In sum, Nordstrom made a business decision not to do business with the president’s daughter because her clothing line was not selling well,<br />and the president used his official position to attack the company for this decision.<br />It is a clear violation of federal ethics rules for White House staff members, or<br />any other federal employees, to use their official positions for private gain.<br />The message is clear, and it won’t take much for a political appointee in some agency to conceive of an ingenious<br />way of ingratiating himself with the White House by making life difficult for the store chain.<br />Nordstrom interacts with many executive branch agencies: the Department of Labor, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities<br />and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and others.<br />The president’s tweet — posted on his personal account and then re-sent from his White House account — is an act of intimidation.<br />Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world
