DeJoy claims he will postpone sabotage of the USPS until after election

Remain vigilant, of course, but this is very good news:

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he is suspending changes to mail service that raised concerns over slow delivery of ballots in the fall election after Democrats accused President Donald Trump of hampering the vote-by-mail process.

“To avoid even the appearance of any impact [LOL — ed.] on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded,” DeJoy said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

DeJoy said that mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are, and no mail processing facilities will be closed. Overtime work will “continue to be” approved as needed, he said.

The announcement follows concerns from Democrats and others over apparent mail slowdowns as the coronavirus pandemic leads to the necessity for increased mail-in voting options. DeJoy is to appear twice before Congress in coming days: on Friday at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and on Monday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Trump not only beginning his ratfucking campaign far enough in advance of the election that the opposition could come up with alternatives and being so explicit about what he was doing and why that even the most determined Both Sides Do It factchecker couldn’t deny it is an example of his total incompetence undermining his authoritarianism. But his authoritarianism remains, and when it comes to vote suppression elite Republicans are fully on board, so there’s still a lot of threats to a fair election in November. Still, forcing Trump and DeJoy to back down is an important victory, and not just for the election.