Definitive Guide to Trump's Attempts to Destroy USPS
Where We Stand Now
As a result of Congressional lawmakers being inundated by complaints of policy changes by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that are disrupting the USPS, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has instructed Congress to return to work this week to "save the Postal Service."
Pelosi has explained to her colleagues: "Alarmingly, across the nation, we see the devastating effects of the President’s campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the Postal Service to disenfranchise voters." Democratic lawmakers say their constituents are furious about news of the removal of high-speed sorting machines, unbolting of corner mailboxes, and a Postal Service warning to individual states that ballots may not be delivered in time to be counted.
Pelosi is also calling on her colleagues to “participate in a Day of Action on Tuesday by appearing at a Post Office in their districts for a press event," before their scheduled return to Washington, DC, on Friday. The House will convene for a special Saturday session this week to debate the Delivering for America Act, that was introduced by House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) last week. If passed, the law would "would prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place" on Jan. 1, until the pandemic ends.
This measure will likely pass in the House of Representatives, but will then face opposition in the Republican controlled Senate. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) also issued a statement calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to reconvene the Senate and take up the measure for a vote.
Democrats have requested that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Michael Duncan, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, testify before the House Oversight Committee on Aug. 24 and DeJoy has agreed to appear on Monday. Postmaster General DeJoy will also testify before the Republican-led Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee in the US Senate on Friday to answer questions about his recent drastic structural changes at USPS.
(Postmaster General Louis DeJoy attends meetings at the Capitol in Washington DC, last week. Photo by Alex Wong, via Getty Images.)
The hearing is intended to "examine the sweeping operational and organizational changes at the Postal Service that experts warn could degrade delivery standards, slow the mail and potentially impair the rights of eligible Americans to cast their votes through the mail in the upcoming November elections," and could help to pressure McConnell to call the US Senate back to session to debate the Maloney Act.
On Tuesday, DeJoy issued a public statement saying he wanted to assure Americans of the following:
Retail hours at the post offices will not change
Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are
No mail processing facilities will be closed
Overtime will be approved as needed
Considering that DeJoy is scheduled to begin answering questions from members the US Senate on Friday, the timing of these concessions are concerning. Moreover, DeJoy has not addressed Trump’s continued threats to withhold critical funding and does not explain how the USPS will overcome the ongoing fiscal issues.
DeJoy does not specify if any of the equipment that has been removed so far will be returned. The US Postal Service has removed at least 10 automated mail sorting machines throughout Michigan facilities this summer, lowering the first-class mail-processing capacity by more than 300,000 letters per hour, according to postal worker union leaders. He has also not addressed the letter sent from USPS general counsel to each individual state that warns of significant delays that could impact mailed- in ballots. DeJoy has yet to discuss how he will combat the issue that people will now need to add additional postage to make sure vote-by-mail ballots are delivered in a timely fashion.
Below are the most major attempts by Trump, DeJoy and possibly the USPS Board of Governors to implement policies that will intentionally slow mail delivery service in the United States leading up to an election. We can expect these topics to be addressed by Congress when they conduct hearings with Postmaster General DeJoy and Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Michael Duncan on Aug. 24. Each segment is meant to give you a snapshot, with a link provided for you to access more detail on each subject if you want it.
UPDATE: While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may have announced on Tuesday that he would be suspending changes to USPS operations just ahead of his US Senate testimony, a new internal email confirms that he does not intend for machines that had been removed to be put back into working order.
The email instructs postal workers not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected. Kevin Couch, director of USPS maintenance operations wrote the following guidance in the email:
"Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight. They are not to reconnect/reinstall machines that have been previously disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager."
Trump Admits He’s Suppressing the Vote
(Trump speaks in the Oval Office at the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020, in Washington. Photo by Andrew Harnik, Associated Press.)
Last Thursday, Trump admitted on Fox News that he opposes infusing the US Postal Service with the money they need to run properly. He went on to say that funding the agency isn’t something he’s willing to do because he doesn’t want to see the USPS used for mail-in voting this November.
The pandemic has enabled many states across the country to enact vote-by-mail options in order to protect people from the coronavirus. The majority of this country agrees that vote by mail should be employed, especially during the pandemic, but it is heavily favored by Democrats. According to Politico: “Among Democrats, 81 percent favored allowing everyone to vote by mail, and 57 percent of independents did too. Just 33 percent of Republicans agreed.”
Trump now openly admits that he has tried to restrict mail-in voting because he says it will hurt his re-election and Republicans across the board. During the interview (see video below), Trump said that if USPS does not receive the additional $25 billion funding request that Democrats included in the ongoing stimulus negotiations, then he believes the Post Office won't be able to handle the influx of mail-in ballots in the upcoming election.
"They want three and a half billion dollars for something that'll turn out to be fraudulent, that's election money basically. They want three and a half billion dollars for the mail-in votes. Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now they need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trump said, repeating his false claims that mail-in voting would be "fraudulent."
