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The MeidasTouch Podcast
Maryland Governor Wes Moore Calls Out Trump & Elon in Exclusive Interview
00:18:41
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- [00:00]
Host
I'm joined by Maryland Governor Westmore. Governor Donald Trump's creating a ton of uncertainty would be putting it nicely. Perhaps the word is calamity with respect to the American economy, while he and his regime try to gaslight us that this is normal, that we're just detoxing, is the word that they're using. Are we just detoxing? What are you seeing, Governor?
- [00:24]
Wes Moore
No, this isn't detox. This is destruction. And it's doing it in a way that's playing with people's lives and playing with their livelihoods and playing with their legacies. And I think that. And what's really interesting is that when you look at what's happening to specifically the people who have raised their hands to serve others, specifically the people who are our public servants, the ones who are making sure that seniors are getting their health care, the ones who are making sure that veterans are having a proper final burial, the ones who are making sure that our streets are safe, that these are the ones that are being told that somehow their work is unnecessary or that. Or nonessential. And it's especially deeply offensive when we are seeing this attack on people who have. Who have raised their hands to serve and taken an oath and an attack by people who have never been willing to take that oath themselves. And so this is not a detox. This is actually a fundamental devolving of basic American values.
- [01:26]
Host
There's a trend here, right, Beating down on marginalized communities, beating down on people who served, beating down on our allies, but trying to suck up to authoritarian regimes and strong men who really aren't all that strong. I mean, to me, if these past 60 days feels like an eternity, have shown anything, I mean, to me, it's actually shown complete and utter weakness. Incompetence, yes. But also, I just see a weak and pathetic man, or whatever we'll call him from the White House, just, Just oozing, oozing weakness. What do you make of it all?
- [02:10]
Wes Moore
I think it's showing what oftentimes bullies are. Are. Are going to show that bullies are oftentimes people who are actually the weakest. They're just the most insecure. You're going to have a showdown with a president who was literally attacked and has been spending the past years fighting and defending his people in a valiant and brave way, despite watching an invasion of his country. And that's who you choose to beat up on. When you bring all the governors together, you're going after the governor of Maine about what? About what she's doing in her state. It's this type of thing, it's this bullying behavior that I think is not just unnecessary and uncalled for. It leads to this measure of performative politics that frankly, I think people are just exhausted by because people just simply want results in their own lives. They want results for the things that they care about in their own lives, about reducing costs, about things like being able to give the middle class a tax cut and not the wealthiest a tax cut, about being able to provide more housing and have more housing inventory and bring down housing costs. That's what people want to see, not the performative bullying that we're just continuing to see from, from Washington right now.
- [03:24]
Host
As a veteran yourself, as someone who served the way you did, I got to get your take on Donald Trump's attack on veterans on the armed services. You know, his layoffs in the federal government are disproportionately impacting veterans who work. 30 to 40% of the federal government made up was made up of veterans cutting 70,000 jobs from veterans affairs, which means that veterans are not going to get the services that they need. I know that Donald Trump previously called veterans and people who sacrificed their lives suckers and losers. I think he's showing that's how he feels about it. What do you make of what he's doing?
- [04:08]
Wes Moore
And also standing there now and telling people who have worn the uniform of this country, who have been willing to pay the highest price to be called American people, who have done things that the vast majority of this country have not signed up to do and wouldn't sign up to do. And now looking at the service they are performing and saying that they are, maybe they're not fit to serve. Hearing that come from somebody who was never willing to take that oath is deeply, is very rich and as a veteran myself, very offensive because these are people, these are patriots. These are people who are willing to sacrifice something on behalf of this country with one simple ask that the country does not forget, that does not forget the service they did or does not forget their family members. That was our one ask. And that is not being honored right now with this administration. When you're watching this assault on federal employees, and not to mention the fact that one in three federal employees is a military veteran, when you look at, in our state alone, over 23,000 of our federal employees who call the state of Maryland home is a military veteran. And so I am thankful and proud of the fact that Maryland is such a veteran heavy state and it's such a veteran laden state. I want Maryland to be the best state in the country for our military, veterans and their families. And I also just want the United States of America to honor its promise. And I want this administration to. To be able to honor the promise that was made long before they came into office and should be honored long after they come into this office as well.
- [05:41]
Host
You know, there was a story in the New York Times on Friday that there was this heated Cabinet meeting where these Cabinet officials really started to voice objections to Elon Musk. I think that you're seeing also MAGA Republicans across the country hearing this in their town halls, you know, allowing Elon Musk, this unelected bureaucrat, although Donald Trump said at the State of the Union that he's gotten rid of all of the unelected bureaucrats, except the person, I guess, who's now pulling his puppet strings and running the government. But I think MAGA Republicans are hearing about how much people, they want to abolish any government entity or thing. It's. It's Doge. And how much Doge is causing destruction. I mean, do you think we're going to see this fracture continue? I mean, what are you seeing in your state? I mean, I'm sure you hear not just from Democrats, I'm sure you also hear from Independents and Republicans about their views of what Doge is doing.
