Going Postal

May 8, 2020

It was only a matter of time, but Donald Trump has finally gone postal. He is nominating a top donor with no relevant experience to run the massive U.S. Postal Service. He will now be able to exact revenge on Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post. More significantly, he will be able to throw a monkey wrench into mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election. We already saw what happened in Wisconsin as voters were required to go to the polls in person, putting their personal health at risk. He is already on record saying that mail-in ballots would put Republicans at a serious disadvantage in the upcoming election.

The post office is the butt of many jokes, but it is at the mercy of its mandate. It must physically deliver the mail to every man, woman, child, and company in the country, urban and rural areas alike. It does not get to pick and choose its routes and customers like other companies. It’s funding is based on the whims of Congress. What it charges for service is often a political calculation more than a financial one. I think we can all agree that post office workers are essential. We all rely on the post office. Unfortunately, Trump is treating the U.S. Postal Service as non-essential.