Today, Governor Wes Moore and With Honor’s Rye Barcott previewed Rye’s new book ‘Courage Can Save Us,’ highlighting Gov. Moore’s military service in an interview on MSNOW. Gov. Moore also touted his record in Maryland discussing the state’s historic drop in violent crime and the creation of over 55,000 new businesses in the state.
Key Excerpts From Gov. Moore and Rye Barcott’s Interview On MSNOW’s Morning Joe:
Gov Moore: In this time of this political vitriol, particularly when everyone just kind of just hunkering off in their corners about how we think about things, we’re forgetting about the basic aspect of the thing that brought these military veterans to the military in the first place, or these people in service to their service in the first place. It was never about a political alignment, it was never about a partisan alignment, it was about a belief that we can be part of something bigger than ourselves, and I think, especially in this moment, that’s the way we work, the way that we fight.
I don’t care what a political party thinks about it, we’re going to make sure we’re fighting for our people, we’re going to make sure we’re protecting them, we’re going to make sure we’re advancing their economic interest, but that is something that I know that each and every one of us learned distinctly, not just through our the way we were raised, but by the way we were trained, and I think that matters.
…
Gov Moore: What courage actually looks like is being able to not just know that you are standing by your people, but you’re standing by the oath that you took, and if that means that you’re going to go against the order of a president or anybody else, then that’s exactly what it means. That’s what courage is supposed to look like.
…
Willie Geist: So, right, as you look at the five, the 10 names on this list, five Democrats, five Republicans, military service, they all have in common, but what else is the common thread there? What do you see in all 10 of these people?
Rye Barcott: Well, it starts with service… I spent this time with folks getting to understand why what drove them to that, that, that decision to put their name on the line. By the way, less than 2% of Americans now serve, whether it’s in the military or in civilian services, but a lot of young Americans are feeling lonely. They’re feeling a loss of a sense of purpose. Service brings us that purpose. I got the title from something that Wes was saying on the campaign trail, which is that service will save us and courage is a form of service. And so that was the genesis of the title.
…
Gov Moore: We got a great story to tell, and I’m thankful that people are paying attention to the fact that we’ve created over 55,000 new businesses since our administration has come on board. We have the fastest drop in violent crime anywhere in the United States of America, in Maryland. Baltimore City, for example, [the] last time the homicide rate was this low, I wasn’t born yet. We’ve created the first state in the country that has a service year option for all of our high school graduates. The first in the country who now has a state-led place-based investment strategy to deal with child poverty. So, we’re really proud of the momentum that we’ve been able to do to be able to give the middle class a tax cut, to be able to make sure we’re providing economic opportunities, particularly in this climate, and I’m excited that the people of Maryland actually get a chance in November to say whether or not they like the job.
…
Rye Barcott: Do you mind if I just jump in one minute on political courage? Because one of the examples of Governor Moore started right when you decided to campaign, because he decided to avoid the advice of your campaign advisors, which were saying, “Hey, you can’t win on a topic that you believe in…
Gov. Moore: Yeah, they said, you can’t talk about the word poverty, you know, poverty doesn’t poll well, poverty is not a good word. And I said, then I don’t know why I’m running. We have a society that tolerates child poverty in a way that we should never tolerate–this and that children’s destiny is being decided before they even have a say. So, I said that we are going to make the foundation of this campaign, that we are going to end child poverty in Maryland, that we are going to talk about it everywhere we go–even if we don’t win. And in our first year, we’re able to do things like make a permanent child tax credit, have an enhanced earned income tax credit, raise the minimum wage inside of the state of Maryland, the largest mass pardon in the history of the United States of America, where I pardoned over 175,000 misdemeanor cannabis convictions to give people a second chance at the workforce, to be able to make the large investments in child care in our state’s history. We can end this scourge of child poverty if we actually have the courage to do so. And I think in Maryland, that’s what we’re doing.
Contact: Carter Elliott, IV [email protected]