President Donald Trump escalated his war of words with Maryland’s Democratic governor, Wes Moore, on Sunday, threatening to deploy troops to Baltimore after rejecting Moore’s invitation to join him for a safety walk in the city.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump dismissed Moore’s invitation, insisting that the governor should first “clean up this Crime disaster” before any such event. He went further, warning: “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.”
The comment drew a sharp retort from Moore, who mocked Trump’s history of avoiding military service. Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Moore said: “President Bone Spurs will do anything to get out of walking – even if that means spouting off more lies about the progress we’re making on public safety in Maryland. Hey Donald, we can get you a golf cart if that makes things easier. Just let my team know.”
Trump’s comments come less than two weeks after his administration took federal control of Washington, D.C.’s police force and deployed the National Guard there in what the White House framed as a crackdown on crime. In June, Trump ordered the California National Guard and Marines into Los Angeles in response to protests against his immigration policies.
The president has increasingly wielded the threat of deploying federal troops as a political weapon against Democratic-run cities. During his announcement of the federal takeover in Washington, Trump vowed: “This will go further. We’re going to take back our capital … and then we’ll look at other cities also.” He singled out Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland as possible next targets. On Friday, he declared Chicago was “a mess” under its “incompetent” mayor and suggested federal intervention was imminent.
Moore’s invitation to Trump was a pointed response to the president’s rhetoric. In his letter, Moore highlighted progress in reducing violence since taking office, noting that statewide homicides in Maryland had fallen 20 percent and Baltimore had seen double-digit declines in gun violence during the first half of 2025. “We are currently on track to have the lowest number of homicides in Baltimore City since we began officially keeping crime statistics,” Moore wrote.
Trump rejected those figures outright, accusing Moore of inflating the numbers without offering evidence. “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,” Trump said in his post.
The standoff underscores how crime has become a flashpoint in Trump’s broader political battle with Democratic leaders across the country, with Baltimore now the latest city caught in the crossfire.
