US Rep. Gwen Moore Warns of ‘Tyranny’ By Trump Administration

President Joe Biden’s Rebuilding Our Communities event at Pieper Hillside Boys & Girls Club. Photo taken March 13, 2024 by Jeramey Jannene.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore said the Trump administration’s recent actions to fire federal officials, deploy National Guard troops to major cities and support gerrymandering efforts put the country on the path to “tyranny.”

“I am not exaggerating this,” Moore said in an interview with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today. “We are going the way of other sort of oligarchs and tyrannies in the world resembling them,” Moore said. “This is what it looks like.”

Attempted firings, boots on the ground and unfunded mandates

Moore expressed worry over what she sees as politically motivated firings of officials in the Labor Department and Federal Reserve.

One was the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and, more recently, the attempted firing of Federal Reserve director Lisa Cooke.

“He wants to demand (Federal Reserve Chair) Jerome Powell to force interest rates to be lowered,” Moore said. “The first and only Black woman in the 111-year history of the Fed is being fired to make room for his own stooge appointee on the Federal Reserve so that he can have a majority.”

She also criticized the president’s support of an effort by Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional maps to favor their party, while he threatened to sue over a similar effort by California Democrats.

“We already see President Trump trying to change the outcome of the midterm elections by racist (maps) — not just gerrymandered maps, racist maps — and really to create an environment where he can cancel elections and keep himself in power,” Moore said.

And, she shared her concern over efforts by the Trump administration to shift more responsibility for safety net programs onto states.

“They are not giving a federal share of money to states, but in fact, creating all of these unfunded mandates,” Moore said. “Requiring states to do disaster relief, to pay for SNAP, to pick up more of the Medicaid responsibilities for people who are truly needing this, is part of the strategy of impoverishing the states with these unfunded mandates.”

Moore compares flooding in Milwaukee to ‘a smaller scale Katrina’

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in the process of assessing recent flood damage in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties. Residents of the flooded areas have filed more than 21,000 damage reports so far, according to Impact 211 data. Most of those reports came from Milwaukee County, which includes Moore’s district.

“It reminds me so much of a smaller scale Katrina,” Moore said. “People aren’t necessarily prepared for it, and they don’t have the money to respond right away.”

Moore talked with some of her affected constituents while handing out cleanup kits with the Salvation Army last week.

“A lot of people need money and resources right now,” Moore said. “The cleaning kits are not adequate. They actually need professional cleaners, and they don’t personally have money. Getting landlords to get in there and make that investment at this time might be a hardship for (renters) as well. … People can’t wait on FEMA for some of this damage.”

On Monday, current and former FEMA employees published a letter to Congress warning against the Trump administration’s plan to make cuts to the agency and shift more disaster responsibility to the states.

Moore applauded the agency for taking a stand.

“Those FEMA workers who have written that letter are really extending themselves, because we have seen the consequences for anyone who speaks up, no matter how powerful they are,” Moore said.

Listen to the WPR report

US Rep. Gwen Moore warns of ‘tyranny’ in Trump administration’s actions was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.