The feud between President Donald Trump and Democratic governors escalated again Monday when, seated in the Oval Office signing executive orders, he launched into a story about Govenor Wes Moore that many doubted from the start. Hours later, the full video surfaced, showing a glaringly different exchange than the one Trump described — and the contrast has set off a wave of backlash online.
With the attention of the nation tuning in, Trump used the occasion to lash out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
Trump really had Moore in his crosshairs at the order signing, ratcheting up an already intense war of words with the Maryland governor after threatening to send federal troops into Baltimore like he’s done in Washington and Los Angeles.
“Baltimore is a horrible, horrible deathbed. It’s a deathbed. I know Gov. Moore said oh he wants to take a walk with me. He meant it in a derogatory tone. I said, “No, no I’m the president of the United States. Clean up your crime and I’ll walk with you,’” Trump claimed.
“But it’s tremendous crime, but he was trying to be derogatory. He doesn’t have what it takes. But he’s trying to be derogatory,” the President continued.
Then he said something that prompted Moore to respond with a laugh.
“I met him at the Army-Navy game. And they said ‘Oh there’s Gov. Moore. He’d love to see you.’ He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand,” Trump said somewhat huffily.
“He said, ‘Sir, you’re the greatest president of my lifetime.’ I said, “That’s really nice that you say that. I’d love you to say it publicly, but I don’t think you can do that, so it’s OK, but no sir, you’re doing a fantastic job. I want to just shake your hand,’” Trump declared that Moore told him last December at the game.
More responded immediately with a “lol” on X under a video of the President telling reporters about the alleged encounter during the order-signing event.
“Keep telling yourself that, Mr. President,” Moore said in a subsequent post.
While Trump reassured reporters that the whole thing was “caught on camera,” the actual footage proved him wrong.
Video of the encounter — first aired by Fox Nation and then played by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins — showed Moore greeting Trump politely but offering none of the gushing praise Trump later invented.
In fact, Trump was the one caught doing the gushing.
“What happened right there was when I first met the president, and then after he started talking about how I‘m a good-looking guy, I started talking about the importance of the Key Bridge and how this state put on a case study on how to recover in times of crisis, that we‘re able to bring closure to all six families, to the individuals who were lost that night on the Key Bridge,” Moore explained to Collins while making an appearance on her program “The Source” Tuesday evening.
Trump seemed to have also missed he was rejected in his version of the story.
“And then he later on invited me to come sit with him at the game. And I told him, I said, ‘I’m good. I have my own seats.’ And I went to go sit with the cadets and midshipmen. So no, I never called him the greatest. And I just find it absolutely comical that that was his… the way he remembered that conversation,” Moore added.
Social media had an absolute field day.
“No one actually believed that he did… did they? I knew Trump was lying because he was talking,” one Threads user wrote.
“It’s literally caught on tape,” another posted.
“Surprise, he lied???!!! Even with audio??? I’m shocked” a third added sarcastically.
One viewer couldn’t help poke fun at Moore’s obvious irritation with Trump, “I love that Wes Moore has his Irritated Black Man face on for this interview.”
During Trump’s Oval Office rant, he included Newsom and Pritzker on a list of “bad” governors.
“Gov. Moore he’s doing a bad job. Newsom’s doing a bad job. All of their potential candidates are doing a bad job. I can’t imagine Pritzker being even a candidate but somebody said he is. He can’t do the work. He can’t do the job. He’s not temperamentally suited,” the president declared.
Trump’s pontifications prompted an earlier round of response on social media as opponents called him out for his falsehoods.
“Trump’s jealousy of these badass governors in full display,” one X user wrote
“That ‘sir’ stuff is always proof that he’s lying. Someone else noticed this, and it is true,” another X user posted.
And another commented, “Just another ‘sir’ story. .”
Newsom, like Moore, has been trolling Trump on social media for weeks, tearing a page out of Trump’s own MAGA playbook and mocking the President’s social media style. It seems to be working, too, as Trump has become more and more defensive, lashing out repeatedly at Newsom.
Moore has also pushed back on Trump’s claims about crime in Baltimore, noting that crime has fallen to record lows since he’s been governor, according to The Hill.
Great Job Shelby E. & the Team @ Atlanta Black Star Source link for sharing this story.
