Full disclosure: I haven’t kept track of Housing Secretary Scott Turner the same way I’ve followed other Cabinet Secretaries like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who are always in the news. I knew nothing about Turner before his confirmation, so I did a little research at the time to bring myself up to speed. I accused him of nothing and held out hope that he could do his job efficiently.
William Spivey
I checked back on Scott, eight months later, because I hadn’t heard his name since he took his position. I found he’d had some minor, Ben Carson-ish scandal about spending too much money on office renovations. Still, he’d also stopped HUD foreclosures on Houston area homes during a flooding crisis. I probably could have seen him during the televised Trump Cabinet Meetings, but my threshold for pain isn’t that high.
William Spivey
Turner finally made news, not in a good way, during Congressional hearings before the House Appropriations Committee. In response to questioning about cuts to programs, Turner said: “People don’t get to demand special privileges just because they don’t like the rules.”
Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) tried to get Turner to clarify which groups he was referring to, but Turner repeatedly refused to answer their questions.
Quigley was speaking about eliminating the HOPWA program from the budget, a program for the unhoused and unstably housed persons who have HIV/AIDS. Clyburn addressed the elimination of funds for housing the mentally ill. Turner indicated he felt housing-first programs were a failed model and treatment should come first. Clyburn asked whether those people without housing should be treated in the open, under a tree?
Despite being asked multiple times. Turner refused to say exactly who was receiving these “special privileges,” which seemed well within an ordinary standard of care.
The term isn’t new and has been used by many Trump officials during both his administrations. Here are some examples:
1. Jeff Sessions — Attorney General (2017–2018)
“We don’t give special privileges to anyone based on their identity.” (2017 DOJ press conference on civil rights enforcement)
Sessions repeatedly used “special privileges” to justify rolling back LGBTQ workplace protections.
2. Mike Pence — Vice President (2017–2021)
“No group should be asking for special rights.” (2015 CNN interview, repeated in 2017 when defending religious‑freedom policies)
Pence used “special rights” as a standard phrase in LGBTQ policy debates.
3. Ben Carson — HUD Secretary (2017–2021)
“No one gets special privileges in housing.” (2019 congressional testimony on HUD discrimination rules)
Carson used this framing to defend weakening transgender housing protections.
4. Betsy DeVos — Education Secretary (2017–2021)
“We cannot create special rights for some students at the expense of others.” (2018 interview defending rollback of Obama‑era civil‑rights enforcement.)
5. Mick Mulvaney — OMB Director / Acting Chief of Staff
“We’re not in the business of giving special treatment or special privileges.” (2018 budget briefing)
Mulvaney used this to defend cuts to social programs.
6. Stephen Miller — Senior Advisor
“Immigrants don’t get to demand special privileges.” (2017 White House press briefing on the RAISE Act)
7. Sarah Huckabee Sanders — Press Secretary
“The president is not going to grant special rights to people who break the law.” (2018 briefing on immigration enforcement)
8. Kellyanne Conway — Counselor to the President
“There are no special privileges in America based on your feelings.” (2017 Fox News interview about transgender military service)
9. Ken Cuccinelli — Acting DHS Secretary
“Asylum is not a special privilege people can demand.” (2019 NPR interview)
10. Scott Turner — HUD Secretary (2025–2026)
(From the video in your open tabs)
“People don’t get to demand special privileges just because they don’t like the rules.”
Many of the examples relate to the LGBTQ community, and others attempt to refute charges of discrimination. The pattern is clear. Trump officials, including the little-heard-from Turner, suggest that accusing someone of receiving special privileges is the way to dismiss legitimate concerns.
The theme of special privileges has been passed down to the lowest levels of MAGA. The Internet is full of people who honestly believe that everyone else is receiving special privileges, especially Black people, though I’m unaware of the evidence. Every attempt to level the playing field, like DEI (which is widely understood) and affirmative action, is labeled as an attack on the special privileges already received by white people. Don’t believe me about white privilege? Read the Constitution, the Dred Scott decision, and Plessy v. Ferguson. Every Civil Rights or Voting Rights Act in history has been gutted by the Supreme Court, which always brings us back to the status quo. My new favorite is United States v. Cruikshank, when the Supreme Court sided with the Klan.