Trump: USPS can’t handle mail-in voting because it lacks funds (that he’s blocking)

Introversion

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/13/just-comes-right-out-and-says-it-trump-declares-postal-service-cant-handle-mail

Common Dreams said:
President Donald Trump proclaimed Wednesday that the U.S. Postal Service doesn't have the capacity to handle an unprecedented increase in mail-in ballots because it lacks funds that his administration is blocking, remarks that were immediately viewed as an open admission of election sabotage by a president who has previously called USPS "a joke."

During his daily Covid-19 briefing Wednesday evening, Trump dismissed Democratic congressional leaders' demands for $3.5 billion in election assistance for states and $25 billion for USPS as "ridiculous" and vowed to continue blocking the funds. While USPS leadership insists it has "ample capacity" to meet election needs, postal workers have warned that without emergency funding, the agency could struggle to deliver mail-in ballots on time in November.

"Therefore, they don't have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, they can't do it," said the president, who repeated his false claim that mail-in voting is highly susceptible to fraud. "How are they going to do it if they don't have the money to do it?"

The president's comments came shortly after an attempt to revive coronavirus relief talks quickly fell apart Wednesday due to disputes over the size of the legislative package and specific items, including emergency Postal Service funding.

...
 

frimble3

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Don't forget this part
[FONT=&quot]In a separate interview on Thursday, Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser, dismissed efforts to make it easier to vote in negotiations over stimulus money.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“So much of the Democratic asks are really liberal left wishlists,” he said. “Voting rights, aid to aliens and so forth. That’s not our game.”[/FONT]

So, 'voting rights' is part of a liberal, lefty plot? Good to know just as you have the chance to vote the rascals out. And they're so confident and blatant about it!
 

Lyv

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Wonder who else is waiting for medication right now. The med I've gotten by mail monthly for maybe a dozen years, which has never once been late, was due to arrive over a week ago. Once, before we found this med, this one particular neuro pain was so severe, I was going to go lay down in a snowbank to make it stop.

I'll be fine, because I have a great doc who'll make sure I get a few pills to tide me over and my husband can go to the pharmacy. If not for him, I would be in trouble. Which means there could be people who will go without needed medication because, imo, a corrupt, mentally ill dictator-wannabe doesn't want to go to prison (or making money off of the job he isn't doing) and an entire corrupt, treasonous political party is happy to enable him. I hear people say Trump doesn't care how many people die, but I don't think that's true. I think he enjoys seeing the numbers rise, loves knowing people are suffering and dying because of him, as long as he thinks he can still steal the election, which killing the USPS could help him do.
 

MaeZe

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He's desperate.

Sadly the USPS might be a casualty as this goes on.

It won't be too late to fix it though, as long as we take back the Senate and keep the House.

Got to clear Trump's vultures out: CNN yesterday: Financial disclosures reveal postmaster general's business entanglements and likely conflicts of interest, experts say
CNN)Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues to hold a multimillion-dollar stake in his former company XPO Logistics, a United States Postal Service contractor, likely creating a major conflict of interest, according to newly obtained financial disclosures and ethics experts.

Outside experts who spoke to CNN were shocked that ethics officials at the postal service approved this arrangement, which allows DeJoy to keep at least $30 million in XPO holdings.
DeJoy and USPS have said he fully complied with the regulations.
Raising further alarms, on the same day in June that DeJoy divested large amounts of Amazon shares, he purchased stock options giving him the right to buy new shares of Amazon at a price much lower than their current market price, according to the disclosures.
This could lead to a separate conflict, given President Donald Trump's disdain for Amazon, and his reported effort in 2018 to pressure DeJoy's predecessor to raise prices on Amazon and other firms, while complaining about its founder Jeff Bezos. The Treasury Department also recently struck a loan deal with USPS that gives the Trump administration more leverage to push for higher shipping prices -- one of his pet projects. ...
 

Introversion

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The USPS is shutting down mail-sorting machines crucial for processing absentee ballots as the 2020 election looms

Yahoo News said:
The United States Postal Service is deactivating mail-sorting machines at processing centers across the US.

At least 19 sorting machines, which can process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, have been dismantled and removed in recent weeks, postal workers told Motherboard.

The president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union and Democratic lawmakers have voiced concerns about sorting machines being dismantled and about sweeping changes to the USPS made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a top Trump donor who took office earlier this summer.

Mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cause a surge in mail volume ahead of the 2020 election. President Donald Trump has said he would withhold funding from the USPS to sabotage mail-in voting.

United States Postal Service workers say mail-sorting machines are being taken apart and removed from distribution facilities across the US, raising concerns about their ability to handle a surge in mail-in ballots for the general election in November.

At least 19 mail-sorting machines, which can process up to 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, have been removed without any explanation, postal workers told Motherboard. And an internal letter published by the USPS in June outlines a plan to remove hundreds of mail sorting machines from operation this year.

It's the latest in a series of sweeping changes that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, has made to the agency since taking office earlier this summer. Postal workers and elected officials have said the changes dismantle the US Postal Service and could have devastating effects on the election, when many people are expected to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic.

...

It’s a slippery slope to being a Banana Republic, because of all the peels...
 

Roxxsmom

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Don't forget this part


So, 'voting rights' is part of a liberal, lefty plot? Good to know just as you have the chance to vote the rascals out. And they're so confident and blatant about it!

Evidently it is. This is presumably what those self-alleged "centrists" on social media are alluding to when they chastise both parties for failing to come to an agreement about a new Covid-19 bill. "..and shame on the Democrats for pushing their own social agenda!" is the latest dog whistle for those who favor voter suppression.

Because evidently they think horrific things will happen if more people can vote. But really they're greasing the wheels so they can insist voter fraud happened in blue states and voter suppression happened in red states if the election doesn't go their way.
 

Roxxsmom

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And the new Postmaster General hasn't met with election officials re their concerns about mail-in ballots.

NPR has learned that a bipartisan group of secretaries of state, who are responsible for running elections, requested to meet this week with postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who was appointed to the job in May. But that meeting has yet to be scheduled.

"Unfortunately, [we] still haven't had a direct conversation with the U.S. postmaster," New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver told NPR Thursday. "Hopefully, we will soon."

Toulouse Oliver is president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and one of those who requested the meeting.

It was not clear why the invitation has yet to be accepted, but those familiar with the exchange said the delay is unusual, considering that election officials will begin sending out absentee ballots as soon as September.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/14/9025...ection-officials-havent-met-with-new-postmast

Sadly, I'd say it is pretty clear why DeJoy is ghosting them.
 

Lyv

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Postal Service warns 46 states their voters could be disenfranchised by delayed mail-in ballots

Vanita Gupta, a Justice Department official in the Obama administration and now president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said she viewed the situation as “the weaponization of the U.S. Postal Service for the president’s electoral purposes.”

“It’s completely outrageous that the U.S. Postal Service is in this position,” Gupta said.

DeJoy, in service changes last month, has drastically reduced overtime and banned extra trips to ensure on-time mail delivery. His wholesale reorganizations ousted several agency veterans in key operational roles. And the USPS is currently decommissioning 10 percent of its costly and bulky mail-sorting machines, which workers say could hinder processing of election mail, according to a grievance filed by the American Postal Workers Union and obtained by The Washington Post. Those 671 machines, scattered across the country but concentrated in high-population areas, have the capacity to sort 21.4 million pieces of paper mail per hour.

My Twitter feed is hopping with pictures of mailboxes being removed. I'm looking for a source that is compiling the cities where boxes are being removed, but so far I can't find one. In my feed, I've seen them in different parts of the country, including Oregon, Montana, New York, and others. I don't usually cite Yahoo, but this is the first story I found that mentioned a few different places across the country and wasn't state specific.

Residents of Portland and Eugene, Oregon were shocked to learn at least 31 mailboxes had been taken off the streets on Thursday. The same was happening in New York City, and several towns across Montana, without any official communication from the Postal Service with state officials or residents about why the mailboxes were being removed or plans to accommodate people who rely on them.

Montana Sens. Steven Daines and Jon Tester are asking USPS for more information by August 18 about why the collection boxes were removed, and how it will address accessibility issues, citing the needs of veterans, the elderly, and rural communities across the state who rely on USPS mail services. Likewise, the senators say the removal of collection boxes could “result in delayed mail delivery and reduced mail options for Montanans.”

Postal union endorses Biden candidacy as 'survival' of USPS at stake (and it is USPS, not USPO. I wish the thread title didn't bug me, but it does/ My sister was a carrier and my best friend from high school just retired. USPO suggests the post office, but USPS is the service, which is more than just the post offices).

The 300,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers said on Friday that the union’s executive council had endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president, warning “the very survival” of the U.S. Postal Service is at stake.

