“If Wes Moore needs help like Gavin ‘Newscum’ in Los Angeles, I’ll send in troops who are on duty in nearby Washington and quickly clean up the crime,” Trump wrote on social media on August 24, invoking California Governor Gavin Newsom. Tensions escalated when Moore criticized the idea of sending troops to Baltimore. Trump then called Moore “a bad guy” and threatened to cut federal funding earmarked to help Maryland address last year’s Baltimore bridge collapse.
Moore told CNN he had invited the president to walk Baltimore’s streets to rebut what he called Trump’s “antics and scare tactics.” “Hey Donald, we can get you a golf cart if that makes it easier,” Moore quipped. Trump fired back that Moore should “fix the crime disaster before I come for a stroll,” accusing the governor of having a “very bad” record on public safety.
The Maryland governor rejected that claim, noting the state’s homicide rate has fallen by more than 30% since he took office. “The last time Baltimore’s murder rate was this low, I wasn’t even born,” he said. Moore, 46, is a former U.S. Army officer and the third African American ever elected governor of a U.S. state.
This month, Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., to conduct a mission targeting “violent crime.” In June, he also sparked controversy by ordering nearly 5,000 troops to Los Angeles, a move sharply condemned by Governor Newsom.