Trump Offers Rambling Defense of US Postmaster General

From Esquire

Speaking to a room full of reporters from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, President Trump praised embattled postmaster general Louis DeJoy saying “He’s a very talented man.

“Does postmaster Dejoy have your backing for actions that he’s taken in the past several weeks?” asked a reporter in the room. “Yes, he’s a fantastic man,” Trump responded. “He wants to make the post office great again."

Seeking to confirm Trump’s approval of them, the interviewer then listed a few of DeJoy’s recent actions only to be interrupted by Trump who then confusingly said “I don’t know what he’s doing. I just know he’s a very smart man.”

Here is what DeJoy is doing. In the past few weeks and under the guise of “cost reduction efforts,” the USPS has cut overtime for postal workers, removed mail-sorting machines from postal facilities, and gotten rid of collection boxes from neighborhoods across the country. According to the Washington Post, workers say the new measures severely restrict their ability to deliver mail on time and could eventually lead to millions of votes not being counted in the general election in November.

Meanwhile, awareness and outrage over the postmaster general’s actions has spread from the internet to the streets. On Saturday, a protest erupted outside of DeJoy’s home in Washington D.C.

A local organization entitled Shut Down D.C. organized the protests and described their efforts as "an early morning noise demonstration to give [DeJoy] a much needed wakeup call." Videos on social media show protestors ringing bells, banging on pots and pans, honking horns, and chanting "resign" while socially distancing on the street outside the postmaster general's house.

Protestors also shoved fake absentee ballots and envelopes inside DeJoy's door. One had a particularly urgent message written on it: "Save the post office. Save our democracy."

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