By MDBayNews Staff
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is once again trying to have it both ways.
In February 2026, Moore loudly complained after being excluded from a White House dinner connected to the National Governors Association (NGA) winter meeting. He framed the snub as partisan disrespect and ultimately joined a boycott, punctuating it with a performative “Nah, I’m good” that played well on social media and cable news.
What Moore did not emphasize: he appears to have skipped the same White House NGA dinner just one year earlier.
The 2025 Dinner Moore Didn’t Attend
During February 2025—amid Donald Trump’s second term—the NGA held its customary winter meeting in Washington. As in prior years, the agenda included a bipartisan business meeting and a formal dinner or reception at the White House.
There is no public reporting confirming Moore’s attendance at that dinner. Coverage at the time treated the event as routine, focusing on broader interactions between governors and the administration. Moore’s name does not appear in contemporaneous accounts of the dinner itself.
That absence gained significance in 2026, when Trump administration spokespeople stated Moore had been invited to the 2025 dinner but did not attend. While that claim was made retrospectively and has not been independently verified in 2025-era reporting, it aligns with the lack of evidence that Moore showed up.
Moore did attend other White House-related events around that time, including a Council of Governors plenary meeting on Feb. 19, 2025—a smaller, national-security-focused gathering. But that is not the same as the NGA’s high-profile White House dinner, the very type of event he later claimed to be unfairly denied.
From Absence to Outrage
Fast forward to February 2026. The Trump administration limited invitations to the NGA dinner, excluding Moore and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. Democrats cried foul. Moore refused to attend related events and positioned himself as a victim of partisan exclusion.
But the context matters.
If Moore declined or skipped the 2025 White House NGA dinner, his 2026 outrage rings hollow. You do not quietly pass on an invitation one year and then claim moral injury when the invitation doesn’t come the next.
That is not principled protest. It is selective outrage.
Political Theater Over Governance
Moore’s defenders argue that 2026 was different—that the administration intentionally politicized the NGA. Perhaps. But leaders do not build credibility by rewriting their own attendance history.
If Moore believed White House engagement with governors was beneath him in 2025, he should own that choice. If he believed attendance mattered, he should explain why he did not attend when invited.
Instead, Marylanders were treated to a press-friendly boycott and a social-media one-liner—while real issues at home, from infrastructure failures to cost-of-living pressures, continue to demand attention.
Leadership Requires Consistency
Governors are not activists. They are executives tasked with representing their states, regardless of who occupies the White House.
Skipping a bipartisan governors’ dinner, then later weaponizing exclusion for political gain, undermines the seriousness of the office. It suggests that Moore’s engagement depends less on Maryland’s interests and more on the optics of the moment.
Leadership requires consistency. Wes Moore’s NGA saga shows something else entirely.
Why This Matters for Maryland
Marylanders do not elect governors to score national political points or stage symbolic boycotts. They elect them to show up, engage, and advocate—regardless of who occupies the White House.
When a governor skips a bipartisan engagement one year and then turns exclusion into a public grievance the next, it raises a serious question: whose interests are actually being served?
Maryland faces real challenges—crumbling infrastructure, rising energy costs, environmental failures along the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, and a growing affordability crisis. These problems do not pause for political theater. They require consistent representation and steady leadership in every room where federal decisions are made.
National visibility is not a substitute for results. If Maryland’s governor is more focused on crafting moments for cable news than maintaining working relationships that benefit the state, Marylanders are the ones who pay the price.
Leadership is not about when it is convenient to show up. It is about showing up every time—especially when it is uncomfortable, unglamorous, or politically inconvenient.
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