Gov Shapiro Meet the Press Political Violence Trump Admin Attacks Free Speech | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Harrisburg, PA - This Sunday on NBC's Meet The Press with Kristen Welker, Governor Josh Shapiro spoke about the tragic loss of three police officers in York County, the need to speak and act with moral clarity in response to all forms of political violence, and the Trump Administration's dangerous attacks on Americans' fundamental freedoms - including the freedom of speech.

Last week, the Governor also delivered a keynote address at the 2025 Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, where he stressed that censorship and vengeance are not solutions - and that in this moment, leaders must focus on healing, protecting free speech, and bringing people together.

See below for key excerpts from Governor Shapiro's Meet The Press interview - and watch the full conversation here.

ON THIS MOMENT IN AMERICA:
(video mark 2:19)

"I think we're at an inflection point as a nation, and I think we can go in a number of different ways. I hope we go the direction of healing, of bringing people together, of trying to find our commonalities, not just focus on our differences.

"You referenced the firebombing and the attempted murder on my life and our family in April, at the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg. We could have very easily, at that moment, as a Commonwealth, slipped into a dark place. Instead, what I saw was a whole lot of light, a whole lot of people from all different walks of life, all different faiths, all different backgrounds, all different parties coming together to not just support me and my family, but to support our Commonwealth. [...]

"We've got to find our better angels. We've got to universally condemn political violence, no matter where it is - whether it's against Charlie Kirk or someone else - it is not okay, and we all have to work together to condemn it. We got to find our better angels, the way we did here in Pennsylvania."

ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S EFFORTS TO CENSOR FREE SPEECH:
(video mark 9:10)

"I think we're at a really dangerous moment here, and censorship, and what we're seeing from the federal government only serves to further divide us and make us less safe and erode our fundamental freedoms here in this country, and for a Republican Party led by Donald Trump - who loved for decades to cloak themselves in this blanket of patriotism and freedom. Heck, Donald Trump was talking about free speech in his inaugural address. What was that? Seven or eight months ago. And now, to see how quickly they are eroding on the foundational guideposts of our nation? Should scare everyone - whether you agree with the president or not, whether you voted for him or not - we are all less safe and less free because of the actions of this administration. [...]

"In a society where we have less freedom - which is what the President is doing, restricting one's ability to speak, which is enshrined in the First Amendment, the First Amendment of our Constitution - we are all less safe. We are all less free. And if you attack someone today because of a particular political viewpoint. What's to say you're not going to attack someone tomorrow, silence someone tomorrow because of what they look like, how they pray, who they love? It's a really dangerous and slippery slope."

ON HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS ENFLAMING DIVISIONS IN OUR COUNTRY:
(video mark 13:42)

"Governor Cox raised a really, really important point about social media. I don't think it is alone to blame, but I think it is a really important issue that we need to grapple with. We're trying to do so, here in Pennsylvania. We're trying to make sure that when young people, especially, are online, they can discern fact from fiction.

"My wife Lori has led an effort with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to have a toolkit available for teachers, students, and parents to be able to be really discerning when they're online, to decide what's real and what's fake. I want to be clear, we don't want to teach young people to have a left wing viewpoint or a right wing viewpoint, but we do want them to be able to look online and say, 'I gotta question that. I gotta figure out whether that's real or not.'

"We have too many people now who can too easily find very dark corners of the Internet, where you have people there who are preying on their frustration - by the way, oftentimes very real frustration - and taking advantage of them and using their frustration, their worry, their angst to promote violence against others and to promote things that are going to create dangers in our communities. So, I think Governor Cox was right to sound an alarm about it. We're doing some of that work here in Pennsylvania. Other states are doing it as well, and I think we've got to continue to work at it. And I think we need a national conversation on this issue. And I hope Governor Cox will be a part of that."

ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S RECORD:
(video mark 16:20)

"I think that there is no question to the quote that you read me there that Donald Trump is shattering the norms of our democracy, is blowing up institutions that protect all Americans, and he's making us less safe.

"He is also making lives way more difficult here in America. I hear it from farmers. I hear it from folks here in suburban Philadelphia. I hear it from folks in our cities. He's making things cost more. He's making us less safe. He's restricting our fundamental freedoms."

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