FILE PHOTO: Maryland Governor Wes Moore gestures on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
This Friday, February 20, the National Governors Association's (NGA) annual meeting is getting underway in Washington, D.C. The NGA, founded in 1908, is bipartisan — and both Republicans and Democrats are invited. While the NGA is chaired by a conservative Republican governor, Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt, its vice-chair, Wes Moore, is a Maryland Democrat. And the NGA Executive Committee ranges from Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
Although Moore and Polis are attending the meeting, President Donald Trump isn't inviting them to a related White House gubernatorial dinner set for Saturday, February 21. And Stitt isn't happy about it. Nor is Acting NGA Executive Director Brandon Tatum, who said, "The bipartisan White House governors meeting is an important tradition, and we are disappointed in the administration's decision to make it a partisan occasion this year."
In a biting opinion column published on the NGA meeting's first day, MS NOW's Jason Johnson examines Trump's explanation for excluding Moore and Polis from the White House dinner and counters it with a biting explanation of his own.
"Trump’s official justification for snubbing Polis is the governor's refusal to release from prison Tina Peters, a former Mesa County election clerk convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing a security guard's identity, illegally copying election records and allowing unauthorized personnel into vote counting systems," Johnson observes. "Peters did all that in a ridiculously futile attempt to prove fraud against Trump in the 2020 election. As for Moore, Trump says he's snubbing him because the governor is 'foul-mouthed' and because he claimed to have a Bronze Star on his 2006 White House Fellow Application, when he hadn't officially received it yet. Moore apologized years ago, even though records indicate his commanding officer had assured him he could highlight the star because it had already been approved. That commander eventually pinned Moore with the Bronze Star for 'meritorious service' in 2024."
Johnson continues, "The absurdity of Trump's explanations only add to suspicions that his bigotries played a big role in these snubs. After all, we've seen those bigotries play a role in just about everything else Trump does."
Johnson argues that it's no coincidence that Trump is excluding a Black governor (Moore) and a gay governor (Polis).
"Trump has a history of racist and homophobic rhetoric and behavior," Johnson writes, "but his exclusion of these two governors from an event that's been open to all governors is a new and dangerous low even for him…. The absurdity of Trump's explanations only add to suspicions that his bigotries played a big role in these snubs. After all, we've seen those bigotries play a role in just about everything else Trump does. It was just this month that he shared a video depicting former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes….. And even though Trump didn't exclude the lesbian governors of Oregon and Massachusetts from Saturday's scheduled White House event, there's also no denying his anti-LGBTQ animus. His 2024 campaign attack ad that claimed 'Kamala is for They/Them and Donald Trump is for You,' wasn’t a dog whistle — it was an air raid siren that anyone could hear."