He saw his opportunity and he took it

Tim Moore keeps profiting from elected office.

At least Tim Moore is consistent. He started his political career grifting in the North Carolina House of Representatives and he’s still at it as he transitions to Congress. He hasn’t even been in Washington six months and he’s already profiting from his position. That’s commitment.

According to Fortune, Moore cashed in on Donald Trump’s Liberation Day scam. He bought hundreds of thousands of dollars in stocks after Trump implemented high tariffs, causing the stock market to plummet. Then, Moore sold them when the market shot up after Trump rescinded the tariffs, making windfall profits. Moore is vice-chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

The Congressman from Kings Mountain began his professional career as a small town lawyer. He had a solid practice, but he didn’t seem to be on track to become a multi-millionaire. It took getting elected to the legislature to make that dream come true.

Once he got to Raleigh, Moore quickly saw the opportunities. He spent the next couple of decades making lucrative deals around North Carolina that often smelled fishy. To quote a friend from Cleveland County, “He left for Raleigh driving a beat up Honda and came back driving a Maserati.”

He bought an abandoned, environmentally compromised chicken plant in Chatham County that he sold for six times more than he paid for it three years later. The Department of Environmental Quality changed the property’s designation after a call from someone in Moore’s office. Of course, Moore says he didn’t know anything about that call, but he sure made bank. Regardless, the state ethics board dismissed a complaint against Moore.

In the legislature, Moore was part of a web of developers, lobbyists and businesses that needed legislative assistance with their projects. He served as attorney for a controversial development in Durham County after pushing through legislation that it required. He got paid by a group representing bail bondsmen to help shut down a competitor that needed approval from the Department of Insurance.

Moore also learned how to double and triple dip on the the public dime. He not only served as Cleveland County’s representative, he was also the county attorney. He even represented the Cleveland County water board. That’s a lot of intertwining interests to represent and a lot of money from the public teat.

According to a 2023 profile by long-time political reporter Jim Morrill, Moore faced investigations by the FBI and SBI, but no charges were filed. He also faced a sex scandal after he was revealed to have an affair with the ex-wife of a GOP operative. Nothing ever stuck and his political and personal fortunes kept going up. “In the state Legislative Building, some call him “Teflon Tim,” Morrill wrote.

In what may be one of his murkiest and most lucrative roles, Moore promoted a casino for the Catawba Indians in Kings Mountain. The complex announced their $1 billion, 2.2 million square-foot facility will open in 2026. We know Moore represented some landowners in the deal, but with a price tag like that, he’s almost certainly invested more heavily.

Moore fits in well with the grifter wing of the new MAGA-led Republican Party. He’s no ideologue, but he’ll follow the deal-making Trump family in a GOP that no longer believes in accountability. He got rich as a legislator, but now he has the opportunity to enter the realm of the super wealthy.

Moore and the Trumps mirror the tradition of the Tammany Hall political machine. They believe that politicians lining their pockets is acceptable. Tammany Hall politician George Plunkitt, who famously said, “I seen my opportunity and I took it,” called it “honest graft.” Moore knows enough law to find legal loopholes and avoid crossing legal lines, even if he sometimes leans over them and plucks some shiny object. He’s got a gerrymandered district and compliant GOP base that will keep electing him as long as he owns the libs, doesn’t cross the culture warriors, and brings home some bacon, even if he takes his slice of it.