Category: 2020 Election

How Trump was able to shape the Postal Service board to enact a new agenda

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on the Postal Service’s governing board Monday to oust Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and roll back the cost-cutting moves Democrats warn are designed to sabotage mail-in voting.

“That’s why we have a board of governors,” Warren (D-Mass.) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “We need them to just get rid of Louis DeJoy and say, all those mailboxes they took out, all those [mail] sorting machines they took out, the no-overtime policy . . . we’re done.”

It is highly unlikely to happen. DeJoy, the North Carolina businessman and Trump campaign donor who arrived in June to make sweeping cuts to postal operations, was appointed by a board that is now controlled 4 to 2 by loyalists to President Trump. “We just got the board,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. Continue reading.

Trump Invents Baseless Explanation For California’s Power Outages

Democrats have “intentionally implemented” rolling blackouts, the president claimed.

President Donald Trump attempted to politicize a series of power outages in California on Tuesday, saying without any evidence that Democrats have “intentionally implemented” them and suggested that Green New Deal proposals were somehow to blame. 

“In California, Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts — forcing Americans in the dark. Democrats are unable to keep up with energy demand,” he tweeted about the power outages, which are the most widespread the state has experienced in decades. 

A statewide heatwave is putting a strain on the state’s electrical grid, forcing power outages for hundreds of thousands of Californians, but that has nothing to do with Democrats or any other political party. The widespread blackouts have been carried out by the California Independent System Operator, a nonprofit that manages most of the state’s power.  Continue reading.

Sally Yates: Trump Would Rather ‘Fawn Over A Dictator’ Than Defend The Country

The former acting attorney general said the president has spent his term using “his position to defend himself, rather than our country.”

Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates excoriated President Donald Trump for what she called a relentless attack on democracy in a blistering speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, urging voters to unite behind former Vice President Joe Biden.

Yates, who was abruptly fired by Trump in January 2017 when she refused to defend his executive order that sought to ban travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, called the move just the start of his efforts to undermine “democratic institutions and countless dedicated public servants.”

“From the moment President Trump took office, he’s used his position to defend himself rather than our country,” Yates said Tuesday. “Rather than standing up to Vladimir Putin, he fawns over a dictator who is still trying to interfere in our elections.” Continue reading.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez remarks at Democratic National Convention

NOTE: During the caucuses, primaries and conventions leading up to the national convention, Sen. Sanders did receive delegates. That required his name to be put into nomination at the national convention.

Trump rages as Fox News hosts praise Michelle Obama

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President Donald Trump lashed out at Fox News on Monday over its coverage of the Democratic National Convention despite appearing on the network just hours earlier.

Trump on Sunday complained that the network’s weekend news hosts were “not watchable” and “worse than Fake News @CNN.” He doubled down on his criticism on Monday, despite appearing on “Fox & Friends” that very morning, criticizing the network’s decision to air the Democratic Convention like every other news network.

“Fox will broadcast them more than they broadcast us. You know that,” Trump claimed during a speech in Minnesota, even though the network’s primetime lineup has been compared to North Korean state TV by critics for its fawning praise of the president and the hosts’ close ties to him. Continue reading.

All the ways Congress can pressure the Postal Service over threats to mail-in voting

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The U.S. Postal Service has been under intense scrutiny for making big changes to its operations that could make it more difficult for Americans to vote by mail in November. With a public outcry, Congress started to step in by forcing its leadership to come testify. Under that pressure, the postmaster general announced Tuesday that the Postal Service would be suspending all of its cost-cutting measures that have created such controversy. 

But beyond that, lawmakers are limited in what they can do to help the Postal Service get ready for a presidential election conducted largely by mail. Here are some things they can do and have done.

Pressure Postal Service leadership — which worked 

The Postal Service had said that in a month or two, it would revisit its cost-cutting new policies, such as having employees leave mail behind later in the day and banning overtime. Under pressure from Congress, it stopped those much sooner. Continue reading.

Postmaster general says he’s pausing changes ‘until after the election’

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The postmaster general on Tuesday said he would pause changes to the operations of the Postal Service until after the election amid bipartisan outcry, a sharp reversal after President Trump spent days defending the agency’s actions.

“To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded,” Louis DeJoy said in a statement.

The postmaster general said retail hours at post offices will remain unchanged, mail processing equipment and collection boxes will not be removed and no mail processing facilities will be closed. Continue reading.