Postmaster general delivers truckload of frustration
Two days of congressional testimony by the postmaster general of the Disunited States wrapped up Monday with an on-time delivery of total frustration for everyone involved.
So at least something under the stewardship of Louis DeJoy arrived on time, a more and more infrequent occurrence since this particular Trump donor took the gig June 15.
Seated in the House of Representatives on Monday behind a white placard that read The Honorable DeJoy — which sounds like a character from “The Wizard of Oz” — Mr. DeJoy left plenty of Democrats and some Republicans who’ve joined an urgent call for greater Postal Service funding wishing he represented the Lollipop Guild instead of one of the most critical and enduring services in the American experience.
It didn’t take long for Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., to threaten Mr. DeJoy with a subpoena if he didn’t turn in his homework by Wednesday, and later Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., suggested subpoenaing his calendar, both forgetting for the moment that such admonishments are the equivalent of mail that has been thrown in a creek to this administration.
Have you seen Don McGahn in the halls of Congress lately? Do you even remember Don McGahn? He was a Trump attorney subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee in early 2019 to testify that President Donald Trump obstructed justice during the Mueller investigation. A federal appeals court ruled as recently as Aug. 7 that Congress can still compel such testimony consistent with the separation of powers provided for in the Constitution.
But that’s soooo 2015. Anyone seen Don McGahn? How about the Constitution?
But before that idle threat, Ms. Maloney asked Mr. DeJoy about an internal post office document called “Service Performance Measure for PMG (Postmaster General) Briefing,” claiming that “your office confirmed to my office that the document was authentic,” and promptly tore into him:
“Major degradations in service began in July, when you started instituting your changes,” Ms. Maloney said. “First-class mail [delivery] is down an astonishing 8.1%. Marketing mail is down 8.42%. Periodicals are down 9.57%. This is essentially your report card. If any other CEO had this kind of plummeting record for his first two months on the job, I can’t imagine why he would continue.”
But Ms. Maloney was getting at something more sinister. What are the odds?
“The Senate on Friday asked you and asked you to produce an analysis about negative impacts. You could have said, ‘I just received a detailed briefing.’ You dismissed these nationwide delays as a ‘dip.’ Why didn’t you disclose this document when you had it and they were asking for it?”
The Honorable DeJoy shifted in his chair and blurted, “I’m not familiar with the request in total, how we supported it. I’m sure the staff answered the questions as they were asked.”
Translation: The dog ate my homework.
Some Republicans dutifully jumped in to suggest there were other reasons mail was piling up coast to coast, that medications, checks, census forms, rotting food and dead baby chicks were bottlenecked all over the country. These reasons included protesters, rioters, protesting rioters, rioting protesters, anarchists, impending voter fraudsters, ballot harvesters, people addressing ballots to dead people, postal workers and, I think, murder hornets — and, of course, former President Barack Obama.
And Biden — don’t forget Joe Biden, who triggered this whole Trump brainstorm in the first place. Mr. DeJoy might be a capable privatesector CEO lost in the bureaucratic governmental labyrinth and acting in good faith on a complex logistical nightmare, or he could be another flummoxed and hopelessly conflicted Trump toady taking his place in this apocalyptic kakistocracy, but he’s in this pickle mostly because of another profoundly stupid idea from the main source of them.
Mr. Trump stated flatly almost two weeks ago that he does not want to further fund the Postal Service because Democrats are seeking to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic. He could not have been more explicit.
“Now, they need that money in order to make the Post Office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” he told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, adding that if they don’t get the money, “that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped.”
Thus, the breathtaking scope of the president’s unique ignorance is defined still again. Mr. Trump knows nothing whatsoever about postal capacity. If everyone voted by mail (and clearly, everyone will not), there might be 150 million ballots, but that’s a very liberal estimate. In the last Christmas season, the Post Office moved 500 million pieces of mail, about five times the more likely amount of ballots.
Per day.
At no time in either congressional session did The Honorable DeJoy allow that he’ll put back online the high-speed sorting machines he’s already dismantled, even when asked point blank, time and again.
“You know that it’s a felony for a Postal Service officer or employee to delay delivery of mail?” asked Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. “A postal employee can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years for delaying the mail, but somehow you can delay all the mail and get away with it. They can be prosecuted but you can’t, even if your actions are a million times worse?”
Mr. Cooper seemed to be suggesting that members of this administration are actually beholden to some legal restraints. Remember when everyone said a few weeks ago that it was unseemly, if not downright illegal, for Mr. Trump to deliver an acceptance speech from the White House?
Tune in Thursday night.