And pushing back sometimes does. For example, it seems to have worked tonight to stop the Trump Administration from stealing your mailbox. From, literally, snatching your local mailbox off that corner in your neighborhood where it has been forever. You may have seen some of these pictures this week. Flatbed trucks with a whole bunch of our mailboxes piled up in the back, as workers unbolt them from the sidewalk, remove them, put them in a truck, and drive them away. Theyve been going around, unbolting these things and taking them. But apparently, as of tonight, they are going to stop doing that. At least, for now. At least, until after the election. Because of the pushback theyve had against it. And this is important, as a matter of principle and, i think, in terms of understanding where were at, as americans. Its, also, like a substantively interesting and important part of this story we have been covering now for a few weeks. But lets in all of the coverage that weve done about the Postal Service and the president saying hes going to sabotage it, in order to stop it from stop the Postal Service from being able to handle mailedin ballots for the election. All the elements that we have covered around this story, for the past couple of weeks, i feel like the one thing that we havent done is really talk about where this starts. And, it turns out, its really gross. Just a few weeks after trump was inaugurated, Republican National committee, Republican Party, announcing effectively that the trump guys would be coming in, taking over. Now, i have to tell you, they have since taken down that press release we just put up on the screen. Because theyre embarrassed about it now. But nothing ever, really, goes away on the internet. And we captured it so we still have it, even though theyve deleted it. And even now, you know, threeplus years after they put this up, it is still amazing to see. Look. Today, Republican National committee finance chairman. Describing these longtime friends of the party and the supporters of this administration, Elliot Broidy, Michael Cohen, and louis dejoy will serve as National Deputy finance chairmen of the rnc. Trump gets sworn in, in january. The Republican Party announced this, like, six or eight weeks later. But look at who they announce. The new deputy finance chairs of the rnc. Number one is Michael Cohen. The same Michael Cohen, ultimately, convicted on multiple felonies. Sentenced to years in federal prison. Currently, out on home release because of coronavirus, and about to release a tellall book in which hes supposed to describe multiple crimes he committed with the president. Second rnc finance cochair announced in april 2017, by the Republican Party, is this guy. Elliot broidy, who had previously pled guilty to bribing multiple new york state officials. Was only spared prison time, after he flipped and turned states evidence. That that was in his record, before they picked him. After they picked him, in the trump era, Elliot Broidy has been in the headlines for lots of things. For example, as the reported subject of multiple, federal grand jury investigations into various corruption schemes. Also, you might remember when this guy from the campaign effort, george nader. Was why george nader gave Elliot Broidy 2. 5 million before i went off to prison. He did end up stepping down from his role when it turned out he used all the same documents and tricks, just like the president did with Michael Cohen, as a Campaign Finance violation in 2016. So, yeah. So, here is the press release again, right . Announcing the new money men for in the trump era. Michael cohen. That did not work out well. Number two, Elliot Broidy, that did not work out well. But also, steve wynn, of course, also, would soon have to go. Resigning from the rnc as its finance chairman, amid Sexual Harassment allegations that led him to, not only give up the topmoney job at the Republican Party, he also had to give up ownership of his own, gigantic company, and pay his company 20 million. So that was really i mean, this one document. I understand why the rnc has deleted it now, right . This is one for the ages. Just weeks into it, theyll be taking over Money Matters for the Republican Party. Right . All the best people. But then, theres one other guy on the list. Louis dejoy. He, alongside Michael Cohen and Elliot Broidy and steve wynn, was the guy announced in that press release. Louis dejoy is, now, trumps appointee as postmaster general. The guy, who trump has installed to take over the post office, as the president embarrasses on an admitted overt campaign. To mess up the mail. To mess up the post office so it cant handle the ballots that are going to be mailed in for for the election. They need that money, in order to have the post officer work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots. If we dont make a deal, that means they dont get the money. That means they cant have universal mailin voting. They just cant have it. The president appointed this guy, louis dejoy. Republican fundraiser with no experience in postal anything, other than him being invested, heavily, in companies that compete against the post office. And so, he would, therefore, personally, financially, benefit if the post office fails under his leadership. President trump installed him in office in may. Mr. Dejoy immediately instituted changes to deliberately slow down mail delivery. Admitting that would be a consequence of the policy changes that he was instituting. He was, soon, summoned to meet with topcongressional leaders to explain what he was doing to deliberately slow down mail delivery. Although, the president recently told reporters he has never spoken to louis dejoy as postmaster