This post is from eyeonannapolis.com For the first time in more than 30 years, <a href=”https://marylandmatters.org/2025/05/14/maryland-loses-coveted-aaa-bond-rating/”>Maryland has lost its coveted “triple triple-A” bond rating</a>. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the state’s creditworthiness from AAA to Aa1, ending a historic run of fiscal stability that stretched back to 1973. The downgrade means taxpayers will almost certainly pay more in interest when the state borrows money to fund public projects.

Governor Wes Moore wasted no time assigning blame, calling it a “Trump downgrade.” According to Moore, the early days of the new federal administration have “wreaked havoc on the entire region,” with federal job losses, agency budget cuts, and an overall economic chill.

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To put it bluntly, this is a Trump downgrade. Over the last one hundred days, the federal administration’s decisions have wreaked havoc on the entire region, including Maryland. Washington, D.C. received a credit downgrade. Thousands of federal workers are losing their jobs. Actual and proposed cuts to everything from health care to education will continue to exact an incalculable toll on Maryland and states across the country.

–Maryland Goernor, Wes Moore
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There’s just one small problem: Trump has been back in office for 114 days. Governor Moore has been in office for 847 days. That leaves 733 days unaccounted for. So, Governor, whose responsibility was it then?

This is not a one-off moment of blame-shifting—it’s a pattern. A $5 billion budget surplus was squandered? <a href=”https://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2025/04/editorial-from-covid-cash-to-double-wide-dreams-how-not-to-handle-a-surplus/”>Moore pinned that on former Governor Larry Hogan</a>. Staffing crises in state agencies? Hogan again. Now the bond rating downgrade? Trump, of course. If the Orioles continue their bad season, don’t be shocked if Moore connects that to someone else too.

The truth is less convenient. Moody’s signaled trouble last year when it downgraded Maryland’s outlook to “negative,” long before Trump’s reappearance. The agency specifically cited looming structural deficits, largely tied to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education spending and other budgetary pressures. Maryland lawmakers have scrambled this year to patch a $3.3 billion projected deficit with cost shifts and $1.6 billion in new taxes and fees—moves that hardly project long-term stability.

Sure, federal dysfunction plays a role. But Maryland’s spending trajectory, depleted reserves, and increasing debt ratios were red flags of its own making. Moody’s officials met in Annapolis last week with Moore and top Democratic leaders, but their case apparently fell flat.

Leadership means facing hard facts and fixing problems, not handing out scapegoats like party favors. Maryland voters deserve a governor who says, “The buck stops here”—not one who keeps tossing it down the road as he quietly runs for President.

The downgrade is a wake-up call. The question is: will anyone in Annapolis bother to answer?