Donald Trump has decided that either he’s going down or Amazon.com is going down
Donald J. Trump has met with the Postmaster General. Nobody can remember the last time, if ever, the sitting president met with that person. Maybe back during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s time, when it was a patronage office. The first thing that is odd about these meetings going back to 2017 is they are not on Trump’s public schedule. Like many things about this White House, transparency to the public is not a strength.
What is more problematic is that the meetings do not appear on the public calendar is the purported reason for the meetings. According to Postmaster General Megan Brennan, the purpose of the meeting was to pressure Brennan to double the postal rates charged to Amazon.com. In recent months, President Trump has repeatedly attacked Jeff Bezos and Amazon. According to The Washington Post, Brennan has resisted Trump’s pressure to date:
Brennan has so far resisted Trump’s demand, explaining in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission, the three people said. She has told the president that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service and gave him a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries. Despite these presentations, Trump has continued to level criticism at Amazon. And last month, his critiques culminated in the signing of an executive order mandating a government review of the financially strapped Postal Service that could lead to major changes in the way it charges Amazon and others for package delivery.
Trump does not understand the United States Postal Service. It is not a part of the Executive Branch, but rather is an independent agency expressly authorized for in the United States Constitution. Further, the attacks appear to be because of the excellent work that The Washington Post, which is personally owned by Bezos, is doing in reporting the shortcomings of the current administration.
Attacks on specific companies by a sitting president is not common and could be characterized as “unpresidential” by some. The matter should be investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller or perhaps the Southern District of New York more closely, because another potential sinister possibility could be that Trump directly or indirectly tried to strong arm Bezos or Amazon for money and was rebuffed. Something is not right with the viciousness of the attacks with which Trump is assailing Amazon.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.