Trump repeats false story about Wes Moore and claims ‘a lot’ of people would ‘rather have a dictator’

“We need a cognitive exam on the president, because he is clearly not all there,” political analyst Reecie Colbert told theGrio.

During a three-hour-long Cabinet meeting before the White House press pool on Tuesday, President Donald Trump gabbed about a flurry of topics, railing against Democrats about crime in inner cities, among other policy issues.

Touting his declared crime emergency response in Washington, D.C., and his threat to send the National Guard to majority-Black cities, Trump again called out Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who in recent days has sharply criticized Trump’s signaling that he would send troops on the ground in Baltimore. Moore also invited Trump to join him on a walking tour of the Maryland city, to which the president scoffed.

“First, you’ve got to clean up your crime. I’m not walking in Baltimore right now. Baltimore is a hellhole,” Trump said at the White House as he sat along the roundtable with cabinet members.

Baltimore recently touted a 50-year low in homicides and sharp declines in various categories of crime, including non-fatal shootings and theft.

Trump repeats false story about meeting with Wes Moore

Trump also repeated a false, yet revised version, of a story he told reporters on Monday about an encounter with Moore at last year’s Army-Navy football game.

“I met this gentleman. I never met him before. [He said], ‘Sir, you’re doing a great job. You’re doing an unbelievable job. Thank you very much,” Trump claimed.

The day before, Trump said of his brief meeting with Governor Moore: “He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand. You were there. He said, So you’re the greatest president of my lifetime. I said, but it’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.”

When asked to respond to Trump’s claim on Monday, David Turner, communications director to Governor Wes Moore, told theGrio, “There’s video of this, so we have no idea what he is talking about.”

Moore later told WBAL Radio that Trump described an “imaginary conversation” that “never happened.” As it turns out, the Maryland governor was right.

According to footage of the brief 2024 encounter re-aired by Fox News, Moore warmly welcomed Trump to Maryland and said he was “very anxious to be able to work closely with you,” highlighting the importance of ensuring federal cost share for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge. There was no mention of Moore calling Trump “the greatest president of my lifetime” or “you’re doing an unbelievable job” (it’s also worth noting that Trump was not yet inaugurated as president at the time of the encounter).

“That is unhinged, deranged behavior. We need a cognitive exam on the president, because he is clearly not all there,” political analyst Reecie Colbert said of Trump’s lies about Moore.

Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright said it would not be the first time that Trump has “lied on or attempted to have a public attention moment, if you will, about a Black man.” He told theGrio, “He started his career with the same sentiment around President [Barack] Obama.”

When referring to Moore, Trump has repeatedly mentioned that Maryland’s first Black governor is a rumored 2028 presidential candidate, and has argued Moore isn’t presidential material.

Colbert said, “It shows that Governor Moore is getting under [Trump’s] skin,” adding, “nobody triggers Trump more than powerful Black people.”

Trump makes bizarre statements about being a dictator

President Trump somehow pivoted his critiques about Moore and other Democratic leaders he thinks are mishandling crime in America’s urban cities to bizarre comments about being a dictator.

“But then he goes on television and says, ‘Oh, Trump is a dictator. He’s a dictator,'” Trump said of Wes Moore. Referring to his military occupation of D.C. and commandering D.C.’s local police, he continued, “So the line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say…’If that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.'”

Though Trump clarified, “I’m not a dictator,” and wants to “stop crime,” Colbert said Trump’s “story about crime” allows him to fulfill his “authoritarian impulses.”

Seawright, who advises national Democrats and campaigns, said it’s no coincidence that Trump is seemingly making a case for dictatorship as he talked about the issue of crime. He told theGrio, “Dictator-like behavior comes with this idea of governing from a perspective of fear, dysfunction, frustration, and uncertainty.”

The Democratic strategist explained that Trump has a pattern when he is politically vulnerable, telling theGrio, “Donald Trump has a few legs to the stool that he sits on in times of crisis for him.” He suggested that Trump is trying to distract from the controversy he faced from his base of supporters about the release of the FBI files related to Jeffrey Epstein and his “piss poor effort to deliver on the promises” to bring down the cost of living.

Seawright said that “stool” includes three legs: crime/law enforcement, immigration, and racism.

“Not only is it a form of retribution to some degree, to those who hold him accountable, but it’s also political rehab,” he told theGrio. “He knows if he leans in, then it’s going to give him political rehabilitation with his base.”