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In just a few sentences, Maryland Governor Wes Moore stepped forward as a leader at a time the nation has experienced a profound leadership deficit in the face of the Trump Administration’s rapidly unfolding efforts to transform the U.S. into an electoral autocracy. Under Trump, the Administration has made significant progress in turning the Presidency into the dominant branch of government. Only the courts have offered meaningful resistance.
But the courts, alone, have not been able to fully constrain the Trump Administration. The Administration has committed human rights violations, unleashed masked agents into American communities, and is dismantling America’s capacity for innovation through targeted attacks on health care, scientific research, and higher education.
The long-term impact of its assault on innovation poses a grave and profound threat to America’s quality of life and standing in the future. The Trump Administration’s crusade against science and education is decimating the free-flowing global collaboration that is the source of the sustainable competitive advantage that defines American research. Its ideology is rooted in a single, corrosive creed: “How much more can I take?” That creed is being pursued in a massive deficit-funded redistribution scheme through the Tax Code and corrosive regulatory capture.
As German biology and physics professor Dirk Brockmann recently put it, America’s “magical ingredient,” its daring, its risk-taking spirit, is being strangled. America’s soul of discovery and its source of progress is being suffocated. The Trump Administration’s zero-sum crusade can only lead to excessive inequality, extreme concentration of wealth and power, and a stagnant future. More broadly, when its erosion of fundamental liberties such as free speech and due process is considered, the United States under Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unrecognizable from the country envisioned by its Founders and Framers.
On Friday, May 30, Governor Moore provided an example of leadership. The Washington Post reported:
“Anyone who is talking about 2028 does not understand the urgency of 2025, doesn’t understand the assaults that we are under right now,” Moore said. “These are serious times. … But we have to remember that these are not times for us to feel powerless. These are times for us to understand our power.”
In his remarks, Moore concluded, “The fight for our future does not take place in the future… The battleground is here. The fight is now.”
Moore’s remarks offered four essential and timeless lessons. First, leaders do not postpone to tomorrow what must be done today. Second, leaders do not excuse inaction by pleading powerlessness. Third, leaders are aware of the power they possess and then apply that power to the challenges that confront them and the opportunities that lie before them. They keenly understand that unused power is power lost. Fourth, leaders know that the future does not emerge organically on its own. The future is built from the choices they make and actions they take today. Constructing a better future requires both effort and risk-taking. Sitting on the sidelines, regardless of the excuses manufactured for doing so, only cedes the creation of the future to others.
As is the case with all effective leaders, Moore demonstrated the ability to communicate clearly, coherently, and credibly. He conveyed a sense of purpose, demonstrated courage, and provided a clear call to action. In the closing days of May 2025, Moore demonstrated that he is a genuine leader at a time the nation needs a leader who is committed to its prosperity, the resumption of its pursuit of becoming a “more perfect union” for all its people, and the preservation of its rule of law that makes everything possible.
