WEBVTT - INTERVIEW: Gov. Wes Moore Talks Running For Reelection, National Guard, Big Beautiful Bill, Sean Duffy + More 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:05.160 Every day a week. Click yours up the Breakfast. 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:07.280 Club, finish for y'all done morning. 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:11.240 Everybody is stej Envy, Jess hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.320 are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.680 the building. Indeed, this morning we got your governor Jess. 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.560 You all righty now govern up Maryland. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.120 Governor west More, welcome, it's. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.119 Going to be back back of my favorite constituent. 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:25.040 What stuff are you doing? 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.160 You might be related the same last name. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:28.880 I'm saying, yeah, that's cousin. 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:30.520 If it's not what you say it is. 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.480 I always always say, yeah, makes sense, that's your cousin. 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.000 And everybody loves Governor west Yeah. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:37.480 You't go ahead. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.400 You ain't ever asking no pardon, though I didn't. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:46.040 That was the conversation at to this interview. Expand some 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:46.600 stuff from me. 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:47.680 How are you feeling? 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:51.240 First and foremost, I'm feeling great, man. Everything's great. Everything honestly, 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.880 everything's good. It's like, you know, I say this, Thank 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.760 God where Maryland? You know, because I see everything that's 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.840 going on around the country, and I see the fear, 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.160 the frustration, and I see like Maryland's just moving different. 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.600 Maryland's taking care of each other. There's no state that's 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.520 taking it on the chin from this Trump administration like 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:11.080 Maryland has. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:12.000 I mean, like people forget. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.920 Before this ridiculous federal government shut down, Donald Trump had 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:19.640 already fired over fifteen thousand Marylanders who are federal workers, 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.480 pulled grants, I mean, you know, restricted any type of 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.680 aid to our folks over in western Maryland despite having 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:31.000 historic floods. Literally, when we put in for federal disaster relief, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.039 which we qualified for, they literally sent a message back 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.360 saying support from Maryland is not warranted. 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:37.880 Wow, that's it. 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:40.960 So But despite all that, we have some of the 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.880 fastest job growth rates inside the entire country, one of 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.360 the lowest unemployment rates in the entire country. We're making 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.440 sure we're taking care of our ferial workers. We're making 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.440 sure we're uplifting our community. So listen, thank god we're 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:51.800 in Maryland. 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.000 I use Maryland as an example all the time because 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.920 I remember I was at my daughter's Chilean tournament back 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.480 in like February, and the amount of people who were 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:01.640 walking up to me who were concerned that they were 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.760 either going to lose their jobs and they already had 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.400 lost their jobs because the dose was insane, So I 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:08.760 can imagine what you get. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.799 And Sean is crazy because like, who are we talking about. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:13.919 We're talking about people who do things like make sure 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.560 that our food is safe, right, make sure that our 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.919 critical infrastructure is make sure that veterans like myself who 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.360 come back home and who need medication, that they're getting 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:26.400 their medication. That's who they're choosing to go after first. 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.680 And so looking at this assault that we have had 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.320 on our federal workers and again and now we're talking 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.120 about the only way that you're going to reopen a 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.240 government is by cutting people off health care, raising premiums 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:42.679 by ninety five percent. Health Care is already too expensive, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.200 and now you're talking about raising premiums by ninety five 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.000 percent for folks like, this is crazy, what's going on? 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.720 And so Maryland, you know, in many ways, Maryland really 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:53.040 does take it and have to take it. Like these 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.880 are not indirect blows. These are direct shots at me, 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:58.360 in direct shots at us. We get it. But the 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.280 thing that we're really focusing on is how how can 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.760 we make sure we're protecting our people and really diversifying 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:05.960 our economy so we're not we don't have to be 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.840 as reliant on Washington, DC, or who sits in an oval. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.400 Office break it down, like how will you getting through it? 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:12.400 Because this governance in May is that are having a 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.519 hard time, but Maryland is making it through. So how 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.360 is Maryland making it through? How are you know, people 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.880 finding jobs? How are people paying rent and car notes 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.680 and putting food on their table? How are you guys 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:25.560 doing it well? 