Transcript of Gov. Moore on how Maryland is Fighting Back against Trump

Donald Trump couldn't handle the heat. He just walked away from the press during an impromptu presser on the rainy tarmac in Pennsylvania, where he is set to speak in just a little bit. Let me show you as he walks away from the press, he's holding this umbrella. He doesn't know how to close the umbrella. Let me show you what goes down. Then I want to really go through what went down during this disaster presser and how Donald Trump just got the worst poll yet of his term. Here, let's play this clip. Donald Trump was asked before he walked away from the press that you just saw right there. Um, so when will the IAEA, uh, the Atomic Energy Agency, when, when do those inspectors get to go in? You promised that they're going into Iran and Iran says they're not going in at all. So when does that happen? That's not in the memorandum of understanding, Donald. Watch what he says. Let's play this clip.

Mr. President, when will those inspectors actually be on the ground? At the appropriate time. At the appropriate time. There's no rush, but they'll be on the ground at the appropriate time.

And Donald Trump says that anybody who doesn't like this Iran deal needs to be educated, even if they're friends of mine. Let's play this clip.

Well, I think anybody that's been critical of it, uh, has to be educated, even if they're friends of mine, because we have Iran in a position that nobody's ever had. This should have been done for 47 years by other presidents, and we have Iran in a position where their military has been totally wiped out.

I think that the Senate and the House is just also asking for a briefing of the memorandum of understanding because it also provides sanctions relief that requires congressional authorization under the law. Donald Trump then says that the reflecting pool looks amazing. We're going to put the water back in. We've never been better as a country.

Let's play this clip, including the thing that, you know, where the vandals hit the, the reflecting pool., but we'll get that back very quickly. In fact, I will say this morning I sent people over. They say it looks absolutely beautiful, but we're gonna have to let a little water out and fix it, and then we'll put the water back. But just so you understand, so our country is doing really well and we're gonna keep it that way.

And should be noted, at the same time, Donald Trump has installed, uh, an AI surveillance detection system at the reflecting pool right now. There is an AI surveillance detection with dozens of plainclothes officers arresting people by the reflecting pool right now. Next, Donald Trump says that in Iran they have a hunger problem. They will be buying all of the corn and agricultural produce from American farmers. American farmers will get rich and Iran has a major inflation problem. I think Donald Trump yet again is projecting. Let's play this clip.

To Iran because they have a hunger problem, they have a food problem. They have a medicine problem. They got a lot of problems and they have an inflation. Their inflation now just did 300%. So they have a lot of problems.

A reporter asked Donald Trump to respond to the fact that truckers are suffering right now and that they're also worried about losing their jobs to AI and other technology. And truckers have had it really rough in this, uh, economy as well with Trump's tariffs against the world. And Trump's like, that's not true. They're doing amazing. They're rich. Truckers have never been richer. No, it is the hardest job to get because people are so excited about it. Here, play this clip.

You're about to speak to truckers. Truckers are at high risk of losing their jobs to AI because of—

Well, now they're not. You can't get a job right now. We have the highest job numbers we've ever had in the country, in the history of the country. And I'm just with a couple of the great senators and congressmen. We're talking— it's actually hard to fill the job. You know, nobody's ever seen a time like this. We have right now so many jobs that are going to be available. And the biggest problem we have is getting the people.

So then the reporter said, yeah, you mentioned yesterday that the Interior Department has videos and photos of the vandalism. So we called— the reporter says, this is when Donald Trump just basically walks away. We've called and we don't see any. No one's showing us those photos. So you're hiding it now? It's super secret here. Play this clip.

This is about the Reflective Wall. You mentioned yesterday that the Interior Department has video and photos. We reached out to them and they haven't shared it with us. Are you going to compel them to release it?

They've arrested, I think, 6 people on the Reflective Wall. Reflecting pool. So the reflecting pool looks fantastic. I just got pictures of it. It's beautiful. But somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. And then they cut a 200, 350-foot slip in the form of lots of little slips. A real horrible stuff. And they destroyed the grass. We put a brand new big load of grass out there. They destroyed it. So it's all being fixed. But it's a shame. So I understand 5 or 6 people are arrested. The, uh, Interior Department can refer to you on that. And I hear, I hear that, I hear they have 6 people under investigation. I didn't hear that.

As I noted at the outset, Donald Trump's approval right now is 30% according to a new ARG poll, very credible pollster over here. Trump's approval at 30%. Um, even on state regime media Fox, they're saying how horrible Trump is. They're also saying the Marist poll shows Trump's approval deeply underwater. Not exactly firing on all cylinders is how state regime media refers to it. Let's play this clip.

Yeah, I mean, if you look back to, uh, well, obviously the election year is not a presidential year, it's a midterm year. But if you look back to 1992, uh, for example, uh, George H.W. Bush had a 90-something, uh, percent approval rating after the Gulf War. Uh, he lost the presidency that year because people made up their minds about the economy very early in that year. We've only got a few months now until the midterms. This Marist poll shows that the president's not exactly firing on all cylinders when it comes to approval of his handling of the economy. 33% disapproving, 66— 60%, rather. Uh, his 33% approval rating is 3 points lower than Biden at his worst. Uh, how does the president improve on that number before people make up their minds about the midterms?

