As if the 2020 election wasn’t affecting daily life enough already, politics is seeping into the post office. President Trump has been steadfastly opposed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s insistence that $25 billion be devoted to the U.S. Postal Service. Meanwhile, the mere suggestion that the Postal Service might not need such an injection of taxpayer dollars has prompted a flurry of protests and keyboard-warrior activism imploring public officials to “save the post office.” Some suggest that if the Postal Service does not receive this money, then the 2020 election will be compromised and the very core of our democracy threatened.

The Postal Service itself has denied such thinking. In reality, its problems exist outside of congressional funding and have for many years.