Governor Wes Moore invites Trump to tour Baltimore amid threats to Black-led cities

Black Lives Matter PAC senior advisor Angela Angel tells theGrio President Trump won’t take Moore up on his offer “because real community engagement doesn’t make for good fascist theater.”

As President Donald Trump continues to call out urban cities led by Black mayors amid his proclaimed “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C., Wes Moore, the governor of neighboring Maryland, has invited the president to visit his state for a walking tour of Baltimore.

The invitation, which was included in a letter addressed to Trump on Thursday, is intended to showcase Baltimore’s progress in reducing crime rates in recent years.

“In the first six months of 2025, the Baltimore Police Department continued to see double-digit reductions in gun violence, including a 22% decrease in homicides and a 19% decrease in non-fatal shootings from the year before,” Moore told the president. He added, “We are currently on track to have the lowest number of homicides in Baltimore City since we began officially keeping crime statistics.”

Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor, highlighted that homicides in Maryland have also been down 20% statewide since he took office two and a half years ago.

The Maryland governor, a former U.S. Army captain who was deployed in Afghanistan, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in D.C. and his threats to do the same in cities like Baltimore, which the president has said are “so far gone” as it relates to crime.

Last week, Trump personally called out Moore after the Maryland leader said that the military is not trained to police and that it posed a danger to U.S. citizens.

“They talk about him as a candidate. He’s got no chance. The governor of Maryland….they say maybe he’ll be a president. He’s not presidential timber [sic] at all,” said Trump.

In his letter to the president, Moore said, “You responded to my concerns about the deployment of National Guard personnel for municipal policing in Washington, D.C. by insulting me personally from the Oval Office. So I wanted to write in order to clarify the root of my frustration and extend an invitation for you to visit Maryland, where we can discuss strategies for effective public safety policy.”

Gov. Moore touted his state’s commitment to invest in “proven strategies” to make neighborhoods safer. He said that work is being done despite the Trump administration’s “millions of dollars in cuts to federal funding for violence intervention and gun violence prevention.”

The Maryland governor said that, as part of his state’s “broad approach” to public safety, he regularly joins community advocates and elected officials to “walk through the neighborhoods most affected by violent crime.”

“I would like to formally invite you to attend our next public safety walk in September, at a date of your choosing,” Moore wrote to Trump, adding, “In Maryland and in Baltimore, you will find people who share the same commitment to public safety that I have–and who want to be part of the solution, not the problem.”

Angela Angel, senior advisor at Black Lives Matter PAC, and a former Maryland state delegate, told theGrio that President Trump should take Gov. Moore up on his offer.

“Come walk the streets of Baltimore with us. See the work that’s been done here in Maryland,” she said. “As a former elected official, I challenge him to do that. But we know he won’t. Because real community engagement doesn’t make for good fascist theater.”

Angel applauded Gov. Moore and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott for the efforts to “transform communities through real leadership, not military occupation” and their “commitment to public safety that actually serves people.”

However, the BLM leader also had strong criticisms for Democrats.

“Where is their energy for Black communities under siege?” she queried. “Where is the full-frontal press at every level of government?”