Pence not expected to address Wisconsin tonight
President Donald Trump is slated to accept the 2020 Republican presidential nomination on Thursday with a speech from the White House lawn — an act ruled permissible by a federal agency. Yet even with the legal sign-off, the Republican convention’s use of the White House this week is as norm-busting as anything in the Trump presidency and has gone far beyond his predecessors’ actions.
First lady Melania Trump held her speech in a newly renovated Rose Garden. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech from Jerusalem during an official foreign trip.
And throughout this week, Trump himself has used the White House as a backdrop for other programming — including a surprise pardon and immigration naturalization ceremony.
All presidents, in some way, use the powers of their office when it comes time for reelection. That includes highlighting executive orders that benefit key voting blocs or touting foreign policy achievement available only to the sitting commander in chief.
But never have those moves been so blatantly staged for political gain -—or have officials appeared so nonchalant about violating longstanding rules like the Hatch Act, a law that is supposed to stop the federal government from affecting elections or going about its activities in a partisan manner.
There is a shrugging attitude toward the Hatch Act among many of Trump’s aides, people familiar with the West Wing dynamics say, after the President made clear early in his tenure he would not admonish advisers found to have violated the law restricting political activity by government officials.
“Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares. They expect that Donald Trump is going to promote Republican values,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Wednesday morning in an interview with Politico. “This is a lot of hoopla that’s being made about things.”
“What are the consequences?” another administration official asked. “No one gets punished.”
Trump has joked he would excuse anyone found to be violating the act on his behalf, one of the people said. The President himself decides what punishment to dole out.
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