Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Donald Trump

To say the least, my last couple of conversations with Madam (Mom) has been both depressing and oddly energizing. The issue at hand? The United States Postal Service and how the POTUS is doing everything in his power to dismantle it in order to win reelection. Now nearing 97, Alice finds herself with far more time on her hands than she would like or has long been accustomed to. And so, she reads newspapers from cover-to-cover, and watches MSNBC from dusk to dawn. She has long been a political animal (why do you think my middle name is “Franklin?”), has voted in every election since 1945, volunteered in her share of campaigns, and from time-to-time has actually received engraved invitations to presidential inaugurals. She also continues to harbor a profound hatred of Senator Joe McCarthy and the House un-American Activities Committee. And while it comes as no surprise to those who know her that this wise and totally “with it” woman should still be following politics, it is saddening to note that for perhaps the first time in her life, she is beginning to feel helpless. “Kurt, what can we do to keep this ‘j*rk’ from stealing the election and utterly destroying America?” she asked me yesterday. “Who can I call? Give me some addresses and phone numbers. I can’t just sit back and do nothing!” And so, I gave her the telephone number of her local member of Congress (Brad Sherman), Adam Schiff (whose district is next door) and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

Before ringing off, I reminded her to wait until Monday morning before making her calls. “Any idea of what you’re going to say?” I asked. “Hell yes!” she barked. “I’m going to tell them that they’ve got to stop this mad man from taking America away from a 97-year old woman! And I’ll remind them who my son is . . .”

The Post Office Department is even older than the United States. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin, America’s first Postmaster General, was appointed to his position in 1775; a full year before the Declaration of Independence. Throughout America’s earliest decades, one’s postal delivery person was the average their closest - if not only - connection to the Federal Government. The first stamps were issued in 1847; the Pony Express began 13 years later, and most soldiers fighting in the Civil War voted by mail. For years and years, it was commonplace for the Postmaster General to be a close political ally of the President. Two of the most famous were Warren G. Harding’s political henchman, Will (“The Deacon”) Hays (who would become the Hollywood film industry’s “morals czar” in 1922, and James A. Farley, FDR’s campaign manager. Today, the Postmaster General appointed by President Donald Trump is currently residing in the eye of a political hurricane; Louis DeJoy (who was appointed just 2 months ago) is a major financial backer of ‘45 and, along with his wife, Dr. Aldona Wos (a former U.S. Ambassador to Estonia) have purchased significant stock options in Amazon (which the POTUS has falsely claimed is largely responsible for the U.S. Postal Service losing money) as well as a minimum $30 million in stock in XPO Logistics, a contractor company that processes mail for USPS - a clear conflict of interest.

(n.b. The major reason why USPS has been running up a lot of red ink over the past 12-15 years is not because of Amazon and other mass package-mailing concerns. Truth to tell, In 2019, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $8.8 billion, but the shipping and packages segment of its business increased revenue by $1.3 billion, or 6.1%, over 2018. No, the real culprit is a 2006 law passed by a lame-duck Republican Congress called “The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act” which law forced USPS to prepay its pensions for 75 years . . . something which no other corporation does. This was meant to bankrupt it so it’s business could be privatized for profit.)

As most – including Madam – know by now, ’45 is doing everything in his power to defund USPS. It is his contention that voting by mail will unquestionably benefit the Democrats whom he contends, are far, far more likely to engage in fraudulent practices. Boss Tweet has warned of foreign governments mailing out tens of millions of counterfeit mail-in ballots (which are even more difficult to counterfeit than cash), of dead people and illegal immigrants voting tens of dozens of times apiece, and other fairy tales which have virtually no backing in truth.

Knowing little if anything about shame, just this past Thursday Trump frankly acknowledged 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.

In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump explicitly noted two funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill. Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won’t have the resources to handle an unprecedented flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.

“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”

The President’s statements, including the false claim that Democrats are seeking universal mail-in voting, come as he is searching for a strategy to gain an advantage in his November matchup against the Biden/Harris ticket. He’s pairing the tough Postal Service stance in congressional negotiations with an increasingly robust mail-in-voting legal fight in states that could decide the election. There is already visual proof that he’s dismantling the postal system; after-dark removal of blue mail boxes across the country and dismantling of mail sorting machines.

The attempt to dismantle and even privatize the USPS didn’t begin with Donald Trump. Conservative Republican mega-donors have long sought to privatize everything from the military to America’s space program to, of course, healthcare. Trump’s hyper-wealthy backers convinced him that the reason why he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton was because of the inefficiency of the United States Postal Service. They further convinced him that mail-in votes were rife with fraud - a conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence. It worked: Trump began complaining to senior White House advisers that Jeff Bezos — a presidential foe in part because he owns The Washington Post, whose news coverage the president thought was unfair and too tough on him — was “getting rich” because Amazon had been “ripping off” the Postal Service with a “sweetheart deal” to ship millions of its packages, one of them recalled. They explained that this was not true and that the Postal Service actually benefited from Amazon’s business, the adviser added, but the president railed for months about what he described as a “scam.”

In truth, the intricacies of voting laws are a matter for the states - not the feds. As an example, some states permit mail-in votes to be counted so long as they are post marked prior to Election Day. Others mandate that they be received by that date, and still others require that each mail-in ballot be notarized. ‘45 has threatened at least 46 states that they will be fined if they don’t complete counting mail-in ballots on Election Day itself. Whether or not this is legal is yet to be determined. But the Trump Justice Department knows full well that any legal case could take months - if not years - to wind up appearing before the Supreme Court.

Is it any wonder that Madam is deeply concerned?

What can we do? Everyone must contact their Congressional Representative and Secretary of State (for each of the 50 states) and express as simply and as tersely as possible why mail-in voting is provably honest and that the administration’s grand plan is could spell the end of Democracy. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. And above all, vote as early as humanly possible. Do not let these besotted egomaniacs steal away the presidential election so that they may continue to enrich themselves and their backers.

Madam deserves a good, sound, unencumbered night’s sleep. She knows and understands far, far more about politics than the current occupant of the White House and wishes only to cast this, her 38th presidential vote for a candidate who has read, understands, and fully supports the Constitution of the United States.

78 days until November 3, 2020.