Even by the convoluted standards of politics, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democrats are playing a strange game after the arson attack over Gaza on the governor’s mansion.
Gov. Shapiro has refused to discuss the motive for the attack even while Democrats, including supporters of campus Hamas activists like Halie Soifer, who heads the Jewish Democratic Council of America, blame Trump for an attack by one of their own people. This bait and switch depends on Shapiro keeping his mouth shut even as Dems attack Trump for not saying enough about the attack by a terrorist supporter.
What does Gov. Shapiro think about an attempt to kill his family over Gaza? Don’t ask him. Is it a hate crime? It would be inappropriate for him to comment on the matter.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said it would be inappropriate for him to label the fire last weekend at his official residence “a hate crime” — and didn’t think it was helpful for outsiders to do so either.
Speaking in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Shapiro said, “I know as a former prosecutor how important it is to follow the evidence and apply the law and to do so without fear or favor. In this case, I’m the victim of the crime. I’m not the prosecutor. The prosecutors will weigh all the different evidence, determine what the motive is.”
This is not integrity, it’s dishonesty.
Hate crimes charges would most likely be federal. Shapiro is a state official and even if the charges were brought by the state, there would be no involvement by the governor’s office. State prosecutors are fully capable of investigating the attack even if Shapiro were to condemn the perp’s stated motive.
Instead, Shapiro keeps dodging and weaving, treating the whole thing as some sort of universal problem.
“This is, sadly, a real part of our society today,” Shapiro told Stephanopoulos, “and it needs to be universally condemned, George. I don’t care if it’s coming from the left, from the right. I don’t care if it’s coming from someone who you voted for, or someone who you didn’t vote for, someone on your team or someone on the other team.”
This one ain’t coming from the right. If it were, Gov. Shapiro would have condemned it by now.
Everyone knows that this ‘both sides have problems’ stuff, whether it’s true or not, tends to come out when it’s your side doing something wrong.
Society has issues, but in this case, Gov. Shapiro is trying not to talk about what happened because condemning antisemitism and support for terrorism within his own party is a career killer.
