The escalating dispute between Maryland Governor Wes Moore and President Donald Trump took another peculiar turn this week, as the two leaders traded barbs over crime, military service, and even the recounting of a meeting that Moore insists never happened at all.
From the Oval Office on Monday, Trump revived the feud by claiming that Moore once privately hailed him as “the greatest president of my lifetime” during a brief encounter at the Army-Navy football game in December.
Will Cain plays footage of Wes Moore greeting President Trump at the Army Navy game.
Cain: We didn’t hear greatest president ever but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm. Who’s telling the truth? We’ll let you decide pic.twitter.com/dAuElfl1Yf
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2025
According to Trump, Moore approached him with enthusiasm, gave him a hug and a handshake, and delivered unexpected words of admiration. “They said, ‘Oh, there’s Governor Moore. He’d love to see you.’ He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand. You were there,” Trump recounted, addressing an unidentified person nearby.
Trump said Moore then told him, “‘Sir, you’re the greatest president of my lifetime.’ I said, ‘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.’” The president went on to complain that Moore had since been harshly critical of him in public, but added, “That’s all right, it’s called politics.”
Moore, however, immediately denied Trump’s account in the most direct way possible. Sharing a video of Trump telling the story, he posted a one-word response: “lol.” A few minutes later, he followed it with another remark aimed squarely at Trump: “Keep telling yourself that, Mr. President.”
— Wes Moore (@iamwesmoore) August 25, 2025
In Moore’s view, the president’s claims reflect not reality, but political theater. On Monday, speaking to Baltimore radio station WBAL, Moore doubled down on his denial. “I’m a person who takes my integrity very seriously,” the governor said. “And I spent the last six months before the election campaigning as to why I did not think he should be the next president of the United States. So when I say that that conversation never happened … that imaginary conversation never happened … I mean, that conversation never happened.”
Footage of Trump and Moore’s brief interaction at the Army-Navy game, which later aired on Fox News, shows a friendly exchange but does not include anything resembling the words Trump attributed to Moore.
The unusual clash between the president and the first-term Maryland Democrat began last week when Trump suggested he might broaden his crime crackdown beyond Washington, D.C., and deploy federal forces to other cities, specifically mentioning Baltimore. Moore responded to that threat with a pointed invitation.
In a speech, he urged Trump to see the city firsthand rather than use it as a political talking point. “I would invite Donald Trump to walk our streets and not just talk about us from the Oval Office,” Moore declared as he touted reductions in violent crime and progress in cutting the number of vacant homes in Baltimore. He then gave a blunt warning: “Donald Trump, if you are not willing to walk our communities, keep our name out of your mouth.”
Those remarks infuriated the president. He quickly moved to counter with personal attacks. Over the weekend, Trump questioned the accuracy of Moore’s military service record, taking to his Truth Social platform to write: “Did Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland, lie about getting a Bronze Star?”
The insinuation gave Moore another opening to strike back. On social media, he reminded followers of Trump’s controversial history of avoiding the Vietnam draft, mocking him as “President Bone Spurs”, a reference to the disputed deferment for bone spurs that allowed Trump to avoid service in the 1960s.
From there, the conflict continued to escalate, with Trump calling Moore’s earlier Baltimore comments “derogatory” before switching back to his story about their supposed conversation at the Army-Navy game. Moore dismissed the entire episode as a diversion from what he views as the real issues facing Americans.
“This is about the spiraling cost of living and his threats to cut spending locally,” the governor said, accusing the president of resorting to distractions and falsehoods rather than addressing pressing concerns.
