Trump Admits He Opposes Funding USPS To Limit Mail-in Voting

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roronoa79
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13 Aug 2020, 12:43 pm

At least he decided to be honest about something we already knew.

https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/902109991/trump-admits-to-opposing-funding-for-postal-service-to-block-more-voting-by-mail

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While President Trump has long railed against mail-in voting, falsely claiming it leads to rampant fraud, he appeared to confirm Thursday morning that he opposes Democrats' proposed boost in funding for the U.S. Postal Service because he wants to make it harder to expand voting by mail.

Trump gave that explanation during an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network after she asked why the White House and congressional Democrats are still miles apart on approving a new stimulus deal.

Trump said one major factor is the Democrats' push for an injection of funds into the U.S. Postal Service to expand voting by mail.

"They [the Democrats] want three and a half billion dollars for something that'll turn out to be fraudulent — that's election money basically," Trump said.

Continued the president: "They want $25 billion for the post office. Now, they need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. Now, in the meantime, they aren't getting there. But if they don't get those two items, that means you can't have universal mail-in voting because they're not equipped to have it."

Eight states are mailing ballots to all active voters this fall, including six that have been doing so for years, but most states are not conducting what Trump calls universal mail-in voting.

Continued Trump: "If we don't make a deal, that means they don't get the money. That means they can't have universal mail-in voting. They just can't have it."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her weekly press conference later on Thursday that if funding for the Postal Service is a red line in negotiations, it's news to her.

"What [negotiators] are saying is different than what the president is saying," she said. "If they came in the room and said the president is never doing this, that's something we'd take to the American people. And the American people want the Postal Service protected and preserved."

Pelosi's statement on the negotiations also differs from what White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow has said.

"So [many] of the Democratic asks are really liberal, left wishlists — voting rights and aid to aliens and so forth," he told CNBC Thursday. "That's not our game, and the president can't accept that kind of deal," Kudlow continued.

Pelosi told reporters the $25 billion allocated for the Postal Service in the "HEROES Act" is a figure recommended by the board of governors of the Postal Service. She stressed that Americans rely on the Postal Service to deliver, among other things, prescription drugs and paychecks to workers.

Biden attacks over postal controversy

The campaign of the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, quickly responded to Trump's interview, calling his intentions an "assault on democracy."

"The president of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundreds of millions of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural economies and for delivery of medicines, because he wants to deprive Americans of their fundamental right to vote safely during the most catastrophic public health crisis in over 100 years — a crisis so devastatingly worsened by his own failed leadership that we are now the hardest hit country in the world by the coronavirus pandemic," Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

This isn't the first time even this week that the president has lambasted voting by mail.

On Wednesday, he devoted a considerable amount of time during his daily briefing with reporters to denounce any plans for additional funding to support the U.S. Postal Service.

"Now they want to take it countrywide — mail-in voting. It's going to be the greatest fraud in the history of elections. When you always talk about Russia, Russia, Russia and China, Iran on voting — the biggest problem is going to be with the Democrats, not with China, Russia and Iran," he said.

Experts have estimated that as many as 70% of votes could be cast by mail in this election cycle because of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. That has raised questions about the long-beleaguered Postal Service, which was losing money well before the COVID-19 disaster and has been put into an even more difficult position.

Although Trump asserted in his interview with Fox that there's "nothing wrong with getting out and voting," citing people who voted during the first and second world wars, health experts say that voting by mail could reduce voters' exposure and spread of the coronavirus.

Election watchdogs denounced Trump's latest comments.

"Trump's brazen abuse of the post office to try and win an election is a shameful misuse of presidential power. Defunding the Postal Service and slowing its ability to deliver mail ballots to Americans will hurt Democratic and Republican voters alike," said Trevor Potter, the president of the Campaign Legal Center and former Republican chair of the Federal Election Commission.

The Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of over 160 organizations, weighed in too.

"President Trump made clear today that he is intentionally sabotaging the U.S. Post Office and blocking election funding to suppress Americans' votes. This act is a disgrace and a stain on our democracy," it said.

NPR's Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.


Because making sure Americans can vote safely is for chumps I guess.


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13 Aug 2020, 12:55 pm

Another reason why I hate him and why he is a bad president and a power hungry person.

If he wins again, I won't assume our country is racist, I will know it's because of rigged votes.

I won't be surprised if another war breaks out because people will get so sick of it, they will start fighting and then the other side will have to fight against us. Look at the Civil War, World War, War of 1812 and the revolution war. This is very scary. 8O


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13 Aug 2020, 4:03 pm

Call me hyperbolic, but this potentially could mean the end of American democracy.


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13 Aug 2020, 5:50 pm

League_Girl wrote:
I won't be surprised if another war breaks out because people will get so sick of it, they will start fighting and then the other side will have to fight against us. Look at the Civil War, World War, War of 1812 and the revolution war. This is very scary. 8O


I've been trying to warn everyone about that for months. Boy it's gonna suck being right. Now I know how Cassandra must have felt when she tried to warn the Trojans that the Greeks would destroy their city but everyone dismissed her as a madwoman. :|


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13 Aug 2020, 8:54 pm

Not surprised.

