On the shockingly bereft list of Democrats positioned to make substantial national noise, there is room for nearly anyone to step up and stand alongside transcendent California Governor Gavin Newsom, and it is possible that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has decided to make the move. It seems like Donald Trump fears just such a scenario. Moore took Trump on over crime with an invitation to walk the streets of Maryland (Unspecified further as to where) with the governor. Trump is never one to simply accept the invitation and see if he can’t meet the moment with something of substance, and instead has taken to aiding anyone who challenges him by gobbling up the bait, elevating the governor to presidential-level exposure. It used to be that presidents were above all the sniping from below, unwilling to risk lifting anyone else up, but Trump’s inability to let something lay might be a part of the ever-elusive Trump kryptonite. Thus it was that Moore got the red carpet treatment to presidential-level status.
Today, Trump responded to the invitation with a typically petty attack: (See tweet below)
“Wes Moore’s record on Crime is a very bad one, unless he fudges his figures on crime like many of the other ‘Blue States’ are doing. But if Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., I will send in the ‘troops,’ which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime.”
Hold here momentarily. The pattern of simply denying any negative statistic is as old as Trump’s presidency, but it is getting ever more dangerous as we see it playing out in everything from election-denial to jobs numbers. Trump’s willingness to fire BLS Commissioners and Generals for anything published that doesn’t fit his agenda is devastating. Just look through the remains of what was once Twitter to see the apocalyptic fallout. From economic figures to voting, to crime, to elections, the truth is whatever Donald Trump says it is to MAGA. They believe him.
“After only one week, there is NO CRIME AND NO MURDER IN DC! When it is like that in Baltimore, I will proudly ‘walk the streets’ with the failing, because of Crime, Governor of Maryland. P.S. Baltimore is ranked the 4th WORST CITY IN THE NATION IN CRIME & MURDER.”
I do not know whether Baltimore is the 4th worst city in America when it comes to crime. It all depends on the statistics used. I do know that crime follows poverty, which doesn’t follow the red-blue political spectrum. There are a lot of published reports that place Memphis, Tennessee and various Louisiana cities as much higher in crime than that reported in California, New York, Chicago, or probably Baltimore. But this also goes to the fact that no matter what the actual statistics may be, Donald Trump simply waves away anything non-conforming
“Stop talking and get to work, Wes. I’ll then see you on the streets!!! Also, I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision??? Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DJT”
This is not only dangerous but very offensive: “I have sent Wes a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge.” Trump does this almost as instinct, acting as the king who owns the treasury, and it is only out of his generous heart that Maryland got money to fix the bridge. First, it is Congress that appropriates the money – no president actually “spends” money (though he or she can direct some discretionary spending). Second, the money for the bridge was appropriated by Congress in 2024, specific to this particular bridge and signed by President Joe Biden on December 20th, 2024 – not Trump. Last, the bridge connected an interstate and was no more “Maryland’s bridge” than it was Virginia’s or Pennsylvania/New Jersey, Delaware – it is a federal highway connecting multiple states. It is so dangerous to personalize funds going anywhere, and that is precisely why Trump embraces it, never missing an opportunity to lay down absolute rule, and again discarding facts along the way.
Trump: “I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that decision???”
You didn’t give him anything. That’s taxpayer money, not yours. pic.twitter.com/YzHmXnKkgM
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 24, 2025
Try to imagine a president who simply took Moore up on the offer. How about a “Sure, I will come up there. Maryland is a beautiful place, and maybe the governor and I can work together on some things.” That sounds further away from us right now than a trip to Mars, but just take a breathless moment to consider that it is as easy to do as it is to put out some pouty tweet.
But the primary takeaway beyond the “I sent money” thing is the good fortune of having Trump always rising to the bait, always lifting someone whose good work might otherwise go unnoticed, not nationalized. It is time for Democratic governors across the country to rise up and aggressively respond to Trump. God knows that no one in Congress seems to want that job. So we should do nothing but encourage Moore to press on, keep up with the local presence (Newsom, while invaluable, will have a tough time overcoming the sense that he is “way out in California,” some place that Trump is too afraid to visit, never mind considered mainstream to the rest of the country). Moore is right next door.
Keep pumping the statistics, too. Even if Trump succeeds in making his administration a “post-truth” regime, cling to the ultimate defense – fact. Remember that the true goal of propaganda isn’t to make someone believe any one thing or scenario, no. Propaganda’s true purpose is to make the populace give up on the very idea that there exists a solid fact-based “truth.” We see it already with the accusation that Washington law enforcement faked the crime statistics, that the BLS commissioner faked the job reports, the Iranian bomb assessment was “fake,” the Epstein matter is a “Democrat hoax,” “Russia, Russia, Russia, is now a treasonous lie about even Russia,” all of it. Keep throwing facts at him anyway.
So good job, Gov. Moore. The “more” presidential pouting one gets, the better. It is unbecoming of a “king” to complain about everything. More governors need to step forward and follow Newsom and Moore’s lead. Trump will always oblige by raising the matter to national discussion. No matter how juvenile, petty, and offensive the response may be. Any fight right now is better than rolling over – we have Congress to do that.
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God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and also on X at @JasonMiciak.
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