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.160 One is I think our folks realizes that we're not 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.919 been in the need of nobody. Anybody who's sitting there 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.600 saying well, if you just be quiet, they'll stop, or 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.160 if you don't, if you don't push back, they'll I'm like, listen, 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.240 I don't. I don't know a situation where it's like listen, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.400 if you just be quiet, they'll stop beating you. Like 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.280 that's never happens. Never. And so the thing that we're doing, 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:50.480 we're just being We're being aggressive about what it means 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.400 to protect our people. So, for example, with our federal workers, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.040 we've made sure that there are pipelines for our federal 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.200 workers to be able to get available in essential state 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.560 jobs or private sector jobs. We start is something called 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.440 fedes to eds, where we knew that Maryland as well 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.840 as many other states has a teacher shortage right now. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.280 So I'm saying, if I got someone who's working for 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.360 the federal government who was interested and qualified, get them certified, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.080 get them trained, get them in a classroom as quickly 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.799 as possible, so we can both address the teacher shortage 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.920 as well as making sure that they're getting employment. That alone, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:22.880 we've now seen since I been the governor, we have 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.600 clothes that teacher shortage we have by twenty five percent, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:28.840 and a lot of that is because of these federal 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.159 workers who are now coming on board. We have federal 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.240 workers who they are forcing to go to work, which 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.120 is this is crazy. They are federal workers that are 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.800 forcing to go to work and not paying them. So 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:42.320 we got folks in Maryland who are working and not 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:46.360 getting paid. We got politicians in Washington who are paid 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.720 and not working right, and so. 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:50.840 We still got to pay taxes, and we still got 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.320 to pay taxes on them while they're not doing anything right. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.479 And so for federal workers who are now forced to 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.200 go to work and they're taking public transportation there paying 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.520 for public translation despite not getting paycheck. So what did 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.040 I do? I said, for all public translation for federal workers, 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:05.480 it's free. 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:06.320 Wow. 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.840 It's free. Just show your federal government pass and you're good. 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:11.400 Wow. 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.240 So it's like, so we are making sure we're being aggressive. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:15.880 We were said, we're as long as we can, We're 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.080 going to cover down on Medicaid snap Wick, despite the 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.080 fact that the federal government is now cutting it off 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.000 from our states. I'm saying that in the state of Maryland, 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:25.719 we're going to make sure that our people are protected 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:27.760 and our people are taken care of. So I tell 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:32.640 our folks man, while Washington is telling this country, you're 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.440 on your own, in Maryland, we tell our people we 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:36.280 leave no one behind. 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.839 I wanted to ask you about the No King's protests 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.520 that were happening this weekend, and in your view, what 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.440 does the level of turnout say about public sentiment toward 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:47.800 executive power in America today. 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:49.400 Well, I tell you one of the things I was 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.719 really taken by. It's not even just the numbers. It's 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:58.200 the where some of the biggest No Kings turnouts that 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.960 we had in our state. We're in rural parts of 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.720 our state, conservative parts of our state. And I think 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:06.560 about it this way, man, where it's like, you know, 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.840 for example, when we just announced our reelection two weeks ago. 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.080 Some of the first people that came out and endorsed 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:19.839 us were actually Republican lawmakers. Republican lawmakers in Western Maryland 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.200 because they were like at a time, and these are 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:26.159 places that voted for Donald Trump by seventy five, seventy seven, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.159 seventy eight percent, but they were like, but listen, in 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.000 our time of need, the governor showed up. We were 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:35.520 some of the first boots on ground when they had 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.040 historic flooding out in western Maryland. The President nowhere to 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.600 be found that we actually invested millions of dollars to 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.839 make sure that they can get furnaces, because I'm telling 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:47.239 you right now, we're talking about some of the coldest 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.440 parts of our state and people who do not have furnaces, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.080 people will lose their lives this winter. We put in 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.200 millions of dollars from the state to make sure they're good. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.520 The president support from Maryland is not warranted because you 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.280 exactly exactly. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.200 I known y'all. 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:07.479 But it's like, but but the point is, it's like, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.320 so when you're going out there and you're seeing no 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:14.360 kings protests, when you're seeing them, like, listen, this is 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.200 is this about? You know? Is this about rule of law. 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.840 And it's about rule of law. Is it about you 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.280 came in and you'd say you make things more affordable? 