The Lonely, Wimpy Middle

Josh Shapiro’s brand of squishy centrism is wearing thin in an America torn apart by ICE extremism.

Over the past few weeks, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (left) has traded barbs with Governor Josh Shapiro (right). Photos: Ryan Collerd/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Theo Wargo/Getty Images

“That kind of rhetoric is unacceptable. It is abhorrent, and it is wrong. Period. Hard stop. End of sentence.” In a recent interview with Fox News Special Report host Brett Baier, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro pulled no punches in his unequivocal condemnation of words he felt were escalating tensions over the expansion of ICE operations in cities across America. Who was the target of Shapiro’s indignation? Who did Shapiro think needed to “bring down the rhetoric, bring down the temperature?” Was it the federal agent who muttered the words “fucking bitch” after ICE Agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good on January 11th? Was it Trump Administration officials labeling Good and Alex Pretti “domestic terrorists” within hours of their deaths and without the slightest investigation into the circumstances of their killings by federal agents? Was it Donald Trump saying, “You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” essentially justifying the murder of Pretti based on his audacity to exercise his Second Amendment right to bear arms at the same time as exercising his First Amendment right to freedom of assembly? With so much inflammatory rhetoric coming from Trump and his Administration, and with so many Americans turning against the violent, unconstitutional overreach of ICE operations, it would seem like the perfect time for a 2028 Presidential hopeful like Josh Shapiro to demonstrate moral strength by forcefully condemning those on the right whose words and actions have radically destabilized our social and Constitutional order.

Unfortunately, the target of Shapiro’s sharp rebuke was not Trump and his minions. Shapiro was punching left at Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, likely the most notorious of the “woke, Soros-funded DAs” whose prosecution rates are grist for the mill of conservative media fixation. During the January 29th Fox News interview, Baier set up Shapiro’s takedown by quoting statements from Krasner’s speech at a recent rally where he referred to ICE agents as “a small bunch of wannabe Nazis” and vowed to “hunt them down” should they commit crimes against Philadelphia residents. Inflammatory words, for sure, but do Philadelphians really need Krasner to get them any more fired up than they already are? Their passions have already been inflamed by watching the siege of Minneapolis, while having fears that their city could be next confirmed by ICE purchasing warehouses in the surrounding suburbs that will soon be converted into detention centers…or worse.

Sadly for the people of Philadelphia, their Governor seems more concerned about shushing their District Attorney than challenging those who are ordering menacing hordes of federal agents to gather at the gates of the City of Brotherly Love. To Shapiro’s credit, he also did say that Trump’s policies were “injecting chaos” into America, but this was a mere statement of fact about policy impact, devoid of any moral judgment or condemnation of Trump’s shocking, sadistic expansion of state power. When asked about collaboration of state and local law enforcement with ICE, Shapiro affirmed his approval of such partnerships, provided they were “working together on a mission that is Constitutional.” It’s a slickly crafted, lawyerly answer, a response that will not outrage most Fox viewers but will also allow Shapiro to claim he is still an opponent of Trump and protector of Constitutional order. Yet the disparity between Shapiro’s timidly convoluted pledge to uphold Constitutional norms compared to his full-throated condemnation of Krasner speaks volumes.

There are many words to describe a Democratic politician going on a right-wing news broadcast and saving his harshest criticism for those on his left rather than his right. In a February 3rd interview, Larry Krasner used one of the more blunt words available to describe Shapiro’s groveling posture toward his political opposition. “Gov. Shapiro is not meeting the moment. ​​The moment requires that we call a subgroup of people within federal law enforcement — who are killing innocent people, physically assaulting innocent people, threatening and punishing the use of video — what they are. Just say it. Don’t be a wimp.” Krasner punched back and punched back hard. Krasner’s counterpunch is particularly devastating because it hits Shapiro where it hurts: his tendency to ingratiate himself with those who hate him most. Wimp is a harsh word, but it’s hard to watch the Fox News Special Report interview and not agree that it’s a fair description of Shapiro’s performance. There are few actions more wimpy in a politician than attacking those who should be your political allies to curry favor with those who are undoubtedly your enemies.

What would compel Shapiro to put on such a wimpy display? Most likely, it’s Shapiro’s failure to realize that the imminent threat of ICE to our Constitutional order eclipses all of the early 2020s woke culture war baggage attached to the name Larry Krasner. As a local official serving on the lowest level of Pennsylvania politics, I understand Shapiro’s concern about aligning too closely with Krasner and his ilk. In 2023, I saw the down-ballot impact of a Soros-backed DA candidate at the county level shatter our hopes of achieving a Democratic majority on the Township Board of Supervisors, suffering gut-wrenching defeat in races that broke by the thinnest of margins. Such campaign considerations may have mattered during the cultural woke wars of 2023, but with America’s city streets looking more and more like actual war zones, in 2026, concerns about coming off too woke seem more than a little out of touch. Yet Shapiro’s campaign staff doesn’t seem aware that times have changed. I’m sure they looked at the opportunity for the Governor to go on Fox News and distance himself from the wokeness associated with Krasner as an astute political maneuver to position Shapiro as a commonsense centrist against MAGA Republican gubernatorial challenger Stacy Garrity.

