Visitors to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s official government website were greeted by a highly unusual and overtly political message on Tuesday:
“The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands,” the notice blared at the top of the site, set against a red background. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
In case anyone missed it, the same exact message quickly surfaced in a pop-up box covering the page. A visitor had to close the box before navigating anywhere on the HUD site.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner, a Trump appointee, shared the message on X and said, “HUD.gov has been updated accordingly.”
It should surprise no one that the Trump administration might use government resources to promote its political views in its shutdown standoff with congressional Democrats. After all, President Donald Trump has been using his government post to enrich his family to the tune of billions of dollars.
But the HUD message stands as yet another example of the administration’s smashing of norms and its willingness to flout ethical boundaries. It also reflects the president’s clear lack of interest in forging unity and representing all Americans regardless of whether they support him politically.
“It’s hard to imagine a worse message coming from a government agency than this, but this is certainly consistent with an administration that makes enemies lists,” Donald Sherman, the executive director and chief counsel of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told HuffPost.
HUD did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
“It’s hard to imagine a worse message coming from a government agency than this.”
– Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of CREW
The federal law known as the Hatch Act puts restrictions on political activities by federal employees. Some attorneys were quick to argue that the HUD message likely violated the Hatch Act, since whoever posted it would have been acting in their official capacity.
Democracy Forward, a legal group that’s been fighting the Trump agenda, said it has “launched an investigation” into the posting, calling it “not just unAmerican” but “unlawful.”
Sherman said the HUD stunt may have avoided violating the Hatch Act by broadly attacking the “radical left” — as opposed to, say, “Democrats in Congress” — since the law relates specifically to political parties and candidates. But he does believe it violates what are known as the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.
Those standards lay out 14 general principles, including #8: “Employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.”
Sherman said a left-leaning American who visited the HUD website in hopes of finding affordable housing wouldn’t come away feeling as though the agency was interested in helping them.
“It suggests that if you are of a particular political persuasion, you need not apply,” he said, “which certainly violates the spirit of the Hatch Act, clearly violates the standards of ethical conduct, and absolutely raises questions about the use of public funds for this kind of messaging.”