In a baffling case of “oops, never mind,” Fox News tried to prop up Donald Trump’s wild Oval Office tale, only to have it blow up spectacularly in their face. On Monday, host Will Cain played a brief clip from last year’s Army–Navy college football game, hoping it would back Trump’s claim that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told him he was “the greatest president of my lifetime.” Spoiler: it didn’t.
Trump, 79, had recounted to reporters that Moore “came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand” and showered him with praise. The president added with a grin, “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.’”
Cue the backlash. Moore, 46, was having none of it. He took to X, posting a cheeky “lol” and added, “keep telling yourself that, Mr. President.” Later, on WBAL Radio, he said flat-out: “That imaginary conversation never happened.”
So Fox trotted out their trump card: video. But instead of the cinematic hug-and-hail moment, viewers got… a handshake. Moore greets Trump, says something like “Good to see you,” and talks briefly about rebuilding the collapsed Key Bridge in Baltimore. No “greatest president” quote. No hug. Nada.
Even Cain conceded on-air: “We didn’t hear ‘greatest president ever,’ but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm and ‘So excited to meet you, Mr. President!’ Who’s telling the truth? We’ll let you decide.” Oof. That backfired harder than a reality TV plot twist.
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
But the media drama didn’t stop there. Moore’s camp fired back, calling the president’s story a distraction. “It should be surprising to no one that the President would like to distract from his unpopular agenda that is making life more expensive for Marylanders and Americans across the country,” a spokesperson said. “We wish he would spend more time focused on addressing the cost of living as he does on making stuff up.”
Not to be outdone, the White House shot back with its own sideshow. Spokesperson Liz Huston accused Moore of being “lightweight,” attention-seeking, and secretly praising the president off-camera “behind the scenes after the President’s landslide victory on November 5th.” She added: “Wes should spend less time attacking President Trump and more time cleaning up the massive crime mess in Baltimore.”
The feud between Trump and Wes Moore can be traced back to Trump’s first term, when in 2019 he blasted Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” during a series of attacks on the late Rep. Elijah Cummings. Moore, a Baltimore native and community leader at the time, publicly defended the city and criticized Trump’s rhetoric as divisive and insulting.
When Moore was elected Maryland’s first Black governor in 2022 and took office in 2023, the clash reignited. Trump continued to describe Baltimore as a “crime disaster,” while Moore pushed back, challenging him to walk the city’s streets and see firsthand the progress being made. This ongoing back-and-forth laid the groundwork for their latest spat over the embellished Army–Navy game encounter.