What Shapiro and his team are overlooking is the fact that some questions transcend cyclical electoral politics. Some questions are moral, foundational to our identity as an American people. Where a candidate stands on the Trump Administration’s use of ICE to strip Americans of their Constitutional rights is one of those foundational questions. It is a question whose answer will determine whether our nation conceived in Liberty can long endure. If Krasner is meeting this moment and taking a correct moral stance in resisting an ICE invasion of Philadelphia, then Shapiro's distancing himself from Krasner politically may result in Shapiro distancing himself morally from his obligation to protect the Constitution. Shapiro and his team need to wake up and realize that their obsession with positioning the Governor on the other side of a woke divide from Larry Krasner could result in situating Shapiro on the wrong side of history at a time when principled leadership must transcend petty politics.

If Shapiro prioritized moral considerations over political machinations, he could have easily gone on Fox News and noted his differences with Krasner while affirming their common cause in protecting the United States Constitution and the people of Pennsylvania. Shapiro might have easily said something like, “Look, there are a lot of criminal justice issues Larry and I disagree on, and out of respect for the millions who perished in the Holocaust, we must be cautious about throwing around the word Nazi. But what Larry and I both agree on is the need to protect and defend the constitutional rights of all Pennsylvanians.” Shapiro could have saved his “period,” “full stop” condemnations of “abhorrent” rhetoric for the likes of Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and Donald Trump himself. If Shapiro had the moral compass and toughness of character needed to rebuild this country after Inauguration Day 2029, he would have no problem marching right into Fox News studios and punching hardest at those who are beating down Americans in the streets for exercising their Constitutional rights. Instead, he wimped out, punched left, and pivoted toward a center that simply does not exist when you must pick a side to stand on during a divisive authoritarian power grab.

Questions of moral integrity aside, from a purely strategic perspective, who do Shapiro and his team even think they are appealing to by calling for moderation when the Trump Administration is so obviously using ICE brutality to turn America into a house divided against itself? Moderate Democrats like Shapiro reflexively pivot to the center, their instincts resembling a political version of phantom leg syndrome, trying to move a segment of the electorate that no longer exists. Like Chuck Schumer’s imaginary friends Joe and Eileen Bailey, “a fictional Long Island couple meant to represent the average American and serve as the guiding force behind his political decisions,” Shapiro’s team conjures up in their minds a full voting bloc of Pennsylvanians who are smack dab in the center of an issue purposefully pushed by the Trump Administration to polarize America. Even the NRA can use strong language (the kind Shapiro saves for Democrats to his left) to condemn the Trump Administration’s dismissal of Second Amendment Rights as “dangerous and wrong.” Steven Nekhaila, the chair of the Libertarian National Committee, is openly calling for the abolition of ICE, and 71% of independents think ICE operations have gone too far. Who does Shapiro think he’s going to convince with his lawyerly, split-the-baby analysis that calls for law enforcement cooperation with ICE on only Constitutional missions? Any American still supporting ICE has already essentially bought into a Schmittian “state of exception” that calls for the suspension of the Constitution to save America from the supposed national emergency of illegal immigration. They have no interest in Shapiro style sophistry and instead justify support for ICE with a litany of non sequiturs: “they have a job to do, stay out of their way,” “I voted for this,” “we are a nation of laws,” “I support American safety and border security,” “Laken Riley was a nurse too,” and so on and so on. Anyone who is not appalled by ICE right now has no use for the weak sauce served by a mushy, moderate “pick-me” Democrat like Josh Shapiro, when they can get the red meat they crave from MAGA Republicans.

In the end, Josh Shapiro's pivot to the center will likely result in being stranded in the lonely middle, a desolate place where he may search in vain for any voters who enjoy both sharp rebukes of woke DAs along with wimpy, nuanced critiques of ICE operations. If there is any Pennsylvanian who is morally muddled and cognitively befuddled enough to buy into Shapiro’s senseless centrism, it is probably Senator John Fetterman. Unfortunately for Shapiro, Fetterman has not shied away from publicly criticizing the Governor. Concerns of mental fitness aside, Fetterman has shown he still has enough wits about him to recognize and denounce Shapiro’s insatiable “political ambition.” With enemies to the left of him, foes to his right, and not even a friend in the middle, Shapiro may very well find himself alone in the center of a growing national divide over ICE when all along he just wanted to be lonely at the top as the next President of the United States.