Singer Taylor Swift has launched a blistering attack on President Donald Trump, accusing him of ‘dismantling’ the US Postal Service in an attempt to rig the November presidential election.
‘Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president,’ Swift wrote in a tweet on Saturday.
‘He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power,’ she continued.
Swift, 30, had for much of her career avoided speaking about politics, but in recent years has been more vocal in her support for Democratic candidates and causes. Her latest statements appear to be her most overt political statement ever.
Singer Taylor Swift has launched a blistering attack on President Donald Trump, accusing him of ‘dismantling’ the US Postal Service in an attempt to rig the November presidential election
Swift continued in a second tweet: ‘Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely. Request a ballot early. Vote early.’
It comes as the USPS is warning states it cannot guarantee that all ballots cast by mail for the November 3 election will arrive in time to be counted, even if ballots are mailed by state deadlines — raising the possibility that millions of votes could go uncounted.
Trump’s critics say he is denying desperately needed funding to the USPS, which faces historic revenue shortfalls amid the pandemic, that would ensure an orderly election as millions vote by mail for the first time.
Trump himself claims that a massive shift to voting by mail is itself an attempt to affect the election, alleging that mail-in ballots are ripe for fraud.
In June, Louis DeJoy, a Republican donor and logistics company executive, took over as the new postmaster general and Trump tasked him with trying to make the Postal Service more profitable.
DeJoy cut overtime, late delivery trips and other expenses that ensure mail arrives at its destination on time. The result has been a national slowdown of mail.
The Postal Service is hoping for a $10 billion infusion from Congress to continue operating, but talks between Democrats and Republicans over a broad pandemic relief package that could have included that money have broken down.
Trump has frankly acknowledged that he’s starving the Postal Service of money to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots and force Democrats to bargain
On Thursday, Trump frankly acknowledged that he’s starving the Postal Service of that money to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots.
‘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,’ Trump said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. ‘That’s election money basically.’
‘If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting,’ he explained of both the USPS funding and the overall Democratic top line number of $3 trillion.
Democrats have put $25 billion for emergency funding for the Postal Service in their $3 trillion version of the coronavirus relief legislation – a package that Trump opposes.
‘Now, 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,’ he said.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of noisy protesters descended on the Washington D.C. home of Postmaster General DeJoy and accused him of engaging in voter suppression.
Hundreds gathered outside the home of USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in D.C. Saturday morning to demand he resign
Protesters brought along saucepans for the ‘noise protest’ which took place before 9am on Saturday morning
The ‘noise demonstration’, led by Shutdown D.C., marched to DeJoy’s Kalorama condo where they blew horns and beat on saucepans to issue an early morning ‘wake up call’ to the Trump donor.
The protesters called for DeJoy to be fired as they claimed he has been aiding Trump in meddling with the election.
It comes after former President Barack Obama accused Trump of ‘kneecapping USPS’ to suppress voters by withholding the vital funding needed to ensure that mail-in ballots can be adequately processed and delivered in November.
On Friday, the Postal Service’s inspector general announced it is examining possible conflicts of interest involving DeJoy, who has donated $2.7 million to Trump and his fellow Republicans, and his recent changes to the Postal Service.
Developing story, check back for updates.