Trump’s Postmaster General Slows the Mail – Just in Time for the Election?
On This Day In 2020
Another trick to help Trump stay in power? As it became clear that Democrats were stressing the desirability of voting by mail in the 2020 election, Trump needed to ramp up his criticism of the concept.
So Trump installed Lous DeJoy, a GOP mega donor, as the new Postmaster General. In the summer of 2020 DeJoy promptly oversaw an “operational pivot” that closed some branches, reduced service, and reassigned postal executives. All of this had the effect of slowing down mail delivery.
DeJoy’s plan also disassembled mail sorting machines…mostly without explanation.
Then, as if on script, Trump started slamming the efficacy of the USPS, saying it's ill-suited to handle voting by mail: “Our system is not equipped for it, the Post Office is not equipped for it, and people should vote like they did in World War I and World War II.”
“Trump says he opposes funding USPS because of mail-in voting,” reported CNN.
Hauled before Congress: The public reasonably became worried that their mailed ballots wouldn’t be delivered on time to be counted. Maybe they shouldn’t use mail-in after all? So Congress asked DeJoy to come explain himself. Upon that, DeJoy quickly reversed course. In a statement he said: “To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending [the new] initiatives until after the election is concluded.”
OTDI 2020, several members of Congress kept up the pressure on DeJoy to ensure mail delivery did not slow prior to the election.
A happy ending? Recently, DeJoy has changed his tune on green initiatives, and has begun to partner with the Biden/Harris Administration on transitioning the postal fleet to primarily electric vehicles.
Get Weirder; Dive Deeper
ABC News breaks down DeJoy’s initial months on the job
Congressional representatives keep up the pressure on DeJoy
A coda to DeJoy’s story and his support of the transition of the postal fleet to electric vehicles
CNN has more Trump quotes and explains why he’s wrong
Chris Cillizza details 34 weird things Trump said in one press conference, including about the USPS