He supposedly can’t eat pizza, but apparently butter wouldn’t melt in Governor Phil Murphy’s mouth.

On the same week his campaign savaged his opponent with a torrid takedown, Murphy predictably surfaced at a pre-school, where he let the kids do most of the talking, the masks covering their faces rendering even cuter unintelligible sounds.

The ominous Ennio Morricone Confederate Flag soundtrack of a day earlier had suddenly morphed into adult oohs and aahs as their audience looked on reinforcing affirmative adorableness.

“Precious four-year olds,” the governor gushed. “The future is looking bright and full with possibility.”

This is not just pre-K.

This is the pre-K version of Machiavelli’s The Prince.

It’s less than two months until Election Day, and Murphy’s point in Palisades Park this morning seemed to be that while his Republican opponent has maintained a rigorous shady schedule of hillbilly delights in an attempt to look like a Trump backer for the sake of appeasing his base, while subsequently saying publicly, “What, me?”, the governor loves kids.

The contest is clear.

Trumpies versus children.

Not everyone was buying it, of course.

While opponent Ciattarelli chomped on a slice of pizza yesterday and lamented Murphy’s inability to convincingly do likewise, the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) remained in full attack mode.

Today they sharpened their attack.

From the RGA:

Phil Murphy recognizes NJ’s taxes are already sky-high, but he refuses to slam yet another planned tax increase on NJ families.

When asked by CNBC if he supported increasing the tax rate to upwards of 50% for many New Jersey residents, as planned by President Biden and Democrats in Congress, all Murphy could come up with was:

“I think my chances of becoming a U.S. Senator are low.” – Governor Phil Murphy

For his part, Murphy was indefatigably child-friendly, outlining a path to universal pre-k for every three and four-year olds in the state.

“To ensure our success, the Department of Education is developing a strategic plan to get us there,” said Murphy (take a look at the details here). “”Our path to success [will be enhanced] if and when we receive funds [from the federal infrastructure package]; it will help us move [more expeditiously].”

Moreover, this is the fourth consecutive year of enhanced pre-K funding, he noted. Nineteen school additional districts this year received $17 million in state funding to enhance quality pre-k programs in New Jersey.

In the wings stood state Senator M. Teresa Ruiz (D-29) and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, the Democratic Party’s candidate for senate in LD37 – the latter in a non-speaking role.

“It takes a village,” Murphy observed.

Somewhere, Steve Adubato, Sr., a devotee of Machiavelli and Ruiz’s political mentor, was beaming with pride.