Going Postal

The phrase “going postal” has been around since the 1970’s. It was coined after a tragic series of mass shootings committed by United States Postal Service employees between the 1970s and 1990s. The smiling mailman turned out not to be what he seemed to be.

Which brings me to a new twist on the term: The Don’s attempt to prevent the post office from sending out mail-in ballots, a blatant attempt by the federal government to create chaos and influence the results of the mid-term elections. However, the constitution makes it clear that the states control their elections*; the president has no jurisdiction or power over how each state creates its procedures to ensure fair and free elections. As we have witnessed time and time again, what the constitution says is of little interest to The Don.

The most dramatic aspect of the proposed rule is a plan to deny services for election mail entirely in states that do not turn over voter data, which federal officials say they need to identify noncitizens on state voter rolls. The government is attempting to blackmail states: No voting data, no money to assist in your elections, which would create chaos. Are you surprised that in 2024, more than one in three Democrats voted by mail, compared with about one in four Republicans? 

With his executive order to the post office, The Don  is attempting to kill the voting rights of the American people. According to The Don, this executive order is necessary to preserve election integrity. Once again, we bear witness to another episode of the “The Opposite Game,” where people with authority try to convince the audience that their lies and nefarious intentions are for their own good.

The man who attempted to overturn the 2020 election is proclaiming once again that he is committed to making elections safe. His efforts to undermine our democracy are in plain sight. The man who stood by while a crowd of marauders yelled out “Hang Mike Pence” still proclaims he is the great defender of democracy. 

Under the executive order, the Department of Homeland Security will create lists of U.S. citizens that the administration believes could be used to monitor voter rolls for non-citizens. The premise is absurd: It is a matter of law that non-citizens can’t vote. It is also a fact that there is no significant fraud in our elections. The administrations actions remind me of the practice of “Redlining,” when blacks were targeted and rejected from renting apartments.** In the mail-in voting version,, lists from states are reviewed and anyone with a Latino sounding name may be targeted.

A number of lower courts blocked the administration from proceeding with disrupting the mail-in process. On cue, the awfully Supreme Court, sided with The Don. Their decision was laughable at its core stating the order could not demonstrate that the states were sufficiently harmed by voting rules that had not yet taken effect. In fact, days before the court ruled, the Postal Service formally published a new plan to comply with The Don’s executive order. These judges are colluding in the dismantling of our democracy. 

The overturning of the district court’s decision to block The Don’s order is prompted Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to write in dissent: “It also lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges.” What she probably referred to was the majority on the court supported the notion that The Don was pursuing reasonable policies “regarding election integrity”  (the courts words), claiming the lower courts were interfering with The Don’s good faith “policy goals.” Kafkaesque indeed.

The Don has made it abundantly clear that he is determined to interfere with our elections. The “Save Act” which thankfully will not pass in the Senate would disenfranchise millions of voters who could not meet stringent voter registration requirements. There are Threats to send in I.C.E. agents to intimidate voters and talk of seizing voting machines to throw the results into doubt. The Don urged states to gerrymander their districts to improve Republicans chances of winning more seats. The rightwing justices know what the president plans to do but pretends he is acting in good faith? All of this leads to a lack of faith and confusion in the voting process. Doubt and chaos in the voting process is exactly the point and makes it easier for The Don to yell foul and justify invalidating the elections. Let’s face it: The Don aided by the Supreme Court are weaponizing the post office on the people. In other words, they are going postal on us.

*Article I, Section 4, Clause 1: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

**(The Don and his father were redliners extraordinaire to the extent that the Nixon administration’s D.O.J. sued them not once, but twice for violating civil rights laws.)