Although Oliver does suggest (I assume satirically, although the British deadpan and the nature of the subject does sometimes make it difficult to tell) that “Trump may now be able to bend the Postal Service to his will presumably meaning that by next year every stamp in America will feature one of Jeff Bezos’ dick picks…”
I’m sure someone “on the left” may have errantly espoused this notion at some point but it seems pretty far from a “massive conspiracy theory”, and the more obvious problem with appointing Louis DeJoy to Postmaster General is that it was clearly a patronage appointment by a guy with some blatant conflicts of interest.
Stranger
There’s no question that the Time article linked to in the OP starts with paragraphs detailing how DeJoy’s policies supported the “Democrat wish list.” It would be pedantic nitpicking to try to support an argument that DeJoy is just pursuing his plans in a nonpartisan manner that just happens to overwhelming favor what Democrats would like to see, although that indeed may be how DeJoy himself would like to be seen.
The article also says:
Americans were relying more on the Post Office amid the pandemic, and within months millions of voters were expected to vote by mail. The problem was resolved a few weeks later—DeJoy set up a new team to monitor operations and troubleshoot any lingering issues—but the debacle helped to fuel an emerging narrative that DeJoy, a major Trump donor, was out to sabotage the election.
And:
DeJoy remains a favorite target of the left. Over the last three years, progressive organizations have sent out “Fire Louis DeJoy” fundraising emails like clockwork. In the last few months, Democrats like Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and groups like the Democratic Governors Association have bought Facebook ads to raise money off calling for DeJoy’s ouster. Some of DeJoy’s allies, on both the right and left, cynically suspect that some Democrats secretly relish having DeJoy in his role as a foil, especially with Trump out of office. Neither Baldwin nor the DGA responded to a request for comment.
Time is not the authoritative voice it once was, but I remember reading it when it first came out I thought it made a lot of sense then. It supports all of your posts here, IMO.
The major flaw in such a CT is that Individual-ONE did not himself appoint DeJoy PMG. He did appoint people to the USPS board of governnors, and the incumbent PMG’s term expired, which led the constituted board to select DeJoy for the post. Individual-ONE himself was not a direct participant, though his role was non-trivial.
I don’t recall a “massive conspiracy” being yelped about back then, but there was a lot of connect-the-dots stuff going on. It’s not hard to find.
“Four voters from different states filed the lawsuit Monday, alleging that DeJoy and Trump are conspiring to undermine the November presidential election by incapacitating the Postal Service.”
“Congressional Democrats have alleged foul play in the selection of DeJoy as appointee. Robert Duncan, chairman of the Board of Governors, has denied any wrongdoing in the selection process. Duncan is also the director of pro-Trump super PAC American Crossroads and the Republican super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund. Duncan himself has also been a major Republican donor, and appeared via video conference along with DeJoy at Monday’s hearing on the state of the agency.”
I typically send packages Priority Mail to a location about 150 miles from my home. Prior to DeJoy, the packages nearly always arrived overnight. Two nights didn’t hurt my feelings. I don’t think three nights ever happened. The package I tried to send December after Dejoy was employed took six weeks.
Doesn’t seem partisan, but DeJoy seems hell bent on fucking shit up.