https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-is-martyring-the-postal-service-180651766.html
Trump is martyring the postal service
Rick Newman
Senior Columnist
Yahoo Finance August 13, 2020
President Trump has shown his hand. Now we know.
Trump told Fox Business on Aug. 13 that he opposes emergency funding for the US Post Office because it would help the service deliver more mail-in ballots in November. “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. “But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it.”
This, we can now see, is a major reason Congress can’t pass another stimulus bill to help businesses and workers reeling from the coronavirus recession. The “two items” Trump referred to are additional funding streams Democrats want as part of the next stimulus bill: $25 billion to plug ongoing financial holes at the postal service, and $3.6 billion to help states fund a surge of mail-in voting. Republicans who control the Senate oppose that funding, and Trump has now indicated why.
Trump thinks mail-in voting will help Democrats more than Republicans. In March, Trump told Fox News that with expanded mail-in voting, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” There’s no evidence that’s true. Many states have liberal mail-in voting rules that cause no apparent problems, including Republican-controlled states such as Iowa, Montana, Ohio and Utah. Yet Trump seems convinced, without proof.
The $28.5 billion Democrats want for postal-related funding is a blip in a bill that could easily total $1.5 trillion in spending, or more. So Republican objections based on the dollar amount alone don’t really make sense. If Trump thinks that additional postal funding endangers his hold on power, however, it would explain why Republicans would be willing to hold up a crucial bill for a relatively small provision.
Still, it’s probably counterproductive for Trump to starve the postal service and spell out his plan. Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and presidential hopeful Joe Biden can now accuse Trump of standing in the way of vital aid for struggling workers and businesses because he’s trying to rig the mail to aid his reelection odds. Seventy percent of Americans support voting by mail, including 87% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans, according to Pew Research. Trump needs the votes of moderate Republicans and many Independents to win in November, and he’s not helping himself by attacking postal voting.
Democrats can’t back down now
Trump’s revelation also seems certain to stiffen support for the new postal funding among Democrats. In March, when Congress passed the first large stimulus bill, Democrats caved on the $25 billion in postal funding they wanted, in order to ink a fast deal with Republicans. But now they can’t cave, without giving Trump an obvious win. Trump’s open hostility to the postal service now gives Democrats a cause they can’t back down from, like a martyr who infuses an army with a rallying cry.
There may be darker doings underway at the postal service. The new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is a Trump megadonor who may be laying the groundwork for a postal fumble in the upcoming elections, when late-arriving ballots could play a decisive role if the presidential race is close. After taking the job in June, DeJoy canceled overtime and made other changes that have reportedly led to slower mail delivery. There’s also controversy over new plans to raise the cost of mailing ballots to voters. DeJoy has said he’s imposing painful changes because they’re necessary to save an outfit that perennially loses money, but critics suspect he’s appeasing Trump by creating a construct for invalidating thousands of ballots in November.
@Earl-of-Trumps
We need a THOUSAND such threads, you poo poo the damage such delays causes since you are blind to real issues.
“President Trump has voted by post in the past, such as in Florida's 2020 primary election as he is a registered voter in the state but is living in Washington DC.”
Quoted from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53353404
If mail-in ballots are secure enough for the POTUS to use them, why not for the rest of the voters?
@moonbus saidLots of Republicans have used mail-in voting, including McConnell and his family, and not only Trump, but most of his family as well. This whole "we can do it, but it is fraud when others do it" is typical for them.
“President Trump has voted by post in the past, such as in Florida's 2020 primary election as he is a registered voter in the state but is living in Washington DC.”
Quoted from:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53353404
If mail-in ballots are secure enough for the POTUS to use them, why not for the rest of the voters?
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@suzianne saidBut, the hypocrisy of it all is what irks me most. Apparently, we're good here in Florida. But king trump has decreed that all other States don't have "the right stuff".
Lots of Republicans have used mail-in voting, including McConnell and his family, and not only Trump, but most of his family as well. This whole "we can do it, but it is fraud when others do it" is typical for them.
@suzianne saidIt is looking increasingly like an engineered attempt to manipulate the election. The thing is, I don't believe for a moment that Trump is smart enough to have planned this. Putin, however, is, and Putin would like nothing better than to sabotage the democratic institutions of the West. Trump has been Putin's willing but unwitting accomplice all along.
Lots of Republicans have used mail-in voting, including McConnell and his family, and not only Trump, but most of his family as well. This whole "we can do it, but it is fraud when others do it" is typical for them.
@moonbus
Of course it is.
For those are argue that USPS is in need of restructuring and efficiency improvements, the questions are out there.
Why now ?
Why not do this after the election ?
Or more importantly, why not after the Christmas rush ?
Or why wasn’t this addressed sooner ?
In fact, it has been stated, Christmas season creates a much greater increase in mail volume every year than a one time occurrence of mail in ballots.
If the USPS was such a sore thumb amongst administration officials, why wasn’t this addressed sooner ?
And how is a decrease in capacity logically consistent with improving efficiency ?
Or are the current attempts at capacity reduction just an attempt to “knee-cap” the postal service, and by extension the democratic process ?
Why do I state this ?? Because the President as much said so.
Just some thoughts over my Sunday morning coffee.
@mghrn55 For those are argue that USPS is in need of restructuring and efficiency improvements, the questions are out there.
Why now ?
Why not do this after the election ?
Or more importantly, why not after the Christmas rush ?
Or why wasn’t this addressed sooner ?
Mghrn, Trump has admitted he wants to stymie attempts at mail-in voting this Fall.
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump frankly acknowledged Thursday that he's starving the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him the election.
https://abc7news.com/donald-trump-usps-funding-postal-service/6368807/
@earl-of-trumps saidThis is electoral manipulation. Even you must see that. There is nothing intrinsically fraudulent about mail -in ballots, unless someone deliberately under-funds the postal service to make it unable to deliver the ballots.
@mghrn55 For those are argue that USPS is in need of restructuring and efficiency improvements, the questions are out there.
Why now ?
Why not do this after the election ?
Or more importantly, why not after the Christmas rush ?
Or why wasn’t this addressed sooner ?
Mghrn, Trump has admitted he wants to stymie attempts at mail-in voting this Fall.
...[text shortened]... cost him the election.
https://abc7news.com/donald-trump-usps-funding-postal-service/6368807/
@suzianne saidI’m not sure martyring is the word you’re looking for.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-is-martyring-the-postal-service-180651766.html
Trump is martyring the postal service
Rick Newman
Senior Columnist
Yahoo Finance August 13, 2020
President Trump has shown his hand. Now we know.
Trump told Fox Business on Aug. 13 that he opposes emergency funding for the US Post Office because it would help the service deliver ...[text shortened]... pect he’s appeasing Trump by creating a construct for invalidating thousands of ballots in November.
And it started with Bush jr.: they passed a law in 2006 (or so) that the post office had to pre-pay pensions for all (and future!!!) employees for 75 years.
How the hell your houses passed that is beyond me.
With less than 3 months until the US election, you can safely say that mail voting is going to be questionable. There’s no way to change this around in time (post backlogging as we type).
The main man in charge of the postal service (DeJoy) is a trump supporter. Nothing corrupt there. However, he has invested millions in businesses which are directly in competition with the postal service.
That is corruption 1 on 1.
And when it comes to a public service (which it is in the US), the man should never have been deemed an acceptable choice to run the service. Indeed, the man should be removed from the position immediatly.
It’s all too late though. The damage is done. Postal voting is screwed this election and any result which relies heavily on it will be contested.
All together now:
“ O! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so pro...”