In May of 2020, Trump appointed longtime ally and support Louis DeJoy to Postmaster General of the United States Post Service. According to The Washington Post, DeJoy as of June, 2020, DeJoy and his wife had between $30 million and $75 million in assets of competitors to USPS, representing a clear conflict of interest. He has also donated $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund, and millions more to other Republican candidates and organizations.
Louis DeJoy. Wikipedia
In August of 2020, 23 senior officials were removed or re-assigned in what was called part of larger cost-cutting measures. Overtime pay for postal workers to ensure all mail is delivered on time was also removed, leading to backlogs across the country. Critics voiced concerns about delays in mail, especially ahead of the 2020 election. DeJoy’s USPS has also moved to nearly triple the cost of mail-in voting ballots, from 20 cents to 55 cents per ballot. The cost is paid for by the states, already experiencing severe budget issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USPS has long been a target of those wishing to shift its responsibilities to private for-profit entities. In 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act required that the USPS considers and provides funding for pension and healthcare benefits 75 years out, which no other government agency is required to do.
Reports surfaced of mail boxes and sorting machines being removed and destroyed in multiple states, slowing down mail delivery across the nation. Business deliveries, social security checks, and medicine were delayed.
DeJoy announced that he had no intentions of replacing the removed sorting machines, and the USPS prevented the release of data collected on mail delays.
In the 2018 Florida midterm and gubernatorial election, Republicans alleged widespread voter fraud. Neither the state’s monitors or law enforcement had any reason to believe it was the case.
Trump took to Twitter to demand that absentee ballots, which are largely from active duty military members, be ignored.
The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!
Trump made the claim after a segment of wall on the US-Mexico border began showing severe “signs of erosion“ months after being completed. Fisher Industries of North Dakota, which built the segment for $42 million, referred to the design a “Lamborghini.”
I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised money by ads. It was only done to make me look bad, and perhsps it now doesn’t even work. Should have been built like rest of Wall, 500 plus miles. https://t.co/L8RUPCAhqc
Trump retweeted a video of Stella Immanuel claiming that hydroxochloroquine was a cure for COVID-19. Trump made the unsubstantiated claims about the drug many times, despite there being no evidence for it. She also called masks unnecessary.
Immanuel previously claimed that various gynecological diseases were the result of sexual intercourse with demons and their “evil deposits.” She also claimed that medicines were made from “alien DNA.” In 2019, she was sued for malpractice.
In a subsequent press conference, Trump referred to her as “very impressive,” drawing criticism and ridicule as “demon sperm” became a trending Twitter topic.
In a video posted to Twitter and Facebook, Trump claimed that children were “mostly immune” to COVID-19. The videos, part of a campaign to re-open schools across America amid record case and death numbers, was flagged by Twitter and Facebook for misinformation.
Though the suspension was for 12 hours, the video was quickly removed from both platforms and the suspension dropped.
In a June 2019 interview with ABC News’ Stephanopoulos, Trump said that he would accept information from foreign governments without reporting it to authorities.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have information on your opponent,’ do you call the FBI?”
TRUMP: Okay, let’s put yourself in a position: you’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey I have information on your opponent.” Do you call the FBI?
STEPHANOPOULOS: (inaudible) if it’s coming from Russia you do.
TRUMP: I’ll tell you what: I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you–
STEPHANOPOULOS: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
TRUMP: Well, that’s different. A stolen briefing book. This isn’t a (inaudible). This is somebody who said “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The FBI Director says that’s what should happen.
TRUMP: The FBI Director is wrong. Because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life…
During an August 7 press conference, Trump dismissed his own intelligence community’s belief that Russia was working to again have Trump elected.
REPORTER: Thank you, sir. Mr. President, the intelligence agencies today said that Russia is already meddling in this year’s elections to hurt Joe Biden, and that China is considering meddling to hurt you. Do you believe that intelligence, and what do you plan to do about it?
TRUMP: I mean, I could be very much. I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump, because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have, ever.
REPORTER: That’s not what they calling it.
TRUMP: Well, I don’t care what anybody says. Nobody with any common sense would say, “Do it.” Look at what we’ve done with our military. Look at what we’ve done in exposing the pipeline with billions of dollars going to Russia. Look at all of the things we’ve done with NATO, where I’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries that were delinquent, and now they’re paying all of this money. And the $130, by the way, $130 billion, not million, billion, goes to $400 billion over a few years. And that’s all money to protect against Russia. China would love us to have an election where Donald Trump lost sleepy Joe Biden. They would dream. They would own our country.
National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina released a press statement the same day that asserted, “We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.'”
The suit, which Young posted on his website, states, “The Campaign has willfully ignored Plaintiff’s telling it not to play the songs and willfully proceeded to play the songs despite a lack of license.” It goes on to explain that Young “in good conscience cannot allow his music to be used as a ‘theme song’ for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate.”
Trump’s campaign has used various songs without the artists’ permission.
