Trump Administration Has Abandoned Local Governments

Donald Trump speaks at Discovery World. Photo Taken Oct. 1, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.

After reading numerous “end of year recaps” on what exactly has happened to government and our politics in 2025, I find myself at a loss. Not a single one captures the reality that the federal government has abandoned its local partners, or what this means for communities like Milwaukee.

The traditional relationship of federal, state, and local governments since roughly FDR’s new deal can be aptly seen during a natural disaster. Once a disaster is declared, the federal government devotes funding, national infrastructure, and expertise; the state government coordinates everyone from agencies to municipalities, and local government executes with first responders and other boots on the ground.

The policies the Trump administration has passed do not restructure this relationship as much as they abandon it wholesale (including housing, food assistance, healthcare, and infrastructure) with rare and toxic exceptions (cooperation with “immigration enforcement”).

What does this mean in 2026 for communities across the country like Milwaukee? It means that where life has been hard it will get harder, and necessities that were previously unaffordable will now simply be out of reach for working families, the middle class, and everyone but the most privileged. There is no place like Wisconsin, and no place like Milwaukee, to start forming coalitions and consensus around the solutions, but first we must acknowledge the scope of the problem. The full scope is impossible in one article, so let’s focus on three issues critical to quality of life in Milwaukee County: healthcare, housing, and food security.

Healthcare

Expiration of health care subsidies that 22 million citizens currently receive will render healthcare immediately unaffordable for millions of Americans. This will be devastating for Milwaukee County. According to Urban Milwaukee’s own reporting, in Milwaukee County, a 26-year-old should now expect to pay $1,437 more per year for health insurance, a family of four with a household income of $130,000 would pay $17,247 more per year, and a 60-year-old couple can expect a $25,203/year increase in their health insurance. In 2024, 65% of all bankruptcies nationwide cited medical bills as causes for bankruptcy. And that was with the subsidies in effect.

Housing

The Trump administration has proposed abandoning ‘Housing First’ policies that have proven effective at battling social ills as diverse as drug addiction, childhood hunger, and mental health crisis. The shocking premise of these policies is that it is exponentially harder – if not impossible – to solve societal issues if individuals do not have basic shelter. Trump’s cuts will make housing more difficult or impossible for an estimated 7,360 people in Wisconsin. Guess where most of those folks live?

Food

Roughly 25% of Milwaukee County Residents, 234,000 according to County Executive David Crowley (and 241,000 according to the latest 2022 data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve), rely on SNAP Benefits (Food Stamps). As SNAP benefits expired, the federal government arbitrarily refused to release the contingency funds it had committed to using to help fund food security while Congress negotiated. A ground-shaking abdication of basic responsibility the federal government has acknowledged for generations.

Re-Tooling for the Earthquake

$17,247 more per year in health insurance for a family of 4 — that’s after taxes and with higher premiums; 7,360 souls in Wisconsin at risk of losing shelter as Milwaukee already faces rent increases and a lack of housing supply that rank high nationally. The scale is hard to imagine.

As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, I have a front-row seat as residents rightly voice legitimate pain as bus service is cut, rehab clinics close, and housing vouchers dry up. The pain is real. There is an earthquake going on.

When the federal government continues these policies that abandon its relationship to local government, let’s be clear what they are abandoning: any responsibility for the cost of living or quality of life of our neighbors, Milwaukee County, and countless communities around the country.

And, as neighbors, we have to be unified in our message to leaders. Federally: we need a changing of the guard that will resurrect a federal government committed to quality of life by taxing the highest income brackets the way that commitment requires. We need state leaders that will advocate for local, quality-of-life priorities instead of isolating Madison from those who fill its coffers, and we need local leaders prepared to advocate for us and execute with creativity and efficiency. We need a diverse, focused coalition to hold existing leaders accountable, and elect new ones to replace the ones who got us into this mess. We may not be able to stem the immediate pain, but there is no time like the present to start, and no place like Milwaukee to start doing it. For 2026: forward.

Jack Eckblad, County Supervisor District 4