Donald Trump’s propaganda video today was even more of a scandal than you think

How thoroughly has Donald Trump given up when it comes to trying to defend his failed response to the coronavirus? During his press conference today, he aired a lengthy propaganda video that tried to make his case for him, instead of bothering to defend himself.

The video was such a dishonestly edited mess, and such a blatant attempt at squeezing a campaign ad into a press briefing, CNN and MSNBC both ended up cutting away from the video. The video was a crime against the truth. Now it turns out the video was also a violation of the law.

Trump has confirmed that the video was made by his own White House staff. That’s a problem. Because it’s a de facto campaign ad, it means his staffers violated the Hatch Act by working on it. To be clear, the Hatch Act doesn’t come with any criminal penalties; the worst that can happen to his staffers is that they’re fined or fired, and we know the Trump regime won’t enforce it. But the video was literally a violation of the law. It was that scandalous.