Pennsylvania governor says US must 'turn the tide' against political violence, reject vengeance

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that the nation's leaders must “turn the tide” against political violence and reject vengeance, and accused President Donald Trump of failing the moment's test of leadership.

Shapiro, a Democrat, delivered remarks as the keynote speech at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, days after the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, and later, while answering reporters' questions.

Shapiro said political leaders must condemn all forms of political violence and reject the “rhetoric of vengeance."

“It is all wrong, and it makes us all less safe. During moments like these, I believe we have a responsibility to be clear and unequivocal in calling out all forms of political violence, making clear it is all wrong,” Shapiro said. “That shouldn’t be hard to do.”

Violence must not be used as a pretext for more violence or to prosecute constitutionally protected speech, he said, saying that political violence not only injures or kills, but affects everyone because it terrorizes, silences and “tears at the fabric of American society.”

Shapiro has criticized Trump as using the “rhetoric of rage” in the wake of Kirk's killing, and on Tuesday, he again pointedly singled out the president while speaking to reporters.

Trump and some of his allies are “cherry-picking certain violence that is OK and certain violence that is not OK, that is making everyone less safe and it’s raising the temperatures instead of lowering the temperatures,” Shapiro said.

Americans should be united in saying it's wrong to celebrate Kirk's killing and to stand up to people who are calling for vengeance and revenge.

“I don’t care if it’s coming from the left or the right. We need to be universal in our condemnation. And the president has once again failed that leadership test, failed the morality test, and it makes us all less safe,” Shapiro said.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Kirk's killing on “ the radical left ” or said the problem of political violence "is on the left. ”

The White House responded in a statement Tuesday that Trump — as the survivor of assassination attempts and a close friend of Kirk — understands the dangers of political violence better than anyone.

The White House said Trump has urged Americans to “commit themselves to the American values for which Charlie Kirk lived and died” — such as free speech and the rule of law — but that he and his administration maintain that “radical leftists” have inspired left-wing violence by calling political opponents “Nazis and Fascists.”

“It must end,” the White House said.

In April, Shapiro and his family fled the governor's official residence in the middle of the night after an alleged arsonist broke in and set it on fire in an attempt to kill Shapiro.

The governor, who is considered a potential White House contender in 2028's presidential election, had been asleep with his wife, children and extended family after celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover there.

In his remarks, Shapiro said too many people don't believe government and the nation's institutions can solve problems. Instead, they find refuge on the internet where their frustration is taken advantage of and used to foment hate, he said.

“It leads to a belief among some that the only way they can address their problems is through violence,” Shapiro said. "They find online those who glorify violence and urge it on."

That, he said, “is dangerous for our democracy, and we need to turn the tide.”

The Eradicate Hate conference, in its fifth year, was started after a gunman attacked and killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

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Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter.