Maryland’s Democratic governor Wes Moore is not known, exactly, as a brass knuckles guy. And when Donald Trump won office in the fall of 2024, he didn’t plan to become one, even as he recognized that life would become much harder for Democrats like himself. But recent events have tested Moore’s approach. It’s not just that Trump is now threatening to withhold bridge funds for his state because Moore pushed back on Trump’s criticism of crime rates in Baltimore. It’s a series of other decisions, too: from the denial of disaster relief for Maryland flooding, to the DOGE cuts impacting Maryland’s federal workforce, to the decision by the president to stop the FBI from relocating to the Terrapin State.

In an interview with The Bulwark—parts of which we are teasing now—Moore delivered some of his sharpest pushback against Trump to date, accusing him of being motivated by pettiness and partisanship. And he outlined how Maryland has responded creatively to the challenges Trump has posed.

John's full interview with Governor Wes Moore drops Sunday morning. Don't miss it!