Maryland Gov. Wes Moore to President Trump: 'Keep our name out of your mouth'

Hannah Gaskill, The Baltimore Sun on Aug 21, 2025

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BALTIMORE — Gov. Wes Moore called out President Donald Trump by name Thursday, saying during a speech before the demolition of Pimlico Race Course that the president should keep Baltimore’s “name out of your mouth.”

Acknowledging progress the city has made in the past couple of years, including securing a 30-year lease for the Orioles, a contractor to revamp Harbor Place, the decline in reported violent crime and ensuring that the second leg of the Triple Crown remains in Baltimore, Moore, a Democrat, said “it’s Baltimore’s time.”

“I do want to be very clear: If you are not willing to be part of the solution, keep our name out of your mouth,” Moore said outside of the crumbling historic race course in Park Heights. “Specifically, Donald Trump. If you are not willing to walk our communities, keep our name out of your mouth. If you are not willing to stand with our people, keep our name out of your mouth.”

Moore, who is getting attention on the national stage, joins other Democratic governors, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in standing up to Trump when he targets their jurisdictions and receives praise from the Democratic establishment.

Trump last week said Moore, who has maintained he is not running for president in 2028, does not have presidential prospects.

“I heard this character … they talk about him as a candidate. He’s got no chance, the governor of Maryland,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “They say maybe he’ll be a president, but he’s not presidential timber at all.”

In recent weeks, Moore and Trump have publicly sparred, particularly as the president discusses the potential of sending U.S. National Guard Troops to cities with Black mayors, like Baltimore, Chicago and Oakland, California, as well as Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, where he has already flexed that executive muscle.

In a video posted to his non-official X account last week, Moore, a combat veteran, called Trump’s deployment of military personnel in U.S. cities for policing purposes a “performative decision.”

“Our military, we were trained to fight and win our nation’s wars, and our National Guards are trained to respond when states are seeing times of emergency or crises — not to perform municipal policing functions,” Moore said.

The governor continued to defend Baltimore Thursday against Trump’s allegation that Baltimore is “so far gone” when it comes to crime.

“If you were willing to visit, if you were willing to spend time, if you were willing to actually walk our communities and walk our streets and jot just talk about us from the Oval Office, you would see what we see — that this is not just a moment of celebration, but it’s a moment of vision,” said Moore.

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