'UNHINGED': PA Gov. Josh Shapiro slams Trump's speech

[0:00] And more reaction to the president's address includes a joint statement from all 24 of the [0:05] nation's democratic governors who wrote in part, quote, it is deeply alarming that President Trump [0:11] continues to try to undermine free and fair elections. No amount of lies and conspiracy [0:17] theories can change the fact that our country's elections have repeatedly been proven to be safe [0:23] and secure. These attacks are intended to intimidate and silence voters. Democratic [0:28] governors stand ready to fight back against the Trump administration and stop any and all [0:33] unlawful attacks on every American's constitutional right to vote. And one of those democratic governors, [0:41] Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, joins us now. Governor, thanks so much for being with us. [0:45] You know, these elections are going to be determined, the shape of Congress for the next two years will [0:51] be determined by specific swing district races. In your state, it'll be the first district of [0:57] Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania seven, Pennsylvania eight, Pennsylvania 10. And so, as you look [1:02] toward the elections and see that, like, for instance, these four races are obviously going [1:06] to play a key role in where Congress goes, what do you do to ensure that every voter that wants [1:13] to vote can vote in person or by mail? And what do you do when you start hearing the president talking [1:20] about trying to get in the way of that democratic process? Well, good morning. It's good to be back [1:28] on with you. Let me just say, I thought it was an unfortunate day for America to have really an [1:34] unhinged president in the White House spewing a whole bunch of conspiracy theories that are just [1:41] simply not connected to reality. I mean, I will remind you and remind your viewers that every single [1:47] time Donald Trump and his enablers have been forced to produce evidence to back up his ridiculous [1:54] claims, he's failed. You'll remember, I was the attorney general here in Pennsylvania back in 2020. [2:00] He and his enablers took me to court 43 different times to try and throw out votes in Pennsylvania, [2:07] undermine the will of the people. Every single time they went to court, they lost. They went 0 and 43. [2:13] I went 43 and 0. And it was largely because they could never produce the evidence to back up the [2:19] president's BS. When I think about the future, when I think about these midterms to the heart of the [2:26] first part of your question, Joe, we are prepared here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to once again [2:32] have a free and fair, safe and secure election. We are prepared through the great leadership of my [2:38] Secretary of State. Al Schmidt, who I would note, is a Republican. I'm a Democrat because we believe [2:44] here in Pennsylvania, the administration of elections is nonpartisan. It has to be above [2:51] politics. And it has been. We are prepared here in the courts and we are prepared here in the community [2:58] to protect people's right to vote. I thought the Rev made a good point earlier in the show that really [3:04] the whole purpose of this speech seems to be to suppress the vote, particularly in certain minority [3:10] communities. We will not let that happen. People will have access to the ballot box, whether they [3:16] choose to vote by mail or they choose to vote in person. Yeah. I mean, aside from things that were [3:23] said that were completely untrue and conspiracy theories, I mean, you had even Fox News reading [3:30] disclaimers in response to the speech. I'm curious. It feels like another case of the president reading, [3:36] saying the quiet part out loud about his intention. What other concerns does this address to the nation [3:44] say to Americans about what perhaps this administration may have planned for the midterms? [3:53] Well, to your point about saying the quiet part out loud, I wish he would have said the quiet part [3:58] to Xi when he was in China just a couple months ago. I mean, if the president was really actually [4:04] concerned about Chinese attempts to meddle in our elections, he would have raised it when he was [4:11] with Xi. Instead, he went overseas and came home with absolutely nothing. He sort of cowered in the [4:17] presence of Xi. If he was actually really concerned about election integrity, he wouldn't have defunded [4:24] the agency that actually protects states from attempts for foreign interference. It was all [4:30] nonsense. And it was all just simply designed to try and suppress the vote, to try and undermine [4:36] people's confidence. I think instead what you're going to see is an American public that sees right [4:42] through all this nonsense. And my hope is that these midterms will be a referendum on Donald Trump's [4:50] chaos, cruelty and corruption. Yes, in swing states like mine, but also all across the United States, [4:57] for people to show up in record numbers, to speak out against the president's lawlessness and his [5:04] conspiracy theories, and make very, very clear that this is not who we are as Americans. And this is not [5:10] something that we will accept as normal here in this country. And that requires everyone to show up and vote. [5:17] Governor Shapiro, good morning. Let's get into one of the claims I'm sure you saw this week that the [5:22] Department of Homeland Security suggested that yours was one of four states, along with Nevada, [5:27] California and New Jersey, that had, in their estimation, too many non-citizens on its voters [5:32] rule. They did not say that those people actually voted, but they suggested that there were more people [5:38] who were not citizens of this country on their voter rolls. Now, that is something that we will hear [5:43] echoed on different networks and on podcasts. And I'll talk to people who say, did you hear