U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s resignation, which he announced this week, could open the door for President Donald Trump to carry out his long-sought after plan to privatize the massive federal agency.
DeJoy announced Monday in a letter to Postal Service Board of Governors that he intends to step down after five years in the role. He ascended to the role during Trump’s first administration and led the agency through the COVID-19 pandemic, attacks on mail-in ballot stations, and repeated attempts to plug the agency’s steep losses.
However, DeJoy’s efforts to modernize the agency with a planned $40 billion transformation over the next decade seemed to fall flat amid reports that the agency lost $10 billion last year and would not break even this year, reported Federal News Network.
“As you know, I have worked tirelessly to lead the 640,000 men and women of the Postal Service in accomplishing an extraordinary transformation,” DeJoy wrote in his letter, reported the Associated Press. “We have served the American people through an unprecedented pandemic and through a period of high inflation and sensationalized politics.”
DeJoy added that he was committed to being “as helpful as possible in facilitating a transition.”
DeJoy, a major Republican donor, was appointed by a Postal Service board of Trump appointees in 2020. However, DeJoy appeared to lose favor with MAGA’s elite after Trump baselessly alleged mail-in voting was behind a “rigged” election in 2020.
Trump, however, shared mixed messages around mail-in voting leading up to his 2024 election win.
“ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in April.
The Washington Post reported in January that some of the Postal Service’s largest vendors have been gearing up for the agency to go private, with services such as package handling to be outsourced to private companies.
The Trump administration has also reportedly already been vetting candidates to replace DeJoy. Although Trump could not directly fire DeJoy, there are four vacancies on the Postal Service’s nine-member governing board that must be confirmed by the Senate. Three of its existing members are Republican and two appointed by Trump, giving the president all the leverage he needs to remake the agency as he sees fit.
