Once upon a time, Democrats pilloried USPS. In fact, it was just months ago that the “sub-par postal service” was at the root of hardships suffered by New York City residents. That was then. Now, Democrats have done a complete 180.
Related: Obama was “Stealing” Mailboxes Long before Trump was President!
They are using the USPS as a political weapon against President Trump. The very same Dems are now celebrating the service. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night’ stops the USPS from delivering.” They are hypocritical pieces of male bovine excrement.
Democrats are seizing on a theory. Trump and the Postmaster-General (PMG) are deliberately derailing the USPS. Their plan is to stymie voting in November’s presidential election. Former President Barack Obama joined in calling the service “collateral damage for an administration more concerned with suppressing the vote than suppressing a virus.”
What does the posture cost you and me?
Here’s the rub. USPS has lost money for 14 straight years. It lost $8 billion last year. Obama previously maligned the USPS during a 2009 town hall in New Hampshire, noting that “if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. … It’s the post office that’s always having problems.”
The Dems are lying and contradicting themselves… and they don’t care. They think you are stupid enough to not remember what they said before. They are counting on you to not hold them accountable.
The Democrats’ attack against Trump is emerging in the wake of reports of mail delays. The PMG, who took over the USPS in June, is looking to cut costs by reforming mail deliveries. He wants the USPS to hold pieces of mail arriving late until the next day. It is in an attempt to avoid overtime costs, which exceeded $1 billion in 2018. That is according to the USPS inspector general’s office.
Delivery times were already slowing prior to the change. The USPS delivered 82.5% of single-piece 3-5 day mail on time in 2018. That is down from 85.6% in 2017 according to data compiled by the National Association of Presort Mailers show. Once upon a time, Democrats pilloried USPS.
Examples of hypocrisy
Dem. Rep. Brian Higgins has harped on USPS delays in the past. In September 2015 he cited “494 million delayed mailpieces” in the first six months of the year. That was under the Obama administration. Following the PMG’s policy change, Higgins is calling the USPS “a pillar of our American Democracy.”
Which is it, Rep. Higgins? He is accusing Trump of “intentionally delaying the mail.” It is an attempt to “disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions.” Please, the financial straits of the USPS had no part in the business decision, right?
Joe Biden, Delphic oracle that he is, is calling it “bizarre.” Postal workers in Oregon were “going around literally with tractor-trailers picking up mailboxes.” Portland ABC affiliate KATU reports the local post office was “removing the boxes to replace them because they’re old.” This is a common practice across administrations.
More than 12,000 USPS collection boxes were removed during the second Obama-Biden term, according to the USPS inspector general’s office. Come on, stop with the fear-mongering and lying. Stop being a hypocrite. But then again, maybe Ole Joe cannot remember back that far. Once upon a time, Democrats pilloried USPS.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
Democrats have also disseminated photos of mailboxes fitted with locks to suggest that Trump and his allies are stopping the boxes from being used. Former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill shared one such photo on Monday, claiming “now they are not hauling them off, just locking them up.” Once upon a time, Democrats pilloried USPS.
What is actually going on is the locks have been used across the country for years to prevent “fishing.” Fishing is a practice in which perpetrators steal mail. They lower a wire into the bottom of the collection box. A number of House Democrats, Reps. Grace Meng and Nita Lowey have warned their constituents about the practice. Come on guys, it is unfair and dishonest to complain about fishing and the actions necessary to stop it. Hypocrites.
Meng tweeted in February 2018, “I’m calling on the USPS to replace all postal collection boxes in Queens w/ new anti-theft boxes in order to combat a growing mail theft crime called mail fishing… This crime causes many borough residents to become victims of identity theft & bank fraud.”
Meng and Lowey have touted their attention to USPS issues in an attempt to please constituents. Lowey pledged to “continue to confront” the USPS over its “ongoing, systemic failures.” Yet on Thursday, she said USPS “can handle snow, rain, heat, and has now proven to work through a pandemic… Trump is politicizing the Postal Service for his own political gain.” If the Rep. were Pinocchio her nose would be 4 feet long.
Wrap it up
Trump on Monday said he encouraged administration officials to “speed up the mail, not slow the mail.” The PMG later announced the suspension of all USPS reforms until after the election. This is in an effort “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.”
USPS is losing upwards of a billion dollars a month and because of Democrat posturing, they are going to stop needed reforms. Taxpayers are being bilked by the Democrats for that billion dollars a month. That’s worse than irresponsible. That is an outright attack against the financial integrity of America. Once upon a time, Democrats pilloried USPS.