WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The\u00a0National Governors Association\u00a0is pulling out of an annual meeting at the White House after\u00a0President Donald Trump\u00a0declined to invite two Democratic governors, undercutting one of Washington’s few remaining bipartisan gatherings.<\/p>\n
Trump is still expected to meet with governors at the White House on Friday but the event will not be facilitated by an organization founded more than a century ago to help state leaders from both parties advocate for their interests in Washington. The Republican president had refused to include Democratic Govs.\u00a0Jared Polis\u00a0of Colorado and\u00a0Wes Moore\u00a0of Maryland and recently blasted them on social media as “not worthy of being there.”<\/p>\n
REAAD MORE: Governors won’t hold meeting with Trump after White House only invited Republicans, Stitt says<\/a><\/p>\n In a brief interview Thursday, Polis said he does not have “any ability to get in (Trump’s) head.” Polis said he was nonetheless meeting with governors from both parties while he is in the nation’s capital.<\/p>\n “I’ve spent quality time with my colleagues this morning and really learning from one another and taking best practices that Republican or Democratic governors have launched in their state,” he said. “It’s really what these meetings are about.”<\/p>\n The episode underscores the confrontational approach Trump has taken during his second term toward state leaders he does not like. He has at times threatened to withhold federal money or send in troops over the objections of local leaders. Now, even a ceremonial White House dinner has become a flashpoint and fellow Republicans openly acknowledge that Trump’s aim as president is not to unify the country.<\/p>\n “He’s not putting his mind to it,” Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, said at an event sponsored by Politico. “He’s said very clearly that that’s not who he is.”<\/p>\n In an\u00a0interview\u00a0Wednesday, Moore said he has “no desire to have beef with the president of the United States.”<\/p>\n “I didn’t run for governor like, man, I can’t wait so me and the president can go toe to toe,” said Moore, the NGA’s vice chair. “But the fact that he is waking up in the middle of the night and tweeting about me, I just, I pray for him and I just feel bad for him because that has just got to be a really, really hard existence.”<\/p>\n Governors try to stay above the partisan fighting<\/p>\n The dynamics are a far cry from the air of bipartisanship that Moore and Oklahoma Gov.\u00a0Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the NGA, sought to portray as governors began to assemble in Washington. Moore and Stitt shared a stage several times this week swapping jokes and praise.<\/p>\n “I have gotten, through the National Governors Association, a really good chance to know the heart of this man and how much he is a great American, loves his country, loves his citizens and is just trying to do the best he can for Maryland,” Stitt said Thursday at the Politico event.<\/p>\n After Stitt tried to resolve the standoff between the White House and the Democratic governors last week, Trump\u00a0blasted him\u00a0as a “RINO,” short for Republican In Name Only, and accused him of misrepresenting his position. Stitt struck a conciliatory tone Thursday, noting he would participate in White House events.<\/p>\n