Postmaster Called to Testify Before Congress
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) set a Hearing on August 24 for Postmaster Louis DeJoy and Robert Duncan, chairman of the postal service Board of Governors, to appear.
DeJoy, a Republican donor, is the first postmaster general in decades without prior experience at the Postal Service. He eliminated overtime and removed sorting machines that led to delays in many cities.
“Alarmingly, the postmaster general…has acted as an accomplice in the president’s campaign to cheat in the election, as he launches sweeping new operational changes that degrade delivery standards and delay the mail,” the Democrats said in a statement.
In a 10-page letter sent Friday to Mr. DeJoy, Democratic lawmakers gave the postmaster until Aug. 21 to produce documents related to the delays. The planned hearing would be held by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Democrats Sponsor a Bill
- That would prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any changes to operations or level of service it had in place on Jan. 1, 2020, until the end of the Covid-19 emergency or Jan. 1, 2021.
- That forbids the closure or consolidation of any post office, the reduction of facility hours, ending overtime pay for workers or other steps that would prevent the Postal Service from meeting its service standards.
- Forbids any change that would delay mail or increase the volume of undelivered mail.
Greatest Rigged Election in History
Rigged for Whom?
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1294363606793039873
Trumpian Illogical Deals
President Trump said mail-in voting would lead to the greatest rigged election in history.
Yet, Trump also said he would approve billions of dollars in funding for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as part of a coronavirus relief package if Democrats make concessions on certain White House priorities.
“Sure, if they gave us what we want. And it’s not what I want, it’s what the American people want,” Trump said during a news conference, as reported by The Hill.
President Willing to Accept Fraud
One does not or at least should not be willing to accept “the greatest rigged election in history” for other concessions.
Yet, this is the kind of deal Trump repeatedly is willing to make.
Huawei Revisited
Recall Trump’s claim of major security concerns over Huawei’s 5-G phone software. Yet the president was willing to allow Huawei software if China would buy more soybeans.
What kind of sense does that make?
Something either is a security risk or isn’t. And if it is. you do not bargain it away for soybeans or in Covid negotiations.
Lies or Stupidity?
There are only two possibilities in play.
- Trump is a liar.
- Trump is stupid enough to bargain away genuine security concerns to make a deal.
Is it #1, #2, or both?
Senators Favoring More USPS Support
- Tom Carper (D-Del.)
- Chris Coons (D-Del.)
- Susan Collins (R-Maine)
- Steve Daines (R-Mont.)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
- Doug Jones (D-Ala.)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
- Pat Roberts (R-Kan.)
- Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)
- Jon Tester (D-Mont.)
Those are stated views. It is a certainty that all Democrats and at least 5 Republicans favor more money for the USPS.
No Win Position
Assume Democrats pass a bill funding the post office.
What are Republicans going to do? Yep, they can reject it. But at what cost?
Alternatively, Republicans can agree to a deal and then Trump could veto it.
Who does that help?
Foolish Ploy
This is yet another foolish Trumpian ploy poised to backfire spectacularly.
For what?
Trump has plenty of room to attack Kamala Harris. Instead Republicans are caught defending the indefensible in amazingly hypocritical ways.
Trump’s Strange Position on Florida
Trump’s position on Florida was so strange even Fox News questioned it.
Possible Election Theft in Florida
Supposedly Florida is “Safe and Secure, Tried and True” and OK for mail-in votes while no other state is.
But what if the votes do not get counted?
As Trump accurately states, it would be the “greatest Rigged Election in history.”
Mish
When you say things like:
“Assume Democrats pass a bill funding the post office.
What are Republicans going to do? Yep, they can reject it. But at what cost?”
I think you need to answer that question at the end, because the answer isn’t clear to me.
I think when you say this is “no win” you actually mean that it’s transparently cynical and abusive, and you believe that voters or oversight bodies will punish the abusers. After watching the lunacy of Trump’s first term unfold, his approval rating, and the outcome of his impeachment, I don’t think that is a safe assumption.
If you don’t think Trump can get away with transparent bullshit, I’m dying to know why.
Back in my Queens NY days(The same borough that brought you Donald Trump) there was a historic movie theater bought by a developer. He didn’t want to deal wiht the restrictions of owning a historic building so he quickly wrecked it so that the city and borough couldn’t force him to maintain it. Didn’t work out so well as he was criminally liable. Donald Trump did something similar when building his Trump 5th Avenue which was formerly Bonwit Teller. The building had some architecture Trump promised to maintain as part of the new structure but before anyone could react he had it destroyed. Seems Trump has similar plans for the USPS.
Republicans win when they paint Democrats as obstructionist but right now Trump is screaming and pointing to himself as the one obstructing and tampering
Please provide your evidence that mail in ballots are subject to a meaningful level of fraud other than Trump’s claim.
