Remember the Hatch Act, which we kept talking about during the Republican National Convention? Well, it’s likely to come up again today, because the Trump campaign has apparently set up a “war room” in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C.
That could be a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities while on the job. Trump, as president, is exempt from the Hatch Act, but other federal employees are subject to it and presumably would be in violation if they helped with campaign activities while on the clock. The problem, of course, is that the Hatch Act is enforced by an independent agency that doesn’t have much power over political appointees, particularly ones in high places — which is how the Trump administration has been able to get away with repeatedly blurring the lines between governance and campaign activity.