Gov. Shapiro slams Oval Office's 'cherry picking' of recent political violence
Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday slammed the Oval Office and the "corners of the dark web" for what he described as "cherry picking" instances of recent political violence to condemn in the wake of the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
In a speech at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit 2025 in Pittsburgh, an annual event borne out of the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 worshipers dead, Shapiro -- who along with his family were the victims of a politically-motivated firebombing in April at the governor's residence in Harrisburg -- said any type of political violence "is all wrong." He said that such selective condemnation of acts of political violence, as he described it, "only further divides us and makes it harder to heal."
"Unfortunately, some, from the dark corners of the internet all the way to the Oval Office, want to cherry-pick which instances of political violence they want to condemn," Shapiro said in his speech.
"There are some who will hear that selective condemnation and take it as a permission slip to commit more violence so long as it suits their narrative, only targets the other side," Shapiro added. "We cannot allow violence to be used as a pretext for more violence. We must reject the rhetoric of vengeance and instead focus, as you are today, on the work of healing."
Following the fatal shooting of Kirk, the founder and CEO of the conservative grassroots political organization Turning Point USA, at an outdoor event on Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, President Donald Trump publicly blamed the "radical left" for the shooting without presenting any evidence to support the allegation.
In remarks recorded in the Oval Office on Saturday, Trump said comments by “the radical left” comparing "wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world's worst mass murderers and criminals" are “directly responsible for the terrorism that we're seeing in our country today."
"My administration will find every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it,” Trump said in the video.
Trump noted several recent acts of political violence in his comments, including an assassination attempt on him in July, 2024, at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., and the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., at a congressional baseball game in Arlington, Va.
The president, however, did not mention recent politically-motivated attacks on Democrats, including the firebombing of Shapiro's residence and the fatal shootings in June of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark, at their home, and the attack the same day by the same suspect that left Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman, also Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, with multiple gunshot wounds.
On Monday, Trump qualified his remarks somewhat when asked in the Oval Office about instances of violence against Democrats.
“I never said it's on one side," Trump said. "I say the radical left causes tremendous violence, and they seem to do it in a bigger way. But the radical left really is – causes a lot of problems for this country. I really think they hate our country."
On Monday, Vice President JD Vance said while hosting Kirk's podcast that "left-wing extremism" is "part of the reason" Kirk was killed.
"Of course, we have to make sure that the killer is brought to justice," Vance said. "And importantly, we have to talk about this incredibly destructive movement of left-wing extremism that has grown up over the last few years and, I believe, is part of the reason why Charlie was killed by an assassin's bullet."
Shapiro said Tuesday that the recent politically motivated attacks occurred in different places and involved different people from different perspectives, but shared "one common thread: people using violence to settle political differences."
"Leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity," the governor said. "Each and every time this type of violence has no place in our society, regardless of what motivates it or who pulls the trigger, who throws the Molotov cocktail, or who wields the weapon. It doesn't matter if it's coming from one side or from the other, directed at one party or the other, one person or another. It is all wrong and it makes us all less safe."
