Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Penn.) suggested that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is partly to be blamed for the arson attack at his home during Passover because he opposed Donald Trump.
Shapiro and his family were forced to evacuate the governor’s mansion in the early hours of Sunday morning after a man identified as Cody Balmer, 38, set fire to the home with a homemade Molotov cocktail.
The incident took place hours after the family hosted a Passover dinner. No injuries were reported.
In a radio interview on The Bob Cordaro Show on WILK Newsradio Tuesday, Meuser suggested that Shapiro had it coming.
Meuser said Balmer was a “psycho,” but also Democrats have “gotta tone it down.”
“Our hearts go out to the Shapiro family on this. But you know, they’ve got to tone it down, too,” he added. “I mean, every action Josh Shapiro has taken so far against the president has either been a lawsuit or a falsehood and, you know that’s not helpful either.”
Meuser also compared the attack at Shapiro’s home during Passover to attacks at Elon Musk’s Tesla dealerships.
“You know, it just kills me, and I hate to have to go back to this, but there’s been so many Tesla dealerships firebombed,” Meuser said. “Meanwhile you got those on the left continuing to make kind of, you know, violent type of hostile commentary.”
The MAGA congressman also referenced a January incident where a bomb in a Tesla cybertruck went off in front of Trump’s Las Vegas hotel.
“I’m not sure the governor’s office made too much of a statement about that,” he said.
Shapiro appeared caught off guard by Meuser’s remarks when a reporter asked him about them Wednesday, replying, “He said that?”
“Look, I’ve said for years leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity,” Shapiro said. “It would appear the congressman failed to measure up to that.”
