Trump’s statement on Fox News that he is deliberately starving the Postal Service in order to thwart vote-by-mail efforts that might help Democrats ranks right up there with his televised plea to Putin to provide him dirt on Hillary Clinton and his claim that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.

Far from operating by stealth, Trump is broadcasting his scheme to undermine the election, taking the Postal Service hostage in the process, and daring his opponents to do anything about it. It’s the ultimate "F*** You." Suppose Trump murdered the Postal Service in broad daylight, would anyone care? Could anyone stop him?

You would think that the small towns and small businesses whose lifeblood is the Postal Service, and who are represented mostly by Republicans, might care. But for the most part, the Republicans whose constituents are harmed have been deafeningly silent. Once again, partisan loyalty to Trump and the goal of keeping power by any means trump both principle and loyalty to constituents.

Trump later half-walked back his comments and said they were just a negotiating tactic to bring Nancy Pelosi back to the table. But that was typically disingenuous, since Trump is far from negotiating anything remotely reasonable.

The damage has already begun, big-time, as David Dayen reports.

So what can defenders of the Postal Service and the right to vote do?

Not much. They can make this grotesque destruction of a vital public service a major election issue, especially in states where Republicans are in tight races, in the hope of pressuring Republicans to sway Trump. So far, several such Republican senators, including Susan Collins, Steve Daines, and Lisa Murkowski, have put out statements suggesting discomfort with the war on the Postal Service. But if the right to vote is thwarted and election results are warped, then any gains could be hollow.

They can file suit and investigate Trump’s corrupt henchman, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. But it’s hard to imagine that any of this will cut loose sufficient funds by Election Day. The bollixed results of vote-by-mail in several recent primaries are not reassuring.

Conceivably, the Federal Reserve could revise its Main Street Lending Program, which has been repeatedly tweaked, to qualify the Postal Service for loans. They’re already supporting much of Wall Street.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post, half-joking, arguing that citizens should thwart Trump’s plan by donning masks and voting in person. The Democrats should keep fighting like hell to get the Postal Service funded, but it may come to that.