Is this key service about to save Trump from a midterms mauling? Opinion by Thom Hartmann

[B.See]

Some may remember how, in May 2020, a USPS board of governors, all hand picked by Donald Trump, appointed Trump donor/lackey Louis DeJoy, a person with ZERO experience, as Postmaster General. The latter, who then immediately set about trying to sabotage the service via the trashing of over 600 high speed mail sorting machines, presided over the mass removal of mailboxes, displaced or fired some 20 plus senior USPS officials, and who attempted to send out false and misleading vote-by-mail information to Colorado residents - among a trove of other highly questionable acts. To many the mission was obvious: sabotage the postal service before the 2020 elections.

But for one, the plot was hatched far too late. Also, it had resulted in a lot of blowback, investigations, suits and such, so DeJoy had to backtrack on most all of it. And subsequently, throughout the Biden PRESIDENCY, Dejoy pretty much laid low, was even cooperative in several instances, though maybe that was because of a pesky little investigation into his pressuring postal workers into donating to Republicans... allegedly. (Source: Wikipedia)

Anywho, in March 2025, the Trump lackey who once said he planned on being around for a long time had upped and resigned. Maybe because of the (claimed) intrusion by Eloon's DOGE hacks. Or maybe because Trump expected more sabotage of him. Who knows?

Enter David Steiner, another appointee, hand picked by Trump, and just in time for the midterms. What could possibly go wrong??

Is this key service about to save Trump from a midterms mauling? Op-ed by Thom Hartmann - Rawstory

Just a week ago, Trump’s Postal Service changed the rules about getting your mail-in ballot postmarked so it’ll be counted. Instead of postmarking letters when they’re received, Post Offices will now postmark them when they get “processed,” which may happen days later.

In the 2024 presidential election, the feds estimated that around 104,000 mail-in ballots nationwide weren’t counted because they were postmarked late; with this change, the number this fall and for 2028 could be in the millions.

Meanwhile, Republican secretaries of state are enthusiastically purging voters from the rolls as they get ready for this fall. Remember, reporter and economist Greg Palast found, using official federal and state numbers, that in 2024:

“Trump lost. That is, if all legal voters were allowed to vote, if all legal ballots were counted, Trump would have lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Vice-President Kamala Harris would have won the Presidency with 286 electoral votes."

Mr. Hartmann goes on to give us a WHOLE LOT of additional information on the Republican Attack On the Right to Vote - of which I'd been writing for a decade now.

Including how, if not for the mass purge of voters of colour, mass disqualifications of provisional and mail-in ballots, and vigilante challenges in swing states, Kamala would've topped Trump’s popular vote tally by 1.2 million.”

And how millions of voters are being purged Red and Blue state rolls with significant minority populations, as we speak.

How Republican secretaries of state can eliminate our right to vote without our even knowing.

and how they've passed voter suppression laws in 18 states (with plans for MUCH more), and changed laws in states like Georgia and elsewhere that allows them to TOSS THE VOTE of ENTIRE DISTRICTS, even cities, if THEY don’t like the results.

“Of all the dirty tricks”: USPS quietly changed what a postmark means. Voting advocates are alarmed- Daily Dot “Seems specifically designed to break mail-in voting.”

Experts are advising people to ensure an accurate postmark by traveling to the post office and asking them to mark it right there. You may even need to pay extra for a Certificate of Mailing that proves when you mailed it.

This, as always, poses extra challenges for disabled, elderly, and impoverished Americans. Not everyone can just hop in the car and head to the local USPS branch. Even among those who can, this creates an extra barrier in between them and optional but very important acts.

Especially amid ongoing attacks on mail-in ballots by the Trump administration, critics expressed certainty that this is another attack on voting rights.

“They know they won’t win midterms without cheating”