A captive audience of US travelers will be getting a new message from a top US government officials: It’s all Democrats’ fault.
The audience is people in line for Transportation Security Administration screening at US airports. The official is Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
And the fault being alleged is for the government shutdown, which is stretching into its second week.
“It is TSA’s top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible while we keep you safe,” Noem says in the video. “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”
The Trump administration, as CNN and others have reported, is well-versed in using the gears of government for propaganda.
Deportation raids are turned into action movie-style social media videos. President Donald Trump’s face adorns government buildings on massive banners. It could also grace a commemorative coin despite a law that prohibits displaying the image of living presidents on coins.
But Noem’s complaint to air travelers feels like something different. Officials aren’t technically supposed to engage in direct politics while on the clock, so Noem’s recording dances up to the line of violating the spirit of that law, the Hatch Act, passed with bipartisan support in 1939 after workers hired by government agencies during the Great Depression were accused of doing campaign work on behalf of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Administration.
It’s called the Hatch Act after Sen. Carl Hatch, the New Mexico Democrat who pushed for it, but the technical name is better: “An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities.”
Much of the law, according to the Congressional Research Service, is focused on federal and state officials taking direct action to influence political campaigns. While Noem’s video is clearly political, it does not have to do specifically with a campaign. She does not mention the next national election, which takes place in November 2026.
The video is on shakier ground when it comes to the law’s prohibition on “engaging in political activity while on duty; on federal property; while wearing a uniform or official insignia; or in a government vehicle.”
Even if Noem’s accusation were a Hatch Act violation, it’s unlikely anybody would do anything about it.
During Trump’s first term, the Office of Special Counsel found that his then-aide Kellyanne Conway repeatedly violated the Hatch Act. Trump obviously disagreed. Conway defied a House subpoena. Nothing ever came of it.
After Trump’s failed 2020 reelection campaign, the Office of Special Counsel found that 11 of his aides had violated the Hatch Act on the campaign trail. Again, nothing came of the finding.
The Office of Special Counsel is supposed to be an independent government agency and it is charged with enforcing the Hatch Act and protecting whistleblowers. But Trump fired the independent head, Hampton Dellinger, shortly after taking office. Dellinger initially challenged his firing, but dropped the challenge in May, citing the long odds of winning at the current Supreme Court.
In Dellinger’s place, Trump nominated Paul Ingrassia, a 30-year-old Trump supporter who was admitted to the bar last summer. Trump frequently shared Ingrassia’s writing online, to the point that Ingrassia has described himself as “President Trump’s favorite writer” and, according to a CNN KFile investigation, has shared conspiracy theories about 9/11 and more. More recently, Politico reported on a sexual harassment allegation against Ingrassia that was dropped.
More pertinent, however, is how Ingrassia — should he be confirmed — might view Noem’s actions as DHS secretary under the Hatch Act. Ingrassia’s current job is as White House liaison between the White House and DHS.
The Trump White House would point out that during the Biden administration the Office of Special Counsel, reviewing actions by President Joe Biden’s education secretary, found that referring to the opposition party by name when criticizing an action did not violate the Hatch Act.
The White House also recently compiled a list of actions during the Biden administration that it said were examples of officials wading into politics, including derisive references to Republicans and MAGA Republicans in statements of administration policy and by Biden officials at the White House.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, is going further with its efforts to blame Democrats for the shutdown.
“It’s an objective fact that Democrats are responsible for the government shutdown, the Trump Administration is simply sharing the truth with the American people,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN last week for another story.
That’s not entirely true, since Republicans control all levers of power in Washington at the moment. Democrats are refusing to vote for a spending bill until Republicans agree to extend subsidies for Americans to buy health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges.