DeJoy USPS Sabotage: Removed Sorting Machines, Slowed Mail Before 2020 Election

Overview

Trump wanted to block mail-in voting. He said so. He said why — to prevent the Post Office from handling the millions of ballots he expected would be cast by mail in a pandemic year. He said it on television.

His appointed Postmaster General had already been removing the machines needed to sort those ballots.

The Machines

671 high-speed mail-sorting machines were removed from postal facilities. Some were not just removed — they were disassembled and destroyed before DeJoy announced the suspension of changes. They could not be reinstalled in time for the election even if the political will had existed to do so.

The USPS's stated rationale was operational efficiency. The timing — implementing capacity reductions at a mail-processing facility months before an election being conducted primarily by mail during a pandemic — did not support this explanation.

The Statement

Trump's August 13 statement on Fox Business was unusual for its directness. Presidents routinely obscure the connection between policy levers and electoral outcomes. Trump described the connection explicitly: the money would enable universal mail-in voting, which he opposed, so he was opposing the money.

The statement was entered as evidence in multiple lawsuits challenging the postal changes.

What Was Protected

Medication by mail. Veterans' prescriptions. Medical equipment. Small business orders. All of these were affected by the delivery slowdowns. The sorting machine removals did not discriminate between ballots and prescription drugs.

The ballots were the point. The rest was collateral.