Pennsylvania [5:48] has a bunch of illegal immigrants voting? Can you respond to that claim? Well, first off, we take [5:54] every single claim of someone doing something illegal related to our elections very, very seriously. [6:01] And should we ever find evidence of that, we immediately refer it to prosecutors. I would [6:07] actually note for the record that just yesterday, someone was sentenced here in Pennsylvania to six [6:12] month's house arrest for voting twice for Donald Trump in the past election. We take this stuff very [6:20] seriously. My secretary of state, Al Schmidt, known earlier in his career as someone who has stood up [6:27] against the idea of non-citizens voting. He found an issue with our registration system. This goes back [6:33] years and years and years and worked to fix it. We take the sanctity of our elections very, very seriously. [6:39] It is against the law for non-citizens to vote. What I would say to the administration is if you have [6:45] any real evidence of this, provide it to us. We want to work to make sure that there's integrity [6:50] always in our system as we believe that there is, because we've had free and fair, safe and secure [6:56] elections repeatedly, sometimes where Donald Trump has lost, sometimes where he has won. And so I would [7:03] just say if you got information, share it with us and let's work together to address it. But I think at the [7:08] end of the day, what they really have is a bunch of conspiracy theories and they're just trying to suck [7:13] up to their boss and please him at a time where he is more and more unhinged and disconnected from [7:19] reality. It seems time and time again that when we read stories about actual corruption and voting, [7:27] a lot of times it comes from Republicans who voted for Donald Trump. And it'll be curious to see [7:34] what happens with Ken Paxton. The Texas Tribune reported may have voted illegally [7:38] four or five times in the wrong, wrong locales. I wanted to ask you, Governor, you, we've been talking, [7:47] go ahead. I just, I just want to remind you, Joe, Ken Paxton engaged in a campaign of sedition back [7:54] in the 2020 election. When he filed as attorney general of Texas, he filed with the courts to throw [8:01] out the votes of the people of Pennsylvania. I fought Ken Paxton. I won and we protected the [8:07] votes here in Pennsylvania. And I sure as hell hope the people of Texas stand up and vote against him [8:12] in this election and vote for James Tallarico. Ken Paxton has no respect for the rule of law and [8:18] certainly no respect for the voters here in Pennsylvania. That's why he lost repeatedly. [8:22] Yeah, tried, tried, tried to throw out the votes. Now, it's interesting. You, you talked about, [8:27] we usually talk about four or five Cs that are going to determine the election. You talked about [8:32] chaos, cruelty and corruption. At the top of our C list is costs along with chaos, cruelty and [8:38] corruption. If you could just talk about costs right now in the state of Pennsylvania, [8:44] because we hear it everywhere we go. People are just absolutely hammered by health care costs, [8:50] obviously gas prices, grocery prices, health care, though it keeps coming back. This is something [8:58] Republicans cut Medicaid, you know, in the big horrific bill. And it's something that we kind [9:05] of forgot because so many things have happened, but working Pennsylvanians, working Americans haven't [9:11] forgotten it. They live with it every day. Talk about costs and why that is the top issue [9:18] for voters in Pennsylvania and across America. Yeah, there, there's no question. And you can [9:24] draw a direct line between rising costs and Donald Trump's policies. Let, let me give you just three [9:29] examples. There's, there's probably hundreds I can give you. Let's start with health care. Um, [9:34] you mentioned that 510,000 Pennsylvanians are on their way to losing access to health care because [9:41] Donald Trump and his enablers believe that giving a tax cut to the people at the very top [9:46] and paying for it on the backs of hardworking Pennsylvanians' health care was the answer. [9:52] They were wrong about that. But now 510,000 Pennsylvanians are losing access through the [9:57] Affordable Care Act and through Medicaid. I would add that on top of that 140,000 are losing food [10:04] assistance. You want to talk about the height of cruelty ripping food away from people who are [10:10] hungry. We've also seen the tariffs absolutely decimate our farmers here in Pennsylvania, [10:17] shut down market share, make it harder for them to gain access to sell their crops, to sell their [10:24] products. And by the way, Donald Trump knows this. That's why he came up with a bogus plan on how to [10:29] give them a handout. Then let's just talk about what the average Pennsylvanian is seeing when they go to [10:34] the grocery store, rising prices, largely due to the tariff policies. And then when they go to the gas [10:40] station and they try and fill up, gas costs more at the pump because of the president's war of choice [10:46] in Iran that was wrong to get into. And clearly he has no idea now how to get out of. So whether it's [10:51] at the pump, the grocery store, your health care, our farmers, everybody's getting screwed by Donald [10:57] Trump's higher costs. Here in Pennsylvania, I would note, I've cut taxes 10 different times to put [11:03] money back in people's pockets. Yet every time I put a buck back in somebody's pocket, [11:08] Donald Trump's policies rips two bucks out the other one. It's absolutely unfortunate. And there [11:13] will be a referendum on Donald Trump's chaos, cruelty, corruption, and as you said, Joe, higher costs [11:19] in these midterms. And I'm hoping people show up in record numbers to stand up against that. [11:24] Not to mention housing. Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, [11:29] thank you very much. Thank you, governor.