Oregon congressman ‘chains’ himself to a USPS mailbox: ‘They’re not gettin’ this one!’

US Rep. Peter DeFazio tweeted a video yesterday that shows a cliche metal chain loosely draped over his shoulder and wrapped around a USPS collection box, while the 73-year-old declares in dad jeans, a hip "RESIST" t-shirt, and a I-just-mowed-the-lawn pose: "They're not gettin' this one!"

"They're trying to tear apart our Postal Service piece by piece. But Peter DeFazio is defending our right to vote (and every mailbox in America)," DeFazio captioned the video.

DeFazio has repeatedly claimed on Twitter that President Donald Trump "is intentionally trying to destroy the United States Postal Service (USPS) to steal the election" and insisting to his followers that "we can't let it stand!"

Recently, DeFazio wrote an open letter to Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy alongside other members of Oregon's congressional delegation "to demand DeJoy [to] stop the dangerous slowdown of mail service."

"Trump and his crony DeJoy are trying to undermine our representative democracy by sabotaging the @usps," he tweeted.

"If USPS does not revert to proven methods, your instruction to leave mail behind will certainly result in delayed delivery of Oregonians' ballots come November," DeFazio told DeJoy, adding "[t]his is shockingly dangerous, undemocratic and unacceptable."

"We are glad to hear that USPS is halting the removal of collection boxes across the country, as those removals may also impact the accessibility of USPS to our constituents," DeFazio acknowledged, referencing the circulated leftist hoax that Trump is literally stealing the election from mail-in voters.

Former Democratic Vice President Al Gore had accused Trump of suppressing the vote-by-mail electorate "by tampering with the postal service...in effect putting his knee on the neck of American democracy and trying to make it impossible for people to vote by mail."

DeJoy attempted to relieve these concerns in a press statement yesterday:

"The Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate amid a pandemic, we will deliver the nation’s election mail on time and within our well-established service standards. The American public should know that this is our number one priority between now and election day. The 630,000 dedicated women and men of the Postal Service are committed, ready and proud to meet this sacred duty."

He also announced the expansion of USPS' current leadership task force "to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country."

To avoid "even the appearance of any impact" on election mail, DeJoy is suspending several internal initiatives until after the election is concluded: a change in retail hours at post offices, the removal and restoration of mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes, the closure of mail processing facilities, and employee overtime overhaul.

DeJoy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday and the Democrat-led House Oversight Committee on Monday.