That dastardly Donald Trump is at it again. He is either the evilest man ever to hold the office of president or the dumbest. He is either a Machiavellian genius manipulating the media and his hypnotized followers or a bumbling know-nothing idiot.
Trump is being accused of sabotaging the November elections because he won’t give the postal unions and incompetent managers in the postal service $25 billion to play with. The money will stave off catastrophe for about a year at the rate the USPS is burning through cash. Without that money, we’re informed by those in the know, thousands — no, tens of thousands — no, millions of voters who wait until the last minute to mail in an absentee ballot might not have their votes counted because, well, Trump.
The procrastinators in America are up in arms and plan a demonstration to show their outrage. But it probably won’t happen until after the election since that’s when they’ll eventually get around to it.
The “crisis” in postal delivery presupposes that, prior to Trump’s shenanigans, the USPS was doing fine — nothing that a few tens of billions of taxpayer dollars couldn’t fix. In fact, that’s what the postal unions are saying. In a statement released on Saturday, the letter carriers and postal workers’ unions assure the public that even without the money, they can do the job.
“The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) know the truth; the members of these unions are the people who actually process and deliver the mail. Postal Workers and Letter Carriers both say, unequivocally, that no matter how much the administration tries to undermine trust in the postal system, the system remains fully capable of delivering every single ballot cast by mail in a secure and timely manner.
“Indeed, the NALC assures that even if every single vote in the November 2020 election were cast by mail, the U.S. Postal Service would have no problem delivering the ballots, whether or not Congress provides the funding included in the HEROES Act.
“The U.S. Postal Service has an entire structure in place to coordinate with state and local election boards to facilitate secure and timely delivery of mail ballots.
So what’s all the hubbub about? The letter carriers say they can deliver the ballots on time. The postal employees claim they don’t need the extra cash. Where, pray tell, is there a “crisis”?
Nancy Pelosi knows. In fact, she’s about to call the members of the House of Representatives off the campaign trail and back to Washington to deal with the “crisis.”
Pelosi and other top Democrats, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), discussed the possibility of returning early during an emergency leadership call Saturday afternoon.
Democrats are looking to address organizational issues at the Postal Service in the coming weeks, not to provide additional funding at this time, according to sources familiar with the discussion.
Nothing says “crisis” in Washington quite like pulling politicians away from their campaigns for a political stunt like holding an “emergency” session of Congress.
One option would be to vote on a modified version of a bill introduced by House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) earlier this week that would prohibit USPS from implementing a planned organizational overhaul that critics maintain would handicap mail-in voting.
Other top Democrats also floated addressing other issues, including expired federal unemployment benefits and voting rights. But Democratic sources said the immediate focus — at least for now — is preserving the Postal Service ahead of the election.
So now Democrats want to become experts at mail delivery and dictate to management how the mail is to be delivered? Sheesh.
The media is doing their part in fanning the flames of crisis. Some of the headlines are choice.
- “USPS removes mail collection boxes and reduces post office hours as critics accuse Trump administration of voter suppression” — CNN (Obama removed tens of thousands of mail boxes without a peep from the unions or Democrats)
- “Trump’s assault on the U.S. Postal Service gives Democrats a new campaign message” — Washington Post
- “Postal Crisis Ripples Across Nation as Election Looms” — New York Times
- “Exclusive: UPS, FedEx warn they cannot carry ballots like U.S. Postal Service” — Reuters
That Reuters headline is hysterical. UPS and FedEx are not supposed to carry ballots. They aren’t the U.S. Postal Service. There would have to be an act of Congress before they could carry ballots.
But if it gins up fear and outrage, all the better.
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