Donald Trump raised eyebrows by highlighting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's Jewish faith when the ex-president slammed Shapiro's speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Democratic governor, who was widely seen as a frontrunner to become Kamala Harris' running mate before she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, undercut Trump's message by arguing that Republicans opposed freedom – including the freedom to vote for anyone but him – and the former president raged after midnight on social media.
"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, yet 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," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Judge only by her actions! Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had."
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"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," Trump added. "Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will. Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less. Israel is in BIG trouble!"
The Republican nominee's statement shocked many social media users.
"Trump deciding he needs to put 'Jewish' in front of Governor for Shapiro here," said Sam Stein, of the Bulwark and MSNBC.
"I’m Jewish. My relatives were killed in the Holocaust. Trump is a gonif," said author and journalist Nancy Levine Stearns, using the Yiddish word for a disreputable person.
"Catching up on last night and the deranged ranting of a senile old man in Florida," added national security attorney Bradley Moss.
“'The highly overrated Jewish Governor' yiiiiiiiikes," said X user Armand Domalewski.
"Is a Jewish Governor different than a regular governor?" asked X user Michael Freeman.
"Trump calls Governor Josh Shapiro: 'Highly overrated Jewish governor,'" said a group called Republicans Against Trump. "This is not normal."
"Donald Trump didn’t have to call Josh Shapiro the 'Jewish Governor,'" said attorney Aaron Parnas. "As a Jewish American, I’m appalled by Donald Trump and his rhetoric."
"I know it's passé to think Trump's rhetoric matters, but Trump has said multiple obviously antisemitic things over the years, including just now," added Steven White, a political science professor at Syracuse University. "Imagine if a Democrat started a screed by referring to someone as that 'overrated Jewish Governor.' It would be headline news."
