CNN’s Cornish: Shapiro Might Have Upset Lefty Activists by Denouncing Antisemitic Campus Protests

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” CNN Correspondent and podcast host Audie Cornish floated the possibility that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) upset “the activist wing of the party” by denouncing antisemitic campus protests.

While discussing why Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) got the vice presidential pick over Shapiro, CNN host Abby Phillip suggested that the Harris campaign may not have wanted to risk upsetting voters who voted uncommitted over the Israel-Hamas war.

Host Jake Tapper responded that Shapiro and Walz have the same positions on the war and Shapiro has actually criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more than Walz has, but Shapiro is Jewish.

Cornish responded, “He’s also the face of the crackdown on the protests, right? He spoke very vehemently about those campus protests as being antisemitic.”

Tapper cut in to counter, “Not all of them, the ones that were antisemitic he criticized as being antisemitic.”

Cornish then said, “Okay, of course, but he was out front on the issue. So, I’m wondering if that’s the kind of thing that, again, for the activist wing of the party, they felt was a slap in the face.” Tapper conceded that possibility.

(h/t Steve Krakauer)

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett