‘Born to be Criminal’ – President Donald Trump and the children of Baltimore
At a recent press conference in the Oval Office, the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump said the following, referring to the children of Baltimore, a city with a predominantly black population, and the capital city of the state of Maryland.
‘…They’re hard core …They’re not going to be good in ten years, in twenty years, they’re going to be criminals…They were born to be criminals….’
It was an outlandish statement for the leader of any nation to say about his own nationals, and it would have excited howls of citizens’ outrage in any other nation on earth. It put the children beyond the pale of redemption, depicting them as a cancer, the only cure for which was isolation and extermination.
“There is acknowledged racial stereotyping and bias within the law enforcement and judicial systems, with greater likelihood for black young men to be stopped and searched, and to be arrested on suspicion of crime. There is also a tendency for them to receive harsher custodial sentences than other races for similar offences.”
It is important to state the context in which the statement was made. For several months before the speech, the President has been speaking of his intention to send the National Guard and federal security resources to some cities in the USA where, he claimed, there were unacceptably high rates of murder and other crimes. He mentioned Washington, and Chicago and Baltimore, among others.
Trump’s plan to deploy National Guards was seen by many of his opponents and much of civil society as an executive overreach. Technically, the President of the USA had overriding authority over the National Guard, and could deploy them anywhere, though their purpose had generally been for disaster events such as floods, earthquakes and major riots.
Not one to be deterred by the opposition, Donald Trump went on to deploy the National Guard in Washington.
Baltimore, capital of the state of Maryland was next in his sights.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s response to the Trump diatribe was caustic and personal, addressed to the children of Baltimore.
‘I want to speak directly to our children…Do not listen to what Donald Trump is saying…I say this – I respect the office, but I would never honour ignorance…If I had listened …when I was coming up… to the haters …and the dog whistlers…I would never have been the 63rd Governor of Maryland, and the only black Governor in the United States of America… ’.
Wes Moore is a very accomplished man. 46 years old, married, with two children, he became Governor of Maryland in January 2023. He was a Rhodes Scholar who studied for a BA at Johns Hopkins University and obtained an MLitt at Oxford University. And he is a decorated military veteran.
Some vocal sections of the black community – never great fans of Donald Trump, see nothing but naked racism in Trump’s words. A prominent Pastor, in a viral video, directed these words at the White House –
‘…Because you are a criminal…You don’t want to look in the mirror…It is called ‘Projection’…’
Beyond the rhetoric, and the emotion, it is important to ask – What is the relationship, if any, between black youths and crime?
Based on FBI 2024 data on violent crimes of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault per 100,000 people, the cities with the highest crime rates in USA are, in descending order – Memphis, Detroit, Baltimore, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Albuquerque, Houston, Nashville, Denver, and Washington DC. A majority, but not all, of the cities are Democratic ‘Blue’, with significant African American populations, and black-led.
For Murder, 2019 FBI statistics give per-capita offending rates for African Americans as approximately eight times higher than the figure for whites. 91% of victims of homicide carried out by blacks are black. Black youths make up 16% of the youth population, but account for more than half of all arrests for violent crime, including murder and robbery.
There is acknowledged racial stereotyping and bias within the law enforcement and judicial systems, with greater likelihood for black young men to be stopped and searched, and to be arrested on suspicion of crime. There is also a tendency for them to receive harsher custodial sentences than other races for similar offences.
Still, some neighbourhoods are recognised as hot crime areas, redolent with poverty, poor social services, drug dealing, gang violence and poor educational institutions. Commonly they have a high rate of single parent families.
Some lucky, or determined. children escape the limitations of these environments and go on to achieve success in the real world, but it is easier for some others to succumb to a life of crime, drugs, repeated jail and early death.
Should the reaction of black elites to Donald Trump’s abhorrent racist statements be just one of justified chagrin? Or could the offensive challenge be converted to opportunity to take a fresh look inwards and hold some tough and painful conversation?
Most of the victims of black crime are black. What is the right thing for the black community to do?
Does African American society need to be rebuilt from the ground up? Does the family unit need to be revived, and revitalised? Do the Church, and the Mosque, have a role to play? Do the ‘hoods’ need to be cleaned up? Do the schools need to be improved, and better teachers recruited? Should elite black money, in addition to government money, be invested in rebuilding the slums, reviving Commerce, and giving the youths a life? Should the people who ‘make it’ from the ‘hood’ – in Music, in Sports, in Business, and Academics, continue to ‘japa’ to white neighbourhoods, without looking back?
Or is all this just hate and racial stereotyping, deserving nothing but contemptuous dismissal?
Incidentally, there is no scientific evidence that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard will permanently solve the crime problem in the cities.
In a bizarre recent development, some notorious black gang members in Chicago raised their voices on social media, opposing the planned deployment of National Guard to the Windy City, and making threatening noises. Were they really speaking for the best interests of the people?
