Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to crack down on crime in the District is purely “performative.”
Mr. Moore, a Democrat, said he wishes Mr. Trump were less cynical about the reductions in crime in Baltimore, describing it as a “great American turnaround story.”
“I would love more federal support,” Mr. Moore said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “But federal support on things that actually make sense and not things that are performative.”
The governor said National Guard members are not trained to police cities and that funding would be better spent on federal and state law enforcement and community groups.
“That is a serious approach,” he said. “But asking me to deploy my National Guard, people who are not trained for municipal policing, is just not a serious approach.”
The Trump administration has a different take, saying the president had to act because the city is awash in violence.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has said the surge has helped.
“We know that we have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides, and we have experienced an extreme reduction in carjackings,” Ms. Bowser recently said, angering some voters in the deep-blue city who loathe Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump has floated the idea of sending the National Guard into other cities, including Chicago and Baltimore, which he has described as a “hellhole.”
The idea of introducing the National Guard into every major American city is not sustainable, particularly when you look at the cost,” Mr. Moore said.
Mr. Moore countered that Maryland and Baltimore have experienced significant drops in violent crime over the last two and a half years.
“It would just be great if we could have a president of the United States understand that this is one of the great American turnaround stories that is happening right now, and we would love the help to be able to continue to do that work instead of this arrogant criticism and cynicism that he continues to introduce into the conversation,” the governor said.