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:24.440 And we said, how energy prices have risen by twenty 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.800 percent since he's been the president. That these terrorists are 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.840 making everything from the clothes that we're wearing to the 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.440 food that were that food that were eating more expensive. Yeah, 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.480 but you know what, it's also about you keep breaking 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.920 your promises. Man, everything you said that you were going 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.559 to do. They are now waking up and realizing he 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:40.560 never cared about you. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.200 Right, He promised economic change on day one. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.040 For him, and it happened. He's great economic change he 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.200 has been. I tell you, the two greatest beneficiaries of 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.800 the Trump administration so far have been the Trump family 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.560 and China. Ooh, the Trump family in China have had 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.000 a great streak for the past ten months. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:01.960 Why China, because it seems like they've been they've had. 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:07.080 Like issues because when American leadership pulls back, who's helping 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:08.080 to fill up the vacuum? 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:09.560 Got you that? 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.520 Oftentimes when you're talking about our foreign policy, this really 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:16.040 is a larger battle between the US and China. China 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.440 being one of the fastest growing economies over a period 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.040 of the past twenty years. China being a country that 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.080 is always pushed and reflected and said, like, we want 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.440 to make sure that we're having our proper respect. And 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.320 the United States, who in many ways is kind of 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.080 like this upstart. You know, they're like the startup in 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.280 the globe. Now we're about to celebrating two hundred and 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.000 fifty years. China's like two hundred and fifty years, Like 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.319 that's a blink of an eye when it comes to 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.720 Chinese history. But also look at what has now happened 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.320 as the US has pulled away from things like foreign 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.800 aid and support and everywhere from Africa to South America. 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.280 Who's helped to fill in that China right, who has 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.000 helped to come in when we're having conversations about about 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.200 about new resources and energy supports right and come up 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.400 with long term energy supplies. When you have the Trump 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.760 administration who's pulling away from increasing energy supplies, which by 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.960 the way, is making energy prices more expensive on everybody. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.880 I believe that we should be investing in solar and 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:19.880 wind and nuclear and all the energy technologies that can 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.200 help to make energy prices more affordable because when you 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.600 increase supply, you then can be able to decrease costs. 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.360 And Donald Trump is simply saying like, nah, We're not 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.319 doing any of that stuff you know that's going to 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.560 do it continues to drive energy prices up. Do you 0:09:33.559 --> 0:09:37.760 know who is investing in those new technologies? China? So listen, 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.560 the Trump family and China have done very, very well 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.480 over the past ten months. The average American family not 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:43.960 so much. 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.800 And we had a bunch of candidates up here, Mayoro, 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.840 candidates from New York and governors from Jersey, and everybody 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.640 talks about their relationship or wanting to work with Trump. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:55.360 Is that even an option with you? 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.040 Listen, I'm very clear, man, I will work with anyone. 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.600 I will just down to no one. I'm not built 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.599 that way. Like I'm always going to fight for my 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:08.719 fi Like the people of my state, they understand like 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.199 like I'm not. I don't come from a political world. 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.199 I don't come from a political family. I don't come 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.600 from a political background. I'm a soldier. That's who I am. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.240 That's how I'm built. And so if someone is trying 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.320 to do something that's going to benefit the people of 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.560 my state, if someone's trying to do something that's going 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.560 to benefit my community and my people, then I'm always 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.360 interested in being able to find ways of working together 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.360 and so on and so forth. The problem is, I 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.840 have seen nothing from this administration that shows as an 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.040 interest in that. I have seen nothing but shots at us. 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.040 I've seen nothing but talk about how you're going to 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.040 send national guards into my communities. I've seen nothing but 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.960 them turning down federal aid and federal supports that is 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.240 justified and necessary for the people of my state. I've 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.319 seen nothing but them using them except using the constitution 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.040 like it's a suggestion box. So, you know, if you 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.920 want to have a real conversation about being able to 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.480 help the people of Maryland and lift us up and 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.920 continue the trajectory that we've been on since my administration 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.720 has come on board, I'm always down to that conversation. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.719 As a form of soldier talk about the negative things 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:14.560 about having sold just put into the community. 