Milwaukee, WI

Trump surrogates on ‘Agenda 47’ Milwaukee tour stop downplay talk of Project 2025

Published

2 years ago

September 6, 2024

Trump surrogates on ‘Agenda 47’ Milwaukee tour stop downplay talk of Project 2025

Surrogates for former President Donald Trump held a town hall on Milwaukee’s lower east side Thursday night in which they framed the November election in existential terms and urged supporters to turn out the vote.

The visit came just hours after President Joe Biden spoke to supporters in the western Wisconsin town of Westby in his first visit to the state since he dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in late July.

The town hall is part of the “Team Trump Agenda 47 Policy Tour.” The tour coincides with Trump’s efforts to distance himself from Project 2025, a conservative blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation, even as Democrats continue to point out his connections to the plan.

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Janesville Republican, told those gathered at the Jan Serr Studio in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Kenilworth Square East building that the election is an opportunity to “get our country back on track.”

“The final piece of this is we only win if we show up and vote,” he told the 100 or so people gathered. He added that the fast-approaching election will be decided by a narrow margin.

Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have been crisscrossing the state with just two months until the November election. The latest Marquette University Law School poll found Trump and Harris in a statistical dead heat in Wisconsin, a critical swing state that Trump won in 2016 and lost in 2020.

The panel was moderated by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was joined on stage by Steil, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson and former Trump administration official and conservative commentator Monica Crowley, a contributor to Project 2025.

Before the town hall kicked off, dozens of protesters gathered on Prospect Avenue outside with a larger-than-life puppet of Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. Their chants included, “JD Vance you can’t hide, Stop Project 2025” and a slogan from Harris’s campaign, “When we fight, we win.”

Tracy Washington, a Power to the Polls canvasser, was quick with an answer when asked what she wanted town hall attendees to take away from the protest: “I want them to take away (Project) 2025,” she said.

“Project 2025, as you know, is an attack on seniors — our health and security,” said Pat Dunn, 79, of the League of Progressive Seniors. “Now, I want you to help me understand why I got to be this old, and now they want to attack my Social Security, my health and security.”

Project 2025 is billed as a “menu of solutions to the border crisis, inflation, a stagnant economy, and rampant crime” that “dismantles the unaccountable Deep State, taking power away from Leftist elites and giving it back to the American people and duly-elected President.”

The policy blueprint calls for replacing civil service government employees with partisan appointees and eliminating the Department of Education, among other proposals.

Similar town halls are taking place across battleground states and focus on issues like the economy, the border crisis and “ending the threat of World War III,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement.

Trump’s campaign billed the Agenda 47 Tour as the “the most extensive surrogate operation in the history of presidential politics” and said it would “enlist some of the most prominent figures in politics, influential celebrities, and a diverse array of everyday Americans across key battleground states to champion President Trump and his Agenda 47 initiative.”

Agenda 47 is Trump’s official campaign platform.

On Thursday evening, the topics ranged from the economy to the opioid epidemic to illegal immigration to “weaponized government” agencies.

The speakers also rallied the crowd, impressing upon those gathered the importance of winning Wisconsin on the road to winning the White House.

Thompson urged Republicans to go to places that aren’t “safe” for them, like college campuses, the Democratic stronghold of Madison and Black churches.

“Ask the people, what do they want? They want our agenda,” he said, adding that Harris is “trying to copy it.”

What wasn’t mentioned during the panel discussion was Project 2025. Only when a reporter asked about it afterward did speakers mention the proposal, saying the event and Trump had nothing to do with it.

“He’s disavowed Project 2025. That’s not his set of his policies. It’s just like any one of a number of think tanks around,” Burgum said afterward. “So I think it’s a complete red herring.”

He added that Project 2025 is “not relevant.”

While Trump has tried to distance himself from it, writing on his social media platform Truth Social that he knows “nothing about Project 2025,” a July USA TODAY analysis found that at least 31 of the project’s 38 creators had connections with Trump’s administration.

Crowley pushed back on Democrats’ tagging the Trump campaign with Project 2025.

“I just want to clarify, when the project got started in the early days, they contacted me to make a few contributions on the Treasury Department piece of it. So I was literally involved for maybe three weeks, and that was the end of it,” Crowley said.

She stressed that the Trump has “absolutely nothing to do” with Project 2025.

“The official Trump platform for policy for his second term is Agenda 47,” Crowley said.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com. Mary Spicuzza can be reached at mary.spicuzza@jrn.com.

