Donald Trump’s staff, aides, Cabinet, and entire entourage are no strangers to the Hatch Act, the law that prevents government officials from using their office to promote any one particular political view — they’ve all been doing it essentially since day one of Trump’s presidency, and for a very simple reason: This President requires cheerleaders.
At every possible opportunity, Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Sanders especially have gone to bat for Trump’s interests, from posing for pictures on their verified official government Twitter accounts with Trump merchandise to pimping the First Daughter’s clothing line, and they’ve never been held accountable for any of it.
That’s because enforcement of the Hatch Act is entirely dependent on the administration, after being referred by the Office of Government Ethics. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned during the tenure of Donald Trump, it’s how many “norms” we took for granted as rules that public officials would follow. Trump would never punish one of his own for a violation that benefitted him personally, no matter how bad it looks.
That could change, however, now that Conway and Sanders have stepped it up to the next level in abusing their positions in the administration.
Both women appeared at a rally in Indiana on Monday with Trump for the first time since either has held their current positions, and while each was careful to note that they were there “in a personal capacity,” since each has already been caught violating the Hatch Act in the past, they did deliver all of their remarks from behind a podium with the presidential seal on it. Those comments, of course, all urged attendees to vote for the Indiana candidate that Trump was in the state campaigning for.
Neither woman calls Indiana home, so their appearance at the rally was certainly not coincidental — they each traveled there expressly to appear onstage with the President, though he did attempt to pretend he simply saw them in the crowd and decided to bring them up, a hilariously narrow statistical probability.
That means you and I — American taxpayers — are funding the guests now at Donald Trump’s campaign rallies.
And like me, other Americans are not happy about it:
I foresee civil & criminal litigation, resulting in investigations, trials & convictions stemming from the shenanigans of Trump & this admin. going on for years, probably, decades. The financial cost to this country will be astonishing.
— Little Jackie 🌊💔🌊 (@littlejackie66) November 6, 2018
I want a tax refund on my share of taxes that have been spent on tRump’s rallies. BTW: @realDonaldTrump #ReleaseYourTaxes
— lo sivad #tRumpResign (@losivad) November 6, 2018
But they don’t care what laws they break. They will do whatever they want, who’s going to stop them? They have no accountability. We are a country without a president or a working government.
— ccbg (@ccbg03) November 6, 2018
Certainly know I DON’T want to pay them to stump for tRump! pic.twitter.com/qQoFpb46YD
— Sharon Avis, SuperResisterofDumpstertRump (@Style17strings) November 6, 2018
Watch Trump claim that the performance was spontaneous:
Featured image via screen capture
