Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro argued on Sunday that the Democratic Party’s issues go far deeper than mere surface-level rhetoric, suggesting the party has been long overdue for an internal reckoning.
Shapiro spoke with podcast host Sam Fragoso of the “Talk Easy” podcast about what it means to govern one of the most prominent swing states at a time when the Democratic Party is trying to discern where to go following this moment of uncertainty under President Donald Trump.
Shapiro pushed back multiple times against the host when he suggested that the Democrats have a “messaging” problem.
“I would respectfully disagree with you. I think it’s less about messaging and more about doing,” Shapiro replied. He argued that merely passing legislation is only the first step, which must be followed by sending out the money to actually make initiatives happen. Only then should it be followed by praising it as an accomplishment.
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“Too often times we never got to that second step of driving the money out or making the policy change, so people could see something different in their lives,” he argued.
Fragoso went on to cite a new NBC poll, where he noted, “The only topics that were less popular than AI were the Democratic Party and Iran.”
“Is that right?” Shapiro asked. “I didn’t see the poll.”
Fragoso went on to note that in the decade he’s hosted the show, he has never before seen such anxiety about the state of the middle class and widespread distrust of institutions.
Shapiro replied that his whole reason for being involved in politics is because he believes that things actually can get better, but at the same time, has seen how institutions have failed Americans.
When asked how he thinks the Democratic Party has failed, he replied, “I think we have failed to deliver tangible results for people. Let me explain further. I think for too many parents, they feel like their kids’ school hasn’t gotten better over generations.”
“In Pennsylvania, we’ve increased our investment by 30% in public education,” he said, touting his own state. “Test scores are up, graduation rates are up, truancy is down, the number of teachers is rising.”
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“I think too often times people see violence in their communities and don’t believe government gives a damn about solving it. We’ve driven down the level of crime across Pennsylvania.”
“I think too many people grow up in neighborhoods that they love, but they feel like they’re not going to be able to get a job there, and so they leave,” he said, citing another issue. “Pennsylvania, we’ve got the only growing economy in the Northeast. We’re creating more jobs than all but three other states.”
“Those are tangible things that people see in their lives getting better,” he concluded. “That’s what we need to be for.”
But as he is but one leader in the Democratic Party, he went on to argue that it, as an institution, is due for a reckoning, claiming the last time it had such an internal battle was the election of President Bill Clinton in 1992. The other successful Democratic presidents, by contrast, were exceptional cases.
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Former President Barack Obama, he said, was a figure who managed to unite the country, and former President Joe Biden was merely a panicked escape from then-President Donald Trump. Neither of those, he argued, were times when the Democrats had an internal discussion hashing out what the party is actually about in the same way as former President Bill Clinton’s election in 1992.
“But again, not taking anything away from President Biden, that was not a big ideological battle. We need to have that. And so, here’s what I can tell you with absolute certainty,” he said. “I’m going to be part of that.”
