Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro says President Trump brings 'chaos' in militarized protest response

Benjamin Kail, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jun 12, 2025

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has a message for President Donald Trump: keep your hands off the state National Guard.

In an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post, Shapiro said local and state law enforcement will keep any protests in the Keystone State peaceful without federal or U.S. military meddling.

He accused Trump of sparking "chaos" by deploying the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in the wake of demonstrations against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown turning violent. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says Trump's takeover of the state's Guard was illegal, and several Democrats say the president has sought to ignite a crisis — not keep peace.

Protests over the administration's aggressive deportation and immigration enforcement tactics have risen in cities across the country, and Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard beyond California. Nearly 2,000 protests against the Trump administration's effort to expand executive power are planned for this weekend.

"I take very seriously my responsibility as commander-in-chief of the Pennsylvania Guard and my role leading the Pennsylvania State Police as well," said Shapiro, a former attorney general. "We are coordinating actively with our mayors in our cities and towns ... to make sure we are prepared, should there be protests that turn from peaceful to violent. Should the Guard be needed, it would be deployed at my direction following a legal process, not the way it's been done in California."

The governor condemned violence and noted police arrested more than a dozen during a protest Tuesday after two officers were injured and a vehicle was vandalized.

Shapiro, seen as a potential Democratic contender for a White House run in 2028, said it was "dangerous" for the president to go "around set legal precedent" in California.

"There is no question in everything this president does, he tries to inject chaos," he said. "He's injected chaos into the world order, he's injected it into our economy, he is trying to inject chaos into our streets by doing what he did with the Guard in California. We will be prepared to make sure people can peacefully protest and that we do not have violence in our communities."

He added that he's taken on Trump in court, including over federal funding freezes that would have impacted Pennsylvania farmers, students and rural communities, and said he's won "every single time."

"Anybody who tries to mess with a Pennsylvanian is going to have to come through me," he said. "I won't be afraid to stand up to him."

Shapiro said he doesn't "have a lot of time" for "performative nonsense" and "yelling and screaming that doesn't accomplish anything."

"I've got a job to do," he said. "I'm doing it. I'm going to continue to make progress for the people of Pennsylvania. And if anybody, including the president of the United States, gets in my way, I'm going to run right through them to stand up for the good people of Pennsylvania."