If he wins, it would take a government overthrow to get him out.


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13 Aug 2020, 9:10 pm

League_Girl wrote:
Another reason why I hate him and why he is a bad president and a power hungry person.

If he wins again, I won't assume our country is racist, I will know it's because of rigged votes.

I won't be surprised if another war breaks out because people will get so sick of it, they will start fighting and then the other side will have to fight against us. Look at the Civil War, World War, War of 1812 and the revolution war. This is very scary. 8O


You could, instead, try looking at this objectively:
In order for mail-in voting, the postal service is the final part that should be looked at.

Prior to this, you would need to ensure that the elctoral roll is current, to ensure that ballot papers are only sent to people at their current residential address, and that voters who no longer live in the state (or are deceased) are removed from the rolls, which, as I undertsand it, does not happen too regularly in some states. Similarly, some form of identification (signature, perhaps?) needs to be stored to allow confirmation that the vote has come from the voter claimed to be returning it, which also may not currently be available.

Once those items have been taken care of, then postal voting would be a valid option and funding for the postal service to support this would be in order.

Had the suggestion of mass mail-in voting occurred 12 months (or more) before the election date, then these issues would have time to be addressed, but with 3 months remaining there would not be time to confirm those on the voting rolls and remove those who should no longer be there...Otherwise you would in fact be gifting Mr Trump a perfect excuse to contest any results he did not like, purely on issues with the elctoral roll in certain states.

Imagine that he challenges the results in California, for example, because the number of ballots sent out far exceeds the state population (or other discrepencies such as multiple ballots to same voter at different addresses.) This then makes its way to the Supreme court, where the entire state's results are declared invalid, and the state is declared unable to participate in electoral college vote (or to split the states votes 50/50 between the parties): Would you prefer that outcome?

Absentee ballots, on the other hand, avoid this issue with the electral roll by requiring the voter to specifically request this ballot by mail, allowing confirmation of the address, providing a way to validate the vote came from the voter (signature, or other ID on application), etc. and are generally fewer in number, which is why they are generally considered uncontroversial.



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14 Aug 2020, 12:59 pm

So for this election, if you're against changing the way we've voted for the past 240 years you are wanting voter fraud?



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14 Aug 2020, 1:04 pm

I have always mailed in my voting ballets for years since I have been voting. It is not voting fraud. Better than going to the place to vote or finding a ballot drop box and not everyone can vote in person. Oregon has done it this way for long as I can remember.


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14 Aug 2020, 2:51 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Call me hyperbolic, but this potentially could mean the end of American democracy.


Already happened.

I am surprised at how much americans just sit back and take it all tbh



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14 Aug 2020, 3:01 pm

Biscuitman wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Call me hyperbolic, but this potentially could mean the end of American democracy.


Already happened.

I am surprised at how much americans just sit back and take it all tbh


We're still in the denial phase of dealing with loss.


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14 Aug 2020, 3:08 pm

Mr Reynholm wrote:
So for this election, if you're against changing the way we've voted for the past 240 years you are wanting voter fraud?


Absentee or mail in voting has existed in some form in America for over 200 years. It was mostly used for soldiers on campaign or otherwise occupied for the first few decades of US history. It's been much more widespread some nice the start of the 20th century.

You want to talk about changing the way we voted for 240 years in a way that undermines democracy? Let's talk about voter ID laws. Out grandparents did not need IDs to vote. Were the elections they voted in illegitimate then? The fraud 'prevented' by these laws is negligible and easily investigated and corrected.

Voter suppression has just taken on more respectable justifications since the Voting Rights Act. Why don't we just bring back literacy tests and poll taxes while we're at it? It comes from the same voter suppression playbook the south used for centuries.


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14 Aug 2020, 6:09 pm

Mr Reynholm wrote:
So for this election, if you're against changing the way we've voted for the past 240 years you are wanting voter fraud?


This is our first presidential election in the middle of a pandemic, so these are unusual circumstances.


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14 Aug 2020, 6:49 pm

Trump seems dedicated to justifying a 2nd amendment solution. His contempt for democracy is astounding and his cult doesn't even see this as a problem; for them it's a feature not a bug.


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14 Aug 2020, 10:13 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Trump seems dedicated to justifying a 2nd amendment solution. His contempt for democracy is astounding and his cult doesn't even see this as a problem; for them it's a feature not a bug.


I suspect many of his followers wouldn't have a problem if he declared himself President for life with absolute power.


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15 Aug 2020, 10:35 am

Intentional rigging or not this election is going to be a big time disaster. It can go wrong in so many ways for so many reasons. This country has increasingly shown poor ability to do basic stuff.

I do not buy that because mail in voting works in Oregon means it will work America wide.


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15 Aug 2020, 10:52 am

Kraichgauer wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
Trump seems dedicated to justifying a 2nd amendment solution. His contempt for democracy is astounding and his cult doesn't even see this as a problem; for them it's a feature not a bug.


I suspect many of his followers wouldn't have a problem if he declared himself President for life with absolute power.


The capacity for that kind of blind devotion is what's so terrifying.