Donald Trump has set his sights on the United States Postal Service as his administration seeks to dismantle and purge bloated federal bureaucracies.
Amid widespread reconfiguration of government agencies led by billionaire Elon Musk and his team at DOGE, the president is considering dissolving the leadership of the Postal Service within days, the Washington Post reported.
It would be the latest in a string of bombshell executive decisions made since he returned to the White House, including laying off thousands of federal employees and removing diversity, equity and inclusion targets as part of his commitment to ‘drain the swamp.’
According to the report, Trump is considering absorbing the independent mail agency into his administration, sparking fears widespread layoffs or changes at the top could throw trillions of dollars of e-commerce orders into turmoil.
The publication cited six anonymous sources who claimed Trump was considering signing an executive order this week which would bring the 250-year-old service into the remit of the Commerce Department and Secretary Howard Lutnick.
A White House spokesperson denied any such executive order was planned.
It comes just days after reports Louis DeJoy, the head of the service which employs upwards of 500,000 career workers and another 115,000 non-career workers, intends to step down.
In a Monday letter, Postmaster General DeJoy asked the Postal Service Board of Governors to begin looking for his successor.
President Donald Trump has set his sights on the United States Postal Service as his administration seeks to dismantle and purge bloated federal bureaucracies
Amid widespread reconfiguration of government agencies led by billionaire Elon Musk and his team at DOGE, Trump is considering disolving the leadership of the Postal Service within days
Trump is considering absorbing the independent mail agency into his administration, sparking fears widespread layoffs or changes at the top could throw trillions of dollars of e-commerce orders into turmoil
‘As you know, I have worked tirelessly to lead the 640,000 men and women of the Postal Service in accomplishing an extraordinary transformation,’ he wrote.
‘We have served the American people through an unprecedented pandemic and through a period of high inflation and sensationalized politics.’
DeJoy took the helm of the postal service in the summer of 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
He was a Republican donor who owned a logistics business before taking office and was the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who was not a career postal employee.
The board at the Postal Service have reportedly already sought external legal advice and would consider suing the White House if Trump carries out his planned takeover.
But lawsuits against Trump and Musk’s DOGE have done little to stop the progress they’ve made.
Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of the new Trump administration.
DOGE estimates it has saved $55billion so far in ‘a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings.’
DOGE estimates it has saved $55billion so far
Trump signed an executive order earlier in the week which could make him the most powerful president in history
The bulk of the savings have come from cuts to USAID, the Department of Education and the Office of Personnel Management.
Most recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was put under the microscope, with an order to cut 6,000 employees starting on Thursday.
The order is expected to primarily impact probationary workers, keeping in line with the bulk of staffing cuts across departments.
Trump signed an executive order earlier in the week which could make him the most powerful president in history.
The new order seeks to ‘rein in independent agencies’ by seizing various departments that normally act in accordance with Congress, bringing them under control of the executive branch in the White House.
The order reiterates that ‘all executive power is vested in the President’, and he and attorney general will interpret the law, leaving Trump free from Congressional and judicial oversight.
All agencies will have to submit regulations to the White House for review and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will ensure ‘tax dollars are spent wisely.’
Musk has waved off any criticism that he is acting as if he were the US president, saying none of Trump’s cabinet members were elected and that he views his role as facilitating Trump’s agenda.
It comes just days after reports Louis DeJoy, the head of the service which employs upwards of 500,000 career workers and another 115,000 non-career workers, intends to step down
‘The president is the elected representative of the people, so it’s representing the will of the people,’ Musk said in a joint interview with Trump on Hannity.
‘And if the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president from implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy.’
But an effort to make such sweeping changes to the Postal Service is likely to attract legal pushback and criticism, given it is one of the most adored systems in the US.
Between 1775 until 1970, the U.S. mail system was part of the White House, and presidents would appoint allies as postmaster general.
Trump expressed interest in seeing the Postal Service be privatized in December, saying: ‘There is a lot of talk about the Postal Service being taken private.
‘It’s a lot different today, between Amazon and UPS and FedEx and all the things that you didn’t have. But there is talk about that. It’s an idea that a lot of people have liked for a long time.’
Even without any confirmation from Trump, rumors of the takeover have sparked meltdown among his critics.
Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said any such action would amount to a ‘hostile takeover.’
‘If the rumors are true, firing the Postal Service’s Board of Governors and transferring control is an outrageous and unlawful hostile takeover, essentially a raid on an independently operated public institution,’ he said.
Rep. Gerald Connolly issued a scathing statement, noting: ‘Privatizing the Postal Service is an attack on Americans’ access to critical information, benefits, and life-saving medical care.’