“I mean, it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?”
That line, spoken by Lucille Bluth during season one of Arrested Development, has become a catch-all reference for any time a rich person has no idea how much a basic item costs. Like on Monday, when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was asked by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) about the price to mail a postcard. “I don’t know, he said.” Now, I’m not a fancy, big-city blogger, but it doesn’t seem great that the guy in charge of the United States Postal Service doesn’t know how much it costs to mail something. IMO.
DeJoy, who was selected by President Trump as postmaster general in May (it probably has nothing to do with that “since 2016, Mr. DeJoy has donated $1.2 million to President Trump’s campaign coffers and nearly $1.3 million to the Republican Party”), was testifying before the House Oversight Committee when he failed to answer that postcards cost 35 cents. He added that he knows “very little about postage stamps.”
Porter then quizzed DeJoy on the weight limit for priority mail, which he correctly said was 70 lbs. He was unable to tell Porter the starting rate for priority mail. DeJoy also said he was unable to say how many people voted by mail in the last election.
“I’m glad you know the price of a stamp, but I’m concerned about your understanding of this agency,” Porter said. “I’m concerned about it because you started taking very decisive action when you became postmaster general.”
DeJoy was also grilled on the Postal Service’s “cost-cutting moves” ahead of a presidential election that requires unprecedented mail-in voting due to the pandemic, but it’s that “I don’t know” that’s going to stick with him. It’s his “it’s one banana, Michael” moment, or in this case, you can’t mail a postcard without spending… ten dollars?
Spoiler alert: he did not. https://t.co/uJaqQvcWZK
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) August 24, 2020
BREAKING: Rep. Katie Porter just got Postmaster General DeJoy to admit he doesn't know the cost of priority mail or mailing a postcard. This is who Trump has in charge of the Postal Service. DeJoy needs to resign immediately.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/AWolfeful/status/1297977773844074497
Katie Porter lobs DeJoy a softball: What does it cost to mail a postcard?
He laughs it off. He has no clue.
This is who's in charge of the USPS.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 24, 2020
https://t.co/CmqIBboemX pic.twitter.com/c1j13LbKJZ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 24, 2020
https://twitter.com/mousterpiece/status/1297979977787248642
In the mood to write a tersely worded postcard.
Well worth the THIRTY-FIVE CENTS.
— Myrna Tellingheusen (@PearlsFromMyrna) August 24, 2020
(Via Guardian)