> > https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-press-that-cried-wolf-75f > <https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-press-that-cried-wolf-75f?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyODc4MTksInBvc3RfaWQiOjg2OTA5NSwiXyI6IitBejY4IiwiaWF0IjoxNTk3ODAzNjUxLCJleHAiOjE1OTc4MDcyNTEsImlzcyI6InB1Yi0xMDQyIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.S9SHOQbQ2Z1qI3KDwVeVpzPk6lpqzdnhHtCdZmkToy4> > The Press that Cried Wolf The post office is at the center of the latest > moral panic, but how can readers tell what’s worth a real freakout anymore? > *Matt Taibbi <https://taibbi.substack.com/people/263053-matt-taibbi>* 14 > min > 1 > > Suddenly, the Postal Service is the biggest story in America. Donald > Trump’s latest “assault on our democracy” jockeyed for the lead theme on > the first night of the virtual Democratic National Convention > <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/17/dnc-democrats-push-back-against-trump-over-mail-voting-postal-service/3388519001/>. > Multiple speakers used the phrase “defund the post office” to describe > efforts by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy – the latest in a long line of > Trump acolytes occupying the Oil Can Harry role in news coverage – to pull > a seeming postal slowdown. > > Hashtags like #SaveThePostOffice are flying around social media. John > Ratzenberger, the actor who played beer-drinking mailman Cliff Clavin on > *Cheers, *recorded an Instagram video > <https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/18/entertainment/john-ratzenberger-usps-trnd/index.html> > on > behalf of the beleaguered service. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis described > <https://twitter.com/jamieleecurtis/status/1293246051772588032> seeing a > man wearing a “red cap” with “white letters” towing a postal truck away > made her wonder: > > *Conspiracy? Outright attempt at stealing the election by denying the > access of the USPS?* > > Pictures of mailboxes being moved or warehoused behind fencing rocketed > around the Internet. Another tweet making the rounds looked like a graphic > made by the postal workers’ union, and was retweeted by the likes of > Hillary Clinton: > Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton > Call your Republican senators and let them know: We won't let them > dismantle the USPS—and disenfranchise millions of Americans—without a > fight. > <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1294289332476542976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1294289332476542976%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fusps-poster-fascism-rain-snow-mail-2020-8> > apwu.org/savethepostoff… <http://apwu.org/savethepostoffice> > > August 14th 2020 > 4,640 Retweets13,052 Likes > > The graphic wasn’t made by the postal union, but whatever. The post > office’s journey from America’s most serially-ignored public institution to > subject of a massive international sympathy campaign – the U.S.P.S. is > currently the world’s largest baby trapped at the bottom of the world’s > largest well – is the latest bizarro development of the Trump years, when > news coverage has devolved into a never-ending procession of moral panics, > some real, some less so. Which is this? > > In April, Trump called the U.S.P.S. a “joke” and tied a $10 billion > emergency loan to a request that the it quadruple prices on packages > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/04/24/trump-postal-service-loan-treasury/>, > ostensibly as a way of sticking it to Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and the “fake > news” *Washington Post*. I hate Bezos as much as the next red-blooded > American, but Trump’s comments ended up mostly serving as kindling for a > later national wig-out. > > On May 9th, the Postal Service’s Board of Governors announced > <https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0506-bog-announces-selection-of-louis-dejoy-to-serve-as-nations-75th-postmaster-general.htm> > that > DeJoy, the CEO of a company called New Breed Logistics and a major Trump > donor, would become the new Postmaster General. Almost immediately, DeJoy > began implementing a series of moves that seemed designed to reduce the > efficiency of the post office, from removing 20% of letter sorting > machines > <https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkyv4k/internal-usps-documents-outline-plans-to-hobble-mail-sorting> > to moving or removing > <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-post-office-mail-in-voting-fraud-boxes-louis-dejoy-a9670816.html> > large > quantities of mailboxes. Then on July 29th, the U.S.P.S. appears to have > sent letter to multiple states warning > <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/usps-mail-in-ballots-pennsylvania-washington_n_5f360040c5b65bbd8c8aceb3> > that > mail-in ballots might not be received on time to be counted, because the > states’ deadlines are incompatible with the postal service’s “delivery > standards.” > > This was followed by Trump going on *Fox* and announcing he was unwilling > to spend money to keep funding the Post Office as part of a Covid-19 relief > package, saying, “They want $25 billion… if they don't get [it], that means > you can't have universal mail-in voting because you they're not equipped to > have it." > > Even by Trumpian standards, this was a semi-crazy thing to say out loud. > It gave outlets like *The Week *the ammo to say Trump was “sandbagging > the Post Office to prevent Americans from voting by mail.” The logic is > simple: about 72 percent of Democrats > <https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/MonmouthPoll_US_081120/> > say > they are at least somewhat likely to vote by mail, compared to 22 percent > of Republicans. A slowdown of the post office means a torpedo in the hull > of the Biden campaign. > > By