When did@Mish say there’s a legitimate fraud issue? There is none! No past evidence, just sophistry from Bill Barr and idiots saying there’s no evidence there won’t be fraud which is to put it bluntly idiotic reasoning.
My response was intended for Kimo.
From Scott Adams: If you thought the fake news was impressive when it disappeared the FBI/media coup against the Republic, now they are persuading the public that universal mail-in ballots are reliable. And people are believing it. Wow. Impressive.
Scott Adams can make good comic strips but he’s right up there with Scott Baio and Chuck Woolery for his wilingness to embrace Trump’s positions.
Funny thing is, they admitted months ago the post office needs 10’s of billions of $’s, I think they tried to sneak it into one of the virus bailout bills. Trump team said no. A few weeks later it’s a national election emergency…our democracy is threatened by Trump..because they didn’t get 10’s of billions of $’s they can’t do their job.
This is about $.
The Post Office is underfunded due to the rate caps set by the Postal Regulatory Commission. Three of the five Commissioners are Republicans.
I expect there to be some huge revelations before the election. Wether they drop Biden, he makes some inexcusable gaffe, or some large even happens.
This is not a normal election and I expect it to get much stranger.
A mailed in voting is protesting, not voting. Shame on your elected officials, if mail in voting is compulsory, and you are forced to protest. Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.
This plays really stupidly. And the administration’s talking points suck to put it bluntly.
When jaketapper of CNN tells Mark Meadows there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Mark Meadows said, “There’s no evidence that there’s not either.” Come on? Anyone with common sense or an entry level course in logic knows how stupid that comes off.
Not all of Trump’s supporters are in love with him. They just prefer him. Guarantee a 1/3 of them see right through this obvious ploy. I’m watching the news and hearing more and ore of Democrats and Republicans talking about a stand-alone bill to fund the post office.
This isn’t just about the elections. In some parts of the country the post office is still the lifeblood of the country. You’re messing with people’s access to medicines. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was on TV yesterday making that very point. My guess is Trump and his his team dreamed this gimmick up and never consulted Senate or House Republicans and nobody likes it.
I’m actually in favor of privatizing or partially privatizing the post office. There are some good experiences in Germany and The Netherlands. Not only would it bring cost savings but it would bring new services. But Trump isn’t about that. This is a personal vendetta. Whether its to punish Amazon or to get a leg up in the elections this is the wrong place and time. Such a move should require coordination with the legislature.
Bottom line. We’re in a Covid-19 crisis. We’re just making on-line voting more available than in the past. There is no evidence of past abuse. The voters aren’t stupid. They know its a ploy to discourage voting. This will backfire big on Republicans. Yes Republicans have always tried to limit voting but this is way too obvious.
EXACTLY !!!!! RIGHT ON TARGET.
There is no reason why they can’t have in person voting, it’d be no different or risky than going to costco, home depot or supermarket on a Saturday. Or starbucks for that matter!”
Looks like we’ll have to.
The remedy to ALL of Trumps bullshit and lies and criminal activity is,… acquiring a man like Barry Goldwater and a small group of men with similar size cajones.
O’Connell, Graham, Cruz, Rubio, McCarthy, and all the other sycophants have already performed the feat of self swallowing their set of shrinking appendages.
Trump is so fearful of losing office, as any authoritarian dictator would be for the inevitable consequences, that he will do anything to postpone his exit.
For Trump winning is more important than serving. He said this to Barbara Walters over 20 years ago. It is what drives him. But clearly there’s more. The moment Trump leaves office he’s open to way more litigation both criminal and civil
The least that he can expect is to spend the rest of his short-ass life in court.
The democrats also voted $250 million to beef up election security and the republicans will not allow it either. One would think they have no interest or motive to make sure our vote is secure. Or is it really just an open invitation to Tsar Vladimir and his trolls in the FSB?
This is why I would never deface my ballot by voting for a republican, they are the most dishonest people on the planet.
tRump knows that he will lose the election. So he will do everything to stay in the white house. Regardless of the election results or no-results, he will find all the ways needed to stay. A chao in this country will follow. The world will watch a spectacular disintegration of the Empire.
A chao? August? Did you mean Chaos? Otherwise I agree. Polarization is such that we are basically right where Germany was in 1932. Far right thugs and the “Good Germans” that did nothing to resist them, and the communists/socialists on the left, anarchists impelling the nation to choose between the two. But, America as we have known it is already gone and no way to get it back because no matter which side wins the other will go to war.
I’m sure if we can have riots and destruction in the cities with orders for the police to stand down and let it happen, one would think that attending a polling place with a face mask would not pose any serious problem.
Your first mistake was thinking. If anyone was thinking they would see the destruction of big cities is nothing more than a way to spread the D’s though the US to assure D victories for years to come. I don’t like either but a one party system always ends up the same way.
