Gov. Josh Shapiro made appearances on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe‘ and CNN’s ‘News Central’ on Friday morning as a surrogate for President Joe Biden.

The governor of the country’s biggest swing state forcefully defended the 46th president, admitting that Biden had a poor night but reminding voters of the “chaos” of the administration of former President Donald Trump.

On CNN, Shapiro talked with host John Berman. Here are portions of that discussion.

“Here’s the bottom line. Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but Donald Trump was a bad president, and I think what you saw last night was a pathological liar in Donald Trump, who lied about his record, who has dangerous ideas about where he wants to take this country.

“I’ll be the first to admit that that was not a good look in that debate last night. But it doesn’t change the fact that there are really stark competing differences in this race, and I think what the American people have to do now is make a decision. Do we want to go back to a dark time that Donald Trump promises, where we have less freedom, where the middle class gets screwed, where there’s fewer opportunities in our community? Or do we want to try and continue on with high employment, where we want to continue to produce more energy than ever before in this nation where we want to keep taking the fight to China and beating them as we are?

Berman asked Shapiro if he felt that if the past is as dark as he says, “Is the Joe Biden who was on that stage last night, your best option to prevent it from happening again?”

“I would say to all those folks who are out there worrying right now, start working and stop worrying. There’s a clear contrast in this race. And in many ways, even though there’s two gentlemen on the ballot, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, I think this election is more a referendum on all of us and whether nation we still value freedom.

“And Joe Biden promises more freedom. Donald Trump promises less, whether we want to try and continue to move forward in a world where we are engaged around the world, as opposed to isolating ourselves and putting our national security at risk. I think we have a responsibility right now to ask ourselves what kind of nation we want to be. I think the answer is clear on that, and then we got to stop worrying and start working and making the case.”

Shapiro was also queried if the Biden campaign had reached out to him to explain the president’s performance last night.

“I think the Biden campaign should speak for themselves. No question, the President was not his best last night, but we got a long way to go until the election, and as people begin to focus in on the clear choice they have, I don’t think people want to have fewer freedoms in this nation. I don’t think they want to go back to a time of the kind of chaos Donald Trump brought into our living rooms every single day. And I think as folks settle in, they look at their choices, they begin to look at the totality of the circumstances, not just what happened in debate last night, the choice will become even more clear.”

Berman closed by asking the governor if he could beat Trump in a general election.

“I’m not going to engage in that hypothetical. I’m all in for Joe Biden. I’m all in to support the nominee that the good people of Pennsylvania have chosen, and that is my focus to make sure we defeat Donald Trump.

“Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but it doesn’t change the fact that Donald Trump was a terrible president. Doesn’t change the fact that is a clear and stark contrast in this race and two very different visions for the future. I don’t think that vision came through from either person last night, but we got work to do to make sure that that clear contrast is displayed.

“I mean, understand, it ain’t easy debating a pathological liar, which is what Joe Biden had to do last night. Donald Trump lied about everything from his record to the direction he wants to take people in this country. I mean, hell, John, he lied about saying Democrats want to kill babies after they’re born. I mean, come on, it’s nonsense.

“The bottom line here is that there is a clear contrast in this race, and we have a responsibility to prosecute the case against Donald Trump not get caught up in any hand wringing right now. Stop worrying and start working.”