The postmaster general tried to stop Trump's attacks on the Post Office. An hour later, Trump did it again.
Postmaster Louis DeJoy isn't thrilled with President Trump's attacks on mail-in voting either.
DeJoy, a Trump appointee, testified before Congress on Monday regarding the wave of delays and concerning changes he has overseen within the United States Postal Service over the past few months. The inability to promise on-time deliveries is becoming especially worrisome as the 2020 election draws closer — and as Trump continues to stoke fear regarding all the mail-in voting that's about to happen.
As the COVID-19 pandemic extends into the fall, local election commissions are encouraging everyone to vote early and by mail to avoid putting poll workers and themselves at risk. But Trump, who has voted by mail plenty of times in the past, has tried to establish distrust in the electoral system by falsely claiming mail-in ballots are wrought with fraud. When asked Monday whether he has discouraged Trump from pushing these falsities, DeJoy said he has "put word around to different people that this is not helpful." "I've spoken to people that are friends of mine, who are associated with the campaign," DeJoy, a major donor to Trump in 2016, continued.
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But Trump apparently wasn't listening. Less than an hour later as he gave his first of four speeches at the Republican National Convention, Trump repeated his false fear-mongering about mail-in voting. "This is the greatest scam in the history of politics," Trump said, once again falsely claiming Democrats are trying to steal the election from him using mail-in voting. Absentee voting, which Trump claims is actually just fine, is the same thing as mail-in voting, which he claims isn't. Both are perfectly legitimate ways to vote, especially in a pandemic.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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