Ultimately, mail in voting favors Joe Biden heavily. According to Emerson College polling conducted late last month, 76% of voters who plan to vote by mail plan to vote for Joe Biden, while 65% of those planning to vote in person say they’ll vote for Trump.
Mail volume is down 30% and the USPS is revenue funded, not tax funded. The postal service needs the same access to stimulus funding that private corporations, Kanye West and the Chinese government have all received — the same funding that the USPS has purposely been denied.
Pennsylvania Sues to Extend Vote By Mail Deadlines
(Protestors in Philadelphia, PA, last week, demanding that the federal government fund the United States Postal Service. Via Getty Images.)
The U.S. Postal Service has formally warned every Secretary of State that some mail-in ballots might not be delivered on time because the state’s deadlines are likely too tight for its “delivery standards.” Thomas J. Marshall, General Counsel and Executive Vice President of the US Postal Service, sent a letter advising of the changes on July 29, to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, whose department oversees elections.
In the letter, Marshall warns that Pennsylvania's mail-in ballot deadlines are “incongruous” with delivery standards for the US Postal Service. Marshall went on to explain that voters needed to mail in their ballots a week before the deadline for them to be received and counted. Marshall further explained the risk saying, “…ballots requested near the deadline under state law will not be returned by mail in time to be counted under your laws as we understand them.”
Click here to read full article.
Mailboxes Being Picked-Up and Removed
Last week there were reports all over the country of mailboxes being picked up and removed, which ultimately gives citizens less access to mailing their ballots. The USPS has confirmed that four mailboxes were removed in Portland, but a Postal Service spokesperson is citing “declining mail volume” as the justification and says this is just the removal of “duplicate” sites from areas that have multiple collection boxes.
(Mailboxes at a storage facility in New York recently after being removed from the streets.)
The US Postal Service has started reducing post office operating hours across several states in addition to removing letter collection boxes. Following the public outcry over the lack of access to the mail, Rod Spurgeon — a USPS spokesperson for the Western Region — confirmed that USPS will stop the removal of letter collection boxes in 16 western states and parts of two others until after the election.
The USPS will stop removing letter collection boxes only in: Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska, Nebraska and small parts of Wisconsin and Missouri. There has been no indication that the USPS will be returning the boxes they have previously removed and there is nothing stopping them from removing boxes again in the states not listed.
Critical Mail Sorting Machines Taken Out
Trump’s newly appointed Postmaster General is removing a substantial number of mail sorting machines from facilities around the country without any official explanation or reason given. Postal workers and union officials have confirmed to Motherboard that these machines — the same machines that will be responsible for sorting ballots, will be removed.
Documents indicate that 671 machines used to organize letters or other pieces of mail have been targeted for "reduction" and according to postal workers, USPS officials began removing machines back in June. This removal action directly contradicts the previous promises made by DeJoy that the USPS has “ample capacity” to handle the predicted surge in mail-in ballots, because he is creating this new lack of capacity.
(Mail is scanned as it travels along a conveyor belt Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014, at the USPS sorting facility in Scarborough, Maine. Photo by Joel Page/Portland Portland Press Herald, via Getty Images.)
So far 19 mail sorting machines from five processing facilities across the U.S. have either been removed or are scheduled to be removed shortly, but there have been unconfirmed reports all over the nation of more machines being pulled from large facilities. The Postal Service operates hundreds of distribution facilities within the United States, so we can not be precise in gleaning exactly how many machines have or will be removed and how many total facilities will be diminished. It is also not clear exactly why machines are being removed and what the legitimate purpose is for the adjustments, but the idea that this will somehow increase productivity is ludicrous.
The postal workers who spoke to Motherboard confirmed that machines are occasionally removed, replaced, or modified, but that the most recent instances of machine removal appear to be more “widespread.” The workers say that “a larger number of machines at their respective facility” have been noticeably taken out, and they are concerned about the potential impact this will have on the entire facility’s ability to quickly process large numbers of mail, which includes ballots.
A postal employee at a Buffalo distribution facility told Motherboard: “Look at it this way: Your local grocery store was forced to cut one third of its cash-out lines, but management expected the same productivity, quality, and speed for the customer — It’s just never going to happen.” This same employee also confirmed that they anticipate losing six out of 21 sorting machines at their facility alone.
Click here to read full article.
Trump’s Postmaster General Stands to Profit
Newly revealed financial disclosures show that Louis DeJoy, the controversial recent Postmaster General appointee, who has implemented changes at the Postal Service to intentionally slow service just before the election, continues to hold multi-million dollar financial investments in companies that create substantial conflicts of interest. DeJoy maintains at least $30 million in stock holdings from his former supply company that is a current contractor with US Postal Service, XPO holdings.
Another major cause for concern for outside experts reviewing the financial disclosures is DeJoy’s current Amazon stock interests, and his position that will allow him to directly profit from the USPS failing to perform. DeJoy divested large amounts of Amazon stock shares in June of this year, just after taking his position as Postmaster General.
(Mailed-in ballots sit in US Postal Service bins inside the office of the Stanislaus County Clerk in Modesto, California. Photo by Alex Edelman, via Getty Images.)
