As the November election nears, Congressman Adam Schiff is concerned about a multitude of things: President Donald Trump’s distrust of the United States Postal Service and mail-in ballots, Russian interference in the election, and how divided the country is right now.
Rep. Schiff said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy needs to put back the sorting machines that he took offline, restore the blue postal boxes that were taken away, and ask Congress what resources the USPS needs to make sure that mail and ballots can be delivered in a timely manner during the election.
“It would be nice if the Postmaster General actually advocated for the Postal Service, instead of what it is appearing to be the case, which is doing the President’s work, the dirty work of trying to slow down the Postal Service to discourage people voting by mail. And bear in mind, this is somebody who started out with the profound conflict because he is an owner in part of some large shipping interests. So I think he’s a poor choice and should step down, but if he’s going to stay, these are the steps I think he needs to take,” Rep. Schiff said.
Rep. Schiff said the President wants to “punish” Jeff Bezos, owner of both Amazon, the retail giant, and The Washington Post, the newspaper which frequently fact-checks the President.
“He has reportedly had secret meetings with the last postmaster to try to raise postal rates on Amazon for when Amazon uses the postal service as a way to try to make Jeff Bezos literally pay for the coverage of The Washington Post,” Rep. Schiff said. “That’s using the tools of the state to censor the press, and that’s a danger to our First Amendment.”
Rep. Schiff said he's “deeply concerned” about the prospect of having a free and fair election this year given Pres. Trump’s actions against the USPS and the actions of foreign adversaries like Russia.
On Twitter, Trump has touted that mail-in voting is "fraudulent," but there is no evidence that proves his statements. Twitter even added a fact-checking feature to the bottom of one of his tweets.
“He’s been a just gift to the Russians through his denigration of NATO and his belittling of the Transatlantic Alliance, his attacks on the Democratic allies, but nonetheless, the gravest threat frankly is the threat that the President himself poses by attacking the franchise,” he said. “And you know, I would have to differ in terms of the commentary about whether that’s possible to do by undermining the Postal Service. The president believes and has made it clear time and time again that if more Americans vote, and in particular if more Americans vote by mail, he believes that he won’t be re-elected, and indeed other Republicans will lose as well. And in fact, you know Democrats are much more inclined to vote by mail and so if he can attack voting by mail, and in particular if he can discredit it in certain places, he believes it’s a key to suppressing the vote and winning re-election.”
Rep. Schiff believes the “profound contrast” between Joe Biden and Pres. Trump is “most striking when it comes to character and to just basic decency.”
“You may not realize just how important character is in the highest office in the land until you see someone perform in that office who lacks character, who lacks basic decency, who can’t tell the truth, who doesn’t seem to know right from wrong,” Rep. Schiff said. “And I think it has just deeply divided the country. I think it has brought our country low in terms of our standing around the world, and this constant attack by this man of low moral character on our democratic institutions is doing just immeasurable damage. So this is really I think front and center, what voters need to decide: Do they want someone of this character or lack of character running the country?”
At the Democratic National Convention, many speakers conveyed the message that Biden could reunite the country if he were elected as President.
“What Joe Biden is essentially saying is, ‘I want to be inclusive. I want to represent all of America, people who voted for me and people who didn’t vote for me.’ That’s I think the kind of leadership we’ll get with Joe Biden. We know what we’ll get with Donald Trump, which is endless division, a deliberate effort every day to divide us, no effort to bridge the differences, so that too is on the ballot: Whether we’re going to have a president and a White House that intends to represent all Americans, or one that continues to represent just those in certain red states, or just those people who supported the President, and has an attitude of ‘to heck with everyone else.’”
Let Inside the Issues know your thoughts and watch Monday through Friday at 8 and 11 p.m. on Spectrum News 1.
Follow Charlotte Scott on Twitter.