‘Highly Overrated Jewish Governor’: Trump Attacks Josh Shapiro for Supporting Kamala Harris, Cites Israel Support

Former US President Donald Trump attacked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris while being Jewish in a social media post on Thursday.

“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 Truth Social site.

“Yet,” Trump continued, “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.”

Shapiro was a leading contender to be named as Harris’s vice-presidential running mate. However, Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and many observers speculated Shapiro was passed over due to his Jewish faith and support for Israel. Shapiro denied those rumors this week and declared his support for Harris, the current US vice president.

Trump’s post went on to say that “Shapiro, 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.”

Shapiro, on the other hand, “has done nothing for Israel, and never will,” argued Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

The comments were met with strong pushback from Democrats and some conservatives.

Herbie Ziskend, a spokesperson for US President Joe Biden, wrote that it is “antisemitic, dangerous & hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way, or perpetuating the centuries-old smear of ‘dual loyalty.'”

Shapiro also responded, telling reporters, “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.

Meanwhile, Phillip Klein, editor of National Review — a prominent US conservative magazine — wrote on X/Twitter that “if Trump’s intention was to alienate every possible gettable Jewish voter who has been disillusioned by Dems but still unsure if they could vote for him, this was an A+ post.”

Tim Carney, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a columnist at the Washington Examiner, jumped in, adding, “His [Trump’s] intention was — well, he barely can be said to have intentions. He’s a petulant and incontinent child. Everything is about him. His definition of good person is a person who adores Trump.”

Trump appeared on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Wednesday, where he also spoke about Israel and Jews.

The former president doubled down on using the word Palestinian as a derogatory term. “If they [Hamas] hold out [from a ceasefire deal], they know they’re going to win [the war], because so much pressure is being put on Israel,”Trump said. “Right now, Israel, the pressure that’s being put on them by Biden and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, who’s frankly, you know, Schumer is, like is he a member of Hamas? Is he a Palestinian?”

Trump went on to attack American Jews who support Democrats — a group that makes up at least a two-thirds majority of Jews in the US. “I don’t know, how would a Jewish person contribute to Democrats right now?” he asked.

In an interview with Fox News in July, Trump derided anti-Israel Jews as well.

“For whatever reason you have Jewish people out there wearing yarmulkes, and they’re, you know, pro-Palestine. You’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

During his single term as president, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; cut aid to UNRWA, the controversial United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees; and helped facilitate the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s relations with several Arab countries. He also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria.

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