A Grand Sabotage

by Ruth A. Sheets

Have you noticed that Donald Trump nominated the least competent people in nearly all high-level governmental positions?  He could not have found so many appalling candidates by himself.  That is a problem because it means a lot of personal private interests are acting against the public interests of the American people.  To me, an even greater problem is that the Republicans in the United States Senate went along with these picks, knowing the newly minted officials would be either incompetent or unqualified, totally unsuited for the job.  If they were simply figureheads in their departments, that would not be such a big problem, but these appointees actually are supposed to run the department or agency they are in charge of.  One would think to run a huge governmental department, the nominee should have some experience in that area, credentials, references, something, but the Senate Republicans approved a former doctor to run Housing and Urban Development (he is Black, you know), an Oil Magnate to run the Department of State (he’s been to Russia), and anti-public education activist for the Department of Education (anyone can teach, you know), Republican Party donors, corporate lobbyists to head numerous agencies including EPA (it costs a lot to drill for oil and pollution is just a side effect), a pointedly partisan hack as Attorney General (the president should be able to do whatever he wants), and so on through every cabinet post.

The task of these appointees seems to be to undermine the work of the department, while getting everything they can out of it for themselves.  Oh, yes, they must not forget to donate to certain Republican candidates including Mr. Trump, and they must regularly, publicly,  express total loyalty to him.  Being fired has been a regular feature of heads of the most noticed, possibly most critical departments:  State, Justice, Defense, and smaller but also important agencies like the FBI.  

The target of the year is the U.S. post office.  Last month it was taken over by a sycophantic Republican donor with no experience with anything related to the Post Office.  He probably never even noticed the USPS before.  He is rich, though, and male and white and a Republican donor.  I guess that’s a sufficient resume these days.  To prove his Republican bona fides, millionaire or billionaire (one can't be sure with all the Republican cheating and lying these days) Director Louis DeJoy is working to sabotage the efficient functioning of the Post Office by slowing down the mail and trying to make the whole process less efficient.   Now why would he, a brand newbee in the position do that, to undermine the confidence of the American people in this amazingly effective institution, of course.  It is well-known we are in the midst of a pandemic and it is a national election year.  The purpose of this sabotage, then is to make vote-by-mail seem unsafe, unreliable, and unworkable, even though it is the safest way to hold the upcoming election (maybe all elections), particularly for people most susceptible to COVID-19.    

The new director, as with most members of the Trump administration, doesn’t seem to care much  for the American people and our governmental institutions.  The most recent poll I saw indicated that 90% of the American people approve of the Post Office and the way it has been working.  Some would like the Post Office to offer some more services like simple banking, but they clearly want the institution to remain its usual efficient self.  As has been said often, 90% of the American people rarely agree on anything, but we do on this one.  We the people definitely want the Post Office to continue to connect every household and business in America and want the service to remain dependable and timely.  Clearly, that’s not what Donald Trump and Mr. DeJoy want.  Too bad for us!    

Several members of the House of Representatives recently contacted Mr. DeJoy asking him to explain what he was doing to the Post Office and why.  His response essentially informed them he could make whatever changes he wanted and didn’t have to get permission from the Post Office’s oversight board or anyone else to do it.  Naturally, he didn’t actually answer the letter’s questions, but that seems to be the modus operandi for this administration.  Do whatever Donald Trump and his handlers want and dismiss all criticism of anything you do.  Laws, rules, and regulations have no impact on this gang.  They have adopted the old, “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” practice  that has overtaken the corporate world in the past few decades.  This group even skips the forgiveness part.  Besides, in this current time, Republicans have gotten away with nearly everything they have tried.  They cut regulations on air and water pollution, started giving away our public lands to fossil fuel corporations, blackmailed Ukraine, made no challenge  when a journalist who worked for an American newspaper was murdered, “colluded” with Russia and so much more. 

This time I hope the results will be different, but DeJoy thinks He can get away with sabotaging the Post Office for his boss thinking, “who’s going to stop me?”  As of now, no one.   

Donald Trump wants the Post Office brought down and Congressional Republicans are on board with whatever the childish, scared Donald Trump wants.  He sees this as the way he can win the upcoming election, and if something isn’t done to stop him, he might be right.

The question is, can we stop DeJoy from ruining the critical agency he now operates?  How do We the People make sure we can vote by mail on time depending on the usually dependable Post Office?  How can we get out the message that our senators need to do the will of the people and properly fund the Post Office?  These are important questions that we need good answers too very soon.  3 months from today is Election Day.  We’re running out of time.  So, Democrats and others who care about our mail service, we need letters to the editor condemning DeJoy’s sabotage and Donald Trump for demanding it.  We need to call out senators who ignore the will of the people and go only with their self-interest.  Maybe we need a phrase like “Republicans want to destroy our Post Office!  STOP THEM!” plastered everywhere.  Maybe the media should help us out since they worked so hard to get Mr. Trump elected four years ago. 

Sabotaging an agency like USPS is unacceptable, but when that sabotage impacts the federal elections in November, it would be treason.