“Some are calling this the greatest glow up of all time,” said a Tuesday X post from the U.S. Department of Labor that included one photo of the department headquarters with a large banner of President Donald Trump and another of the building without it.
The banner showed up draped over the structure Monday in Washington D.C. It comes after Trump ousted a government official at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and after he had the federal government step in to address crime in the nation’s capital.
“Mr. President, I welcome you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner, in front of the department of labor, because you really are the transformational president of the American worker,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said Monday of the banners, which are draped next to U.S. flags and banners with former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s portrait on them. She added that “everyone is taking note,” of it.
Chavez-DeRemer, the daughter of a Teamster was the former mayor of Happy Valley, Ore., who was elected to the U.S. House representing Oregon in 2022. She was the first Republican woman from the state elected to Congress. In addition to her experience in politics, she is a business owner.
At least one Democratic lawmaker wasn’t a fan of the banners.
“Looks like something I’ve seen before…” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) who shared a photo of a building in North Korea draped with banners of Kim Jon Un, dictator of that country, and his father Kim Jong II.
Former U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics director Erika McEntarfer – an appointee of former President Joe Biden – was removed from her position in early August after Trump alleged that she “rigged” jobs reports to make Republicans look bad. This month, the president also courted controversy with his moves in D.C., and his hints that he would also conduct federal takeovers in other cities, including Chicago, Ill.
In Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said that the government doesn’t have the right to follow through on Trump’s threats, but added that “that hasn't stopped them sometimes, I hate to say.” While speaking to reporters Monday, Trump called Pritzker a “slob,” and went on to say that people were calling him an autocrat for D.C. takeover.
“They say: ‘Freedom, freedom. He’s a dictator, he’s a dictator.’ A lot of people are saying: ‘Maybe we would like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense and a smart person,” said the president. He also added: “Instead of being praised, they’re saying: ‘You’re trying to take over the Republic. These people are sick.”
Trump has said before that he believes Americans “like” dictators, as Audacy has reported. He also said that he would be a “dictator” on the first day of his second term in office while on the campaign trail. Since his was inaugurated in January, the president has also been issuing executive orders at a more rapid pace than most presidents.
This week, Trump also fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, “marking the first time a president has fired a central bank governor in the bank’s 111 years of existence,” per a report from KCBS Radio. However, Cook has said that the president doesn’t have authority over her.