Gov. Josh Shapiro during a campaign event for President Joe Biden at Montgomery County Community College January 5, 2024 in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Gov. Josh Shapiro admonished former President Donald Trump to “quit whining” during a TV appearance Monday night, and said it was crucial not to give the former president the opportunity to appoint more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“All they hear from Donald Trump is a whole bunch of whining about this country, and I think Donald Trump’s got to quit whining, got to quit trying to divide us,” Shapiro said during a spot on Inside with Jen Psaki on MSNBC, describing how he viewed Pennsylvanians’ attitudes toward Trump. 

“More people went to work this morning in America than at any other time in our nation’s history,” he added. “So I got a message to Donald Trump and all his negativity and his whining, stop s–t talking America. This is the greatest country on Earth, and it’s time that we all start acting like it.”

Asked if he thought Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts would influence Pennsylvania voters who are undecided, Shapiro added that he didn’t know “how the conviction will play out.”

Shapiro noted that Trump’s victory in 2016 led to enough justices serving on the court to overturn Roe v. Wade  — Trump appointed three justices during his term — and said other rights could be at risk if he retakes the presidency. 

“You really want to give Donald Trump the ability to appoint more Samuel Alitos to the court, more Clarence Thomases to the court,” Shapiro said. “You really want to give him the ability to put more people on the court who are going to take away our fundamental freedoms?”

“I really fear that this was just the beginning, and if Donald Trump is given the ability to lead this nation again to put more of those kinds of justices on the court, it will not only set us back for four years, it will set us back for 40 years,” he added.

As of June 10, President Joe Biden and Trump are slated to be on the Pennsylvania ballot for November’s election, although multiple third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are making a push to appear on the ballot as well. 

But Shapiro called the presidential election a “binary choice.” 

“Don’t let anybody tell you there’s other people on the ballot,” Shapiro said. “Bunch of randos on the ballot with no chance of winning, this is a binary choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

A Pennsylvania poll from Mainstreet Research, PolCom Lab and Florida Atlantic University released June 4 shows Trump leading Biden by 2 points in a head-to-head matchup, however, when Kennedy is added as a choice, he pulls 8% of the vote and provides Biden with a 2 point advantage over Trump.

Following the 2020 election, Trump sued several battleground states, including Pennsylvania, over the outcome of the race. Shapiro was the state’s attorney general at the time and noted Trump’s attempts to overturn the election were unsuccessful. 

“He complains, he bemoans the fact that he lost, and he makes up excuses and tries to pivot away from personal responsibility,” Shapiro said. He added that if Trump wins, he’d attempt to “exact revenge” on enemies via the justice system, adding that should “scare all Americans.” 

The Republican National Committee replied to a request for response to Shapiro’s comments late Monday without mentioning the governor by name, instead focusing on Biden.

“Joe Biden’s approval rating is underwater in Pennsylvania and Democrats know it,” RNC spokesperson Rachel Lee said in an email to the Capital-Star . “Despite their best attempts to gaslight voters, the Keystone State knows that failed Joe Biden is to blame for soaring costs, a spiraling border crisis, and staggering crime rates across the country.”

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