Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is counted as an ally of President Joe Biden. That’s especially true on an issue like guns. Moore isn’t a fan of the Second Amendment.

As we ease into 2024 and the upcoming Iowa Caucuses, now just days away, there’s bound to be a lot of people still trying to make up their mind.

And based on the actions of many Democrats, they really don’t want former President Donald Trump on the ballot.

So why did Moore just accidentally endorse him?

Oh, I’m not sure Moore intended to do any such thing, but he did have plenty to say that isn’t likely to dissuade pro-gun voters from giving Trump another go.

Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore said a victory by Donald Trump in November would bring a “significant rollback” in gun control, in a warning to his party’s base about the impact of the Republican frontrunner returning to the White House.

“He’s shown us that his solution to gun violence is give more people guns,” Moore, who sits on President Joe Biden’s campaign advisory board, told Bloomberg News in an interview Tuesday. “There’s no one in communities that we represent — that I came up in — that think that’s the right answer.”

It’s clear that Moore isn’t a fan of that solution, but as we’re in primary season now, that’s likely to be a handy soundbite for the former president.

Especially when many can make the case that Trump’s actions suggest he was more anti-gun than Obama.

Now, I’m not saying that he actually is, but it was the former president’s administration that adopted the bump stock ban and laid the groundwork for the eventual banning of pistol braces. That bump stock ban was to thwart an even more restrictive law that had a strong probability of passing that would have also likely banned aftermarket triggers entirely, but he still had the ATF reclassify bump stocks and things followed.

Yet with Moore’s comment, the Trump camp can use that to solidify his pro-gun credentials. “See, they’re worried I’ll roll back gun control when I win, which is exactly what I’m going to do.”

If Moore was trying to sway the independents out there, his comments are way too early and, frankly, I don’t think guns are the winning issue for Democrats. We’re seeing a lot of indicators that the tides are shifting.

So not only will it not help in the general election, he may well have given Trump a boost in the primaries. Especially since plenty of other pro-gun candidates are running. While current polling suggests Trump doesn’t need the boost, he’s not likely to turn it down.

While Moore meant this as a criticism, what he did was basically offer the former president a de facto endorsement, telling pro-gun voters that Trump would do what they all want the next president to do. I mean, if that’s not an endorsement of Trump, I don’t know what else it would. It’s either that possibly the dumbest way to undermine a political opponent while he’s trying to court people who actually want what you’re warning them about.