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:18.640 There are so many problems with this, and it's so 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.640 deeply performative. And here's the thing that gets me on 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.840 a couple fronts. If he wants to have a real 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.360 conversation about making our community safer, I'm here for that. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.400 I've been very clear there is no higher priority for 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.120 me than making sure that our communities are safe. I 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.000 think about what's happened in Maryland, and Maryland for the 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.080 eight years before I became the governor, we saw the 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:43.120 homicide rate nearly double. The non fatal shooting rate did double. 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.360 Baltimore City the year before I became the governor, in 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.520 twenty twenty two, we had almost a homicide a day. 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:53.280 And so when we came on board, I said, I 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:54.559 Am not going to be a governor that's going to 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.160 sit there and give eulogies and give thoughts and prayers 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.680 and not do a damn thing about actually making community safer. 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.640 So what do we do? I started working with Mayor Scott. 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.400 I started working with local Sorry may Scott, Mayor Baltimore. 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.760 I started working with local law enforcement. I started working 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.840 with count executives around the state. I started actually, we 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.160 made historic investments in predictive analytics and technologies and community 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.720 violence intervention groups, community violence interruption groups, and the results 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.360 have been this. In the past two and a half years, 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:23.840 we have seen how Maryland has had amongst the fastest 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.760 drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.880 America amongst the fastest drops in property crime anywhere in 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:32.320 the United States of America. The homicide rates in the 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.320 state of Maryland since ide and the governor are down 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.200 nearly twenty five percent that we have seen in Baltimore City. 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:39.000 The last time of homicide rate was this slow in 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.800 Baltimore City. I wasn't born yet. That's the kind of 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.240 drops we've seen. And now, despite the head the presidents 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:50.640 talk about how we have children who are natural born killers, 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:53.480 and he's now going to send the National Guard in 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.800 our community. I'm like, first of all, you're nineteen eighties 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.480 archie bunker men talenty mindset is not going to fly 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.040 because it goes against all data that's actually happening and 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.920 the momentum we're actually seeing. But the other thing about 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.480 it is this man is that like, I know what 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.360 it's like for these soldiers. I know what it's like 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:14.920 to put on the uniform. I know what it's like 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.000 to say good boy to your family. I deployed, I 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.360 let soldiers overseas in Afghanistan. And so for him to 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:24.600 continue to have this fetish of military uniforms like it's 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:28.640 a child where he's going to ask these men and 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:30.720 women to do something that he was never willing to do. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.520 Say goodbode to your family, and to go to deploy 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.680 and to do operations and missions that a they You know, 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.520 municipal policing is not something our National Guards are trained for. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.280 I'm the commander in chief of the Maryland National Guard. 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:45.360 I know my gods are trained for and that's not 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.640 one of them. And I also know that if you 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.599 look at what's happening in Washington, d C. And the 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.640 deployments that they're having, you know, I can tell you 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.760 that these National Guards men and women, these citizens soldiers 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.000 who are giving up their lives because they trust them 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.120 commander in chief, have taken more selfies than they've made arrests. 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:07.920 They painted more fences and picked up more trash than 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.360 they've actually done drug busts. So what are we talking 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.520 about right now? This is what the president is doing 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.560 and Headseth and all these guys. It is just it's performative. 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.920 It's offensive. It's offensive to our communities, it's offensive to 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.440 these military personnel. It's offensive to their families because you're 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.000 now asking to leave their families and to. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.240 Do what And nobody ever asked him what's the long 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.600 term solution, like, what's the long term solution never for 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.360 crime prevention? Okay, you're doing this, now, what's the long 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:37.880 term plan? 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.120 If he wants to have a serious conversation, I would 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.160 love for the President United States, and I'm not holding 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.600 my breath on this, to have a serious conversation about policy, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.440 because listen, I tell him, you know what I would 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:48.680 love to do. I know for myself and the mayor 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:50.400 and our Acount executives, We'd love to talk to you 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.600 about banning block switches and the ability to turn these 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.560 blocks into automatic weapons. We'd love to have a conversation 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.560 about banning ghost guns. We'd love to have a conversation 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:02.000 with you about additional ATI n FBI resources and supports. 