Up First from NPR
Gov. Wes Moore on Iran, pardon power, and his future | NPR's Newsmakers
27 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Steve Inskeep with a special episode of Up First. It's a conversation from our brand new sister show, NPR's Newsmakers. In each episode, we interview some of the most influential people of our time. Real questions, pushing for real answers to drive at what they really think. You can watch the show on NPR's YouTube channel or search for it wherever you get your podcasts.
Chapter 2: What insights does Gov. Wes Moore share about military action in the Middle East?
Wes Moore is the Democratic governor of Maryland. He's considered a rising Democratic star, and he's sometimes talked about as a future presidential candidate. Moore is also an American combat veteran, and that was relevant to the discussion we had here in the Maryland Statehouse. I want to ask about some news.
What are you thinking as your former unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, is deployed to the Middle East?
You know, I've had a lot of conversations with...
some of the folks that I serve with, in fact, recently, as early as this morning, there was always something that we knew as paratroopers, as members of the 82nd, or just frankly, anybody in the military, is that you never authorize military force unless, A, military force was the last option, B, we had an understanding of what the mission and the endgame was, and C, you were spending your time and your energy building the right kind of coalition.
that could help to be successful in advance. The problem with this mission is none of those things have, A, not been accomplished, but I'm not sure if any of the three of them have even been thought about because there is no one who could argue that military action was the last resort on this mission. Nobody. There's nobody that can argue that we understand
what the mission is or mission accomplishment is or the end game. And it's not because we're being naive. It's because we've all heard maybe a dozen things from the president himself. And the third thing, when we talk about an international coalition, I mean, that's almost laughable.
when you look at the fact that there is not an international coalescing around this that's going to help us to accomplish the mission. So I remember when I was speaking, in fact, I was speaking with a person I serve with this morning, and I told him, I said, I'm just, I'm praying for our paratroopers. I'm praying for their family members.
And honestly, I'm praying for the leadership of this country. I'm praying for the president. I'm praying for the secretary of defense. I'm praying that God give them guidance and vision. I'm praying that God give them an understanding of the men and women and their families who they're asking to actually do the work, because I think that's been lost in all this.
And I'm praying that we have leadership that can actually meet this moment.
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Chapter 3: How does Gov. Moore view the challenges facing the next U.S. president?
That's when I think military force is something that you then tend to look at. But I don't think there's anybody who is arguing that we were at that point.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said the president was the one who would be allowed to define the imminent threat and that he did.
Well, I also think the president needs to understand that if you're dealing with the imminent threat through warfare, then. whether or not the president of the United States is the one to make a final authorization is one thing, but then you still need to notify Congress and that people still need to have an understanding as to what is going on.
That the president of the United States has not just the moral, but the legal authority to protect the homeland. We understand that and we agree with that. But if you can't argue that there was an eminent threat that required you to put the country at war... then that's where this gets very difficult and very murky. And frankly, I think it's indefensible.
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We're talking during a week that is the anniversary of an event here in Maryland, the collapse of the Key Bridge outside of Baltimore. So two years ago, that happened in 2024. In 2025, as many people will know, you had an exchange of words with the president, and he threatened to cut off funding for repairing that bridge, rebuilding that bridge. In early 2026, though—
Things had progressed to the point where you put out a joint statement with Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, hailing progress. What changed?
Well, I think nothing changed. I think what happened was we've just continued what has been historic progress. I mean, Maryland has put on a case study on how to respond in moments of crisis. Because at 2 or 2 in the morning on March 26, two years ago, when I first heard about this You know, a ship the size of three football fields collapsing into our iconic key bridge.
You know, immediately we sprung into action. Putting the state on a state of emergency, working with state and local and federal partners. When they told us it was going to take 11 months to clear the federal channel, we got it cleared in 11 weeks. When they told us it could take years to be able to get permitting done, to be able to fix a bridge, because this bridge is nearly two miles long.
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Chapter 4: What is Gov. Moore's stance on the impact of artificial intelligence on society?
It is moving safely. And I think Maryland is really putting on a case study about how to respond in crisis and how to get big things done.
I want to ask about bipartisanship. You and I shared a stage recently with a couple of your fellow governors, one of whom was Kevin Stitt, Republican of Oklahoma, very conservative. And he made a statement that you agreed with. He said that the government should promote equal opportunity, not equal outcomes, which in my mind is a line that is used as sometimes a jab against progressives.
But you agreed with it.
I wholeheartedly agree with him.
Why?
Because I believe that the promise of America is that everyone in America, you know, I'm not saying that everyone in this country needs to end up at the same spot. But I believe everyone in this country deserves a fair shot. And that's, that distance is where I think this country has had historic challenges.
Where I think you have some people who think that the definition of fairness is everyone ends up in the same spot.
Including some people in your party, would you say?
Absolutely. And I just fundamentally disagree because I don't think that the answer for everybody should be the same. It's the same reason why here in the state of Maryland, we push so hard on things like alternative pathways for education, where we have made historic investments. I've quadrupled the number of apprenticeship and trade slots that we have within our state.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of AI for future elections?
And if that includes a four-year degree, fantastic. And if it does not, fantastic. That we need to make sure that every single person in our state... has a chance for lifelong opportunities and economic growth and sustainable economic mobility. But we should not be telling each and every one of them what it should look like.
Meaning that people should approach things differently. I'm curious, as I listen to you, Marylanders will know that you just had to deal with closing a budget deficit or that lawmakers did. You have big deficits in your future. Education is part of the reason. Is the very education program you described part of the problem or part of the challenge?
No, because I think that there's a few things that I think the people of my state know. One is that we believe in fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility, that we've now passed – we've done something that people in Washington seemingly can't do. I've now passed four budgets, balanced budgets, that have actually – where the general fund is smaller – than the year before.
So since I've been the governor, we have forced our state to do more with less. But do you know what's also happened during that time period, even though we are, you know, repeatedly shrinking the size of our state budget? What's also happened is we've increased our math and reading scores in every single grade inside of the state of Maryland.
What's also happened is we have the fastest drops in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America here in the state of Maryland. What's also happened is that we have one of the fastest job growth rates in the entire country.
In the state of Maryland, we've gone from 43rd in the country in unemployment to now having an unemployment rate that is systemically lower than the national average, that we've added nearly 100,000 new jobs since I've been the governor and 35,000 new businesses have been added to the state of Maryland since I've been the governor.
So I think what we've been able to show is that you can be fiscally disciplined, but also be very smart about what you're investing in.
And I think one of the things that you have to invest in, you've got to invest in education and you've got to invest in public education and you've got to invest in your community colleges, the places where the vast majority of our students are getting their educational pathways, because that's also what makes a certain jurisdiction very attractive to business and economic growth.
I want to ask you about another potential point of bipartisan agreement that might surprise people. Elon Musk recently was asked why he had not given away more of his hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth. And he was quoted as saying, I don't think that money can be given away very effectively. He didn't think philanthropy works.
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