general, the Washington Post now reports that, in fact, right before louis dejoy went to that meeting with congressional democrats, he met with the president in the oval office. Why is the president lying about the fact that he has been talking to this guy since he has been postmaster general . And why does the postmaster general need to meet with the president . Well, he did have that meeting in the oval office with the president , which the president lied about. Then, he went and had that meeting with congressional leaders. And that night, after he met with congressional leaders, louis dejoy, late on a friday night, removed nearly two dozen Senior Executives from the post office of their jobs. These are people who oversee mail delivery and logistics. He took them out of their jobs, late on a friday night. So as to concentrate the power in mail delivery, in himself. Then, we started to learn it wasnt just these policy changes that deliberately slowed down the mail. Ordering postal workers to work less, and to leave mail behind. We started to learn from postal workers, even though there had been no public announcement about it, that they were removing sorting equipment. Removing the machines that sort the mail from post offices across the country. Multiple News Agencies have now obtained internal documents that show that, yes, they are pulling more than 670 bulk sorting machines out of postal facilities all over the country. As the Washington Post puts it today, these machines are mostly being pulled from, quote, highpopulation areas. Which translates in electoral terms, of course, to places where democrats live. After local press around the country started to discover that there had been notification letters from the Postal Service to individual states. Warning them that the post office, under louis dejoy, doesnt plan to get ballots in, in time, to be kounltcounted une timeframes that states have set up for voters this fall. The Washington Post was first to report today that actually its 46 states and d. C. That have received these from the Postal Service. Effectively saying, we dont plan on getting ballots in, in time, to be counted. These plans that you have for vote by mail. We dont think theyre going to work. The slowdowns in the mail, already, are having a material effect on peoples lives. Just anecdotally, i will tell you. You know, weve set up this website www. Sendittorachel. Com. That means we get a lot of feed back from you guys, twitter messages, voicemails, all the different ways that you guys are able to get in touch with us. I have never asked for any viewer feedback on this subject. But anecdotally, here at the show, we have been sort of flooded with unsolicited accounts. People wanting us to know that their prescriptions are arriving late. Their bills are getting to them late, and or their payments of their bills are being delayed when they send them back in the mail. So people are getting late fees from paying their various bills. And, in some cases, thats messing with their credit ratings. Small business owners, who have always relied on postal shipping, have been volunteering to us, to me, and this cable news show. I think just because we have been covering the story like everybody else. Business owners have been contacting us to tell us how much their businesses are getting screwed up now. By brand new shipping delays they never had before. And mail delays. And stuff just not working with the mail, the way it always has before. And there isnt some glitch in something thats going wrong at the Postal Service. This isnt, like, a covid thing. This is deliberate stuff. This is a deliberate sabotage of what the Postal Service does. They are messing it up, on purpose. And louis dejoy admits that the stuff that he has done, yeah, it seems to be slowing down deliveries. But, in the long run, itll be all for the good. But that material effect on peoples lives and the way we all depend on the mail. It has it has led to a couple of interesting things that we are now seeing in the wild. One, is that and this sort of, like, plucks all my heart strings, all at once, just as a civics dork. We, at least, are seeing in public, on social media and in our own anecdotal communications with our viewers. Were seeing people ask what they can do, how they can help. People have been writing to us. People have been writing online to like the postal workers unions. Literally, asking if they, as citizens can volunteer to help sort the mail. Or make meals for postal workers. Or can they raise funds for their local post office . What can we do . We pay for the Postal Service with stamps. We, also, pay for it with our taxes. We shouldnt have to do that. Its the u. S. Postal service. But we are seeing organically, that people really dont want the freaking mail messed with. They want to help, they want to protect the Postal Service. And they, also, are mad at people who are messing with it. In little midland, michigan, which is not far from saginaw, michigan, this week, we saw in the local press there that local folks organized a support the post office protest in their town. The ap and local paper the Midland Daily News got some great photos from this protest. Likely, see lots of other places in america. Stamp out the postmaster general. Or this one. Want to screw up the election . Screw up the post office. Or this one. How is slowing down the post Office MakingAmerica Great again . The Midland Daily News sent a reporter to cover the protest as well. Quote, many drivers honked in support. People arent mad at their postal workers. They arent mad at their letter carriers. Theyre not mad at their local post office. They want to defend it and support the people who work