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.760 I love to have a conversation with you about lpr's 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.240 license plate readers so that can help to actually track 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.320 down crime. I'd love to have a conversation with you 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.880 about stop stop cutting the funding that was coming to 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.160 our communities for community violence intervention groups that were actually 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.440 on the ground doing the work. But he's not interested 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.760 in that. But what he is interested in doing is 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.400 he'll cut funding for stuff that's actually working. But then 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.760 ask the American taxpayer to pay over a million dollars 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.200 a day so they can watch National Guard take selfies. 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.120 Are you concerned, like when you saw the meeting that 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.160 you know, a Secretary of War Pete Hexf and President 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.680 Trump had with the US military generals and admirals. 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:42.560 Are you concerned that some of. 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.200 Those generals and admirals may go along with him and 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.320 pledge loyalty to him and not the Constitution. 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.880 Yeah, you know, it's the I remember I'm on a 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:56.200 bunch of different like group chats things with a lot 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.280 of military folks who I served with, and people were 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.160 still in and I remember getting one from a buddy 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:06.640 of mine and he said, listen, I've oftentimes disagreed with 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.560 the commander in chief, not often. Am I embarrassed by him? 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:11.240 Wow? 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.920 Because I'm embarrassed. Wow, because there's just a lack of 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:20.280 seriousness that he and accept there are taking on this. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:23.840 There is, you know. And one thing I, you know, 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.640 always say is that listen, as soldiers, we know our job, 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:30.240 we know our oath. We took an oath to the 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:35.080 Constitution and always protect and defend people against all enemies 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.200 of this country, foreign and domestic. And we took an 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.280 oath that we would always honor all lawful orders of 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.960 the President of the United States. The thing that is 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.520 is uh is really challenging for a lot of people 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.120 right now. Is this blurring of a line that we 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.800 are seeing from this White House about what orders are 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:55.400 lawful and what orders are not. 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:58.120 And we've seen it in other countries, like we've seen 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.480 it in Germany. We' seen happen to jenerremies having a 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.040 you know, Russia under style, and like what if just 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:05.720 say thirty forty percent of those military people say, you 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:06.080 know what. 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:07.280 We gonna ride with the president. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.080 Yeah, no, let's say what I think this is and 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.919 this this is where this is where we know that 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.679 we are in a really complicated and dangerous place. You know, 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.840 I take my role as Commander in chief of the 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:27.159 Maryland National Guard very seriously. I take my commitment to 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.560 these men and women. I take my commitment to their families. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.119 I take it very serious. It's the reason that you 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.400 know we have we have done everything from you know, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:40.160 having the largest tax cut to military veterans and younger 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.720 military veterans in Maryland history, that we have double the 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:44.359 amount of leave that they have so they can stop 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.840 using their PTO on things like military training if they're 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.160 a state worker. It's the reason that we have made 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:50.760 Maryland the first day in the country that now has 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.840 a pathway to free dental care and health care for 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:54.720 members of our National Guard, because I don't know how 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.760 someone can wear the uniform of this country and have 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.399 to worry about their dental care. So there's a whole 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.960 lot our military communities know that I ride for them, 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:08.679 but knowing that we are getting this type of this 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.600 type of you know, almost like comedic effort at leadership 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.879 on our national side about the usage, about the serious 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:19.240 and frankly the very sobering usages of our military personnel 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:20.119 is deeply disturbing. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.600 I would call it an authoritarian effort. Yeah, as opposed 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.040 to a comedic effort. I was gonna ask you, like 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.680 when you when you think about the no Kings protests, 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.879 what do you think about the framing and like, is 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.359 there a responsibility for an elected leader to address like 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.640 the perceptions of authoritarianism, whether it's. 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:38.280 You know, real or proceeds. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.440 Yeah, I mean I think there is, and I think 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.520 people and I think people are seeing it. I think 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.199 people are seeing it in their own real lives, and 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.040 I think people and here's the point too, is that 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.639 if people thought that this was benefiting their life, this 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.200 would be one thing, right if people are like, listen, 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.240 we had to clean things up and we had to 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.840 make sure that government worked, and we had to And 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.720 but you know what, I'm watching my prices go down. 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:08.480 I'm watching my education system being better. I'm watching transportation 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.719