The union criticized Republican President Donald Trump and his administration for refusing “to provide the necessary financial relief that would strengthen the agency during this pandemic.”

The union called Biden “a fierce ally and defender” of the Postal Service. The union also said Senator Kamala Harris, Biden’s vice presidential pick, has “staunchly defended maintaining a healthy, financially stable Postal Service.”

I'm in MA, so my reps are on the right side of this (still calling), but also buying some stuff from the USPS store. They have fun items, like carrier costumes for dogs and children, prints of stamps, and my choice of gift for myself, a Love Stamps jigsaw puzzle.
 

cbenoi1

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Oh the icrony at the USPS.

Voters in North Carolina have received absentee ballot request forms in the mail with Trump's face on them
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/16/poli...-absentee-ballot-request-mail-usps/index.html

200816084310-02-nc-usps-trump-absentee-ballot-request-exlarge-169.jpg


Comes with a free dart target.

-cb
 
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frimble3

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Isn't that in some way illegal? Not the President encouraging voting, but to blatantly say 'Vote for me, glorious me!'? Electioneering? Isn't it covered by the same rules as no electioneering right in the voting place?
Or, maybe this is part of the plot - cancel these mail-in ballots, because 'oopsy', but, so sorry, can't get the new ones out in time.
 

Brightdreamer

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Isn't that in some way illegal? Not the President encouraging voting, but to blatantly say 'Vote for me, glorious me!'? Electioneering? Isn't it covered by the same rules as no electioneering right in the voting place?
Or, maybe this is part of the plot - cancel these mail-in ballots, because 'oopsy', but, so sorry, can't get the new ones out in time.

It's the new era: up is down, black is white, illegal is legal...

Just who is left to enforce the law, anyway?
 

Lyv

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Illegal, but Republicans told Trump he's above the law and reinforce that position every day. They're all traitors.
 

frimble3

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Like carrier costumes for dogs and children

This is great (the kid's costume not just for Hallowe'en but for delivering Valentine's or notices at school.
But why don't they make an XX-Large for German Shepherds - who are practically the official dog of officialdom. And could be trained to reach into a bag and mouth-deliver an envelope.
 

Roxxsmom

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Lyv

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You don't do this stuff during a pandemic when people want to vote by mail. DeJoy also removed sorting machines, which make the mail process more efficient. And cut overtime. At the worst possible time after Trump said he didn't want the USPS funded because he doesn't like mail vote-by-mail, except for when he and his family vote by mail and he tells his base to do it. People are not getting medications (I'm one of those people). Two-term president Barack Obama was right when he was Trump knee-capped the USPS. Trump already admitted to the crime. Why even try to sell the idea that he didn't?

"This has been done before" is gas-lighting. Fortunately, few people are falling for it. Even some of those repeating it aren't.

Postmaster general announces he is ‘suspending’ policies that were blamed for causing mail delays


The U.S. Postal Service will halt its controversial cost-cutting initiatives until after the election — canceling service reductions, reinstating overtime hours and ceasing the removal of mail-sorting machines and public collection boxes, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced in a statement Tuesday.

The declaration comes as lawmakers prepared to question DeJoy and USPS board of governors Chairman Robert M. Duncan in a Friday hearing in the Senate and at a Monday hearing in the House on those policy changes, which have caused mail slowdowns and threatened to jeopardize ballot collection during the November election.


DeJoy, a former logistics executive and ally of President Trump, took office in June and swiftly made organizational changes to the nation’s mail service, cracking down on overtime hours and banning extra trips by postal carriers trying to ensure on-time mail delivery. The result was mail delays in localities across the country that ensnared prescription medications and election mail during some mid-summer primaries.

Suspending is fine (with oversight, because you can't trust one thing this administration says or does), but the boxes and sorting machines need to be put back, and overtime must come back, etc. Democrats are going to push for that, because they actually care about saving an essential service that does what for-profit delivery services won't do.
 

Roxxsmom

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Mailbox removal is not something new. In the 5 years prior to September of 2016 more than 12,000 were removed nationwide.
We used to have one up the street from our house - they removed it long ago so now we have to drive an extra 6 blocks to mail a letter.

https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/where-have-all-collection-boxes-gone

Obviously, but cutting finding for the USPS and removing large numbers of boxes right before an election during a pandemic, an election that is anticipated to have the largest number of mail-in ballots in history? Does that not strike you as more than a coincidence, especially given the POTUS's stated hostility to online voting (except when he does it, of course) and unfounded claims that it leads to more voter fraud? He's said as much. Whether it benefits Democrats is also up for grabs. Yes, young people, people who work irregular hours, and people who lack cars benefit from it, and they are more likely to be democrats. But the elderly and rural voters also benefit, and they skew Republican.

