After sending National Guard troops into the cities of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump took aim at the city of Baltimore and called it a “hell hole” and a “horrible death bed.” Trump threatened to send troops to the Maryland city “to clean up crime,” though according to police data, Baltimore’s homicide count hit a 50-year low this year.
Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who joined the U.S. Army at 17, said: “That the president would politicize the National Guard, for me, it’s just unforgivable.” Moore, who has engaged Trump in a social media feud, added, “The president has made statements that are factually incorrect seemingly daily.”
When Moore appeared on The Roland Martin Show (below), he was asked about the following quote from the Trump: “I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge. I will now have to rethink that.”
[Note: The day the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in March 2024, after being struck by a cargo ship, then-President Joe Biden said the federal government would pay for the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge and approved a request for funding from Moore, “allowing the state to receive an initial $60 million in emergency relief funding to recover debris from the Patapsco River.”]
Moore laughed hearing the Trump’s claim about giving Moore money, and said: “There is nothing that has Donald Trump’s signature [on it] that has anything to do with the Key Bridge.”
Moore added: “Let me be clear: When the Key Bridge collapsed, Maryland didn’t receive a single penny from Donald Trump. He wasn’t even president at the time.”
Let me be clear:
When the Key Bridge collapsed, Maryland didn’t receive a single penny from Donald Trump. He wasn’t even president at the time. pic.twitter.com/eU6JajhiqG
— Wes Moore (@iamwesmoore) August 31, 2025
Moore recalled the immediate aftermath of the collapse and said: “When they told us it would take 11 months to clear that federal channel we got it cleared in 11 weeks.”
The Governor added: “We received a 100 percent call share between the state of Maryland and the federal government that was signed by and passed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and signed by the President, Joe Biden.”
The new bridge, which is estimated to cost $1.7 billion, is under construction and is expected to be completed in October 2028.
An earlier conversation captured on video (see below) between Moore and Trump about federal support for the new bridge was also at the center of the online scuffle between the two men.
Trump said Moore — who was notably respectful during the encounter — had told Trump that he was the “greatest president” of his generation, an assertion Moore denied, saying the President is “not telling the truth” and calling Trump’s interpretation of the encounter “absolutely comical.”
Will Cain plays footage of Wes Moore greeting President Trump at the Army Navy game.
Cain: We didn’t hear greatest president ever but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm. Who’s telling the truth? We’ll let you decide pic.twitter.com/dAuElfl1Yf
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2025