Donald Trump is reportedly in talks with Howard Lutnick, presumptive nominee for commerce secretary, to privatize the United States Postal Service. From Reuters:
Donald Trump has in recent weeks expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. When told of the agency’s annual losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization
Lutnick, who led Trump’s administration’s transition team, is said to have a number of conflicts in “mixing political work with personal business interests,” according to a Politico report. Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald recently settled with SEC over a fraud claim in misleading investors.
AUTHOR COMMENT
Actually, “being conflicted” is a basic requirement in Donald’s hiring practices. Many of his allies and operatives during Regime No. 1 were either deeply conflicted; hellbent on destroying the agency they led; or used their position for personal gain. For the purposes of USPS, though, Lou DeJoy‘s sabotage in 2020 (where he surgically targeted counties won by Hillary Clinton and dismantled sorting machines) was the “dry run” for what Trump operatives are floating now. As I always say, There’s always a dry run.
Lutnick is possibly *the* most conflicted of all Trump’s nominees, as his firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, is one of the “biggest dealers of US government debt.”
I often use this space to lampoon news media carrying water for fascists, and this time is no different: Reuters mentioned of “DOGE” (dopey would-be “department of government efficiency” Elon Musk thought up one afternoon) like it’s a done deal and already an official agency. It is not. Also, Ramaswamy and Musk have absolutely no experience in logistics or mail delivery or anything resembling that.
None of this is normal, and media needs to treat it that way.
I framed this piece intentionally as Trump “talking to Lutnick about privatization” because Donald holds no policy positions and doesn’t read—and is using his second term to settle scores, including with USPS.
