SANDERS, OBAMA BLAST TRUMP’S USPS ATTACK AS ASSAULT ON ELECTION

Both Sen. Bernie Sanders and former President Barack Obama on Friday raised alarm over President Donald Trump’s open attempt to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service by refusing to provide emergency funding in what critics call an effort to hamper the general election—in which millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail, Julia Conley of Common Dreams wrote for Truthout on August 15, 2020 (August 16, 2020 in Manila).

In an email to supporters, Sanders denounced Trump’s “outrageous” Thursday statement, in which the president dismissed Democratic leaders’ demand for $3.5 billion in election assistance for states and $25 billion for the USPS in order to cope with major delivery delays. Trump told reporters that as long as the Postal Service isn’t given emergency funding, universal mail-in voting—which the president has claimed would be a “rigged” system favoring Democrats—can’t happen.

“He told the American people that he was going to defund and destroy the United States Postal Service so that, during this pandemic, they cannot have the opportunity to vote for president and in other important races,” wrote Sanders. “In other words, he is forcing people to make a choice between getting sick and even dying, or casting a ballot.” He added: “Elections should be about candidates making the best case they can to their constituents and letting the voters decide… What elections should not be about in a democratic society is winning because your opponents are prevented from voting. And that is exactly what Trump is doing right now.” 

Sanders’ criticism was echoed by Obama, who called Trump’s explicit attempt to discourage participation in the election unheard of. “What we’ve never seen before is a president say, ‘I’m going to try to actively kneecap the Postal Service to [discourage] voting and I will be explicit about the reason I’m doing it,'” said the former president. “My question is what are Republicans doing where you are so scared of people voting that you are now willing to undermine what is part of the basic infrastructure of American life?”