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Donald Trump launched a blistering middle-of-the-night attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro branding him “the highly overrated Jewish Governor”.
The Republican presidential nominee’s rant appeared to have been provoked by Shapiro’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, where he hit out at Trump saying that he “isn’t offering freedom at all” to the American people.
Shapiro, who had been on the shortlist to become Kamala Harris’s running mate in the presidential election, told the convention on Wednesday night: “It’s not freedom to tell our children what books they’re allowed to read. It’s not freedom to tell women what they can do with their bodies.
“And, hear me on this, it sure as hell isn’t freedom to say you can go vote, but he gets to pick the winner.”
Taking to Truth Social after the DNC closed out for the day, Trump fired back at Shapiro while claiming that he himself “has done more for Israel than any person.”
“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,” he said, pushing one of his repeated baseless attacks.
“Yet 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”.
On Thursday morning, Shapiro hit back at Trump’s comments, describing them as “antisemitic tropes”.
“First off, it’s clear over the last few weeks that Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to spew hate and division in our politics,” he told reporters.
“He’s someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this. Remember, he’s the guy who wanted Doug Mastriano to have this job. He’s the guy who has been repeatedly rejected by the voters of Pennsylvania, he himself lost in 2020.
“All of [Trump’s] handpicked candidates have lost, and I think he’s heading for another loss this time to Kamala Harris.”
Trump has previously baselessly claimed that it was “very insulting to Jewish people” that Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate – rather than Shapiro. Harris’s own husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.
He has also made other wild claims about the Israel Gaza conflict including claiming there would be a world war in the Middle East if he does not return to the White House this November.
“If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all going to work out, and very quickly. If we don’t, you’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East, and maybe a third world war,” he said as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago last month.
