The Morning Dispatch: Trump Openly Resists Funding to Help the Postal Service

Happy Friday! Yesterday was one of those ludicrous overstuffed days where we start to worry this email’s going to get too long to fit in your inboxes. So no time for idle chatter—on to the news!

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The United States confirmed 55,456 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, with 5 percent of the 1,115,758 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 1,172 deaths were attributed to the virus on Thursday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 167,106. 

• President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. had brokered a landmark peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, scrambling diplomatic relations across the Middle East and further isolating Iran as a common regional enemy. “Now that the ice has been broken,” Trump said, “I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead.” 

• Congress is moving further away from a coronavirus aid deal, with leaders still hopelessly deadlocked and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announcing that—barring an unexpected breakthrough—the Senate will not hold any more votes until September 8.

• The Supreme Court has declined to block a Rhode Island rule easing access to absentee voting that the Republican National Committee had challenged in court. Rhode Island law requires an absentee ballot to be signed by two witnesses or a notary public, but a lower court had ordered that rule eased—a decision to which state election officials had consented—following a lawsuit last month.

• President Trump told the New York Post Thursday he would probably give his GOP nomination acceptance speech from the White House, a move cleared Wednesday by a federal ethics office.

• Sec. of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged for the first time publicly that he confronted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about U.S. intelligence that Russia had been offering bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. “If the Russians are offering money to kill Americans or, for that matter, other Westerners as well, there will be an enormous price to pay,” Pompeo said he told Lavrov.

• The Department of Justice announced Thursday it concluded that Yale University has been discriminating against Asian American and white undergraduate applicants in its admissions process. A Yale spokeswoman said the school is “proud” of its admissions practices, and that it “will not change them on the basis of such a meritless, hasty accusation.”

• Four days after a mammoth wind storm rampaged across Iowa and Illinois, hundreds of thousands of Iowa and Illinois residents are still without power.

Defund the U.S. Post Office?

In an interview with Fox Business Thursday morning, President Trump said he opposes increased funding for the U.S. Postal Service because, in his own words, “that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.” Democrats want to allocate $25 billion in emergency funding to the Postal Service so that states can better prepare for the tidal wave of absentee ballots that will make their way through government postal services prior to the election. 

But the president doesn’t see it that way. “[Democrats] want $3.5 billion for something that’ll turn out to be fraudulent, that’s election money basically,” Trump said. “They want $3.5 billion for the mail-in votes. Universal mail-in ballots. They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now they need that money in order to make the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots.”

The president made similar comments in a Wednesday press conference, suggesting increased federal funding to the USPS is the only means by which the Democrats can successfully implement universal vote-by-mail nationwide. “They don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, they can’t do it, I guess,” he said. “Are they going to do it even if they don’t have the money?” 

Democrats were quick to allege the president—along with the GOP writ large—is undermining the election. “The President of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundreds of millions of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural economies and for delivery of medicines, because he wants to deprive Americans of their fundamental right to vote safely during the most catastrophic public health crisis in over 100 years,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.

“The attacks on the Postal Service did not begin with Trump,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted. “Republicans have been trying to privatize it for years. We cannot allow them to destroy it.”

Trump’s aversion to universal mail-in voting is, of course, not new—despite the fact that the president himself requested a mail-in ballot to vote in Florida’s primary next Tuesday. Trump admitted in March that Democratic attempts to make voting more accessible would hurt the GOP. “The things they had in there were crazy,” he said on Fox & Friends. “They had things—levels of voting that, if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”

The president’s doubling down yesterday comes just one week after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—a Trump mega-donor and fundraiser who was tapped for the job in May—made some changes to the U.S. Postal Service’s operational structure. For example, the USPS announced that it will be trying out new mail sorting machines and policies and will be directing post offices to no longer treat election mail as First Class.

Democrats claim these changes are politically motivated attempts to undermine the integrity of the Postal Service in the months leading up to the election. “The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service,” wrote 175 House Democrats in a letter to DeJoy on Wednesday. 

The USPS is governed by a board with 11 seats: Nine are presidential appointees, and the postmaster general and the deputy—both of whom are picked by the rest of the board—round out the final two. The law dictates that, to keep the board non-partisan, no more than five of the appointees can be from the same party. But because the board hasn’t been fully staffed in years—there are currently only six appointees—it is largely filled by Republicans right now, with only two of the governors appearing to be Democrats.

In a recent interview with The Dispatch Fact Check, Dave Partenheimer—the public relations manager for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—disputed allegations that the Postal Service’s recent policy changes were politically influenced. “Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down Election Mail or any other mail,” he said. “Instead, we continue to employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail consistent with our standards.” Partenheimer also denied allegations that the postmaster general deliberately ordered postal workers to slow down the mail.

