The U.S. Postal Service board of governors—you know, the guys raising millions for the Trump campaign—met behind closed doors Wednesday and decided embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is doing a great job. They are literally "thrilled," "tickled pink," and "very, very pleased." They are apparently adherents to the "all publicity is good publicity" theory because from the outside, things don't seem to be going so well.
Start with all the mail delays, including of life-saving prescriptions, Social Security checks, and animals arriving dead as a result of DeJoy’s service operation changes. Oh, that and the panic caused by the warning to 46 states that the mail-in election is in jeopardy. And the belligerent refusal, live on camera, to fix the sabotage. That was all before the news of his alleged crime of forcing employees to donate to Republicans surfaced. DeJoy has had a really bad two months, but his bosses couldn't be happier with him.
“The board is tickled pink, every single board member, with the impact he’s having,” Republican board member John Barger told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "He's an excellent leader. He's an excellent supply-chain logistics savant. And I'm very, very pleased with his performance since coming on board." You might remember from previous stories that Barger is the guy that amplified a New York Post story that Eric Trump and the Trump campaign have been circulating about how vulnerable mail-in ballots are to manipulation. He also calls that paper "reputable," so you know this guy is completely in the tank for Trump. What we don't know is whether he has also done illegal money-raising for the big boss, but it seems like a pretty good bet.
Robert Duncan, the chairman of the board of governors—who sits on the boards of super PACs for both Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell and participated in the Republican National Convention, chanting on video "four more years"—declined to comment to the Post on the board meeting. Nor did the two Democrats who serve on the board, Donald Lee Moak and Ron Bloom. However, William Zollars, one the Republicans (there are four, versus two Democrats on the board) raved as well. "From a logistics and operations standpoint, Louis DeJoy is as good as it gets," he told the Post. As for that alleged pesky campaign finance criminality? Zollars said that DeJoy told them "that he feels like he has done nothing wrong," so that apparently works for them.
That will probably fly with the Republican Homeland Security Committee headed up by the dumbest man in Washington, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. It’s not working for Democrats. "When given the opportunity to restore confidence in the USPS, the board of governors today chose instead to continue their dereliction of duty," Rep. Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, the chair of the House subcommittee responsible for postal oversight, said in a statement to the Post. "Mr. DeJoy's term as Postmaster General has been defined by conflict, sabotage, incompetence and politicization. Anything short of his immediate removal is a total failure in oversight and accountability."
The board is not going to remove DeJoy. That means that the House investigations need to proceed, and proceed quickly. The only way to get DeJoy booted is to make him poison to Trump and to Republicans.