Anyway, Postmaster General DeJoy is backing down for now. If this was indeed a political card they were playing, maybe it was too soon. Or maybe they've got more up their sleeves.
 

frimble3

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It's the timing that's suspect. And, the way the stories keep changing.
First, timing - yeah, all this work is suddenly being done, just before an election?
Second, changing stories - I've heard them say it's 'routine maintenance', or it's 'efficiency', but, again, timing. Particularly when they're cutting back on employee overtime - who's going to fix and repaint the sudden influx of boxes?
And, dismantling the sorting machines? This isn't Ye Olden Days, when one whistling old dude sorted a handful of mail - the USPS is a huge operation - without mechanical sorting not much is going to go anywhere.
From the previous Deputy Postmaster, Ronald Stroman:
[FONT=&quot]"He says retail hours at postal offices will not change. The question becomes, have you already changed hours, and are those hours then going to be reversed? Or are you saying that you're going to be at status quo for today? That is a question that is simply not answered by the statement," [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"It goes on to say that mail processing equipment will remain as it is, will remain where they are," he continued. "Well, if you've already dismantled some of that equipment or removed it, the fact that it's remaining as it is doesn't mean that you're going to reassemble that equipment, or return it to the extend that it's been removed."
[/FONT]
And the only thing that stopped them was that so many lawsuits were threatened. Which means that Trump and crew have to be watched at all times, because it's another case of 'we'll test the waters, and if no-one screams, we're golden.'
 

MaeZe

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Mailbox removal is not something new. In the 5 years prior to September of 2016 more than 12,000 were removed nationwide.
We used to have one up the street from our house - they removed it long ago so now we have to drive an extra 6 blocks to mail a letter.

https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/where-have-all-collection-boxes-gone

I agree with you. We need to be careful when making accusations that DeJoy is attacking the USPS efficiency with the goal of sabotaging mail in votes. Supposedly some sorting machines were also removed prior to the current events.

What do you think about Trump saying mail-in votes open the election to fraud despite evidence refuting that claim?

And what do you think of Trump coming right out and saying he doesn't want to fund the USPS right at a time they will be needed for mail in voting because of the COVID 19 pandemic?

And Trump has said mail-in votes mean he'll lose the election? And other Republicans saying similar things that without suppressing the vote the Republicans will never win another election?

The Guardian: Trump says Republicans would ‘never’ be elected again if it was easier to vote
The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.

“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. “They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of clawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs and companies that we have to save.”
He might make excuses he's only talking about fraud, but that's just crap.

If you are going to claim this is all about preventing voter fraud, please post some evidence there is any significant voter fraud going on.
 

Roxxsmom

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And now animals are dying because of this mess. Thousands of chicks, which are legally shipped to farmers by the USPS, are arriving dead.

Oh, and food is spoiling and stuff too. But the fate of these animals is simply cruel.

https://www.sunjournal.com/2020/08/...s-costing-maine-farmers-thousands-of-dollars/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-20/usps-cutbacks-post-office-chaos

(note, I get a pay wall with the LA times, but I'm linking it here because it appears most people can read their articles. Links to articles in the LA times are always showing up in my FB news feed, and I can't believe all those folks who don't live in LA actually subscribe to their local paper).
 

Lyv

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Attacking USPS is only one of many, many ways the GOP is trying to steal the election. The voter suppression tactics are already rampant and will be worse as we get closer. Which should tell anyone tempted to vote third party or sit this one out because they're in a "safe state" that this year, there is no such thing.
 

Brightdreamer

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Attacking USPS is only one of many, many ways the GOP is trying to steal the election. The voter suppression tactics are already rampant and will be worse as we get closer. Which should tell anyone tempted to vote third party or sit this one out because they're in a "safe state" that this year, there is no such thing.

I'm seeing more people say that just voting - while very important - won't be enough. We need to be ready to be visible in the streets, which means making plans now and connecting locally (preferably not just on popular media platforms, because you know those will be targeted.)
 

Lyv

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Definitely, but I am specifically speaking about those who are using "safe state" to justify a vote for anyone other than Biden/Harris. That's the very narrow single point I chose to make, because the cheating is already rampant and it's going to get worse.