As usual, the current hysteria all started because Donald Trump Said Something.
"We should be very precise with our language on this subject. Trump is saying here he opposes extra money in any stimulus bill to aid mail voting since he doesn't want universal mail voting," Scher pointed out.
The media, pundit class, and the highest levels of the Democratic Party responded to Trump by embracing a full-blown conspiracy theory about how he was deliberately sabotaging the post office.
As a conspiracy, that makes about as much sense as implying that Trump personally ordered the removal of 30 mailboxes in a state he lost by 11 percentage points in 2016 - a state, incidentally, in which every vote has been cast by mail for decades.
If Trump had uttered a statement that nutty, it would be greeted by a chorus of eye-rolling, newspaper fact checks, and an online onslaught of hysteria.
"We know Trump is trying to destroy USPS by having DeJoy remove sorting machines, cut back hours and increase the cost of stamps for mail in ballots," tweeted MSNBC contributor and journalism professor Jason Johnson.
We know this? Since when? Johnson's Chicken Little imitation represents the convergence of two conspiracy theories: One is that mail-sorting machines, like mailboxes, are being removed to help Trump in November; the other is that DeJoy, a GOP fundraiser, is Trump's puppet.
Yes, it's true that the post office has apparently removed or had plans to soon remove 19 mail sorting facilities from five processing facilities.
Vice obtained a document showing "These changes were in the works before Louis DeJoy, a top Trump donor and Republican fundraiser, became postmaster general." Again, removing mail sorting machines is hardly unprecedented.
Aside from an uptick in package delivery, the overall volume of mail the post office is delivering is projected to decline well into the future.
Trump's problematic comments are what they are, but what really lies behind the sudden emergence of millions of online Postal Justice Warriors raging at Trump is a deeper anxiety.
https://www.wnd.com/2020/08/another-full-blown-conspiracy-theory-hitting-2020-election/
No comments:
Post a Comment