‘If [Maryland Gov.] Wes Moore needs help … I will send in the ’troops’ … and quickly clean up the Crime,’ President Donald Trump said.
President Donald Trump suggested that he’s contemplating sending National Guard troops to the city of Baltimore, Maryland, to fight what he described as a “crime disaster” in the city.
“If [Maryland Gov.] Wes Moore needs help, like [California Gov. Gavin Newsom] did in L.A., I will send in the ’troops,’ which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
In that post, Trump replied to comments that Moore made on CNN on Friday, saying the president needed to “walk the streets” of Maryland before making judgments about the situation. Trump criticized Moore’s remarks in his post.
“I assume he is talking about out of control, crime ridden, Baltimore?” Trump wrote. “As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk.’”
Earlier this year, Trump also deployed National Guardsmen to Los Angeles amid protests and riots against immigration enforcement in the city. More recently, he’s taken advantage of a provision in the Home Rule Act to deploy National Guardsmen to Washington and take control of local police as part of an anti-crime and beautification initiative.
Trump’s comments indicate he’s contemplating similar efforts in Maryland that could see National Guardsmen deployed to fight crime in the city, which is about 45 minutes northeast of Washington.
During a Sunday appearance on “Face the Nation,” Moore was asked about the president’s post in real time.
He expressed strong opposition to the idea, saying that “this pace of operations” is not sustainable, citing a cost of roughly a million dollars per day.
Moore also said that such operations are “not scalable” to every major American city, “particularly when many of the cities that have the highest crime rates are the places that have … deployed their National Guard in DC.”
He said the move would also be unconstitutional, citing the 10th Amendment, which has long been understood to give states control of police powers, including powers related to the health, safety, welfare, and morals of their citizens.
“It’s a direct violation of the 10th Amendment, and for a party that talks about state rights, it’s amazing how we’re having such a Big Government approach in the way they’re conducting public safety,” Moore said.
By Joseph Lord
