Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has condemned a video shared by President Donald Trump depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes as “racist garbage.”
“The idea that anyone would post a video like that, let alone the president of the United States, someone who is supposed to find ways to bring us together, someone who is supposed to appeal to our better angels — this guy seems to always find a lower and lower common denominator,” Shapiro, a Democrat from Montgomery County, said Friday during an appearance at a union training center in Philadelphia.
“Here in Pennsylvania, we respect all people, no matter what they look like, where they come from, who they love, who they pray to, who they choose not to pray to,” Shapiro added. “We don’t scapegoat others, and we certainly don’t peddle in racist videos and other racist statements like the president has made. He needs to do better and I think the good people of Pennsylvania recognize that.”
In a related social media post following the event in Philadelphia, Shapiro referred to the video as “racist garbage” and said the president “sinks to new lows every day.”
Trump’s post containing the video was deleted on Friday. The White House said that a staffer had erroneously posted the video.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican from Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill, also condemned the video in a social media post Friday afternoon.
“Posting this video is unacceptable and thankfully it has been taken down. It should never have been posted and does not represent who we are as a nation. Racism has no place in America,” McCormick wrote on X.
