House Speaker and progressive leader Nancy Pelosi slammed Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans as “enemies of the state” for what she claimed was an attempt to sabotage mail-in voting for the 2020 election.
As The Independent reported, Pelosi’s comments came on the heels of a new poll that showed just 45 percent of respondents believe they can trust the results of November’s election.
“We take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. And sadly, the domestic enemies to our voting system and honoring our Constitution are right at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with their allies in the Congress of the United States,” she said.
Trump appointed one of his long-time allies and campaign donor, Louis DeJoy, as postmaster general. Since then, progressives have argued that DeJoy has used his power to remove the familiar blue collection boxes and to take mail sorting machines out of operation. In addition, postal workers have seen a reduction in hours and the ability to earn overtime pay, which they argue is necessary to process surges in mail.
All of this has resulted not only in a delay in current mail delivery, but it could hamper mailed ballot processing, as the agency could struggle to keep up with the increased demand.
“They’re doing everything they can [to] suppress the vote with [their] actions: scare people, intimidate by saying law enforcement will be there, diminish the role of the postal system in all of this. It’s really, actually shameful. Enemies of the state,” Pelosi said.
DeJoy was grilled by Democratic lawmakers on Monday over why he made the changes to the postal system. He denied the changes were an attempt to hamper voting. Prominent Republican Steve Scalise dismissed progressive claims as a conspiracy and a “fabricated crisis” as well.
DeJoy told lawmakers that any delay in current delivery was simply due to the nature of attempting to transition to the new process.
But the president has repeatedly said he doesn’t believe the United States should use mail-in voting in the upcoming race because it is riddled with potential for fraud. He called any suggestions that mail has slowed a “hoax.” Critics of Trump claim there is very little fraud with mail-in ballots and argue that the president supports absentee voting, which is essentially the same thing.
Pelosi warned citizens not to listen to Trump’s arguments and to not be intimidated by his claim that he will send law enforcement to polling places, saying they were his attempts to suppress turnout.