- [06:42]
Wes Moore
Yeah, well, I think if you look at the intent that they've laid out about increasing government efficiency, about making sure that we're reducing waste, fraud and abuse, that we're making sure that we're being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. I think the reason that you're starting to see the disconnect between what Doge is doing is because people are seeing what states have already started doing. If you look at the state of Maryland, long before Doge was a thing, you know, one of my first hires was a Chief Performance officer whose job was to go in and work with our Cabinet secretaries to be able to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse within our state government. So we focused on things like how can we do fleet, fleet management and IT consolidation, and how do we have real estate? And knowing that the real estate, some of the real estate we have that the state owns, that we should not have that on our books, or doing massive procurement reform or regulatory reform. This is work that was already happening in the state of Maryland. The difference is, is that we did it with values and we led with humanity. And we made sure that, yes, we were cutting tens of millions of dollars, which we have done already in the state of Maryland. But we weren't doing it in a way that was also compromising our values. That's the difference of what Doge is, is that not only has there been a deep compromising of values, in many ways many of the things that Doge is doing are illegal or unconstitutional and not being done in coordination with the cabinet secretaries. And so I actually understand why cabinet secretaries are pretty mad when they're being so minimized and not being allowed to do anything or any of their jobs. Because now it seems like Doge is the ones in charge of every single one of these agencies. There's a way to do efficiency right. And if you want to look at what, how to do efficiency right, look at Maryland, look at these other states, look at these governors who are already doing this work, except we're doing it with a baseline of humanity and values.
- [08:36]
Host
Let's talk about the humanity, values and other priorities in your budget. Let's talk about what you're doing in the state, one, to kind of as much as you can trump proof Maryland. But two, contrast your budget, your priorities to what you're seeing now with this kind of chaos and mess at the federal government. I mean, let's show what you're doing.
- [09:02]
Wes Moore
You know, I look at what we're doing and where. We are also talking about tax cuts. In fact, in our proposed budget, we are giving a tax cut to the vast majority of Marylanders where 2/3 of Marylanders are about to get a tax cut, where 82% of Marylanders are either going to get a tax cut or see no changes in their taxes at all. The difference is our tax cuts are targeted towards the middle class. Our tax cut is making sure that middle class families and working families are getting a little extra in their pocket and a little extra pressure valve relief or we're not going to build an economy that's on their backs. If you look at what's happening when it comes to business efficiency and business effectiveness, we also agree that, that we need to make our jurisdictions more competitive and easier for business. That's why we're posing things like a corporate tax cut. But you know, we're also proposing is predictability. We're proposing performance when it comes to regulatory reforms, permitting reforms, procurement reforms, because what business owners want more than anything else is basic predictability. And what are we watching on a federal level? We're watching tariff announcements being made and then pulled back. We are watching, we are watching statements that are moving markets and then statements that are adjusting the markets right back, all within a five hour period. So you're watching chaos. What people are looking for is they're looking for stability and they're looking for people who are showing that they understand their situation and they're willing to fight for them. And so I'm actually really proud that we have introduced tax reforms that's giving me a tax cut to the middle class, that we're making it easier for businesses to be able to come and grow and thrive in the state of Maryland, that we're investing in our people, in our public education system, investing in childcare and investing in housing and creating a greater housing inventory, bringing down housing costs. These are the things that people care about. And then they'll see the results in their lives. And not just performative politics that, frankly, I think people are very frustrated by.
- [10:56]
Host
I want our audience to look at the answer you just gave and I want to contrast it to when Donald Trump was asked the same question by our competitors at Fox about predictability, about not creating instability in the business markets. Just, just watch this, Governor. I think you'll get a kick out of it. Here, play this clip.
- [11:16]
Donald Trump
Can you give us a sense of whether or not we are going to get clarity for the business community? Well, I think so, but you know, the tariffs could go up as time goes by and they may go up and, you know, I don't know if it's predictability. I think so. That's not clear. No, I think, I think that they say that, you know, it sounds good to say, but for years the globalists, the big globalists have been ripping off the United States. They've been taking money away from the United States and all we're doing is getting some of it back.
- [11:44]
Host
I got, I got one more for you, Governor. I got one more for you, Governor. So in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump was asked about large scale federal government layoffs. Let me show you his response that.
- [11:55]
Wes Moore
The large scale federal government layoffs will.
- [11:57]
Donald Trump
Weaken the labor market. How concerned are you about large scale Fed and all? The federal government layoffs will impact the labor market. Will weaken the labor market? No, I think the labor market is going to be fantastic, but it's going to have high paying manufacturing jobs as opposed to government jobs.
- [12:13]
Host
A president who doesn't know what he's talking about says what? Says what? I mean, how could you? Like what, like what is that? What, what in the world is that? Let me get your, your final remarks. You know, we know that the Trump people watch these views. They have their rapid response. Trump, 47, who's watching all of our videos what would your message be right now, though, to the Trump administration watching this right now? What's your final message?
- [12:39]
Wes Moore
I mean, that was word salad. I didn't understand what that was or what that meant. But the thing that the message that I would say is we are actually eager to be able to work together if we feel like those that our priorities are actually aligned. And if you're saying that we want to be able to have a growing economy, we agree. And there are things that can be done to actually put money back in the pockets of working class families, of being able, that you're controlling costs, that you're actually investing in industries of the future and making it easier for businesses to grow, that if you tell me that we want to make sure that we have a federal workforce that's supporting what's happening when it comes to our larger economic growth is we agree. But the way you do that is not by slashing the Department of Veterans affairs and supporting those who have worked and have earned the support of this country. And so I just, I want for this administration to be able to follow through on the things that they were talking about in the first place because the people did ask for a measure of disruption. No one is defending a status quo. And I'm the last person that is going to defend a status quo. Especially when you look at the fact that, you know, my life has been a byproduct of a brokenness of a status quo. However, there's a difference between disruption and destruction. And if then that, that difference, that difference, the casualties of that difference are the American people. That's where our work matters most. And so I want for this administration to be able to move, move lawfully in a way that we know that we can actually advance the issues and the interests of the people of this country. And there's a way to do it and there's a way not to do it. And unfortunately, we have seen a lot of the latter from this administration.
- [14:27]
Host
Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Thanks for joining us.
- [14:31]
Wes Moore
Thank you.
- [14:32]
Host
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- [14:56]
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