Trump is trying to shift blame for the postal funding problems to Democrats.
He’s refusing to acknowledge his administration’s efforts to undermine the agency three months before Election Day. He’s also trying to gloss over the fact that the US economy contracted at a 32.9% annual rate during the second quarter and tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic.
Trump claimed Saturday that the US is witnessing
“the fastest economic recovery in American history.”
Trump said during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, (the same day his brother Robert died)
“If I win, which — I hope to win, how can you not when you see numbers like this both on the virus and on the economy?
I mean, we should win. We should all keep this incredible thing going. And I built it once and I’ll build it again.”
His administration is embroiled in controversy over its efforts to curtail USPS operations when the demand for mail-in ballots has grown exponentially due to the pandemic. Trump is now trying to blame the agency’s funding woes on Democrats saying they are blocking negotiations on the next stimulus package .
On Friday, the postal service, which is mired in longstanding funding problems, warned nearly all 50 states and Washington, DC, that mail-in ballots may not be received by election offices in time to be counted.
The postal service has reduced operating hours in several states and was removing letter collection boxes off streets in some states, according to union officials.
As of yesterday afternoon, representatives at the USPS’ national headquarters in DC were still unable to say whether they would stop removing letter collection boxes until after the election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the bipartisan board of governors that runs the USPS — a board whose members are appointed by Trump — requested the proposal of $25 billion for USPS in the next stimulus bill).
On Saturday, Trump continued to sow doubts about the integrity of the November election, claiming without any evidence that
“universal mail-in voting is going to be catastrophic” and would “make our country a laughingstock all over the world.”
He claimed to not know the details of the scaling back of postal services under his new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a BIG GOP donor and Trump fundraiser, calling DeJoy a
“fantastic man” who “wants to make the post office great again.”
“I don’t know what he’s doing. I can only tell you he’s a very smart man.”
Democrats are considering bringing the House of Representatives back into session as early as next week to discuss the issues facing the USPS, according to CNN reporting late Saturday.
Former President Bill Clinton criticized the changes made by the postmaster general on Saturday.
“We expect our elected officials to protect the right to vote and to ensure every vote is counted. This attack on the Postal Service —an institution as old as the Republic itself and depended upon, and trusted by, millions of Americans— is designed to ensure that neither is done.”
#WhatHeSaid
The honorable thing to do is drop the Mail-In Scam before it is too late! Absentee Ballots, like they have in Florida, are good! https://t.co/uuVyliWEwS
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2020
The Democrats know the 2020 Election will be a fraudulent mess. Will maybe never know who won! https://t.co/tEWKJ5NcUj
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2020
(via CNN)
