What Trump is really up to with the USPS
Why the interest in a mundane agency?
Some background
This week the Post reported that Trump is expected to try to fire the board of the U.S. Postal Service, and take control of the agency. Delivering the country’s mail — what could be more boring? But Trump’s interest in the post office is neither new, nor what it appears.
First some background. The U.S. Postal Service is a 250 year-old independent agency founded in 1775, which until 1970 was a political organ of the White House. But after a crippling nationwide mail strike, Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which split the agency off into a freestanding organization, walling it off from political interference. Until now.
The USPS is also one of the few American institutions that Americans really like, with a 72% favorable rating, second only to the National Park Service (which Trump has decimated with his federal worker purge). As well, the USPS crosses party lines in its favorability — again, a rarity these days. So why change something that’s not broken, and the American people love? What is the impetus?
This is not a new obsession
I believe Trump has two objectives, both of course nefarious, and not for the people, but for himself. Lest we forget, this is not his first rodeo in trying to take over the post office.
If you followed The Weekly List project for the first regime, you’ll recall Trump tried to take control of the post office in 2020. Then Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin tried to take control of the hiring process, that then gave us controversial Louis DeJoy in June 2020. What was happening five months later? The presidential election, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic!
Many of us protested outside of post offices back then, concerned that Trump’s tinkering with this sacred cow could impact our mail-in ballots. Thankfully, things went without a hitch — 97.9% of mail-in ballots were delivered within three days.
You might also recall that as part of Trump’s obsession back then, he held up funding to the USPS so his first regime could get a look at highly confidential contracts, and see who the post office was doing business with. This was back when Trump was warring with Jeff Bezos, and he publicly disparaged Amazon and their contract pricing on Twitter. Of course we know Bezos has since gone through great lengths to obey in advance, starting with pulling WAPO’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris, donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural, buying rights to First Lady Melania Trump’s documentary for $40 million, and so on and so on.
Trump’s rationale
Here are the two reasons Trump is obsessed with the USPS.