Former United States President Barack Obama addressed the service at the funeral of late US Congressman John Lewis, a pioneer of the civil rights movement and longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives who died July 17, at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. US July 30, 2020.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
Former President Barack Obama fired Donald Trump on Friday, accusing his administration of undermining the US Postal Service and trying to suppress voices during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Everyone depends on the USPS. Seniors for their social security, veterans for their prescriptions, small businesses trying to keep their doors open,” Obama said on Twitter in a series of messages.
“They can not be collateral damage to an administration that is more concerned with suppressing the mood than suppressing a virus.”
Democratic predecessors of Trump asked eligible voters in states with early voting options to do so “now.”
“The more votes are early, the less likely you are to see them at the last minute, both at polling stations and in states where emails are allowed. Then tell everyone you know,” Obama said.
The tweets marked the latest broadside against the Obama administration, which has grown more open in its run-up to the 2020 election in its criticism of the White House.
During his eulogy late last month at the funeral of former Rep. John Lewis, had called on Obama for the efforts of “those in power” who “do their best to get people to vote – by luring locations, and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting right with surgical precision, even undermining the Postal Service in the run-up to an election that will depend on e-mail ballots so that people do not get sick. “
The USPS has come under intense scrutiny in recent months. Lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about drastic operational changes by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major donor to Republicans and Trump-backed commissions, which has led to reports of widespread postal delays.
Democrats are worried that the changes could affect the 2020 presidential election between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, where more voters than ever before are expected to cast their ballots by mail.
Trump has meanwhile opposed the House Democrats’ efforts to raise billions of dollars for the financially reduced Post Office as part of any coronavirus-related relief package. He has repeatedly and aggressively claimed that widespread voting for post-in would bring catastrophic levels of electoral fraud – even though election experts say voter fraud is a rare occurrence.
In recent public remarks, Trump has suggested that if he refuses to approve a $ 25 billion infusion for USPS, as well as $ 3.6 billion for election funding, that Democrats have proposed, universal mail-in-voting may not occur.
Democrats say they are much more likely than Republicans to vote for president by post, according to a new poll / CNBC poll of likely voters in the battlefield states.
The poll, which was conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 9 and surveyed 2,701 likely voters from the battlefield, found 64% of Democrats and said they expected to vote by mail, compared to just 14% of Republican respondents and 36% of the Independents. The question has an error margin of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.
The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit earlier this month to stop Nevada from making progress with its plan to vote directly toward eligible voters. A handful of other states have already taken that step, and governing Phil Murphy announced Friday that New Jersey would also introduce a “hybrid model” in the November election, which would shift ballot papers to “everyone.”
Obama’s tweets Friday morning also point to a recent podcast interview with his former campaign manager David Plouffe, in which the 44th president directly criticized Trump.
“What we’ve never seen before is a president saying, ‘I’m going to try to force the Post Office to vote, and I’m going to be explicit about why I’m doing it,” Obama said. , right? ‘
.