this week, images of mailboxes became synonymous with voter > suppression, and the postal service supplanted the Muslim ban, “kids in > cages,” Muellermania, the Brett Kavanaugh fiasco > <https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/26/politics/julie-swetnick-allegation-kavanaugh/index.html>, > the campaign to save the job of Jeff Sessions > <https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1060297213052641280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1060297213052641280&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Flive%2F2018%2Fnov%2F08%2Felections-latest-live-us-news-upd>, > the Ukraine whistleblower, and a dozen other episodes to become the latest > all-consuming Media Fire That Never Dies. > > In the Trump years, the news has been covered as an ongoing emergency, > borrowing from techniques pioneered by *Fox New*s and perfected through > episodes like Benghazi. That story was blown into a frenzy for years, as > Fox created the impression that litigating every detail of the Libyan > mission narrative was at least 95% of what the average person should be > caring about at any given moment. > > CNN, MSNBC, the *New York Times *and the *Washington Post *are now > following the same script with the Trump panics. The pattern is consistent. > Day one involves spectacular claims of corruption. By day two, > placard-bearing protesters are hitting the streets (“You can’t fire the > truth > <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2018/nov/08/elections-latest-live-us-news-updates-trump-ruth-bader-ginsburg-jim-acosta-cnn-american-politics-today>!” > a protester in Times Square proclaimed in the Sessions affair), celebrities > are taping video appeals > <https://www.instagram.com/p/BkaqUMjFZbF/?utm_source=ig_embed>, and > experts are quoted suggesting Trump is already guilty of crime: OPEN > TREASON > <https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/1018994921796194304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1018994921796194304&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fmorning-mix%2Fwp%2F2018%2F07%2F17%2Ftreason-in-helsinki-it-do> > in > Helsinki, “bribery > <https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/news/2020/01/21/479664/trump-committed-crimes-ukraine-shakedown/>” > in Ukraine, or in this case, election interference (some are already > speculating that Trump could get a year > <https://theweek.com/articles/931278/trumps-post-office-meddling-plainly-illegal> > for > the mail slowdown). > New York Daily News @NYDailyNews > .@realDonaldTrump derides reports with which he disagrees as “fake news,” > then buys the Russian narrative hook, line, sinker, pole and boat. > <https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/1018994921796194304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1018994921796194304&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fmorning-mix%2Fwp%2F2018%2F07%2F17%2Ftreason-in-helsinki-it-do> > nydn.us/2NmOcF0 An early look at Tuesday's front... > > July 16th 2018 > 4,784 Retweets7,039 Likes > > Almost always, by day three or four, key claims are walked back: maybe > there was no direct “promise > <https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trumps-communications-with-foreign-leader-are-part-of-whistleblower-complaint-that-spurred-standoff-between-spy-chief-and-congress-former-officials-say/2019/09/18/df651aa2-da60-11e9-bfb1-84988736947>” > to a foreign leader, or the CIA doesn’t have “direct evidence > <https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1280211511550541824/photo/3>” of > Russian bounties, or viral photos of children in cages at the border were from > 2014 > <https://apnews.com/a98f26f7c9424b44b7fa927ea1acd4d4/AP-FACT-CHECK:-2014-photo-wrongly-used-to-hit-Trump-policies>, > not 2017. By then it doesn’t matter. A panic is a panic, and there are only > two reportable angles in today’s America, total guilt and total innocence. > Even when the balance of the information would still look bad or very bad > for Trump, news outlets commit to leaving out important background, so as > not to complicate the audience response. > > That’s the situation with this story, where the postal slowdown is > probably more serious than other Trump scandals, but people pushing it are > also not anxious to remind readers of their own histories on the issue. > > Take the *New York Times, *currently cranking out about a feature an hour > about the U.S.P.S. Paul Krugman is now telling us > <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/opinion/trump-us-mail.html> “The > Postal Service facilitates citizen inclusion. That’s why Trump hates it.” > Apparently, until recently, all decent Americans had bottomless affection > for the communal spirit of the Postal Service and supported it without > hesitation. Yet in April, 2012, in the middle of the Obama presidency, the > *Times *ran a very different house editorial > <https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/opinion/rain-snow-sleet-and-congress.html?_r=1&ref=opinion>. > > > The paper argued mounting losses necessitated swift action to reduce > costs. The *Times *worried that “lawmakers in both houses” would > “procrastinate as usual,” and blasted the Senate for devising a bill that > “timorously aims at part-time ‘downsizing,’ not closing, lightly used post > offices.” The paper added that decreased revenue thanks to email could mean > losses of “more than $20 billion a year by 2016,” and hoped that, so long > as “courage trumps procrastination,” the U.S.P.S. could be granted the > “flexibility of a modern business.” > > *This is an excerpt from today’s subscriber-only post > <https://taibbi.substack.com/p/year-zero>. To read the entire post and get > full access to the archives, you can subscribe for $5 a month or $50 a > year.* > > >
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