Former President Donald Trump complained that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) “refused to acknowledge” the former president’s record on Israel in his speech stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention.
Shapiro’s speech at the DNC on Wednesday night focused on touting Harris’s candidacy as a campaign of “real freedom,” and he called Trump “a man with no guardrails” and claimed the former president wants to “take away our rights and freedoms.” Trump, in a Thursday post on Truth Social, called Shapiro “highly overrated” and claimed Harris “will do even less” for Israel than President Joe Biden and that Israel “is in BIG trouble.”
“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, yet she 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,” Trump said in a post. “Judge only by her actions!
“Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had,” Trump added. “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. 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!”
Shapiro responded to Trump’s post later Thursday morning, citing it as evidence that the former president is “obsessed” with him and accused Trump of spewing “hate and division in our politics.”
The Pennsylvania governor also asserted that his state’s voters have “repeatedly rejected” Trump and his preferred candidates, pointing to failed 2022 gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, while also predicting another loss for the former president in the Keystone State to Harris in November.
“I think you all heard me talk last night at the DNC — the exact polar opposite of what Donald Trump is talking about,” Shapiro said. “I’m talking about real freedom, bringing people together, accepting folks no matter what they look like, where they come from, who they love, who they pray to, and saying this is a place for you.
“That’s diametrically opposed to everything Donald Trump believes, and it’s clear that he’s going to continue to be the hateful, divisive person that he’s always been in this campaign,” he added. “And I think given his track record, it’s clear he’s setting himself up for another defeat.”
Shapiro was widely considered a finalist to be Harris’s running mate before she tapped Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) to join her ticket. Speculation swirled that pressure from anti-Israel groups expressing their concerns over the Pennsylvania governor’s Israel policy and Jewish identity was what hurt his chance of being her running mate, but Shapiro and Harris’s campaign have denied those reports.
Trump has attempted to make Israel a distinguishing factor between his campaign and the Democratic Party, as some parts of the party remain vocally opposed to Israel.
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There have been several anti-Israel protests outside the DNC, and another rally and protest against Israel is expected Thursday in Chicago.
Harris will accept the Democratic Party nomination for president in a prime-time address on Thursday, the final night of the convention.
