The basic timeline isn’t all that complicated or convoluted.
- In late May and June, states that delayed their primaries due to the virus finally held them, with a heavy emphasis on early and mail in balloting;
- States that increased ballot by mail for the primaries largely report record turnouts for their primaries. Even GOP Secretaries of State started tinkering with increased and more efficient mail in voting for November;
- Some poor slob in the Trump campaign draws the short straw to advise him that he is getting his ass kicked, even in internal polling. It was explained to Trump how devastating a heavy mail in ballot result could be/
- Trump frowns and says, Mail in balloting? What, like the post office and shit?Â
- Trump then makes a call to his 3rd stooge, Curly Lou, who gets the message and immediately starts throwing spanners into all of the USPS machinery he can reach;
- Postal workers, pissed off and alarmed at the growing delays and collapsing service, start bitching to the media about the new rules and procedures;
- Actual constituents, reading and hearing the reports, start bitching to the media and their elected representatives about the suddenly shitty postal service.
- The Democrats come down like a ton of bricks, demanding hearings, and a complete accounting of the disruptions,
- Moe and Curly Lou dig in their heels, instead sending letters to states telling them that even if the ballots are properly handled, they may not get back in time to be counted.
- Speaker Pelosi orders the House back into session to vote on an emergency USPS support bill on Saturday, and the Chair of the House Oversight committee demands that Curly Lou show up on Monday for a little come to Jesus moment.
- Curly Lou, realizing that his personal legal ass might be hanging out a wee further than he is comfortable with, agrees to appear, and then announces he’s halting any further changes until after the election.
So far, it’s just another stupid time scandal in the Trump era. Trump tries a ham handed stunt, gets caught out publicly, and even if he refuses to back down, the people responsible for administration back down. DeJoy will appear on Monday, and at least be able to say that he has taken some steps. He’ll take a shellacking, but he can hope to have at least defused the biggest bombs.
But here’s where we leave the land of The Three Stooges, and take a stroll into Looney Tunes land instead. GOP Senator Ron Johnson, the Chair of the Homeland Security committee, and full time Trump tool, comes out and announces that DeJoy will appear in a virtual hearing before the committee on Friday.
Dear God, how does someone this stupid even learn how to tie his shoes, much less get elected to the US Senate? Apparently Johnson is the kind of idjit that would run off to Vegas and marry his girlfriend three weeks before his divorce becomes final, only to return to find that his eventual ex is contesting the terms of the divorce.
Look, calling DeJoy in front of the committee is not a mistake, in fact it’s a necessity. But Johnson’s sense of timing is ass backwards. The Democrats are going to be loaded for bear on Monday, and DeJoy is going to get savaged. Schedule him for next Friday, and use those three days to look for ways to rehabilitate either DeJoy, or at least his tattered image with friendly questioning when you have the majority.
Instead, Johnson is calling him on Friday of this week, and worse yet, demanding that he bring documentation in with him. All this is going to do is to give the Democrats a whole weekend too look over documents, as well as an entire transcript that they can spend the weekend picking over, looking for ways to trap DeJoy if he stumbles on Monday.
This is what happens when you panic. Trump is flailing around like a guy on a downed power line, and everybody else is trying to help without getting electrocuted. DeJoy was always going to get hammered on Monday, but now he’s going to get hammered even harder, because Ron Johnson is giving the Democrats even more ammunition. God, I love it when they eat their young
To know the future, look to the past.before the insanity of the 2020 election, relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, and the general election, to see how we got to where we are. Copies of President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange are available as e-books on Amazon, at the links above. Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy, President Evil III: All The Presidents Fen
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What Postman Pat should be asked is. if he is stopping any further depredations, will he revert to the status quo ante and restore the missing mail boxes, mail sorting machinery, overtime, allow ballots to be handled as priority, irrespective of whatever stamp is on them and, in general, put everything back the way he found it?
If he’s not willing, then isn’t there a chargable offence of ‘interfering with the mail’?
Yes, it’s not enough to say he’s not going any further with the USPS destruction derby, like he’s doing us a big favor. I’m not impressed. He has to fix the damage he’s already done, which may be considerable at this point, enough to impact our election already. They did all this damage while we were busy dealing with the other 632 dumpster fires the clown in the WH has been setting.
And Ron Johnson, who’s doing Vlad’s work, IS a stark raving moran!
Our state’s AG filed suit today against the Administration for all the voter-interfering USPS shenanigans. He joins many other State Attorneys General in doing so. Hopefully the dirtbag will have to put all the sh!t back like he found it.
Daithi, any same person would draw that conclusion. DeJpy destroyed government property and to what end? Doing that didn’t balance the budget at USPS.
I have no problem with him continuing to be an idiot. Don’t stop now.
Sometimes, I have to admit, it’s fun to watch stupid. Guess that’s why I watched the Stooges.
I think the panic reaction is knowing that Senate Intel report was coming out and that Trump would need a distraction. Big oops on his part for reasons you noted. Not to mention a certain member of the committee will by Friday be officially the new VP nominee. And she’s lethal to even skilled DC folks like Barr. What she can do to Dejoy in ten minutes almost isn’t fair, but since the GOP doesn’t play fair I’ve got no problem with Dejoy trying to fight a political Muhammed Ali with both hands tied behind his back.
Denis, I think anything Senator Harris can dish out is totally fair!
When did they put together the plans to remove sorting machines and blue mailboxes? Because hey started doing those right after DeJoy took over, so the plans had to have been in the works already.
pj, excellent point. So much for assessing the situation before you bring in the wrecking ball. ?
And let’s not forget that newly nominated Senator Kamala Harris is on that particular committee. Which not only serves to deliver the charcoal for the hot coals they plan to hold his feet over. But I am sure that a career prosecutor could lay some land mines for Monday’s mine field. And I am sure that loudmouth Ron and Kamala will spar and with her having her parties nomination under her arm she just might provoke a moron to say more than he should.