Josh Shapiro

Shapiro in 2022

God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics

Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner

Hurricane Katrina Myths and facts about immigration to the United States Ulysses S. Grant Year of the Bible Earl K. Long Ron Paul Moe Tucker

Persons of interest

Paul Wolfowitz Dick Cheney Dennis Kucinich J. D. Vance Benjamin Franklin Rutherford B. Hayes v - t - e

Joshua David Shapiro (1973–) is the current governor of Pennsylvania, being elected in the 2022 midterm elections after utterly trouncing dominionist state senator Doug Mastriano. Prior to that, he was the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 2017-2022. He is the state's third Jewish governor, after Milton Shapp and Ed Rendell. He was strongly considered for the position of Kamala Harris's VP for the 2024 U.S. presidential election ticket, and the choice reportedly came down between him and Minnesota governor Tim Walz, but ultimately he was passed down in favor of the latter.

Attorney generalship

Perhaps his most famous accomplishment as AG was investigating the Catholic church over its child sexual abuse scandal, ultimately finding over 1,000 people who were abused as children and exposing 301 pedophile priests who operated in the state, which led to investigations in other states. He strongly opposed Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in the state, and he gets points for roasting Ted Cruz after Trump asked him to help steal the election. In 2021, he reached a $26 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson and three other pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis. That same year, he also settled the largest criminal case of wage theft in U.S. history, awarding $21 million to workers who were underpaid by a construction company.

However, his record as AG isn't entirely good. He cast the fewest votes in favor of commutation on the state's Board of Pardons, something Senator John Fetterman (who, as lieutenant governor, was on the Board of Pardons at the time) would criticize him for. He also favored enforcing the state's anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) laws on ice cream manufacturer Ben and Jerry's after they decided to stop selling to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Governorship

His governorship got off to a rough start when he appointed Mike Vereb (a Republican no less) as his Secretary of Legislative Affairs. Already a questionable appointment, this severely backfired on him when Vereb was accused of sexual harassment; the case was settled for $295,000 with a non-disclosure agreement, which resulted in him being accused of covering the situation up.

He supported school vouchers to fund private schools, something that put him at odds with the Democratic-controlled state house. After that failed, he did at least support a boost in funding for public schools (this time facing opposition from the Republican-controlled state senate).

It's not all bad, though. He received national attention for his effective response to the 2023 Interstate 95 highway collapse, getting the highway reopened less than two weeks after the accident. He ended state funding of the "Real Alternatives" crisis pregnancy center. He also implemented automatic voter registration in the state.

His being considered for the vice presidency led to increased attention on his views on Palestine. When he was twenty years old, he wrote in an op-ed for his college newspaper, "Palestinians will not coexist peacefully. They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own." However, he says he no longer stands by these views and supports a two-state solution, and in January 2024 he called Benjamin Netanyahu "one of the worst leaders of all time". He also volunteered for the Israeli army, though according to him it was just a high school service project in an army base and he was not "engaged in any military activities". He also didn't really endear himself to the pro-Palestine crowd when he compared pro-Palestine student protesters to the KKK.