# Anyone else think Trump is trying to sink the USPS to stop mail in voting **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586 "2020-04-11T23:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/21 "2020-04-12T19:37:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > To start with it’s Congress that puts out\* every last bit of legislation.\* Not the President. > > So all the President does with respect to legislation is sit around doing nothing until a bill shows up on his desk, then he decides whether or not to sign it, amirite? :rolleyes: despite your rolleyes, yes. In the example I gave, Trump didn’t alter the budget. He created more revenue through adjusted foreign postal rates. But feel free to explain your rolleyes. What should Trump do to circumvent the budget and laws set by Congress in regards to the USPS. and for extra credit try to work it into the conspiracy theory of the op. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/22 "2020-04-12T20:10:46Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _What we have here, is Failure to Communicate_ If my boy says he can eat fiftah eggs, he can eat fiftah eggs! I don’t grant this thesis with much credence just on the basis that Trump & Co. have not shown the ability to think that far ahead. Far from being a five dimensional chess master, Trump seems to struggle at political Chutes and Ladders. My cite is every ‘policy’ proposal and executive order he has put forth in furtherance of his ‘Wall’/anti-immigration agenda that has either dropped like a turd in a punchbowl or was blocked even by courts moderately sympathetic to his sensibilities. Of course, Trump himself (well, his ghostwriter) wrote: “I play it very loose. I don’t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open…I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” I don’t see any evidence that Donald J. Trump can plan past his next bowl of KFC. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/23 "2020-04-12T20:53:21Z")
One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of problems are not party-oriented but campaign-donor oriented vs. the people. The mass mailers love cheap postage, they donate to Congress. Congress keeps their rates low. People love cheap 1st rate postage and Saturday delivery. So the USPS is stuck with that. (Both tie into the rates fixed based on inflation rate.) FedEx and such don’t want the USPS to compete with them on express/package delivery so rules that mess up USPS’s finances get tacked on. Rules that FedEx doesn’t need to obey. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/24 "2020-04-12T21:13:38Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > But feel free to explain your rolleyes. What should Trump do to circumvent the budget and laws set by Congress in regards to the USPS. Are you angling for some sort of award for obtuseness? Every President during my lifetime (with the possible exception of Trump, who’s mostly left it to Mitch McConnell to propose the few pieces of legislation the GOP wanted) has ‘circumvented’ the budget and laws set by Congress _by proposing legislation to Congress_. Weird idea, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/25 "2020-04-12T23:01:24Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Are you angling for some sort of award for obtuseness? > > Every President during my lifetime (with the possible exception of Trump, who’s mostly left it to Mitch McConnell to propose the few pieces of legislation the GOP wanted) has ‘circumvented’ the budget and laws set by Congress _by proposing legislation to Congress_. > > Weird idea, huh? A President can propose any wish-list he likes. It’s just that. He gets the budget that Congress back-scratches together in a frenzy of pork-barreling. As far as this goofy conspiracy thread goes I gave an example of Trump’s support of the USPS that no other president has done. He did it without having to delay emergency funds so that tax money (we don’t have) could fund the Kennedy Center. It was a straight up solution that is funded by China. You’ve got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/26 "2020-04-12T23:22:38Z")
My guess is that blue states where Dems control governor and legislature will probably do mail voting. Red states especially in the south will not allow mail voting. They barely accept early voting and have tried to reduce it. Utah is an exception , they are mostly red and allow mail voting. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/27 "2020-04-13T00:25:39Z")
Trump has been bitching that the PO has been supporting Jeff Bezos by sending Amazon packages for less or free (Bullshit of course). Bezos owns the WP that is critical of Trump. He thinks this would screw Amazon and Bezos. Of course it won’t. That this could screw up mail in voting that Mitch understands, but Trump does not, is the reason the GOP would support this. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/28 "2020-04-13T01:56:20Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > You’re making the massive assumption that if this crisis isn’t fixed literally no mail is going to be delivered at all, which would disrupt massive sectors of the economy. The logic is that all mail would immediately switch over to existing private companies, and federal Republicans would use that new situation to ban mail-in voting to “preserve the integrity of the process.” Or just let there be no mail only during early November. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/29 "2020-04-13T02:21:12Z")
Immediately? Neither FedEx nor UPS is setup to make six-day-a-week deliveries to every address in America. They would need to scale up to do that and that’s not instantaneous. Plus doing so is going to be be expensive. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/30 "2020-04-13T04:28:29Z")
