Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention were very well received, though Donald Trump was apparently unimpressed. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Former President Donald Trump ranted on his social-media platform, Truth Social, early on Thursday about Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, calling him “The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The Republican presidential candidate also slammed Shapiro for refusing “to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had.” The post is the latest in a string of attacks Trump has made toward Jewish Democrats, whom he considers disloyal.
Even for Trump, who peddles antisemitic tropes as a matter of course, this was bizarre.
In a middle-of-the-night tirade, the GOP candidate began by arguing, “The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech.” Whether Trump understands this or not, the fact that he emphasized the governor’s faith was itself emblematic of his prejudice: When the former president lashes out at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, he doesn’t call him a “highly overrated Lutheran governor.” When Trump whines about House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, he doesn’t call her a “highly overrated Catholic congresswoman.”
But when targeting Shapiro, the Republican apparently finds it necessary to call out the governor’s religion — which says quite a bit about Trump, and none of it’s good.
In the same online missive, 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.” In other words, as far as the GOP candidate is concerned, in the history of Israel, no other human being — in the United States or abroad — has ever done more for the country than him, which is unintentionally hilarious.
In case that weren’t quite enough, the former president went on to say that Vice President Kamala Harris “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.”
To the extent that reality still has any meaning, there’s literally no evidence of the Democratic presidential hopeful “hating” Israel, but this sentence stood out for me for an entirely different reason: While Trump habitually publishes angry screeds to his social media platform in the middle of the night, it’s difficult to believe that it was his hands that wrote that Israel is making “its journey through the complexities of survival.”
In other words, Trump didn’t just peddle offensive nonsense, he also might’ve had some help putting this one together.
For a politician who’s a little too eager to falsely accuse his opponents of antisemitism, this was ridiculous.
Indeed, Trump's rhetoric was so ugly that a White House spokesperson condemned his missive, saying, “It is Antisemitic, dangerous, and 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 himself wasn't impressed with Trump's nonsense, either.
“I mean, first off, 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," the governor said. "He’s someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this. Look, remember, he’s the guy who wanted Doug Mastriano to have his job. He’s the guy who has been repeatedly rejected by the voters of Pennsylvania. He himself lost in 2020, all of his handpicked candidates have lost, and I think he’s heading for another loss — this time to Kamala Harris.
"I think you all heard me talk last night at the DNC — the exact polar opposite of what Donald Trump is talking about. 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. And I think given his track record, it’s clear he’s setting himself up for another defeat.”