Josh Shapiro Doesn't Need An Anger Translator When Ripping Apart JD Vance
He's definitely running.
Senate Democrats caved last night and ended the extended government shutdown in exchange for a delicious doorstop. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, so instead I’ll focus instead on Democrats who are actually fighting.
I was pleased to see Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro rhetorically kick Vice President JD Vance in the teeth last week. Shapiro was responding to Vance’s annoyance that a federal court might prevent the Trump administration from letting people starve.
“As for JD Vance, I gotta say, look, I think … America has a president, a vice president that don’t give a damn about all Americans,” Shapiro said. “They have made that crystal clear. And I mean, at least with Donald Trump, he’s transparent about that. JD Vance is a total phony.”
“And let me explain why: JD Vance rose to some prominence by writing a book about growing up in Appalachia where there’s a whole lot of people who get SNAP. He made millions of dollars on the backs of telling their stories, and then he turned his damn back on those very people who he likes to write about and claim as his own.” (Watch below.)
And Shapiro wasn’t done:
Here’s another thing JD Vance claims. He claims to be a person of faith. I know my Bible. And my Bible teaches us that we are to love thy neighbor and we are too feed the hungry. Deuteronomy says, ‘if you see a person who is in need, you don’t give them a clenched fist, you open up your hand.’
So for JD Vance now to turn around after claiming all these things his whole life and literally go to court to stop hungry people from eating, that is not only phony, it is shameful. And this is who is leading America today. And folks gotta wake up and realize the people who are leading in America quite literally wanna keep people hungry.
And you’ll excuse me for getting emotional about it, but when I see hungry people in my state who are hungry because of JD Vance’s bullshit politics, that makes me angry. And that’s why I went to court. And that is why we’re funding Share. And that is why we are putting dollars back on people’s SNAP cards, because that’s what. The people of Pennsylvania deserve, and America deserves better than JD Vance.
This was the type of speech that doesn’t simply make headlines. It defines a moment. Shapiro didn’t hide his rage. He didn’t use folksy terms like “malarkey” but instead directly called out Vance’s “bullshit politics.” Shapiro is often accused of imitating Barack Obama’s speech patterns, which is hardly the worst thing a young politician could do. However, Obama rarely let himself get angry — there was a whole Key & Peele bit about this. Even when criticizing bad actors on the right, Obama maintained a cool detachment from any righteous fury that might exist beneath the surface. Shapiro isn’t afraid of losing his cool.
Shapiro obviously distinguishes himself from sell-out puppet job John Fetterman, a profile in cowardly appeasement, but he also stands out from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who enabled Donald Trump’s strongman persona when she met him on his terms. California Gov. Gavin Newsom drew a clear line in the sand when he said, “You can’t work with Donald Trump. You can only work for him, and I will never work for Donald Trump.” Whitmer fell into the obvious trap when trying to work with Trump in the mistaken belief that this would best serve her constituents. Newsom and Shapiro both understand and have now made clear that standing up to Trump and fighting him at every level is how you best serve your constituents and democracy.
It’s safe to assume, especially if you’ve read Kamala Harris’s new memoir, that Josh Shapiro wants to be president. So does California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has defined himself as a Trump opponent. Shapiro has moved into a separate lane and set his sights on Vance. This is a smart move. Vance will either become president before 2028, if his boss dozes off permanently, or he’s the likely frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Politico reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio isn’t even considering challenging Vance if the vice president decides to run. This says a lot about how Republicans view the political landscape in 2028. After all, no one’s standing down because they think Vance is a formidable political candidate. Vance was the only one of seven statewide general election candidates backed by Trump in 2022 who actually won their races. This doesn’t make him a political wunderkind. It just means he was slightly less creepy than Blake Masters and less overtly buffoonish than Hershel Walker. Of course, Ohio is a solid red state, so he pretty much coasted to victory once Trump dragged him across the finish line in the primary.
If Republicans collectively take a pass on 2028, it’s not because they’re genuinely afraid of Vance’s political might. They just realize their options are limited. Either Trump will break the Constitution and attempt to remain in power forever or there’ll be an actual election where the Republican nominee would have to stand atop the flaming dumpster fire that Trump has created.
In 2014, a Gallup poll showed that Hillary Clinton was the best liked of all potential presidential candidates. (No recreational meth users were surveyed so Trump wasn’t included yet.) Her support started to decline in 2015, once it was clear she was actually running. Republicans had attacked Clinton with renewed zeal through their admittedly bogus Benghazi hearings. However, Vance is merely Trump’s Disney villain henchman and he’s the most disliked new vice president in history. It’s doubtful that getting to know him better will help.
During the very brief period when President Joe Biden’s approval was above water, Republicans quickly went to work defining Harris and creating a negative image that the Biden White House didn’t spend much time (or any, really) contradicting. Shapiro has succinctly summed up Vance as a moral fraud, a sociopath in cheap clothing who will say anything and betray anyone to advance his own interests. Harris claims she resisted calling Vance a “motherfucka” but Shapiro is one more missed SNAP payment away from doing so. Shapiro sets up the difference between Trump and Vance — Trump is transparently terrible but Vance is a muthafucka no one can trust. Everything about him is fake — except the rubbish beard, which is unfortunately real.
Some Democrats online have already expressed concerns that the “left” will sabotage Shapiro and cost him the 2028 nomination. This seems unreasonably paranoid. After all, the Democratic Party has consistently nominated candidates like Shapiro. The left’s supposed “veto” power is greatly overstated. Still, I don’t think Democratic primary voters in 2028 will immediately embrace a candidate who just looks good on paper. They’ll want someone who’s willing to fight. This is why I was heartened by Shapiro’s remarks on Friday. He’s started to play for keeps.
There’s got to be a term for Democrats willing to fight with cunning and ruthlessness—I’ll use the term “Sicilian” in reference to the consiglieri Genco Abbandando from the Godfather book, as his crafty “wartime” counsel served Don Vito well. (I know these Dems aren’t literally Sicilian, Shapiro is Jewish and I’ll assume Newsom is Episcopalian without looking it up—but we can all be Sicilian in spirit when fighting a fascist regime just as Sicilians fought the Moors, Norse, and OG fascists).
Schumer and Co are no Sicilians, they aren’t even Tom Hagens, it seems their whole goal is to insulate dipshit voters from the consequences of electing Republicans and folding at every sign of opposition. We need fighters who will use the media even while openly battling against that same media, who call out Republicans as scumbags, and worry less about not offending voters than about saying what they really think. (Clearly offending voters doesn’t keep them from voting for you, notice the Hispanics that trended steadily towards Trump and guess what, Trump repeatedly insults white non college voters too—when you try not to offend you just look fake and weak).
Thank you for this post about a Democrat who is fighting! It's good to know that some Dem leaders are indeed fighting, although they all seem to be white male governors. Some Dems in Congress are fighters, but unfortunately, they aren't in leadership positions. Shapiro has picked the right fight at the right time, and being a white male, can afford to get angry in public. I love how he quoted the Bible and threw Vance's supposed faith right into his teeth! And from the OT - does have fire and brimstone, but there is plenty of helping those in need in it, which people seem to forget.