Donald Trump invoked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s religion while attacking him early Thursday in a rambling rant about Judaism and Israel.
The former president made the remarks in a Truth Social post hours after Shapiro spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Shapiro used the speech to describe Trump as “a man with no guardrails” who “wants to take away our rights and our freedoms.”
“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 in his post.
He continued to claim that Harris “hates Israel” and hopes “in the end that it will fail.”
“Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had,” Trump wrote. “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.”
The Republican nominee signed off his post claiming Harris “stole” the Democratic nomination from President Joe Biden and will do “even less” than Shapiro to support Israel. “Israel is in BIG trouble!” Trump wrote.
Shapiro, asked for his reaction to the unhinged post, said that Trump is “obsessed” with him and has “set himself up for another defeat.”
“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... It’s clear that he is going to continue to be the hateful, divisive person that he’s always been in this campaign.”
Trump has previously claimed that Harris’ decision to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Shapiro as her running mate was “very insulting to Jewish people,” insisting that she did so “because of the fact that he’s Jewish.”
This week, Shapiro hit back, telling reporters that Trump is “the least credible person to listen to when it comes to hate and bigotry and certainly antisemitism.”
“Antisemitism played absolutely no role in my dialogue with the vice president,” Shapiro said. “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.”