It’s clear that the GOP is using whatever legal means possible to challenge statewide universal vote-by-mail orders across the country. As Audrey explained last week, the Republican Party is currently litigating mail-in voting in 19 different states. “The RNC is fighting back against Democrats’ attempts to radically transform our elections by mailing ballots to all voters, legalizing ballot harvesting, extending Election Day deadlines and gutting verification procedures,” RNC National Press Secretary Mandi Merritt told The Dispatch when pressed on the president’s comments about universal mail-in-voting. “In addition to opening the door to fraud, these forcibly implemented changes would overwhelm our state and mail systems, cause chaos, and disenfranchise voters in the process.”

Marjorie Greene Is Already Causing Problems for the GOP

We noted Wednesday QAnon sympathizer Marjorie Taylor Greene’s victory in the Republican primary runoff for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. She’s declared that the 2018 midterm election was “an Islamic invasion of our government.” She’s claimed that Hillary Clinton has sacrificed chickens in her backyard to the ancient Canaanite deity, Moloch. “I know a ton of white people that are as lazy and sorry and probably worse than black people,” Greene once said in reference to unemployment.

In the two days since she’s been a nominee, and odds-on favorite to win in November, she’s only put the Republican Party in a tougher spot.

Another video emerged on Thursday, this one exposing Greene’s conspiratorial beliefs surrounding the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Speaking at the 2018 American Priority Conference, Greene referenced the “so-called plane that crashed into the Pentagon” on September 11, 2001, claiming it’s “odd” that “there’s never any evidence shown for a plane in the Pentagon.” (Greene did not apologize for the remarks, but did admit Thursday on Twitter that she “now know[s] that is not correct.”)

In a piece for the site, Declan found House Republicans to be none too chatty regarding their likely new colleague. He reached out to 30 different GOP congressional offices across the party’s ideological spectrum on Thursday; GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s was the only one that got back to him.

Where does Republican leadership stand on Greene’s candidacy?

Well, President Trump welcomed Greene to the party on Wednesday, calling her a “future Republican Star” and a “real WINNER!” She’s also been endorsed by prominent House Freedom Caucus members like Reps. Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and Andy Biggs.

Things get a little more complex in House leadership. When Greene’s comments about the midterms being an “Islamic invasion” and Black Lives Matter activists being “idiots” first surfaced in mid-June, an aide for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called them “appalling” and said McCarthy “has no tolerance for them.” But yesterday, after her victory in the GOP primary, a McCarthy spokesperson told The Dispatch the Minority Leader “look[s] forward” to Greene’s victory in November.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Chris Pack told reporters back in June the group’s chairman, Rep. Tom Emmer, was “personally disgusted” by Greene’s rhetoric and that he “condemns it in the strongest possible terms.” A spokesman for House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney said at the time she “obviously … opposes [Greene’s] offensive and bigoted comments,” and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise argued Greene’s remarks “don’t reflect the values of equality and decency that make our country great.” But Scalise did something neither McCarthy nor Cheney did: endorse Dr. John Cowan, Greene’s opponent.

Could McCarthy’s involvement in the race have prevented Greene from winning?

A source close to Cowan’s campaign—who requested anonymity out of a fear QAnon adherents might “show up at [their] house”—sure thinks so. “Look, I do believe that it would’ve been very helpful if Leader McCarthy would have come through,” the Cowan campaign source said. “Until the leadership of the party truly is willing to stand up and fight back, these QAnon people are going to continue to be more and more prevalent.”

Didn’t House leadership strip Rep. Steve King of his committee assignments a few years back? Could they do that to Greene?

Sure, they could. But McCarthy’s office already told Politico he’s not considering that step. Politico reports that Greene, per McCarthy, will be “welcomed into the GOP conference.”

Declan caught up with King on the phone last night, to get his thoughts on McCarthy’s apparent double standard. “The only principle I can identify that resides within McCarthy is the principle to expand his own power,” he said. “He’s perhaps thinking that Republicans could win the majority back, and he’ll need [Greene’s] vote for speaker.”

Republicans are highly unlikely to reclaim the House in November given current polling trends, but McCarthy will need much more than Greene’s vote if he wants to retain his job as minority leader come 2021. McCarthy currently has the support of the House Freedom Caucus—a group of about 40 of the Republican conference’s most pro-Trump members—and, given Jordan/Gaetz/Biggs’ endorsement of Greene, this HFC support helps explain McCarthy’s stance.

After the McCarthy spokesman passed along his initial statement in support of Greene, Declan followed up to ask if McCarthy regretted stripping King of his committee assignments due to the precedent it set, or if the minority leader did not believe Greene’s comments and beliefs rise to the level of King’s. He did not receive a response.

A Historic Diplomatic Agreement

In another piece for the site, Charlotte broke down the landmark peace deal announced yesterday between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

President Trump announced Thursday that the White House had brokered an historic agreement to establish full diplomatic ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Unlike previous agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, this agreement is unique in a number of ways: The parties worked to reach an agreement discreetly, without the intense public scrutiny that accompanied peace agreements with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. The UAE is also the first Gulf state and non-contiguous Arab country to establish ties with Israel. Given the coordination of foreign policy with its neighbors, the UAE could be the first of several Gulf states to recognize Israel, the result of which would be normalized relations between the Jewish state and its predominantly Sunni Arab neighbors.

