‘The Canadians Have Had Enough of This Nonsense’
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What is the secret Cabinet‑official travel competition and why does it matter?
To be somewhat fair to Trump, or to anyone, is that this is just fundamentally incredibly complex. If you've ever watched these members of Congress, which is basically a gerontocracy, try to get to the bottom of Snapchat or Instagram or social media with teens, right? It's like they're speaking a foreign language and those are table stakes, right? AI is a million times more complicated than posting a problematic video on YouTube or Instagram.
This is Radio Atlantic. I'm Adam Harris. Congress is back on Capitol Hill for the last time before the midterm elections, and they have a lot to think about. The burgeoning trade war with Canada and warnings from tech CEOs about the dangers of unregulated AI, among other things. And when those lawmakers return to the campaign trail for the final stretch, the ones in competitive districts may have some company. Members of the president's cabinet. With me to discuss the news of the week are my colleagues, Ashley Parker and Tom Nichols. Let's get to questions. Welcome to the show.
Thanks for having us.
Thanks, Adam. Ashley, I want to start with you because you had a story that ran recently about something that people, I think, have become a little bit desensitized to, and that's sort of the potential violations of the Hatch Act, which limits the partisan political activities of federal employees. You and our colleague Michael Scherer reported on a competition among the cabinet secretaries to travel to competitive electoral districts. Can you sort of walk us through that reporting?
Sure. So the first way we heard about this competition, which was not public, was almost inadvertently. We were speaking with a cabinet secretary who said that there was an event in New York that they had kind of wanted to attend but had declined because they didn't want to get docked points in the competition. And we were immediately like, what competition? And so it turns out that there is this unofficial travel competition in the Trump White House. It's overseen by a woman named Megan Bauer, who basically coordinates with all of the cabinet secretaries, officially running between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And basically the goal is to encourage cabinet officials, cabinet secretaries, to travel the country, particularly to swing districts or swing states that are competitive in the midterms.
And each time they go to one of these areas, they get a point. And what this cabinet official was worried about was losing points. Although the official was mistaken when we began reporting, many officials at the White House told us, nobody ever loses points, you only accrue points. And they even said, look, if someone is heading to New York to say, do a hit on CNN to talk about Trump's policies, that still would count as a point.
We can talk about it in point systems, but we should also think of it in terms of the law, right? Is this a Hatch Act violation?
Does the Cabinet travel contest violate the Hatch Act or other ethics rules?
So no, not inherently, but it brings cabinet officials potentially quite close to the line. And it's something they need to be careful of. So just to put it in a little historical perspective, this general thing of wanting your top officials, your cabinet officials out in the country selling the president's policies, especially in the run up to a midterm election, is incredibly common. Bush did it. Obama did it. Biden did it. Biden, I remember he the most in demand cabinet official at the time when he was president in the run up to the midterms was Pete Buttigieg. Right. So cabinet officials can go and they can talk about if it's, you know, especially if it's related to their jobs. An agriculture secretary, for instance, or let's just take Pete Buttigieg for an example.
Pete Buttigieg could travel the country and talk about how the stimulus package that Biden and Democrats helped to pass. had brought a bridge to your district, had brought new roads to your state, was responsible for huge construction projects over here that had created jobs, that's all totally fine and not a Hatch Act violation. If it becomes more overtly political, showing up in a district at a campaign stop with, say, a Senate candidate and just saying, hey, vote for Ken Paxton in Texas, that is where you get into problems.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the secret Cabinet‑official travel competition and why does it matter?
0:00–3:06
2
Does the Cabinet travel contest violate the Hatch Act or other ethics rules?
3:06–5:57
3
What did the Republican midterm convention reveal about the party’s strategy?
5:57–8:18
4
Why are Canada‑U.S. trade talks heating up and what’s at stake?
8:18–11:45
5
How is President Trump responding to AI warnings and what does “win AI” mean?
11:45–14:46
6
What are the key factors shaping the upcoming U.S. midterm election battles?
14:46–17:26
7
Which international flashpoints could explode before the November election?
17:26–20:02
8
How do the hosts sum up the week’s news and preview what’s coming next?
20:02–23:45