Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro the former president mocked Donald Trump and gave advice Vice President Kamala Harris while speaking with POLITICO on Wednesday evening.
Shapiro, who is scheduled to deliver a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight, spoke with John Harriseditor-in-chief of POLITICO, spoke for 35 minutes on a range of topics, including Trump, whom Shapiro criticized as a surrogate for Biden, and Harris.
“Since that night in 2016, every time Donald Trump or one of his descendants has been on the ballot, he has been defeated,” Shapiro said. “I have defeated his descendants, Doug Mastrianoand many other candidates who have tried to embrace Trumpism have lost. You’ve seen it not just statewide. You’ve seen it in school board elections. You’ve seen it in other competitive districts. So I think while there’s some energy and passion there, it’s not a winning formula.
“Remember 2016, but he lost in 2020 by twice as many votes as he won in 2016, so let’s not lose sight of that fact and let’s not lose sight of the fact that Donald Trump, when he was in office, brought a lot of chaos, fewer jobs and a lot less freedom to Pennsylvania and this entire country.”
Shapiro, perhaps foreshadowing his speech on Wednesday, reminded listeners of Trump’s time in the White House.
“Remember what he did when he had the keys to the White House, when he first took away millions of women’s basic freedom to make decisions about their own bodies,” the governor said. “And remember, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing when he got there, and there were guardrails around him. There were people around him who were stopping him from doing things. He’s out of touch. He has no guardrails. He has no convictions beyond, you know, 34 felonies. And this is a guy who is now, fundamentally, a danger to our democracy and wants to restrict more of our freedoms and inject more chaos into our lives.”
First-term Commonwealth Governor weighs in on Minnesota’s choice Governor Tim Walz for the second spot on the Democratic ticket, after widespread speculation that Shapiro was being seriously considered for the position.
“This has never been a political conversation,” Shapiro said. “I said for the two weeks leading up to this that this is a deeply personal decision for the vice president. Sure, it’s a deeply personal decision for me, too, right? And that’s why I think it’s important for people to understand that. Sure, there are political considerations, but ultimately it’s about her vision for this office and who is best suited to fill that vision for this office.”
“I say this with respect to every other elected official, I think I got the best job in American politics as governor of Pennsylvania. One of the things I say as I travel around the Commonwealth and try to motivate people to pass legislation or make investments to help other people is that I think every Pennsylvanian should have the freedom to chart their own course and have the opportunity to succeed. And I’ve always tried to do politics in a way that I could chart my own course, and I love doing that.”
The governor praised the Harris-Walz team for not ignoring areas of Pennsylvania other than Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or their immediate suburbs.
“I think what I’ve seen from the Vice President and Governor Walz over the last week is showing up in a community like Beaver County, which is in southwestern Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. It’s a really important sign that they understand the importance of not only women in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and the suburbs of Philadelphia, but also in these other communities that have often been left behind. There are other communities like this. They’re showing up there.”
He also gave the vice president advice on the key to success in Pennsylvania: “Just keep moving.”
“I think I see a candidate in Kamala Harris who knows she’s going to get hit politically, but she has a history of taking it and hitting it back even harder,” Shapiro said. “I see Donald Trump having no idea how to deal with her because he doesn’t know how to deal with strong women. I think we’ve seen that throughout his failed career, and he’s someone who I think, even if he figures out how to deal with that blow, he’s going to get a quick counterpunch. The key is Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Just keep going. Take it. Keep going. Stay on the offensive.”
Shapiro, a devout Jew, also spoke out on anti-Semitism.
“It’s true that there is anti-Semitism in our country, and let’s be honest, it’s true that there is anti-Semitism in our politics, in both parties,” the governor said. “I think it’s really crucial for leaders to speak and act with moral clarity, to speak out against that. I also think that moral clarity shouldn’t just be about speaking out against anti-Semitism. We’ve seen an augment in Islamophobia. We need to stand up and speak out against the things that we will never tolerate — racism, homophobia, any form of hate and bigotry. And by the way, the number one guy who pushes those kinds of tropes into our politics is Donald Trump, so we need to speak out against that.
“What happened on October 7th must be condemned by all,” he continued. “The 1,200 people who died at a music festival, a kibbutz in their community, hundreds taken hostage, including Americans, some of them losing sight of it, at the hands of a specific terrorist organization, Hamas, defined by the United States government. It is true that we have to mourn them. It is also true that we can mourn those who are dying in Gaza, the innocent lives that are being lost there, that are being taken there. I don’t think those two concepts are mutually exclusive.”
Shapiro also addressed his relationship with Pennsylvania’s junior senator – Jan Fetterman.
“I think people are making too big of a deal out of this,” he said. “And listen to my team, John’s team, Bob Casey’s team, our entire congressional delegation, Republicans, Democrats, we all work really well together. They do important work for Pennsylvania. I need them to succeed so we can succeed in Pennsylvania. They need me to succeed so they can do what they do at the federal level, and I’m grateful for their service. I’m grateful for John’s service, Bob Casey’s service, and we’ll continue to work well together.”
