks, Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to spew hate and division in our politics. He’s someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this,” said Shapiro.
“Folks from Pennsylvania, folks from around the country who come to me and say, ‘I’m a proud American Jew. I’m proud of my faith and I’m now scared to practice my faith because of what Donald Trump and his allies keep saying,’” he added.
“I think Donald Trump has a long history of spewing antisemitic tropes, racist tropes,” continued Shapiro. “He attacks other people for who they are, what they look like, what they believe in. And that is not the way any American should act, let alone someone who wants to be the leader of this country.”
Shapiro was a finalist to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick, but she ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Trump has several times since insisted that Harris did not pick Shapiro, whom he said would have been a stronger choice than Walz, as her running mate because of his Jewish heritage.
Earlier this week, Shapiro denied that antisemitism played a role in his not becoming the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee and said Trump was the “least credible person” when it came to standing up against hatred and bigotry.
He then clarified, “Antisemitism played absolutely no role in my dialogue with the vice president. Absolutely none. It is also true that antisemitism is present in our commonwealth, in our country and in some areas within our party, and we have to stand up and speak out against that.”