With fresh resolve after days of D.C. meetings, Gov. Wes Moore no longer believes he’ll be able to partner with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Instead — with his trademark smile gone — Moore said Monday he’s planning to use the power of his office to counter Trump and urge Maryland lawmakers to take seriously the crisis upon them.

“I come back from Washington with no illusion about what kind of partnership that this administration is trying to forge with our nation’s governors,” the Democrat said.

Moore was in the capital for several days of meetings with the nation’s governors, including one where President Donald Trump threatened a fellow Democratic governor’s federal funding if she failed to comply with an executive order.

He called the arbitrary firings and gutting of federal agencies by the Trump administration a “full crisis situation” and said he and lawmakers must “move appropriately.”

“If this first month is any indication of where things are going, we as lawmakers had better take this moment seriously,” he said.

He said his administration will use “every tool available” to protect Marylanders, including executive orders, executive actions and backing Attorney General Anthony Brown’s federal litigation.

“If things come across our bow that are either illegal or unconstitutional, that there will be a legal response from the state of Maryland,” he said.

Moore has until now, approached state-federal relations with diplomacy and kept his remarks measured.

“I am not the leader of the resistance, I’m the governor of Maryland,” Moore said in January, shortly before Trump took office for the second time.

Monday he again asserted that he was willing to work with anyone focused on the best interests of Marylanders. But Trump missed an opportunity to build rapport with state leaders, Moore said.

“I think for all of us, we were not just deeply underwhelmed, but I think we were troubled,” he said.

Moore said he did not have any direct conversations with Trump.

The meeting of the National Governors Association included a luncheon at the White House where Trump gave an hourlong speech. It was at that gathering that Trump threatened Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ access to federal funds unless she complied with his executive order to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.

Most alarming to Moore, he said, was that he didn’t hear how the president plans to help Americans, make prescription drugs more affordable, lower the costs of goods or cut taxes for lower-class families.

“I heard grievances, personal grievances,” he said.

Moore’s sharp pivot comes as two of his budget-balancing proposals appear uncertain.

Last week a joint session of the General Assembly heard pleas from superintendents, students and educators not to adopt changes Moore is proposing to state education reforms, known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The changes would pause portions of the plan that would bolster low-income schools in order to save hundreds of millions in future budgets. Lawmakers have doubled down, saying they plan to keep funding whole.

Also in play is the governor’s aggressive tax reforms proposal, which some lawmakers have said is likely to come out of the legislative session differently than it went in.

“It’s time for all of us as lawmakers to be able to understand the crisis that is at hand, and we are not going to kick the can down the road, and we are not going to confuse these for normal times,” Moore said.

The governor said he’s planning to meet with the General Assembly to discuss his three guiding principles moving forward and that he’ll use these as a “lens” to review legislation: making life more affordable for middle-class families, making it easier for businesses to compete in the state and “aggressively” defending the rights and freedoms of Marylanders.

Republican and Democratic House leaders acknowledged the tough position the state is in because of government policies.

The roots of Maryland’s budget woes come from an over reliance on the federal government, said Del. Jason Buckel.

”I wish we weren’t in this position and this posture, but we are,” the Republican from Allegany County said. “I think it’s incumbent upon all of us, including Democratic lawmakers, to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, we need to make some changes.’”

Buckel said he supports Moore’s focus on growing and strengthening the private sector and Maryland’s economy, but added the state’s fiscal health should not rise and fall on who’s in the White House.

It’s only Day 35 of the Trump administration, said Del. David Moon, and the Trump administration has already “inflicted mass layoffs on thousands of Marylanders — both in the private sector and government.”

The Montgomery County Democrat said the state needs to “brace for impact, litigate for the rule of law and protect our economy.”

“The ‘wait and see’ period is over.”