The White House and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) sparred on Tuesday over an event announcing a $3.7 billion investment from the defense contractor Anduril in a Baltimore shipyard to manufacture parts for Virginia-class submarines. “We have been working with them for over a year to bring them on board, and we’re excited about what...
Page A3From§Eachthe early bird edition — 6 October 2026
Governor blocked from speaking at $3.7 billion submarine plant he says he spent a year landing
You will want to know what a year of courtship buys a governor in Baltimore. A groundbreaking, as it happens, and no microphone. Moore says the administration blocked him from speaking at the Anduril plant on Tuesday, the plant he told reporters he landed: "We have been working with them for over a year to bring them on board." A year. Anduril puts up $3.7 billion and will cut components for Virginia-class submarines in Baltimore County, which sits in Maryland, which has a governor. Beside the president instead: Marlon Humphrey, a Ravens cornerback. On October 1 you had Dennis Rodman, on the red-state tour. On September 1 a $1 billion Rolls-Royce plant in Indiana was pronounced the "Trump Effect." The state courts, the state keeps the title, and the fruits are taken at a federal lectern ... a usufruct, handsome and entirely lawful. Moore keeps the jobs. The price was the podium.
All winter the hen sits. The eggs go to market in another man's basket.
“A year of phone calls to land a submarine plant in Baltimore County, and the guy who made the calls gets kept off the mic so a cornerback can stand up there. That is not a snub, that is branding — whoever holds the microphone owns those jobs when the ads start running. The $3.7 billion gets spent either way, in a city that needs the work, and somebody else will tell you who brought it.”
“Blocked? Nobody blocked anybody. It is a federal event, federal contract, Anduril's money, and the governor had a seat — did I say seat? That does not sound like me. Marlon Humphrey is a Baltimore guy, people love him, the plant is getting built, which is exactly what Moore says he wanted, so where is the grievance here.”
Earlier in this story
- Pentagon's $2.9 billion submarine deal arrives with a Ravens cornerback, the third such guest star this fall. By Ruth · the coffee break edition, 6 October 2026
The receipts
Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) said the Trump administration blocked him from speaking at the groundbreaking of an Anduril facility in Baltimore County. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Moore claimed credit for the facility’s construction, which broke ground that day and is set to produce critical components for Virginia-class submarines.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.