In a reliable serving of Democrt drivel, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell welcomed NBC's official presidential historian Michael Beschloss onto her Monday show where the two alleged that President Trump's approach to the U.S. Postal Service shows a contempt towards the constitution because the post office is a "sacred democratic institution" and an indispensable part of constitutional government on par with the military.
Mitchell began by asking Beschloss to explain, "the special place" the post office has "in our Constitution, in the founders' concept of how to tie these colonies together and create a more perfect union."
Beschloss used the fact that Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General in 1775 to argue that there has never been "a President in American history showing this kind of selfish contempt for a sacred democratic institution like the post office, almost wholly in our history."
He then incorrectly declared, "The Constitution specifically says that our government has to provide post offices and post roads just as you said, Andrea, to draw the very different states of our union together. Donald Trump took an oath to defend that Constitution. He's violating it by breaking up parts of the post office are and denying people the kind of service that they deserve."
What the Constitution actually says is that Congress can set up a postal service, it never says it must fund one to the degree demanded by MSNBC. If Congress wanted to privatize the USPS, it could.
Mitchell then condemned current postmaster general Louis DeJoy, "this postmaster is a prolific fundraiser, Republican fundraiser, he cut jobs, is cutting back right and left." The two then approved of Nancy Pelosi urging the post office's board of governors to fire DeJoy if he refused to cooperate with the Oversight Committtee.
(This all came before DeJoy announced on Tuesday that he would delay any service restrictions until after the election to take some of the steam out of the Democratic/media complex.)
Beschloss then made clear he wasn't buying the argument that reforms are needed to fix the post office's longstanding budget woes (the USPS lost nearly $9 billion last year), "He and the president are arguing they have to make the post office profitable which is a joke, because what this obviously is, a transparent attempt to sow chaos this fall in this election to undermine the ability of anyone to say this is an election that we can trust so that it Donald Trump may be able to slip through."
He then employed a truly awful analogy, arguing that wanting to reform the post office is akin to wanting a profitable military, "As far as the profit thing is concerned the government promises in the Constitution to provide for the common defense. Provide us all with safety and defense. If the Defense Department is not a profit center in a given year, does the president say, 'all right. We're going to deny defense to Cincinnati or St. Louis? This is ridiculous.'" He is ridiculous.
Apparently, MSNBC thinks political control over mail collection and distribution in the age of FedEx, UPS, and Amazon is just as important to civic life as political control over the military.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the August 17 show:
MSNBC
Andrea Mitchell Reports
12:17 PM ET
ANDREA MITCHELL: Joining me now is NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss. Michael, let’s talk about the post office, first of all and the special place in our Constitution, in the founders' concept of how to tie these colonies together and create a more perfect union.
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Sure does, Andrea. Never seen a president in American history showing this kind of selfish contempt for a sacred democratic institution like the post office, almost wholly in our history. Benjamin Franklin first postmaster general 1775. The Constitution specifically says that our government has to provide post offices and post roads just as you said, Andrea, to draw the very different states of our union together. Donald Trump took an oath to defend that Constitution. He's violating it by breaking up parts of the post office are and denying people the kind of service that they deserve.
MITCHELL: And the fact is, this postmaster is a prolific fundraiser, Republican fundraiser—BESCHLOSS: Right
MITCHELL:-- He cut jobs, is cutting back right and left. But Nancy Pelosi is calling them back to vote on a bill to protect the post office from further cuts, but if Mitch McConnell doesn't pick up that bill, it's not going anywhere and the president would likely veto it. So you know, whether she's coming back to put pressure as well on the board of governors of the post office. There’s a new letter has gone out to board of governors saying if DeJoy, the postmaster general doesn't cooperate with the Oversight Committee, they have authority to fire him.
BESCHLOSS: Which they should do if that happens. He and the president are arguing they have to make the post office profitable which is a joke, because what this obviously is, a transparent attempt to sow chaos this fall in this election to undermine the ability of anyone to say this is an election that we can trust so that it Donald Trump may be able to slip through. That's something we have never seen before in American history. As far as the profit thing is concerned the government promises in the constitution to provide for the common defense. Provide us all with safety and defense. If the Defense Department is not a profit center in the a given year, does the president say, all right. We're going to deny defense to Cincinnati or St. Louis? This is ridiculous.