John, you know as well as I do that if the American people trusted these polls you know, President Trump wouldn't be in office right now. But time and time again, he has defied the polls because he is in touch with what the American people care about. That's why he's going to Pennsylvania today to talk to those folks who contributed to his landslide victory. And I would say it's a little personal for me. I actually grew up right outside of the Lehigh Valley where the president is visiting today. And so I know firsthand what those folks care about. They care about the issues that the President is delivering on.

Then Donald Trump had to trot out his MAGA sycophants. This is MAGA Republican Congressmember Pete Sessions. Let's play it. Do you believe there's evidence of a 300-foot cut at the bottom of the reflecting pool?

You know, I don't know.

I would say that the president definitely has got it. I assume law enforcement has that. I assume this is against the law, and I assume somebody will follow-up from the, from the Park Service.

You've got MAGA Republican senators like Roger Marshall saying, y'all, like, selling The Art of the Deal. Everybody needs to go read The Art of the Deal because the negotiations taking place here and abroad, this is how you're supposed to negotiate. This is how you do it.

Here, play this clip.

I—

you should— everyone should go read his Art of the Deal book if you did, if you haven't yet. I made my entire staff read it as a freshman member of Congress, and I refer back to it all the time. It shows who Trump was in his raw state. And I think he's just negotiating. And I just got to tell you, he keeps throwing things on the wall. Some of them stick, but we have never moved so fast. And I'm just excited about that. I mean, gasoline dropped $4.50 a gallon to $3.50 a gallon last week alone. We are— our economy is just sitting there ready to just break wide open back in Kansas. Manufacturing is just bursting at the seams. Our cattle industry is great. So the, you know, the banquet's been set.

I want to bring in Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Governor Moore, great to see. I don't know where they're living or what in the world is going on there.

I have no idea what I just heard right there, because that is not reality.

When I do these openings, I kind of know what I'm going to say. But then as I'm saying it, I am sometimes like, what are they saying? What are they doing? I mean, you know, as people are going to the polls today in the primaries in Maryland, as people are thinking about the midterms, I mean, these MAGA Republicans are thinking about how to help Donald— more weird Trump conspiracies. Talk about this moment, though, that we're, that we're in right now. And just what are people in Maryland feeling?

I think people are feeling that there's pain and it's coming from the president. You know, people, people look to the president to try to ease their pain, not look to the president and and ask him to stop causing them pain. You know, where— whether I'm talking to folks in Lanham or folks in Lonokoning in Maryland, I can tell you what they're talking about is the fact that gas prices have skyrocketed. What they're talking about is the fact that their energy prices have gone up over 15% in a year. And what they're talking about is that groceries, because inflation is the highest that it's been now in 3 years, that they're going to the supermarket and they're actually literally putting things back because they cannot afford what they normally buy. That's what they are seeing. And so, so when, when, when we are hearing the president talking about things like, you know, ballrooms and reflecting pools and fighting wars that no one understands what we're doing, that's costing the American people $200 billion and losing over a dozen service members. I think it's very clear to the people of this country that their priority and their lives is not the priority of this administration.

I think the American people get that this guy's not a dealmaker. Like, I mean, the whole dealmaker thing with him has always been the biggest fraud. He never makes deals. He rips them to shreds. He's good at spreading conspiracies to derail bringing people together. And I just see, you know, he goes around this deal, that deal, this deal. I'm like, you haven't done anything other than cause pain and suffering. And you look at this memorandum of understanding. Now, look, I hope it succeeds because I don't want to go into war, you know. But when you look at it, And you look at what Obama did with the JCPOA, and you have, you know, Donald Trump saying, yeah, the MOU may say this, and the reality may be that we're giving Iran all of these things, but there's a super secret deal that nobody actually knows about. And Iran has to say the things are happening to please their domestic audience in Iran, but we know what's really happening. I go, actually, you're projecting. You're lying to your domestic audience here. And everything that we're seeing, you giving the money to Iran, Iran controlling the Strait, was visibly right there.

It's a strange thing when I'm saying my government may be less credible than, than them at this point. How do we get here?

Well, I, I think what he's showing is he is a great deal maker for himself. He cuts great deals for him and his family. It's the reason why he has made billions of dollars. Since he's become the president of the United States again. It's the reason that he has now done over 3,700 trades where he's literally trading on companies that are actually benefiting from his policies while the rest of us get, get hosed. But if you're looking at actual— who's thinking about it from a holistic perspective, frankly, I think it was the Iranians who actually wrote The Art of the Deal and not Donald Trump, because they have actually gotten everything that they have hoped for out of this deal. And you know who is not? It's the American people, where the American people continue to pay more in gas, continue to pay more in energy, continue to wonder why hundreds of billions of dollars are getting sent overseas. And the president has not given us any understanding as to what we're doing, what the engagement is, or what the goals of this entire operation are. And so this is deeply frustrating because what we now have is there has not been a change of regime.

