Donald Trump just threw Louis DeJoy under the bus
Donald Trump’s panicky Labor Day press conference today was a dud, and a reminder that Trump is now stepping to the plate with nothing up his sleeve. But Trump did reveal one thing today, in response to a reporter question: he has absolutely no intention of protecting his Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
This weekend Louis DeJoy’s long running felony campaign finance fraud scandal was exposed, ensuring that he’ll go to prison on state charges in North Carolina even if Trump’s DOJ takes a pass on the case. Trump said today that he’ll support any investigation into DeJoy’s scandal. That doesn’t mean Trump won’t have Bill Barr try to sabotage the federal case behind the scenes. But Trump is publicly throwing DeJoy under the bus, because DeJoy is already toast at the state level, and he’s going down one way or the other.
This is notable because Donald Trump’s desperation ploy to somehow rig the election via the Post Office is dependent on Louis DeJoy remaining in place, and remaining loyal. Yet Trump is refusing to publicly defend DeJoy, which he knows will only place even more downward pressure on DeJoy’s downfall.
Has Trump decided that it’s not worth trying to save the fatally scandal-ridden DeJoy? Has Trump concluded that, thanks to all the massive public pushback, the Post Office scheme wasn’t going to work out for him anyway? Or is Trump just throwing another troubled henchman under the bus out of habit? In any case, today was Trump’s moment to defend Louis DeJoy, and instead he gave him the “coffee boy” treatment. If DeJoy has any sense at all, he’ll seek a resignation plea deal in North Carolina while he still has leverage.
