Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been curiously quiet about the events unfolding at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Even when Michelle and Barack Obama were taking him apart on Tuesday night, Trump wasn’t airing the usual real-time complaints on his Truth Social platform.
But he did feel inspired to give his thumbs a workout on Wednesday night with an antisemitic attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro following Shapiro’s relatively brief speech at the convention.
Shapiro’s speech focused on “real freedom.” He talked about the necessity of funding teachers, fostering safe communities, and enabling Americans to make their own choices about their bodies, their lives, their relationships, and their children. But other than dismissing the speech as “bad” and “badly delivered,” nothing about the content of Shapiro’s speech made it into Trump’s post.
Trump was just there to declare Shapiro a bad Jew.
Watching even a portion of the governor’s speech shows that the delivery and content were anything but bad. It was a solid speech, delivered with zest, to an appreciative audience. CBS called it “fiery.”
Trump’s post makes you question whether he actually watched Shapiro speak at all.
Calling Shapiro an “overrated Jewish Governor” and berating him for failing to “acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had” makes Trump’s note particularly ugly.
Just as Trump has many times set arbitrary rules around who is a “real American,” he now seems to believe he can determine who is a real Jew—and that real Jews can’t also be Democrats.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday morning, Shapiro pushed back against Trump’s stomach-churning post.
“I think it’s clear over the last few years, Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to spew hate and division in our politics,” Shapiro said. “He’s someone who’s routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this.”
Shapiro reminded reporters that not only did Trump lose Pennsylvania in 2020, but his hand-picked candidates lost their races in the state in 2022. That includes Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who lost the governor’s seat to Shapiro in a 15-point blowout.
“[Trump is] the guy who has been repeatedly rejected by the voters in Pennsylvania,” said Shapiro. “He himself in 2020, all of his handpicked candidates have lost and I think he’s headed for another loss to Kamala Harris.”
Shapiro said there was another reason Trump did not like his speech. The wildly popular Democrat said his message was the “exact polar opposite” of what Trump embodies.
“I’m talking about real freedom,” Shapiro said, “bringing people together, accepting folks no matter what they look like, where they come from, who they love, who they pray to and say 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.”
