Former President Donald Trump laid into Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro after his speech at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, calling him a "highly overrated Jewish governor" who won't admit that he is the "best friend" Israel has ever had.
Shapiro, Trump posted on his Truth Social page, "made a really bad and poorly delivered speech" while fighting for Democrat nominee Kamala Harris.
"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," he said.
The GOP presidential nominee added that the governor, "for strictly political reasons" would not 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," Trump added, calling on voters to judge Harris on her actions.
"Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will," he further claimed. "Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less. Israel is in BIG trouble!"
Shapiro, who had been on Harris' short list for running mate, sharply criticized Trump in his speech, telling the DNC that if Trump is voted back into office, that would threaten Americans' freedom, reports Newsweek.
"While he cloaks himself in the blanket of freedom, what he's offering isn't freedom at all," Shapiro said. "It's not freedom to tell our children what books they're allowed to read. And it's not freedom to tell women what they can do with their bodies, and hear me on this, it sure as hell is not freedom to say 'You can go vote but he gets to pick the winner.' That's not freedom."
Shapiro strongly supports Israel and has faced criticism from progressives for comments he's made about Palestinians and pro-Palestinian protesters.
He has also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to him as a "failed leader" who has led Israel "in a very dangerous direction."
This past Saturday, Trump claimed during a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania that the Harris campaign bypassed Shapiro as a running mate "because he's Jewish," which the governor strongly denied.
"He's trying to use me and he's trying to use other Jews to divide Americans further," Shapiro commented Monday after concluding remarks to his state's delegation at the convention.
"Antisemitism played absolutely no role in my dialogue with the vice president," he added. "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. There is no place for it in the Democratic Party, and there is no place for it in our country."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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