| August 25, 2025 07:36:31 AM |
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| August 25, 2025 07:36:31 AM |
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President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to expand his military deployments to more Democratic-led cities, responding to an offer by Maryland's governor to join him in a tour of Baltimore by saying he might instead “send in the ‘troops.’”
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Daroy Perkins holds his son Malakai during a protest against President Donald Trump's use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in the city at a rally along the U street corridor in northwest Washington, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) |
Trump says he might also send troops to police Baltimore |
After surging National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers into Washington this month, Trump said last week he was considering Chicago and New York for troop deployments similar to what he has unleashed on the nation's capital, where thousands of National Guard and federal law enforcement officers are patrolling the streets. Trump made the threat to Baltimore in a spat with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who has criticized Trump's unprecedented flex of federal power aimed at combatting crime and homelessness in Washington. Moore last week invited Trump to visit his state to discuss public safety and walk the streets.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump said Moore asked “in a rather nasty and provocative tone,” and then raised the specter of repeating the National Guard deployment he made in Los Angeles over the objections of California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom. Moore said he invited Trump to Maryland “because he seems to enjoy living in this blissful ignorance" about improving crime rates in Baltimore. Read more.
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Of note:
Trump has repeatedly described some of the nation’s largest cities — run by Democrats, with Black mayors and majority-minority populations — as dangerous and filthy. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is Black, as is Moore. The District of Columbia, Chicago and New York also have Black mayors. |
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Back in Maryland, Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces deportation again |
Abrego Garcia has reported to U.S. immigration officials in Maryland as the Trump administration says it intends to deport the El Salvadoran national whose arrest and fight to stay in the country have become a flashpoint in the president's immigration crackdown.
The scheduled check-in at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore comes just days after the 30-year-old immigrant was released from a jail in Tennessee, where he had been detained since June after being brought back to the U.S. following his mistaken deportation to El Salvador.
Immigration officials have said they plan to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda, which recently agreed to a deal to accept certain deportees from the U.S., after he declined an offer to be removed to Costa Rica in exchange for pleading guilty to human smuggling charges.
According to his defense attorneys, the government has given Abrego Garcia until first thing Monday to accept the plea deal and deportation to Costa Rica, or “that offer will be off the table forever.” Read more. |
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Of note:
Filings in federal court show the Costa Rican government saying Abrego Garcia would be welcomed as a legal immigrant and wouldn’t face detention. In a statement, Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said the criminal charges underscore how Abrego Garcia presents a "clear danger” and that he can either plead guilty or stand trial. |
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'No magic fixes' for Democrats as party confronts struggles |
Ken Martin, the low-profile political operative from Minnesota who is just six months on the job as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is charged with leading his party's formal resistance to Trump and fixing the Democratic brand. “I think the greatest divide right now in our party, frankly, is not ideological,” Martin told The Associated Press. “The greatest divide is those people who are standing up and fighting and those who are sitting on the sidelines.”
“We’re using every single lever of power we have to take the fight to Donald Trump,” he said of the DNC.
And yet, as hundreds of Democratic officials gather in Martin’s Minneapolis hometown on Monday for the first official DNC meeting since he became chair, there is evidence that Martin's fight may extend well beyond the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Big Democratic donors are unhappy with the direction of their own party and not writing checks. Political factions are fragmented over issues such as the Israel-Hamas war. The party's message is murky. Key segments of the Democratic base — working-class voters and young people, among them — have drifted away. Read more.
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Of note:
There's also deep frustration that the Democratic Party under Martin's leadership is not doing enough to stop the Republican president — no matter how tough his rhetoric may be. At this week's three-day summer meeting, DNC officials hope to make real progress in reversing the sense of pessimism and frustration that has consumed Democrats since Republicans seized the White House and control of Congress last fall. |
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President Donald Trump holds the FIFA World Cup Winners Trophy during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) |
- President Trump will sign executive orders this morning and meet with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea at the White House later today.
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