Posts falsely claim Trump called Black children ‘natural born killers’ and ‘born criminals’
While Trump did make comments about some people who were “born to be criminals” during a briefing, he didn’t explicitly mention Black children.
Megan Loe
Published Sept. 9, 2025
Image courtesy of Getty Images
Claim:
In September 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump called Black children “natural born killers” and “born criminals.”
Context
While Trump did make comments about some people who were “born to be criminals” during a Sept. 2, 2025, briefing — specifically after referring to recent federal actions in Washington, D.C. — he did not explicitly mention Black children or use the phrase “natural born killers,” as social media posts claimed. However, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore suggested the president’s comments were rooted in racism.
In early September 2025, posts claiming U.S. President Donald Trump called Black children “natural born killers” and “born criminals” circulated across social media.
The posts included a video that appeared to show Trump saying, “They’re hardcore. They’re not going to be good. In 10 years, in 20 years, in 2 years, they’re going to be criminals. They were born to be criminals, frankly.”
Facebook users (archived here and here) who shared the video wrote that Trump had “the audacity to call Black children or Brown children natural born killers and born criminals.” The overlaid text on the videos also read, “Calling Black children this. UNACCEPTABLE.”
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1078157971134699%2F&show_text=true&width=267&t=0
Similar claims also circulated on Instagram and Threads (archived here and here). Multiple Snopes readers searched our website and emailed us to confirm the veracity of the claim.
While Trump did make comments about people who were “born to be criminals” during a Sept. 2, 2025, briefing — specifically after referring to recent federal actions in Washington, D.C. — he did not explicitly mention Black children or use the phrase “natural born killers,” as social media posts claimed.
The incorrect attribution appears to have originated from a video response to Trump’s comments that Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore posted on social media.
During the Sept. 2 briefing, Trump referred to the possibility of deploying National Guard troops to Chicago and Baltimore. He also referenced his administration’s deployment of troops to Washington, D.C.
Here’s an excerpt of his comments beginning at the 25-minute, 39-second mark, including the portion people included in videos shared on social media (emphasis ours):
And so I’m very proud of Washington. It serves as a template and we’re going to do it elsewhere.
But Chicago is certainly going to be high. I would love to have him call. I would love the governor of Illinois, I’d be honored to take his call. All he has to do is say, “Sir, we need help, it’s out of control.” And everyone knows it is. He’s not kidding anyone. …I would say, “Governor Moore, call,” because I watched him over the weekend trying to explain that Baltimore, what they need is housing.
No, they don’t need housing. They need to get rid of the criminals. These are hardcore criminals. You know, we took many people off the streets of Washington, D.C. They’re hardcore. They’re not going to be good. In 10 years, in 20 years, in two years, they’re going to be criminals. They were born to be criminals, frankly. They were born to be criminals, and they’re tough and mean, and they’ll cut your throat and they won’t even think about it the next day. They won’t even remember that they did it.
According to an X post (archived) shared by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, 1,669 people had been arrested in Washington, D.C. as of Sept. 2. NPR reported (archived) on Sept. 5 that a “sizable chunk of those arrests are for immigration-related offenses.”
The White House seemingly denied the claim that Trump referred to Black children as “natural born killers” in an email to Snopes. In response to our inquiry, a spokesperson said, “Please send me the quote where the President says this.”
Gov. Moore suggests comments were rooted in racism
Though Trump did not explicitly mention Black children in his comments, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore condemned the president’s comments and suggested they were rooted in racism.
Moore responded to Trump’s comments in a video shared on his social media accounts and suggested the president called children “natural born killers.” Here’s an excerpt of Moore’s comments (emphasis ours):
When the president from the Oval Office calls you “natural born killers,” children who were born to be violent, I say this: I respect the office, but I will never honor ignorance.
To our children, you are loved and you’re needed. To our children, we believe in you and we invest in you. To our children, we love you and we are going to honor every God-honored potential that you have. To our children, there’s nothing we won’t do to keep you safe. To our children, we love you and we are going to make sure that you are never bullied. And I don’t care what position they hold.
Because I want to be clear: if I listened, when I was coming up, if I listened to the tropes and to the trolls, if I listened to the haters and the heartless, if I listened to the Archie Bunker mindset and the dog whistling, if I spent my time focusing on those people who did not love me instead of focusing on those people who do, I would never be the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland and the only black governor in the United States of America.
While Moore did not explicitly mention Black children in his video, the footage featured shots of Black children and other community members as he delivered his remarks. He also referenced Archie Bunker, a character from the sitcom “All in the Family” who is widely recognized for his racist views.
In sum …
Trump did not call Black children “natural born killers” or “born criminals.” Instead, he spoke about “hardcore” criminals who were “taken off the streets” in Washington, D.C., adding that these people were “born to be criminals.” He did not explicitly mention Black children or use the phrase “natural born killers.”
The “natural born killers” language came from remarks that Moore made condemning Trump’s comments and suggesting they were rooted in racism.
