There’s No Coming Back From the Norm-Breaking at the RNC

How many Hatch Act violations can one gathering include? The Trump White House seems determined to find out.

Only minutes before the Republican National Convention began on Tuesday, one speaker was removed from the program for sharing a grotesquely anti-Semitic thread laced with conspiracy theories. That wasn’t the weird part.

Instead, if the second night of the RNC is remembered for anything, it will be the seeming joy with which legally enforceable norms of American politics were swept away.

President Donald Trump—who said just last year, “I have an Article Two, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president”—put his panoply of constitutional powers to work as television programming for a partisan political convention. First, Trump pardoned Jon Ponder, a convicted bank robber who found religion and started a nonprofit. Then, he participated in a naturalization ceremony of five immigrants with acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. Both events were held in the White House.

This follows videos of Trump meeting with frontline workers and freed hostages that aired as part of Monday’s programming, both of which were also filmed at White House. That was norm-breaking in and of itself, and it may have implicated White House staffers in violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in some political activities. There is no precedent for a president engaging in official functions and explicitly conducting the business of being the nation’s chief executive as part of a partisan political convention.

Trump was not the only administration official to shatter norms this week. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo became the first person to hold his office in memory to address a political convention—and he did so in an address taped in Jerusalem from the roof of the King David Hotel. Pompeo’s remarks seemed to violate not just the Hatch Act but State Department guidance issued this year that explicitly stated “Senate-confirmed presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.” His speech has already prompted a congressional investigation by House Democrats.

This is not to say that all of the program was norm-shattering. There was a primetime speech that elevated a rising star within the party, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. There was an empathetic speech from first lady Melania Trump where she directly addressed the coronavirus pandemic. This, though, did take place in the recently renovated Rose Garden of the White House, in front of a crowd that included federal officials.

Trump’s use of the White House as scene, prop, and argument has shattered precedents and will likely reshape the scope and the powers of the presidency permanently.

Nearly four years after taking office, it’s clear this is not an administration committed to norms or legal niceties. The running tally of Hatch Act violations by Trump administration officials is hard to keep up with, and the Office of Special Counsel recommended over a year ago that top White House aide Kellyanne Conway be fired for her violations of the statute. Needless to say, that never happened. The New York Times even reported over the weekend, “some of Mr. Trump’s aides privately scoff at the Hatch Act and say they take pride in violating its regulations.”

It’s difficult to imagine that voters, amid the pandemic, a recession, and ongoing cultural strife, will be motivated in November by Hatch Act violations. Trump has shattered basic norms and legal guidelines since he announced his presidential campaign; he was impeached over allegations that he used American foreign policy for naked political gain, and he remains in the thick of civil litigation for potentially violating campaign finance laws by paying hush money to a porn star. These are just a handful of the norm-busting, legally questionable actions he’s undertaken.

After an evening in which the media was attacked by speaker after speaker, potential Hatch Act violations instead will serve primarily to “trigger the libs.” For the Trump campaign, the fact that the convention scenes from the White House will drive MSNBC pundits and CNN panels bonkers is in and of itself a win. That it will also involve cable news channels repeatedly using b-roll footage of Trump pardoning an African American felon and welcoming a diverse group of immigrants as new Americans is a bonus.

Like many other actions taken by the Trump administration, his use of the White House as scene, prop, and argument has shattered precedents and will likely reshape the scope and the powers of the presidency permanently. There will likely be formal legal complaints, outraged law review articles, and perhaps even an eventual faint slap on the wrist from a government watchdog in the future. But, for now, at a convention devoted to celebrating Trump, no one can stop him from using his Article Two.