Gee, they have an app for everything else, why not just vote on our smart phones? I am sure they could come up with the proper protocols to make it safe and all.
“I am sure they could come up with the proper protocols…”
Oh, many very, very clever people have tried and continue to try.
Two rubs:
Notice how they are competing requirements?
I hear that this is the plan. 1. Cast doubt on the integrity of the voting, especially absentee. 2. Sue/challenge the results in any close state. 3. Delay the certification long enough that Republican states that Biden won refuse to certify the vote by Electoral college day. 4. No candidate receives 270 votes. 5. The winner is decided by Congress, 1 vote per state. 6. Trump WINS!
Keeping in mind, you hear that from Trump’s opposition.
The Democrats have done everything they possibly could to flood our country with illegal immigrants and to get those illegal immigrants to illegally vote in our election knowing they would vote for socialism and communism that the Democrats support.
Democrats are supporting domestic terrorism by supporting BLM and Antifa, and are attempting to replace our freedom and liberty with communism and neo feudalism.
Liberals are basically traitors to America, and to every principal it was founded on.
I actually think whatever Trump is trying to do will backfire as we get closer to election day. If people get their ballots, he is screwed because they can always not mail them and take them to the polling place or their local county office. Additionally, so many people are unemployed so this will make turnout higher. Having voting on a working day has been the biggest obstacle for most medium to lower income workers to vote but if those people have no work then there is a higher likelihood they will vote because they have the time. Trump couldn’t govern so now he has to resort to other measures. Finally my wife who is in healthcare says a large number of Russian people in the US seem to be contracting coronavirus so it makes one wonder if Putin has instructed his agents to cause chaos via this way as well. I am fairly certain in my area there are agents of the Russian government posing as small business owners. They have the nicest cars and houses but if you ask them what business they are in they decline to say and they are still out shopping with their families every day of the week.
i like the postal service.
There is no reason why they can’t have in person voting, it’d be no different or risky than going to costco, home depot or supermarket on a Saturday. Or starbucks for that matter! This is all bs, just a distraction from the state of the economy or kids not in school.
The post office can’t handle an extra 150 million pieces of mail spread out over a 2-3 week time frame? how could anyone believe such bs. If they can’t they deserve to be overhauled or replaced by ups or fed ex.
Old people are the ones that need to be concerned and they are probably already mail in ballot people.
So many holes in this illusion of a problem.
I’ve mostly flipped… I will vote democrat straight down the ticket in this and any future election where it looks like the republicans might gain enough power to ratf*ck the system. Other than that, I’ll probably vote straight 3rd party. Now that the republicans have gone full fascist, there just isn’t a viable party that represents my views.
The republicans must be crushed, first for the survival of our democracy, and second so other parties can rise and crush the democratic party.
I think that’s the right answer in 2020. A bloody nose will be the only way Republicans look deep inside and reflect. I’m hoping they come back but right now if its not a stinging defeat the right lessons won’t be learned. Trumpism must die so that Republicans can come back.
Predictit has the Senate as 50/50 but their numbers call some swing states as red already. Polling indicates the Senate will flip. The Republicans are in deep trouble as a party. Trump is accelerating the downfall even in red states like Texas and Georgia. We know both those states have governors that will limit voting in blue areas and try to throw out as many ballots in cities as possible. In the medical community, lifelong Republicans who have never voted for a Democrat will be voting for Biden where I live (red area in a blue state). I fully expect my district to flip to a Democratic district as well after decades as a red district.
You may be right, but Trump is not responsible for downfall of the pubs. He saved the party in 2016. Outside of Trump, the pubs have no one. Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are lame as hell.
My read is that everything is on the table with Trump. He’s a businessman, and he’s running the American political system right now. The thing he cares most about (like most politicians) is staying in power—nothing else really matters in comparison.
It is hardly fair to say his is a “businessman”. If so, he is an inept “businessman.” He is a con-man.
I fully financialized dystopias, “Businessman” is just Newspeak for welfare recipient. Which Trump most certainly both has been and still is.
Quatloo I agree he is desperate to stay in power because his ego could not take a one term presidency type loss, but also because he KNOWS for pure fact that the moment he no longer has sitting president immunity he will be indicted so many ways from Sunday the authorities will be fighting each other in court to see who gets first crack at putting him behind bars.
I am also of the opinion that Tsar Vladimir has made it clear to him that loss would mean the spilling of everything russia and the FSB has on him, because there is no motivation quite as powerful as having every dirty secret crime and perversion being spread across the planet to keep you trying.
Engaging in voter fraud is not being businessman, the better comparison would be to organized crime. At least the Borges supported the Arts.
He is a serial bankrupter. Not content with 6 of his businesses going bankrupt since 1991 he will now try to bankrupt the country. Just keep shoving more of the bailout money to his rich cronies. Screw the unemployed.