DeJoy’s a High School clown
Admittedly, I didn’t watch the Congressional hearings with DeJoy, but I have been following the news. While it’s true that the plan to remove sorting machines predates DeJoy’s tenure, anyone with half a brain would turn around and say “Hey, we’re in the middle of a raging pandemic, the economy is in shutdown, and we have an election coming. Maybe we should hold off on these changes.”
But, as we’ve all seen, there doesn’t seem to be much of anything resembling brains in this Administration, at least for those at the top. (To be fair, there are a lot of really smart career officials, on both the civilian and military sides, but they too often are being sidelined or outright removed.)
What makes this worse is that when called out on the slowdowns, and the very real negative impact these changes will have on what is a very consequential election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy makes a promise to Congress to pause the removal of sorting machines. He promises to pause the structural changes and reverse the overtime moratorium. All with one hand behind his back, fingers crossed, if you believe the leaks from USPS personnel (which I do).
This is some seriously High School level bullshit, and Congress isn’t doing enough to reign it in and hold DeJoy and the rest of the clown posse accountable. Hearings are a good start, but now is not the time to move like molasses. Now is the time to pounce, to enforce very real consequences. To turn the screws so that, at the very least, we can breathe just a little easier that our election will be free and fair.
Trump has used one trick after another, one loophole after another, along with the general sycophantic fealty of the Republican Party to do everything he can to ensure not only that he gets another term, but, and mark my words, a very real opportunity to plunge the US into Authoritarian rule. Think Trump wouldn’t take the opportunity to shred the 22nd Amendment? How’s the Emoluments Clause holding up? Separation of Powers? I like how Congress thinks they still have a firm grip on the power of the purse.
For the last three plus years Trump has been playing checkers and trouncing all over Congress, the Constitution and any semblance of Checks and Balances for one simple reason. No one, and I mean No One of Political Consequence has even admitted, let alone recognized that Trump is playing any game. Not even checkers.
No, he’s not playing 3-dimensional chess. He’s no Kirk or Spock (not even a red shirt). He’s nothing more than a crook, but one who’s smart and wily enough to recognize the loopholes and cracks and how to baby talk to the masses to get them to follow his lead, no matter how poor the choices and no matter who gets hurt (or dies, because that’s a thing now the President is letting happen).
Our Nation is coming apart at the seams, not like during the Civil Rights and Peace Movements where culture wars were as much an everyday event as the Vietnam War. No, our Nation is coming apart at the seams like it’s 1861. Except, there is no North vs. South (though it sure feels like it sometimes). There is only Representative Democracy and Equality For All vs. White Power and Freedom Only For Wealthy Christian White Men.
Think I’m wrong? Study American history. There has always been a streak of Authoritarian Love in our culture, just as institutionalized systemic Racism has been ingrained in the Nation’s Soul since the days of the Pilgrims.
But, from what I’ve seen, even with DeJoy’s high school antics and Trump’s mafia rule, more Americans than not want a Free and Open Society, they want the Nation to reach and fulfill the promises of the Founders of a More Perfect Union. A Nation that is truly a Representative Democracy of all Citizens. It is this simple fact that gives me hope. No matter how dark the days become as we crawl toward that fateful day in November, I know that true Patriots, true lovers of the American Ideals of Equality Under the Law and Freedom for All, will continue to rise up and fight, whatever means necessary, to ensure a brighter, better future.
