Donald Trump boasted Wednesday that he didn’t invite two Democratic governors—one of whom is the nation’s sole Black governor—to a National Governors Association gathering at the White House.
Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social that Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore “are not worthy of being” at the gathering later this month. Trump called Moore “foul mouthed,” and criticized him over the rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and crime in Baltimore.
Moore’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
After Trump first snubbed the two governors, a group of their colleagues planned to skip the dinner, and the bipartisan NGA said it wouldn’t be included in its official schedule for their gathering in Washington from February 19 to 21.
Then on Wednesday, NGA chairman and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said all governors would be invited to the White House.
“He was very clear in his communications with me that this is a National Governors Association’s event, and he looks forward to hosting you and hearing from governors across the country,” Stitt wrote to the other governors. “President Trump said this was always his intention, and we have addressed the misunderstanding in scheduling.”
But that led to confusion, because Trump then said on Truth Social that Polis and Moore were still not invited.
“The Invitations were sent out to all other Governors, Democrat and Republican,” he wrote. “I look forward to seeing the Republican Governors, and some of the Democrats Governors who were worthy of being invited, but most of whom won’t show up.
Moore, 47, told CNN last week his exclusion was “particularly confusing” in light of how he was among a bipartisan group of governors who went to see Trump at the White House earlier this year.
“I find that to be particularly painful, considering the fact that the president is trying to exclude me from an organization that not only my peers have asked me to help to lead, but then also a place that I know I belong in,” Moore, the NGA’s vice chair who became Maryland’s governor in 2023, said on State of the Union.
When asked whether he felt race played a role, Moore said he didn’t know.
“It’s not lost to me…but I can’t speak to the president’s intent,” he said.
Trump didn’t do himself any favors last week by posting on Truth Social a racist video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. The White House initially defended the post amid bipartisan criticism, only to delete it less than 12 hours later while blaming a still-unknown staffer.
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