Podunk post offices are inefficient, gotta go. Rural rednecks and retirees can just pay extra. Isn’t Musk working on global home-delivery drones? From Boring to Soaring! But imagine the competition. Who wins? Bezos buys the USPS; what will a poor lonely Postmaster General have to do? That’s a Constitutional office so it’s hard to dispose of. Will likely be assigned as the Veep’s valet. Spit-shine that boot better, General. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > So all the President does with respect to legislation is sit around doing nothing until a bill shows up on his desk, then he decides whether or not to sign it, amirite? You omitted the tweetstorms, bribery, instructions from Moscow, and cheeseburgers. I’d hate to be the official burger taster. Especially if I must watch the Pee Tape. Ewww. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Trump himself (well, his ghostwriter) wrote: “I play it very loose. I don’t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open…I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.” > > I don’t see any evidence that Donald J. Trump can plan past his next bowl of KFC. Double Whopper, extra cheese, easy on the onions because flatulent enough already. Hey, isn’t Fox & Friends up next? Gotta pay attention now. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/31 "2020-04-13T05:21:42Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Immediately? Neither FedEx nor UPS is setup to make six-day-a-week deliveries to every address in America. They would need to scale up to do that and that’s not instantaneous. Plus doing so is going to be be expensive. IMO, if this ends in privatization, one of the things that happens will be the transfer, at fire sale prices, of all of the existing infrastructure into private hands. The goal isn’t true privatization, but the creation of a new corporate welfare scheme. The For-Profit Postal System will be a huge mess, bound up in even more red tape, and it will fail regularly and profitably for its beneficiaries. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/32 "2020-04-13T09:27:20Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > A President can propose any wish-list he likes. It’s just that. He gets the budget that Congress back-scratches together in a frenzy of pork-barreling. Yeah, they never pay any attention to the President, they just do whatever they were going to do anyway. Funny how the recent coronavirus-related bills involved intense negotiations between Congressional leaders and persons in the Administration. Could you give me the coordinates of the gateway to the alternate universe you’re posting from where stuff like this doesn’t happen? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/33 "2020-04-14T04:38:03Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Last I checked, “I take no responsibility” trump has been in the white house for over 3 years. Shouldn’t the onus be on the current president? Last I checked, Dems were still blaming Bush for stuff well into Obama’s 2nd term. And Obama didn’t have to deal with an impeachment attempt that had absolutely no merit. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/34 "2020-04-14T05:57:16Z")
Good God, man, he’s a freakin’ War President and all he can do is engage in twitter wars and boldly state “I take no responsibility.” Ya gotta do better than blaming it on Obama blaming it on Bush to excuse bone spurs from, well, anything. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/35 "2020-04-14T13:27:46Z")
Note to self: Alternate history story idea. In Feb. of 1942 FDR announces that from hereon fighting the Axis powers will be the states’ responsibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/36 "2020-04-14T18:30:01Z")
My understanding of the situation is that while congress has to pass legislation and the president sign it, that when Trump says not to fund the PO, Moscow Mitch says yessah. So while it is not, in principle, Trump’s call, it is in practice. I can’t imagine what they are thinking to let the PO go bust. Not Trump of course, there is no thinking involved there, probably just fuck Bezos. But what can Mitchell be thinking. This would thoroughly screw the rural population from which the Republicans get so much of their power. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/37 "2020-04-15T01:32:11Z")
Hari, it’s the privatization where trump cronies cherry pick the best assets at 10 cents on the dollar, raid the funded pensions and raise rates. Your basic VC playbook. Just a side benefit that it could torpedo absentee voting with a disproporionate number of old white geezers making it to the open rural polls. They’ll be dead of covid 19 anyway before the post office being destroyed really impacts them. And, hey, profit. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/38 "2020-04-17T15:46:31Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > And Obama didn’t have to deal with an impeachment attempt that had absolutely no merit. Well, sure, if you disregards facts and laws and stuff. And it was more than an attempt. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/39 "2020-04-17T16:45:57Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > A President can propose any wish-list he likes. It’s just that. He gets the budget that Congress back-scratches together in a frenzy of pork-barreling. And then the Trump administration knocks those negotiations into a cocked hat by announcing that Trump won’t sign any stimulus or relief bill that makes a grant (as opposed to a loan) to the Postal Service. [LMGTFU.](https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+post+office&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS874US874&oq=Trump+post+office&aqs=chrome.0.0l8.3855j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) > [@](#): > > You’ve got nothing. Except what the Trump administration itself is saying. :smack: Speaking of cocked hats, hold that spyglass up to your bad eye, Admiral Nelson, the rest of us see the ships coming. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586/40 "2020-04-17T17:23:14Z")
[As I was saying…](https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/4/16/21221182/postal-service-amazon-jeff-bezos-washington-post-pandemic-stimulus-package-donald-trump-editorial) > [@Chicago Sun Times](#): > > Donald Trump continues to signal he will do nothing to rescue the soon-to-be bankrupt postal service, which has been a key player in keeping stay-at-home Americans supplied and connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. > > He blocked the agency from receiving $13 billion as part of last month’s coronavirus stimulus package, and he has since made clear that he will sign off on nothing for the agency in future stimulus packages. Nor will he ease financial regulations that unnecessarily burden the agency. > [@Chicago Sun Times](#): > > … Trump is opposed to proposals to allow all Americans to vote by mail in the Nov. 3 elections so as to avoid risky in-person voting during a pandemic. That, **the president says, “doesn’t work out for Republicans.”** A weakened or non-existent post office could favor his re-election chances. And many other sources are saying it as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-think-trump-is-trying-to-sink-the-usps-to-stop-mail-in-voting/851586.md?page=3)