In an unusual move, Donald Trump’s administration is using the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website to blame the looming government shutdown on the “radical left”.
The giant red banner, splashed across the agency website on Tuesday morning, comes after Republican and Democratic leaders did not reach an agreement on government spending legislation beyond the Tuesday night deadline, which will result in hundreds of thousands of employees furloughed and agencies shutting down key functions.
“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 Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people,” states the message on the HUD website, which also appears as pop-up window. The message is reminiscent of the language the White House has increasingly used on social media accounts, as well as the president’s personal posts.
Asked about criticism that the message on the public agency’s website was partisan and inappropriate, HUD spokesperson Matthew Maley said in an email to the Guardian: “The Far Left is barreling our country toward a shut down, which will hurt all Americans. At HUD, we are working to keep critical services online and support our most vulnerable. Why is the media more focused on a banner than reporting on the impact of a shutdown on the American people?”
But critics said the move was not business as usual. The HUD website is “ridiculous, propagandistic rhetoric”, said Samuel Bagenstos, who served during the Biden administration as general counsel to the Department of Health and Human Services and is now a University of Michigan law professor who specializes in areas such as civil rights and governance.
“The Trump administration has been gutting the legitimate functions of the domestic agencies, including HUD. They have been refusing to spend money that Congress appropriated. They have been refusing to carry out programs Congress created,” Bagenstos said. “And so why shouldn’t, in this moment, HUD be turned into just a propaganda arm?”
It did not appear on Tuesday that other federal agencies had similar messages on their homepages, though some internal messages suggest the department heads are trying similar tactics.
Pete Kasperowicz, a Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson, sent a statement on Tuesday with similarly charged political rhetoric: “Radical liberals in Congress are trying to shut down the government to achieve their crazy fantasy of open borders, ‘transgender’ for everybody and men competing in women’s sports. If they succeed, they will stop critical Veterans care and assistance programs,” it read, before listing some impacts of the shutdown.
Leaders of both parties have blamed the closures on the other side.
After party leaders did come to any new agreements during a meeting on Monday with Trump, the president posted a racist deepfake video on his platform Truth Social that used fabricated audio from the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, with a fake mustache and sombrero.
Jeffries addressed Trump’s video and the potential shutdown on Tuesday.
“We are fighting to lower the high cost of living and to protect the healthcare of everyday Americans,” Jeffries said. “Mr President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.”
