Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday called for "moral clarity" in the face of rising political violence and condemned the corrosive effects hate-fueled attacks have had on American democracy.
"[T]his 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," said Shapiro. "It doesn't matter if it's coming from one side or from the other, directed at one party or another, one person or another. It is all wrong."
His remarks come amid a marked uptick in attacks targeting both Republicans and Democrats, including assassination attempts against President Donald Trump, a June attack against Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota that killed one and left another wounded, and the recent assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Shapiro himself has been the target of political violence. In April, during the Jewish holiday of Passover, a man firebombed the governor's residence in an attempt to kill Shapiro. Though no one was injured or killed, Shapiro said, "that doesn't mean that the attack hasn't left emotional scars."
"Political violence doesn't only affect those who are directly targeted or their loved ones," Shapiro said, noting that it stifles speech, intimidates and terrorizes. That "affects all of us. It tears at the fabric of American society and the fundamental principles that this nation was founded upon — a nation where civil disagreements should be welcomed."
The U.S. is stuck in a cycle where violence begets violence, Shapiro said, made worse by politicians who "cherry-pick" the instances of political violence they condemn.
Authorities have not yet cited a definitive motive for the shooting of Kirk. Democrats have noted that there has been no shortage of political violence on the right, including the January 6 uprising at the Capitol in Washington D.C., and that Democrats too have been victims. But since Kirk's killing, Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other prominent conservative figures have cast blame on the political left, indicated they will crack down on Kirk's critics, and vowed "vengeance" against left-wing political organizations deemed to be part of a "vast domestic terror movement."
"Censorship — using the long arm of government to silence people, to silence businesses and non-profits and restrict their right to free speech — that will not solve this problem," Shapiro warned. "Prosecuting constitutionally protected speech will only further erode our freedoms and deepen the mistrust [of government]."
Without strong condemnation from political leaders on both sides of the aisle, would-be attackers have a "permission slip to commit more violence," he said.
Trump "has once again failed that leadership test, failed the morality test," Shapiro later told reporters, adding that the president's refusal to condemn violence against his opponents "makes us all less safe."
Shapiro spoke during a keynote address at the fifth annual Eradicate Hate summit in Pittsburgh. The event was founded in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
To combat such violence, Shapiro said, officials must restore the public's faith in government. A lack of faith in such institutions is, he said, the "deeper issue at the root of this dangerous rise of political violence." Unresponsive institutions have exacerbated frustration and hopelessness, leaving some to "find refuge often in the dark corners of the internet where righteous frustration is taken advantage of and used to foment hate.
"What starts with cowardice, keystrokes too often ends up with a trigger being pulled," he added.
Shapiro, a Democrat, was joined at the event by Republican and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. Corbett and other former governors met with Shapiro shortly after the attack at the governor's residence.
"They are Democrats and they are Republicans, leaders of different generations and from different parts of our commonwealth, but they were united in speaking and acting with moral clarity, making clear that hatred and violence has no place here in Pennsylvania," Shapiro said. "Leaders from different parties speaking with one voice to reject the dark cycle of violence and instead bring light."
In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the phrase "stronger than hate" emerged as a statement of support for the Jewish community. It reemerged in Shapiro's closing remarks.
"I believe that in America we are stronger than hate," he said. "But I also believe in America that this work doesn't just fall to others. It falls to each and every one of us."
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