The agreement, which President Trump shared over Twitter, laid out a mutually beneficial relationship in which the UAE would fully acknowledge Israel’s right to nationhood; in exchange, Israel has agreed to refrain from declaring sovereignty over stretches of the West Bank. Israel is undoubtedly one of the primary military and economic powers in the region, with advanced nuclear and cybersecurity capabilities. The 2010 Stuxnet computer worm, for example, unleashed extensive damage to Iran’s budding nuclear program. As a result of the agreement, the UAE is poised to gain access to elements of the Israeli technological and security apparatus. 

Over the coming weeks, several bilateral agreements will seek to integrate the two countries diplomatically and economically, covering areas such as investment, direct flights, security, technology, and energy. The UAE and Israel will work together to share intellectual resources and develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Notably, the statement also references the establishment of mutual embassies, although Anwar Garash—the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs—indicated that his country’s embassy would not be placed in Jerusalem. Israel’s capital (and the site of the U.S. Embassy after Trump initiated the move from Tel Aviv in 2018) has long been a touchpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as host to a number of Muslim holy sites.

Worth Your Time

• Kevin Roose’s latest column has a provocative headline: “Think QAnon Is on the Fringe? So Was the Tea Party.” But he might have a point. “Democrats dismissed it as a fringe group of conspiracy-minded zealots,” he writes. “Moderate Republicans fretted over its potential to hurt their party’s image, while more conservative lawmakers carefully sought to harness its grass-roots energy. Sympathetic media outlets covered its rallies, portraying it as an emerging strain of populist politics — a protest movement born of frustration with a corrupt, unaccountable elite. Then, to everyone’s surprise, its supporters started winning elections.” While QAnon adherents’ beliefs are far, far more radical than Tea Party activists a decade ago, Roose’s description above could fairly easily apply to the spread of both movements.

• There are several moments in this profile of Jared Kushner from Franklin Foer in The Atlantic that will make you say ‘wow.’ Here’s one of them. “On the path to becoming Donald Trump’s favorite, Kushner suffered his father-in-law’s sadistic jibes. The president liked to joke about how he considered Kushner an inadequate spouse for his daughter. He would muse about how he wished Ivanka had married the quarterback Tom Brady,” Foer writes. “There was often the implication that Jared was somehow insufficiently manly. Impersonating Jared, he liked to break into a sniveling, high-pitched voice. He would mimic how Jared would ask him to call a donor. ‘Oh, Mr. Trump, can you please call him, Mr. Trump? He will give you so much money, Mr. Trump.’ After the TV host Joe Scarborough heard Trump’s imitation, he related the moment to Kushner. Instead of reacting with anger, Kushner merely told Scarborough that he never called his father-in-law ‘Mr. Trump.’”

• A couple days ago, you might have seen headlines (including in this newsletter!) about an unnerving new study suggesting that buffs—the stretchy fabric accessory that covers your mouth, nose, and neck, also called a gaiter—aren’t just ineffective for preventing the transmission of COVID-19, they’re actually worse than going about unmasked. Science reporting site Quartz has a piece up now cautioning that the jury’s still out. The money paragraph: “The truth is, this study was never intended to study the efficacy of buffs and other face masks at all; it was more about designing a new way to test mask efficacy. And without comparing this new droplet-measuring method to existing methods, it shouldn’t be used to completely rule out buffs as a face covering.” 

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Also Presented Without Comment

Toeing the Company Line

• David and Sarah share some thoughts on Marjorie Taylor Greene and what a QAnon congresswoman might mean for the future of the GOP on Thursday’s Advisory Opinions episode. The pair also discuss the new police officer body camera footage leading up to George Floyd’s killing, as well as the constitutional underpinnings of John Eastman’s Newsweek piece questioning Kamala Harris’ eligibility for office on birtherist grounds.

• Yesterday’s midweek edition of The Sweep features a deep dive from TMD’s own Nate Hochman on Texas’ 21st Congressional District and the race to represent it. “First-term Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a Tea Party-style conservative who voted against the first-round coronavirus relief package, is in a dead heat against progressive Wendy Davis seven years after her 11-hour-long filibuster against abortion restrictions launched her onto the national stage.”

Let Us Know

You’ll seldom see us typing the following words in this order, but … Is Steve King right? Does he have a case against McCarthy’s apparent double standard here?

Reporting by Declan Garvey (@declanpgarvey), Andrew Egger (@EggerDC), Charlotte Lawson (@charlotteUVA), Audrey Fahlberg (@FahlOutBerg), Nate Hochman (@njhochman), and Steve Hayes (@stephenfhayes).

Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images.