President Donald Trump threatened Sunday morning to revisit the federal government’s decision to fully fund the Key Bridge replacement and to send the military to Baltimore.
The threats, posted to Trump’s Truth Social platform, are a sharp escalation in the back-and-forth between the president and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in recent weeks.
Moore blasted the president this month for his decision to deploy National Guard soldiers and federal agents on the streets of Washington, D.C., as an effort to fight crime, a criticism that the president noticed.
Moore went a step further Thursday when he invited Trump to walk Baltimore’s streets with him and city officials to see the progress they’ve made on public safety, or to keep the city‘s name out of his mouth.
On Sunday morning, Trump responded with the latest volley in the two men’s war of words.
In a post calling Baltimore “out of control, crime ridden,” Trump said he would “send in the troops” if Moore and others needed help tackling the city’s crime.
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“Stop talking and get to work, Wes,” Trump wrote.
Long associated with murder and violent crime, Baltimore has seen some of the steepest declines in homicides of any city in the nation in recent years. For almost a decade, the city had recorded at least 300 homicides a year; this year it seems almost certain the city will record fewer than 200.
Despite the progress, Baltimore has a crime rate higher than most American cities. Trump’s Sunday morning salvo was timed with Moore’s appearance on “Face The Nation,” on which Maryland’s governor acknowledged there was more progress to be made but said Trump’s crime fighting actions were performative.
“If one person does not feel safe in their neighborhood, that’s one too many,” Moore said. “But we also know what tactics actually work and what tactics is just theatrics.”
A post from Moore’s personal X account was more inflammatory, referring to Trump as “President Bone Spurs” and calling him a liar.
“President Bone Spurs will do anything to get out of walking – even if that means spouting off more lies about the progress we’re making on public safety in Maryland. Hey Donald, we can get you a golf cart if that makes things easier. Just let my team know," the post read.
Trump concluded his message to Moore by going beyond their spat over crime and threatening to revoke the federal government’s funds for the Key Bridge replacement.
“I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge,” Trump wrote, adding that he “will now have to rethink that decision???”
Congress approved a plan to fully fund the Key Bridge replacement last year, before Trump took office. It’s unclear if Trump could withhold those funds; the president has had mixed results in halting or revoking other congressionally approved expenditures since taking office. The bridge replacement is expected to cost $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion, an amount that cash-strapped Maryland would be hard-pressed to pay.
A revocation of funds would represent an attack on “port workers, truckers, small businesses” and others, Moore said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
“Any threats to this funding will cause irrevocable damage to the national economy and to the entire state of Maryland,” Moore said.
This is a developing story.
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