President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to send National Guard troops to Baltimore, calling the Maryland city “out of control” in a social-media post that escalates his push to use federal forces in Democratic-led jurisdictions. The warning came after Governor Wes Moore invited the president to tour Baltimore and discuss public safety, an offer Trump rejected while raising the prospect of a military deployment. The Baltimore threat extends a strategy Trump has already implemented in Washington, D.C., where about 2,200 Guard members are now patrolling the streets, and in Los Angeles, where nearly 5,000 troops were dispatched in June to quell protests tied to immigration enforcement. Trump has said Chicago is likely his next target and that New York could follow, moves the Pentagon is reportedly preparing for despite state-level resistance. State and local officials dispute the need for federal troops in Baltimore, citing improving crime statistics. The city recorded 200 homicides in 2024, a 24% drop from the prior year and 42% below 2021 levels; overall violent crime fell 8% and property crimes 20% between 2023 and 2024, according to city data. Moore said the numbers show progress and invited Trump to see conditions firsthand rather than “manufacture a crisis.” Democratic leaders from Illinois to California have condemned the president’s law-and-order campaign as a federal overreach that targets cities with Black mayors and majority-minority populations. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson pledged legal action if troops are deployed there, while civil-rights advocates in Washington characterize the armed patrols in the capital as an authoritarian show of force.