We need to slam on the brakes right now and come to a screeching halt. The Post Office is the big story and the only story that merits full attention right now, in what continues to be a numbing news cycle.Yes, I know that 1,400 people died yesterday alone from the coronavirus, and that’s like the crash of three 747s and nobody seems to care about that, either. But the ruination of the United States Postal Service 82 days before an election, during a pandemic, when mail-in voting is likely to be high, is our first order of business. Nothing.Else.Matters. Washington Post:
So to summarize: Trump says an election in which too many Americans vote by mail would be illegitimate, so he’s doing everything he can to make sure that the Postal Service can’t handle the huge numbers of ballots it will have to deliver.
He is sabotaging the post office, blatantly, so that he can sabotage the election. He’s making no bones about it. And his recent Postmaster General appointee, GOP megadonor Louis DeJoy, is helping him in this endeavor. DeJoy has been on the job two months and he’s stopped overtime and is allowing mail to pile up at distribution centers.
On Wednesday, 175 House Democrats sent a letter to DeJoy, saying, “The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service,” particularly with regard to the election. For his part, DeJoy has denied that anything is afoot other than efficiency improvements. “Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail,” he said last week.
“Efficiency improvements” translates as changes made for the sole purpose of sabotaging the 2020 election. Of all of the transgressions Trump has committed, this is arguably the worst. The USPS is a national institution. We all grew up hearing their motto, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Well, they’ve now encountered something worse than the elements. They’ve encountered Donald Trump.
And there’s a final factor you need to weigh here. A few days ago the Atlantic published a piece on “the blue shift” which is a term describing the fact that votes counted last tend to skew towards a democratic candidate, sometimes changing the outcome. “The effect could be much larger and far more consequential in 2020, as Democrats embrace voting by mail more enthusiastically than Republicans.”
A number of congressional races in 2018 were finally determined by mail-in and provisional ballots, but at that point the GOP wasn’t poised to call fraud or rigged election. Now they are, because Donald Trump has cued them to be that way. This is what we’re up against and this needs to be dealt with immediately. If Trump can’t win by normal means, then he’ll flip the board over and set fire to it. And that’s what he’s doing.
I look forward to witnessing a full-on Banana Republic election, with all the attendant dirty tricks and blatant fraud. I REALLY hope I’m wrong but I wouldn’t bet against it….
I’m looking forward to it failing…miserably. Telegraphing the moves months in advance is the signature move of losers everywhere.
I hope we stop this dead in its tracks. That clown who is Postmaster General needs to be removed, for incompetence and/or malfeasance. There’s no way to spin what he’s doing as “improvements.”
Because the Post Office couldn’t possibly deliver and pick up mail from every single house in the country. Even though they have been doing that very thing for over a century.
It’s a wonderful service. For all of the waste and inefficiency in government, the post office works fine. Always has.
The existence of “lost in the mail” is legendary, BUT I have never once experienced any mail I sent, or any mail sent to me being lost. While personal experience is not proof, still I really doubt that the post office is as unreliable as some claim. I think some people simply use the post office as a convenient fall guy.
And for more than a century before that, sending and receiving mail at post offices all over the country. Ben Franklin was the first Postmaster-General. Lincoln was a postmaster for a couple of years.
Finally. You. Are. So. Spot. On. Been wondering why although this does seem to be getting attention, it’s not, my opinion only, in the “hair-on-fire-“category.
What is being reported by The WaPo as coming from Trump is the sort of illogic I use to teach students about tautology.
Good on ya for this!
It’s a no brainer that 82 days out from an election, you do everything in your power to make sure that election goes smoothly. Any impediments, especially open sabotage by a candidate, have to be removed.
It’s also a federal offense to obstruct mail. 18 USC 1701!
I wonder how many cities have drop boxes and allow personal drop-off for mail-in ballots to the city clerk’s office? If people could do this rather than mail in the ballots the problem would be solved, if Trump is going to sabotage the postal service for the election.
It amazes me that he can find a solution to a problem to benefit himself, but not a solution or policy to help the people of our country.
Drop off ballots would be good. That may be the best way to go, in fact.
I wonder how many L.A. county would need. You can bet people aren’t going to drive to Norwalk to drop them off. (I’ve been there – I needed to look up some stuff, and that was the only way.)
Oregon has had mail in voting for many years. I’ve always been near a drop box, but I’m not sure how many are in the rural areas of the state. This year the votes had prepaid postage and more people mailed in their votes. Approximately 2/3 mailed in their vote this year opposed to previously 2/3 used the drop box.
This new Postmaster General has screwed with the postage as well. It used to be that mail-in ballots went at bulk rate. Now you need to pay first class postage. This is unconscionable.
Not bulk rate, but presorted first class rate, which is low because the sender does most of the work.
Let’s stop fucking around.
18 U.S. Code. Title 18.CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. Part I. Crimes. Chapter 83. POSTAL SERVICE. § 1701 – Obstruction of mails generally
Obstruction of mails generally. Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 778; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(B), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2146.)
De Joy is already doing this, no need to wait; he needs to be stopped. Fuck his lame excuses, he knows nothing about running a postal service whereas all the postal workers in the country know exactly what’s going down and can prove it. Also a class-action suit. Every USPS customer, everybody that has a mailbox, and every voter, is injured. And this segues into voter obstruction, which is another federal crime.
I mean, give me a break … Open admission of election sabotage.
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-declares-usps-cant-handle-mail-in-voting-because-hes-blocking-funding/?
I’m in Asheville NC and we have one ftp box in town but I’m willing to betcha they could have more available in short order if needed.
You know, I would be more scared if he was less boastful about it this far ahead of time. By announcing his intentions this many months out, he’s given ALL of us plenty of time to make contingency plans to get around it. I’ve been hearing about nothing but those plans in my email for a solid week.
Let’s also remember the personal/financial aspect of this, sticking it to Jeff Bezos for daring to use HIS Post Office for Amazon. But as Mom reminded me today, only reason Bezos got that USPS contract was to cut the post office a break. He wants to do his own deliveries again, financing from his digital platforms alone (which are NOT subject to this nonsense) would make that happen.
I can’t wait til this is over. And then laws are applied to those who deliberately broke them.
I wouldn’t think that removing sorting machines, prohibiting overtime, preventing mail form being delivered in a timely way, and trying to kill people who get medicine by mail were any kind of improvement in efficiency.