The Iranians still control the Strait of Hormuz.. And we are seeing how Americans continue paying the toll for something that the Iranians are clearly winning at right now.

Talk about primary day right now in Maryland. Big deal. I know you've got a whole slate right there that you've been endorsing and pushing of people who are going to make an impact. Talk about why it's such an important day, you know, and people shouldn't be sleeping on the fact that it is primary day in Maryland.

That's right. And knowing that these elections matter, that sometimes people say, well, it's not a presidential year. And, but here's the thing, the people who are your state elected officials, your mayors, your delegates and your state senators, they are gonna have just as much impact on your life as who is sitting inside of the Oval Office, because that's our ability not just to push back, but our ability to push forward. And we're really proud about the work that we've been able to do and why, you know, we know there's still more work to be done, but if you look at what's happened just in our first session, in our, in our first term, that we've been able to now have record drops within violent crime. In fact, the fastest drop in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America is happening in Maryland. That we've been able to get— that we've been able to really focus on getting our economy going again. We've added 55,000 new businesses inside of our state and also gotten our GDP actually growing for the first time in a long time. And also, we've now been able to see how public education— we've gone from 40th in the country in public education when I first took over to now watching how math and reading have jumped in every single grade, that we're now seeing how, how 4th grade reading scores has jumped 20 states.

And we got the best superintendent in the country, the author of the Mississippi Miracle. We got her now to come to Maryland, and she's leading on the Maryland Miracle when it comes to public education. And so I'm really thankful for the work we've done so far. But, but we've got more work to do and, and our mission is not accomplished yet. So we need people to get out there and make sure also that I am supported by the kind of leaders in these other local races that are going to help us to advance our agenda of leaving no one behind.

What's the latest going on with the redistricting to stand up to Trump's scheme in Maryland? You know, I've been hearing different things. You know, obviously, I know that you've wanted to push forward. And then I had heard that it was stalled in the Senate. Where are we with that now?

Yes.

And I'm thankful that we are going to be having a special session and coming back and doing this. You know, I'm, you know, the House is already there. The House has already voted for this. It was just the Senate. And I'm pleased by the Senate president's decision that, that he's now saying that, you know, we're going to come back for this special. I look forward to working alongside of, you know, of him and all the other senators to make sure that no Marylander's voice is silent. I wish they would have come to the decision sooner, but I'm very grateful that now Maryland is not going to sit on our hands while we are being punched in the face. That we are watching this all-out assault that is taking place on our democracy and our democratic values by the president of the United States. Every tactic that they are now trying is now being put and targeted on our communities. And so there is no way that we are going to sit silent when we know how hard people had to work to give us the right to vote. And now all they're asking is, now what are you all willing to do to keep it?

And so Maryland will be moving, uh, on this, and I'm excited to work with both the House and the Senate inside the state of Maryland as we come back for a special session.

Governor Moore, before we go, you know, lots of people are feeling existential angst right now, and the pain being inflicted by this Trump regime's policies, along with kind of the psychological torture of the detachment of this Trump regime to the— just the sheer emotions that people are feeling, the belittling of Americans. I know when I just speak to so many people, they just say, I'm feeling I'm, I'm sad. I'm upset. There's glimmers of hope, but what do you say to those people as we head in? Do you see signs of hope? What do you want to say to those people who just feel, what can I do? How do I navigate this? You know, we have 2 and a half more years of this.

Yeah, I see signs of hope every day in Maryland because despite what we're seeing on the federal side, if you look at what we've been able to do, we've been able to give a tax cut to the middle class and give a tax cut to military veterans, that we've been able to raise the minimum wage, that we have been able to put, you know, put money back in people's pockets, $300 million in utility relief, because we're watching how the federal government's policies continue to try to hose us, that we pass housing legislation to build more housing and build it faster, despite the fact that the federal government seems to, you know, seems to want to make the cost of materials more expensive. That when they said they were going to ban books, that we passed legislation banning the banning of books in the state of Maryland. You know, I'm really proud that in this time that people are looking for leaders. And in Maryland, I think the state is showing what right is supposed to look like. And we've seen hard times before. You know, I come from the state of Harriet Tubman. I come from the state of Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall.

We've seen hard times before. And there's been two things that has gotten us through. It's been God's grace and moral leadership. And I think that's exactly what we are hoping for and what we need in this moment is God's grace. And also, let's show them what moral leadership looks like and leadership that actually focuses on leaving no one behind.

Governor Westmore, we appreciate you as always. Everybody remember, it's primary day. So as Governor Moore said in one of his videos, if you're in Maryland and you're seeing this, you were meant— you were meant to see this today. The universe The universe has told you about it. Thanks, Gov.

We appreciate you. Appreciate you. Thanks, man.

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