Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized Vice President JD Vance for his Holocaust Remembrance Day post on X, despite shocking similarities between the two men’s posts.
Vance took to X on Tuesday to memorialize Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality,” Vance wrote.
“And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, however, Shapiro claimed that Vance’s post was insufficient.
“Remember that the reason why we memorialize the Holocaust on this day, really, essentially, is to never forget,” Shapiro claimed. “And the reason you want to never forget is so that we never live through that atrocity again.”
“Part of never forgetting is making sure that the facts of what happened are recited, are remembered. The fact that JD Vance couldn’t bring himself to acknowledging that 6 million Jews were killed by Hitler and by the Nazis speaks volumes,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro’s Holocaust Remembrance Day post, however, looked strikingly similar and also did not include the 6 million figure he referenced.
“This Holocaust Remembrance Day, we pause to reflect on a horrific chapter in human history — a period of incredible darkness for our world, consumed by hate and violence against millions of people on the basis of their faith, their background, and their beliefs,” Shapiro wrote.
“Today, perhaps more than ever before, we know how much work is still left to do. Amidst the rising antisemitism we’re seeing across this country, it’s on us to rededicate ourselves to combatting hate and violence wherever we see it — and to speak with moral clarity in its face,” Shapiro added.
Shapiro, a potential 2028 presidential contender, also claimed that Vance, “has offered comfort, really, to the antisemites on the right who are infecting the Republican Party.”
Vance, however, in a December 2025 interview told Sohrab Ahmari of UnHerd, “Antisemitism, and all forms of ethnic hatred have no place in the conservative movement.”
“Whether you’re attacking somebody because they’re white or because they’re black or because they’re Jewish, I think it’s disgusting,” the vice president added.
A Vance spokesperson shared the following statement with The Daily Signal:
After he faced criticism for not mentioning Jews in his post on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Josh Shapiro desperately tried to shift blame to the Vice President. This is next level hypocritical deflection from Shapiro, a misguided plea for attention from a political lightweight.
Nevertheless, Vance’s post has been the source of internet controversy because it does not explicitly mention Jewish people.
“Any Holocaust Remembrance Day post that doesn’t even mention Jews is simply unacceptable. It’s as simple as that,” writer Rachel Moiselle posted on X.
Alex Bruesewitz, a former Trump campaign official, shot back that “this is an insane standard and a BS attack.”
“The Vice President literally posted a photo of himself at the Second Lady at Dachau. He has been an incredible friend to both the Jewish community and Israel,” Bruesewitz added.
Others were quick to point out that Vance was not the only one who did not explicitly mention Jewish people in Holocaust Remembrance Day posts, though they have been spared the same backlash.
“Is anyone going to lose it at Wicker like they did at JD?” conservative activist Jack Posobiec said on X.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., posted on X that, “On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we honor the millions of people who lost their lives and the survivors who tell their stories. We will never forget.”
Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence posted, “Never Again Is Now. We Must Remember And Learn From The Past To Protect The Future,” without pushback.