there, who have always done a good job by us, as americans. The post office is an earnest, beloved, allamerican, nonpartisan, practical part of our lives. You mess with it, and you are messing with a lot of americans. Who, apparently, are in the mood to push back. And i will tell you. As this story has grown, right, the appointment of this un inexperienced, you know, rnc deputy finance chairman, trump donor, who comes in and immediately sles do immediately slows down the mail. That we find out later hes pulled the sorting machines. Weve been finding out, piece by piece. Outrage has already been growing. In the midst of all this, also, this sort of growing rage about whats happening here. We have really seen them start to steal our mailboxes. Pictures from oregon, i think, were the first to raise worries all over the place. Although, i think initially, seeing these images from oregon, nobody knew if it was some kind of local issue or local glitch there. But then, look at this. A reporter at the local nbc affiliate in montana, today, spent all day chasing the story about this happening in montana, too. The story about, as she kept on covering it, piece by piece. Updating her reporting on twitter all day today, until she broadcast on nbcsmo montana affiliate tonight, a long piece. But it was happening in montana, in a big way. A really large number of public mailboxes being taken away in montana. More than 40 of the mailboxes in missoula, theyre going to take away. At least 50 of those in billings . Internal documents from the post office in montana, documenting all the boxes that they were told to remove. And then, she and her colleagues went through, one by one, and documented where those post boxes are. You can see the list. Next to the ymca. Outside a Popular Grocery store. In front of the missoula courthouse. Downtown in front of a seniorliving facility. Why are these being taken away in democratic senator, john tester, from montana, was already on this last night. Writing to postmaster louis dejoy to ask him why the Trump Administration is taking away all these mailboxes in montana. After this days worth of reporting on this today, when the nbc affiliate contacted the states republican senator, steve daines to get their comment on it as well, they both decided that they, too, better write to louis dejoy and show some outrage here because who is going to defend this . I mean, if the Trump Administration thinks that Republican Voters can, somehow, be talked into the idea that slowing down the mail and stealing all the mailboxes is great for america. And, therefore, republican senators and members of congress will go along and cheer for it. I mean, that just might need more thought, given the way the post office works in all of our lives. More american than apple pie. And i mean that in a specific sense. Apple pie does not have its own line in the constitution. The post office does. It is a necessity. It is uncontroversial. It is integrated into the fabric of our lives. It is how we get prescriptions, particularly if we are veterans or Senior Citizens or if we live in rural areas. Its how we all get packages, which we get more of, than ever, because of the covid crisis. Its how we get our bills. Its how we get our letters. Its how we get our ballots because of the covid crisis. Its the freaking fracking mail we need it. Republican and democrat from red states and blue states have asked louis dejoy to meet with them. Npr is first to report that he is ignoring them, and no such meeting has been scheduled. I mean, them getting rid of the sorting machines at postal facilities. And then, the mailboxes from your local street corner. This is something they made no announcement about. They made no public announcement that they were going to do this. We had to have it told to us by postal workers and by people who observed the trucks going around, picking up the mailboxes. I guess they never thought theyd have to answer for this stuff . But this is a fight against a thing that americans, actually, and quite broadly love and respect and dont want to go away. This is the kind of fight that most americans have a side they want to be on, and it is not the side that is stealing the mailboxes and telling us, yeah, i dont think its going to work out for you to get your ballot in on time. But the important thing, here, is that pushback works. After a day of all this reporting, today, on the situation in montana and the outrage that ensued and the complaints, first, from the democratic u. S. Senator there. And then, thereafter, from the republican senator, republican member of congress, and her colleagues at nbc montana were first to report that they had confirmed with the Postal Service that, yeah, they were backing down. That the Postal Service in montana would stop what they were doing in montana. Plans to take away 40 and 50 of the mailboxes in montanas biggest towns. They would stop that. They would put that on hold. And then, just before we got on the air tonight, the Postal Service confirmed it, nationally, because they were working on doing this nationally. But, now, with the pushback, theyre going to put that on hold. They are going to stop taking the mailboxes away. Postal service confirming, tonight, quote, we are not going to be removing any boxes. After the election, were going to take a look at operations and see what we need and dont need. They were planning on doing this, everywhere. And then, people got really mad when they noticed them doing it and they screamed and yelled and that stopped them. In this era, especially as we are getting closer and closer to the election and this stuff is getting more and more blatant and overt, hoping for the best doesnt work. Right .