On that same day, he secured stock options that will give him the right to buy new shares of Amazon at his discretion, at a price much lower than their going market rate. This is an advantage that could come in very handy for someone who has the capability to manipulate the stock market and inflate Amazon stock by destroying its competitor - the Unites States Postal Service.
DeJoy and USPS have confirmed that he has fully complied with regulations, but this seems implausible given the current context that includes the intentionally decreased output of USPS. The recent organizational changes put in place by DeJoy, that have decreased the internal capabilities of the agency and intentionally wounded the public’s confidence in the mail delivery system, all have the power to lower the value of USPS and make money for DeJoy personally.
Click here to read full article.
DeJoy Implements Structural Changes that Hinder USPS
(Postmaster General Louis DeJoy departs from a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the Capitol on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2020. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc., via Getty Images.)
Newly appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy distributed a memo on Aug. 7, describing a substantial restructuring that implements a hierarchal chart within the United States Postal Service, that many are referring to as a “Friday Night Massacre.” The new system effectively removes two high-up executives overseeing day-to-day operations and displaces 23 top postal executives. There have also been operational changes that have gone into effect such as the removal of critical sorting machinery and US Post Office mail boxes in towns across the country.
This move by DeJoy has displaced two top executives who were pivotal in overseeing day-to-day operations, and according to the new hierarchical chart, 23 postal executives have been reassigned or removed from their previous posts. In all, 33 staffers included in the previous power structure have either kept their jobs or have been reassigned in the massive restructuring. Additionally, DeJoy has brought in five more staffers to comprise the new leadership from other roles altogether.
(A US Post Office sign in the lobby of a post office in San Francisco, California on May 11, 2009. Photo by Justin Sullivan, via Getty Images.)
American Postal Workers Union President, Mark Dimondstein, told CNN in an interview Friday that the union has received a number of reports from postal workers and customers over the last two weeks that mail delivery has slowed and "degraded." The union represents more than 200,000 Postal Service employees and retirees.
There have been reports of mail bins that should have been delivered, just left in post offices due to scheduling and route changes, and increased delivery times due to letter carriers sorting more mail themselves. This next step by DeJoy represents an obvious and deliberate attempt to cost the post office more valuable time. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), chair of the House subcommittee responsible for postal oversight, has referred to this latest restructuring as “a deliberate sabotage” to the nation’s mail service and a “Trojan Horse.”
Click here to read full article.
Destroy the Post Office, Steal an Election
A significant problem exists that should make us question the direction of the postal service: the placement of top a Republican fundraiser and Trump ally, into the position of Postmaster General in May of this year. Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman who was previously in charge of fundraising for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, is now in control of an agency that Trump has deemed to be “rigged.” Indeed, it very well might be now.
Conditions were placed on the US Postal Service, that included dramatically raising their delivery fees in exchange for a $10 billion line of credit necessary to keep the service going through the pandemic. David Williams, the vice chairman on the board of governors, resigned shortly after Trump rewarded DeJoy with the post, and this leaves only one other Democrat on the board with several other Republicans.
(US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (center) departs the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on August 7, 2020. Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, via AP Images.)
According to four sources speaking to The Washington Post, “[Williams’] main frustration is that he felt the Treasury Department was interfering in an apolitical board and an apolitical agency.” Megan Brennan, the previous postmaster general, who announced her retirement late last year, had clashed with Trump over his administration’s efforts to take more control over postal finances and operations, such as insisting that Amazon pay higher delivery fees.
Trump’s claim in the Oval Office in April of this year, that “The Postal Service is a joke,” appears to be true on the basis that Trump has made it so. The real question that remains is whether instituting another Trump crony as the head of the USPS will actually give him any control over mail-in ballots. Primaries all over the country, that have been conducted in states that utilize mail-in ballots, have shown that this form of mail service remains unaffected. Trump’s plan to weaken the consumer’s confidence in the federal agency by increasing prices and decreasing service is likely to take some toll.
Click here to read full article.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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Of the plethora of horrid, anti-democratic (small d), anti-constitutional, amoral, and just plain mean things trumputin has done in the last 3.5 years, this deliberate evisceration of the USPS to try to give himself four more years is the one that enrages and terrifies me the most because it cannot be undone in time for the election voting. It's a savaging of the essential (though admittedly lightly valued) cornerstone of this republic: free and universal voting. I've written both my senators and my congressman about this but I am unconvinced that Congress will stop it and/or reverse the damage unless the millions of Republican voters who depend on mail-in voting tell their congressional representatives to stop it.
He's a traitor. He's a traitor because he cares nothing about this country or its history or its importance. He's ignorant of history and is amoral, and I didn't need to read Mary Trump's book to learn that. Hell, his "eulogy" on Fox for his brother is nothing less than a paean to himself - but I know he doesn't know that word either.
I am at a loss for words. So many people depend on the USPS, beyond voting. I don't know if anything can be done, at this point. The USPS is in the Constitution, yet tRump and his minions thumb their noses at the law and keep going. They are not only dismantling sorting machines but also our voices. Which is what tRump wants.