President Donald Trump said that his federal crime crackdown will sully the records of contenders for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, drawing an explicit link between his deployment of National Guard troops and boosting the Republican Party’s political prospects.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance lambasted California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Maryland’s Wes Moore on Monday as governors who are weak on crime, defending plans to possibly expand the Guard’s presence from Washington, DC to cities and states run by Democrats nationwide.

“All of their potential candidates are doing a bad job,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Moore “doesn’t have what it takes,” Trump said, adding that he “can’t imagine Pritzker even being a candidate” because “he’s not temperamentally suited” and is a “slob.” Newsom, the president continued, is a “disaster.”

The Oval Office appearance, during which Trump signed executive orders targeting cashless bail and flag burning, offered Vance a chance to burnish his credentials as the president’s successor-in-waiting by hammering home his law-and-order message.

“They are angrier about the fact that the president of the United States is offering to help them get their crime under control than they are about the fact that murderers are running roughshod over their cities and have been for decades,” Vance said, standing behind Trump. “We want people to welcome us, to ask us.”

Trump has pushed the boundaries of his powers with his effort to rid Democratic-run cities of what he says is rampant crime and blight, drawing accusations that he is politicizing the military by involving it in domestic law enforcement. All three governors have vocally resisted Trump’s plans.

The president, however, has shown no signs of backing down; one of the orders he signed Monday would establish “specialized units” in the National Guard to be trained to deal with public order issues. Trump said he sees the topic as a political winner.

“I think this is another men-in-women’s-sports thing. I think this is one of those, you know, they call them 80-20 issues. I call them 97-3,” Trump said. “I think the Democrats better get smart. And, you know, politically, I hope they don’t, but actually, in terms of love for the country, I hope they do.”

Trump has ramped up his threats to use his powers to hit back at Democratic-run states and cities that rebuff his crime message. After Moore took umbrage last weekend at Trump’s swipes over crime in Baltimore, the president suggested a federal takeover there as well as in Chicago.

Moore suggested Trump visit Maryland’s largest city and see for himself that crime is under control. Trump called him “nasty” in response. Trump also floated the possibility of withholding funds for rebuilding Maryland’s Key Bridge, which was damaged in a shipping accident in March 2024.

Pritzker posted on X in response, “We don’t have kings or wannabe dictators in America, and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one.”

Newsom, who had mocked Trump on social media for weeks by replicating his bombastic, all-caps messages, also posted on X a video of Trump’s news conference, calling it “super normal stuff.”

Crime message

Trump has frequently bashed urban crime in public appearances since seizing control of Washington, DC’s police department and putting the Guard on the city’s streets earlier this month. That’s had the effect of diverting the public’s attention away from issues that have plagued his White House and caused tension with his Make America Great Again base.

Trump, with Vance and Cabinet members arrayed behind him, spent more than an hour with reporters, cutting into the time scheduled for a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

The moves on Washington are taking place against the backdrop of one of the more challenging periods of Trump’s second term. The summer saw fractures between the president and his base over the administration’s handling of files related to the late, disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Historically, addressing crime has been one of Trump’s strongest issues among voters. And the president has often leaned on it to navigate moments of political duress.

In addition to the Epstein flap, Trump’s efforts to broker a quick peace agreement between Russian’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy have faltered after a round of shuttle diplomacy initially raised hopes for talks between the two leaders.

Trump has also sparked a redistricting fight between Republican and Democratic governors around the U.S. after he successfully pushed Texas to redraw congressional maps to increase the number of GOP seats. Newsom has responded with his own redistricting plan, portending a tit-for-tat fight that could last months.

The outcome could determine the course of Trump’s final two years in the White House; after Democrats took control of Congress during his first term, Trump was impeached twice.

Political pitfalls

During the 2024 presidential election, Trump hung his campaign on the economy, immigration and social issues. On the economy, he forced Democrats onto the defensive on post-pandemic inflation, the influx of migrants at the southern border and the debate around what teams transgender athletes should play on.

Polls show his grip on the electorate slipping, including on some of those core issues.

An Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 found that 53% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy compared to 39% who approve, a gap that is larger than at any time during Trump’s first term. Overall, 40% approve of his job performance.

Trump is betting a tough-on-crime message can win back Americans. He has said his moves have dramatically reduced crime in the nation’s capital, despite local data painting a mixed picture, and said that statistics showing violent crime there being at a 30-year-year low didn’t adequately capture the sense of danger people sensed in the city.

The president has painted a dystopian picture of Washington — one that’s at odds with that of many local residents. On Monday, without evidence, he claimed that tourists from places including Iowa, Indiana and Idaho were increasingly feeling unsafe visiting the capital.

“You come here,” Trump said, “because you’re so proud of your country, you love your country, and then you get murdered. Your son gets murdered. Your daughter gets murdered. You get murdered.”

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With assistance from Miranda Davis.

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