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Milwaukee, WI

Travelers see shorter lines at Milwaukee Mitchell despite the ongoing partial government shutdown

Published

8 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Travelers see shorter lines at Milwaukee Mitchell despite the ongoing partial government shutdown

MILWAUKEE — Despite a partial government shutdown causing long TSA lines at airports across the country, travelers at Milwaukee Mitchell airport are experiencing short wait times ahead of spring break.

John Wahlen and his colleague Joe Orendorf were coming back home from North Carolina and prepared for a much different scene.

“We were remarkably surprised that it was as easy as it was,” Wahlen said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

A national TSA spokesperson told TMJ4 that over 3,450 TSA officers called out across the country on Thursday. The national call-out rate was at 11.83% percent, the highest since the shutdown began.

While the TSA could not provide specific numbers for Milwaukee Mitchell, the airport was not in the top-10 for call-out rates.

The highest percentages of call-offs came from much larger airports, including George Bush Intercontinental in Houston at 44 percent, Atlanta at almost 41 percent, and Baltimore at 37 percent.

“We were in smaller airports, Raleigh-Durham, I think we waited for two people, and one of them was him,” Orendorf said.

Watch: Travelers see shorter lines at Milwaukee Mitchell despite the ongoing partial government shutdown

Travelers see shorter lines at Milwaukee Mitchell despite the ongoing partial government shutdown

A spokesperson for Milwaukee Mitchell told TMJ4 that around 11,000 people are expected this Friday and Saturday, and next Friday and Saturday as spring break travel peaks.

President Trump signed an executive order to pay TSA agents, meaning a resolution may be on the horizon. Travelers, including Selena Mauricio, said they are thankful for the agents who are still showing up.

“Their jobs aren’t easy, and I commend the ones that still come to work, definitely,” Mauricio said.

This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Milwaukee, WI

Truck drives in to Grace Coffee in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward overnight

Published

21 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Truck drives in to Grace Coffee in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward overnight

MILWAUKEE — A truck drove through the Grace Coffee Co. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward on early Friday morning, the owners announced in a social media post.

Due to the extensive damage that was done, the coffee shop will be closed until further notice.

TMJ4

“We’re incredibly grateful no one was hurt, and we’ll keep you updated as we begin repairs,” the coffee shop said in the post.

TMJ4 reached out to the Milwaukee Police Department but have yet to hear back.

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Milwaukee, WI

MPS layoffs plan draws pushback as district works to close $46M gap

Published

1 day ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

MPS layoffs plan draws pushback as district works to close M gap

MPS cuts face backlash

Milwaukee Public Schools plans about 200 layoffs to close a $46 million budget gap, but union leaders say cuts could impact student safety while district leaders say no classroom teachers will be eliminated.

MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee Public Schools is planning to cut roughly 200 positions next school year as the district works to close a multi-million-dollar budget gap — but there’s disagreement over which roles will be impacted.

What we know:

District leaders say the goal is to close a roughly $46 million shortfall, prompting changes that Superintendent Brenda Cassellius says are necessary.

Milwaukee Public Schools said about 201 staff members will be impacted. District leaders say no classroom teachers, counselors or social workers will be cut — something the teachers’ union disputes.

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The reductions stem from a previously approved plan to eliminate about 260 non-classroom roles. The final number dropped after retirements and existing vacancies. The Milwaukee Board of School Directors approved that plan on March 9.

What they’re saying:

“We have a $50 million deficit, we are for sure not going to be able to do business the same way that we’ve been able to do business,” Cassellius said. “Change is just hard. It’s just hard. And every single one of our employees is so important.”

But some educators say the cuts go too far.

“MTEA is setting up a distress signal. We are talking about our teachers, art teachers, music teachers, physical education teachers, counselors — things that the voters of referendum of Milwaukee actually voted for,” said Ingrid Walker-Henry, president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association. “Staffing is being cut to the extent that they are concerned about student safety.”

Cassellius acknowledged the uncertainty and asked school leaders for patience.

“We just have to for sure know our budget situation, where we’re at with that after these cuts are made in order to make those decisions,” she said. “So I’m asking my principals, be patient with us.”

By the numbers:

The district outlined the 201 affected positions as:

70 central office roles
62 educators with a teaching license but not assigned to one classroom
59 assistant principals

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MPS says the savings will support new class size guidelines, including:

18 students per teacher in K3
20 students per teacher in K4
22 students per teacher in K5

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS)

District leaders say no students will be asked to leave a school to meet class size guidelines. Officials say they are working with schools that may not have space or that require larger classes based on specific programs.

What’s next:

Milwaukee Public Schools plans to present its proposed 2026–27 budget to the Milwaukee Board of School Directors in May.

The Source: Information in this post was provided by Milwaukee Public Schools and prior FOX6 coverage.

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