Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington Township paid a visit to Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park (Cheltenham Township) during a discussion with CBS News Sunday Morning.
Beth Sholom has been the Shapiro family’s place of worship since his childhood, which he described as mostly happy except for his mother’s struggles with mental health.
According to CBS News, he’s never spoken publicly about what he described as childhood trauma, and says the experience led him to public service.
“That constant desire to find a solution to someone else’s problem, that’s driven by childhood trauma,” he said. “There were moments where a switch could be flipped, and there’d be a lot of yelling and a lot of chaos and a lot of tumult in the house.”
The conversation included a promise to “bring down the temperature” of political violence.
“I think political violence has gotten worse in this country since Butler,” Shapiro replied. “And I think it is only gonna get better when all politicians, all people condemn it universally, no matter who’s the target of it, and no matter who carries it out. I don’t care if you’re a left-wing ideology, right-wing ideology; it should not be hard for us to say that it is all wrong.”
He also discussed President Donald Trump’s approach to national safety.
“I think what the president is trying to do is show that he can be the dominant figure, that he can dictate behavior, whether we’re talking about Minneapolis or Greenland or Venezuela,” Shapiro said. “This president wants to try and show what he believes to be strength — that I think is a facade of strength and ultimately a veneer of strength.”
He was asked about a potential presidential run in 2028. His response:
Here’s what I can tell you with absolute certainty: I want to be a part of the dialog that helps shape us going forward into a party that can be one that helps people get a great education, that creates safer communities. I want to help build a Democratic Party that sees us as part of a world order, not going it alone. So yeah, I wanna be a part of shaping that dialog. And then ultimately from that dialogue that we have, there will be people who emerge, who ultimately want to lead that party. And that’s a conversation for another day down the road.
You can watch the interview below:
Shapiro also recently sat down with NPR’s “All Things Considered” to discuss his new memoir. The interview, released today, can be viewed below:
On Saturday, Shapiro spoke to a crowd of nearly 500 in Philadelphia to promote his new book, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Following the talk’s conclusion, he was met by roughly 100 protesters who demanded that he “stop working with ICE.” According to the story, activists are claiming that the Shapiro administration is allowing ICE to access state databases that allegedly provide the agency with Pennsylvanian immigrants’ facial recognition and personal information.
“As the governor, he has an opportunity to step up and lead with conviction, especially at a moment when people are dying in ICE custody,” Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, told The Inquirer. “Instead, he is arming ICE with the information they need to attack his own people.”
Will Simons, Shapiro’s spokesperson, said after the rally that outside agencies “do not have unfettered access to state databases” and that Pennsylvania State Police share information only when it’s necessary for an investigation.
“There are legitimate investigations that involve foreign nationals who have committed crimes in PA or elsewhere that would require immigration enforcement agencies to seek access to information contained in Commonwealth-run databases,” Simons continued.
Shapiro also told The Inquirer that “we can’t be a party that is defined by being negative on Donald Trump all the time.”
Shapiro and his administration filed at least nine lawsuits against the Trump administration in 2025 alongside a laundry list of public criticisms. Earlier this month, he criticized Trump for engaging in a “regime change war” following the capture and extract the now-deposed leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.
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Screengrab: CBS News