Governor Wes Moore Mocks Trump’s DC Crime Crackdown Says National Guard Was Just Cleaning Streets

Maryland Governor Wes Moore had a sharp take on Donald Trump’s claim of a crime crackdown in Washington, saying the National Guard wasn’t exactly fighting crime but doing something else entirely.

Speaking to ABC’s Martha Raddatz on Sunday, Moore pointed out that the Guard had been sent into the capital, but rather than acting as backup for police, they ended up cleaning streets.

“You know who is trained for municipal policing?” Moore asked. “Things like local law enforcement and things like FBI agents and ATF agents who, by the way, in the President’s proposed budgets, actually cut funding for them”, reported Politico.

Raddatz pushed back, noting that Trump’s team had said the Guard was meant to support law enforcement. “They’re picking up trash,” Moore shot back.

Raddatz admitted that was true in some cases. “They are definitely picking up trash in certain places,” she said. “But if you look at the crime and you’ve heard Mayor Bowser say, 87% reduction in carjacking, robberies cut by half, why wouldn’t you want that here if that is actually helping?”

Moore didn’t dismiss the results but made clear he thought the approach was wrong. “What can we do, particularly when you look at the cost of the National Guard, of well over a million dollars a day,” he said. “Do you know what I would tell him? I would tell him things like we need to make sure we’re increasing funding for local law enforcement, and we have to invest in our community groups and community organizations.”

DC National Guard Picking Up Trash
byu/sereneandeternal inMilitary

The governor said he was open to having a “serious conversation” with Trump about public safety, but he argued that putting soldiers on city streets was not the answer.

“Like that’s a serious approach how to address this issue,” he explained. “But asking me to deploy my National Guard people who are not trained for municipal policing is just not a serious approach.”

Moore’s comments reflect a growing debate over how far the federal government should go in dealing with local crime. While Trump points to falling numbers in carjackings and robberies, critics like Moore see the tactic as expensive political theatre that doesn’t address the root causes.

At more than a million dollars a day, the governor said the cost alone should make people question whether the plan makes sense. His argument was straightforward: fund police, strengthen federal crime-fighting agencies, and give support to local groups working in communities rather than using troops for jobs they were never meant to do.

It was a blunt message, wrapped in one memorable observation: instead of patrolling streets, soldiers were hauling bin bags.