High stakes in Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's escalating feud with President Trump

BALTIMORE — Less than three hours after President Donald Trump’s social media missive against Gov. Wes Moore on Sunday, a campaign fundraising email was sent to the Maryland Democrat’s supporters.

The subject line: “President Bone Spurs.”

“We won’t let President Bone Spurs’ lies stop our progress in Maryland. If you’re with me, chip in to show that our focus is on what matters,” read the email, which displayed Trump’s entire 213-word post and was signed “Wes,” before asking supporters for $5.

After months of holding back when other prominent Democrats fought fire with fire against Trump, Moore’s approach has shifted considerably in recent weeks — in ways that have underscored both the political opportunities for Moore and the potential perils for his state.

“Democrats are starting to find their voice,” said Todd Belt, a professor of political science and director of George Washington University’s Political Management Program. “The question is if there are going to be ramifications.”

Maryland’s economy relies on federal support arguably more than any other state. Escalating a feud with Trump — who has wielded his executive power against opponents — could make Maryland more vulnerable, according to political observers.

“This isn’t an idle threat for Donald Trump,” Belt said of Trump’s suggestion on Sunday that he could pull back federal funds set to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge. “There can be a trickling effect in Maryland’s economy that provoking this type of fight can have. But on the other side, politically, Democrats have been wanting a fighter.”

Christopher Summers, who leads the conservative-leaning think tank Maryland Public Policy Institute, said he was disappointed in both Trump’s threats and Moore “being baited into this” in a way that others have been lured into personal spats with Trump.

Still, it would be wrong to panic about Maryland losing federal support, he said. Even with Trump’s other attempts to pull back already approved funding, doing so for a critical bridge project would be “absolutely ridiculous,” Summers said.

“The president is not in charge of Congress,” Summers said of the authority to dictate spending. “And even if he were, it would be an economically disastrous decision to do something like that because of the importance logistically of that port that generates billions in revenue. It’s just another head-scratcher statement coming out of the Oval Office.”

An escalating war of words

Moore entered the year promising to “find common ground” where he could with Trump. In their only personal interaction to date, a warm and smiling Moore greeted Trump in a hallway at the Army-Navy Game at Northwest Stadium in December.

Moore carefully shifted his rhetoric as Trump began making moves in office, calling his early decisions “cruel” and “arbitrary.” A larger meeting with governors at the White House that Moore attended in late February was another low point, in Moore’s telling.

But as California Gov. Gavin Newsom began trolling Trump on social media and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker compared the administration to Nazi Germany, Moore held off on the kind of aggressive tactics that other Democrats were using.

That changed this month, when Trump began talking about sending federal troops to tamp down crime in Baltimore. Moore responded, frequently referencing his military background to explain his opposition and ultimately telling the president to “keep our name out of your mouth.”

He invited Trump to walk the streets of Baltimore, offering to “get you a golf cart if that makes things easier.” After Trump sent a long attack on Sunday that included a reference to the Bronze Star that Moore incorrectly claimed he had received (which he eventually did), Moore called him “President Bone Spurs” in reference to reporting that a medical condition allowed Trump to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

“He doesn’t have what it takes,” Trump said Monday as he rattled off other insults in the Oval Office while referring to Moore as a potential presidential candidate.

Moore has said repeatedly that he is not a candidate for president in 2028.

But he’s also taken steps that indicate he could decide to run in the coming years, and the attention he’s received in recent weeks has further boosted his national profile. According to Google Trends, searches for Moore’s name were more frequent on Monday than at any other period since his speech to the Democratic National Convention in August 2024 and his inauguration in January 2023.

The attention has come with fundraising opportunities, at least for his reelection campaign next year. Moore’s fundraising emails to supporters have mentioned Trump on at least eight occasions in the last two weeks, including after each time Trump talked about him from the Oval Office.

Belt, of George Washington University, said governors like Moore, Newsom and Pritzker likely feel a real responsibility to stand up against a federal government they see as overstepping its authority. But motivations could also be political, as all three are often-discussed 2028 candidates, he said.

“Politicians do not exist in a void,” said Belt, of George Washington University. “They are always looking for the right timing to make their next move.”

What could be at stake

Trump’s effect on Maryland since taking office, even without the personal feuding with the governor, has been far-reaching.

Thousands of federal jobs in the state have been eliminated. The planned relocation of the FBI headquarters from Washington to Prince George’s County has stalled. Emergency funding for a flooding disaster in Western Maryland was rejected.

The funding to rebuild the bridge — authorized by Congress and President Joe Biden before Trump took office — is set to pay for the nearly $2 billion project. It was not immediately clear how Trump could try to revoke the funds, or where he could target other areas of federal support after the latest disagreements with Moore.

A Moore spokesman did not directly respond to a question Monday about whether the governor is concerned about further risks to the state’s economy because of the fighting. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce said the organization has not heard any concerns from its members, and the Greater Baltimore Committee, a nonprofit economic development organization, did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Czin, a Democratic strategist who worked in the Biden White House and for prominent campaigns, said Trump’s targeting of the bridge money should be taken seriously. But there are “risks associated with staying silent” as much as there are when pushing back publicly, as Moore has done recently.

“I don’t see any governors who have buckled to him and it goes well,” Czin said.

Colm O’Comartun, another Democratic consultant and former aide to Gov. Martin O’Malley, similarly pointed to all the impacts on Maryland so far this year, from the FBI headquarters to the layoffs at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

“It’s already bad,” O’Comartun said. “And it’s a strategy of the administration to punish Democratic states. So at what point do you roll over in the face of continued attacks and at what point do you speak up when you think speaking up will do more good than harm?”

--------------