Shapiro: Trump ‘accumulated way more power than our founders would have hoped’

Administration Shapiro: Trump ‘accumulated way more power than our founders would have hoped’ Comments: by Ashleigh Fields - 07/05/26 12:16 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ashleigh Fields - 07/05/26 12:16 PM ET Comments: Link copied

NOW PLAYING

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) on Sunday said following President Trump’s Independence Day address that the commander in chief has “accumulated” more power than the founding fathers would have hoped for, echoing consistent criticism from Democrats.

“Only more recently do we have an executive who, again, I think has accumulated way more power than our founders would have hoped or would have liked who’s trying to restrict liberty, who’s trying to put a litmus test on who gets more liberty than others,” Shapiro said during an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I think it’s really dangerous and destructive, the language the president, by the way, even more so the vice president uses, that tries to separate out certain Americans and determine which one gets liberty, which one gets freedom and which one does not?” he added.

Trump’s Saturday speech was delayed due to weather and largely focused on his vision for America’s future after 250 years of independence.

“Our founders not only won our liberty, they secured it with the most righteous political document ever conceived. It’s called the Constitution of the United States. Very special. And it’s because of their genius that we remain the finest people on the planet after 250 years,” Trump said in his late-night Independence Day address. “Unlike so many others in the world, in this country, we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law, although I wasn’t treated that well, but we won’t get into that,” he added.

The president was decrying his treatment related to recent legal battles. He has also seen pushback on his legislative agenda, with blows to his efforts to require proof of citizenship for voting and to restrict mail-in ballots.

However, Democrats have cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential power as evidence of change.

The high court earlier this week ruled in favor of allowing the president to fire heads of independent regulatory agencies without needing a “good cause.”

“Today, we celebrate this milestone amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself,” former President Clinton wrote in a Fourth of July statement.

“The people in charge have unleashed masked agents on American communities to seize people from their homes, workplaces, and the street. They have started an unconstitutional war on a whim, with no clear objectives or exit strategy, and zero regard for the consequences to the lives of millions of people around the world,” he continued.

Clinton added, “With the help of lifetime appointees to the Supreme Court and a compliant Congress, they have weaponized government to settle personal scores, prosecute enemies, stamp out free speech, and made the federal government a new profit center for themselves and their allies.”

Shapiro, who has been seen as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, said the party needs to focus more on backing legislation that changes lives rather than performative politics amid the changes to presidential powers.

“I think what needs to happen is Democrats need to deliver the way we do here in Pennsylvania, deliver on things that make people’s lives better, and I think what we’ve got to focus on, not just as a party but in politics in general, are real deliverables for people on getting stuff done for people and shying away from this performative politics that just makes noise but doesn’t make anybody’s life better,” Shapiro told host Dana Bash.

“I think the Congress of the United States has largely been about performative politics, and yeah, I think you’ve seen people largely on both extremes that engage in performative politics that might get some likes on Twitter, might, and I mean this respectfully, get your attention in the media, but doesn’t actually make someone’s life better,” he later added.

Add as preferred source on Google Tags Clinton Dana Bash Donald Trump Founding Fathers Gov. Josh Shapiro Josh Shapiro Trump administration

Comments: Link copied