President Donald Trump has chosen Louis DeJoy, a GOP fundraiser who has also donated to Trump’s campaign, to be the new United States postmaster general at the United State Postal Service (USPS), an independent agency Trump has repeatedly attacked.
“Postal workers are the heart and soul of this institution, and I will be honored to work alongside them and their unions,” DeJoy said in a statement to the Washington Post.
USPS Board of Governors chair Robert Duncan, another Trump appointee, told the Post that DeJoy “understands the critical public service role of the United States Postal Service, and the urgent need to strengthen it for future generations.”
The new USPS leader has donated millions to Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, and he is also the finance chairman for the GOP’s 2020 convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Trump has been railing against the USPS over the past several weeks, calling it a “joke” and refusing to allow the agency to receive emergency COVID-19 funds as it hemorrhages cash amid the outbreak.
The President has demanded the USPS increase its prices on packages, particularly as it relates to Amazon, which belongs to Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Trump is reportedly aiming at Amazon with his demand out of anger toward the Post’s coverage.
The Postal Service is also responsible for mail-in voting, which Trump has vehemently opposed even during the COVID-19 outbreak because it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”
