Trump Threatens to Deploy Troops to Baltimore Following Argument with Governor Moore
Trump has drawn criticism from Democrats by threatening to send troops to Baltimore in response to Governor Wes Moore’s invitation for a “safety walk.”
In a sour dispute with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, US President Donald Trump has threatened to send military into Baltimore after the Democrat invited him to participate in a “safety walk” in the city.
Trump posted on social media on Sunday, saying, “I will send in the ‘troops,’ which are being done in nearby DC, if Wes Moore needs help, like Gavin Newscum did in L.A., and I will clean up the Crime as soon as possible.”
Trump called Moore’s invitation letter “nasty” and “provocative,” and the president’s comments seemed to be a direct response to that. “As President, I would much rather that he rectify this crime catastrophe before I go there for a ‘walk,'” he continued.
Trump’s plan has been frequently criticized by Governor Moore, who said that Trump is disconnected from the realities of American communities. “His remarks about combating crime seem so tone deaf and so naive,” Moore remarked. The reason is that they haven’t been on our streets. Despite not having lived in our communities, they are more than content to continue using these tired stereotypes about us.
In his push to send National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities as part of what he claims is a crackdown on crime, the conflict represents the most recent flashpoint. As of Sunday, the military reports that he has already sent about 2,000 troops to Washington, DC, where Guard members started carrying firearms. Their usage would be limited to extreme cases, according to a Joint Task Force statement.
The deployment has restored order, according to the White House. Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday that Washington, DC, was a hellhole. Now, however, it is safe. Since the operation started, hundreds of arrests had been made throughout the capital, he said, bringing “total safety.”
This is not the case with crime statistics, however. Violent offenses peaked in 2023 and then declined to its lowest level in three decades in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) in Washington, DC. Robberies have decreased by 28% and violent crime has decreased by 26% over the same period last year, according to preliminary 2025 data.
Democrats claim that the deployments are an abuse of the president’s authority. The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, called Trump’s threat to send troops into Chicago a “abuse of power,” while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries contended that the president was not legally permitted to send troops to places like Chicago and Baltimore.
According to Jeffries, Trump was creating a problem by taking advantage of declining crime rates, pointing to Baltimore’s “fewest homicides in over 50 years.”
The president’s strategies also seem to be losing favor with the public. According to a poll conducted earlier this week by the Washington Post/Schar School, almost 80% of DC citizens were against the federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department and the deployment of federal officers and the National Guard.
