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Taylor Swift Slams Trump for 'Calculated Dismantling of USPS': 'He's Chosen to Blatantly Cheat'

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Taylor Swift has slammed Donald Trump in a series of tweets, joining other celebrities and politicians in calling out the president’s continued attacks on mail-in voting.

“Trump’s calculated dismantling of USPS proves one thing clearly: He is WELL AWARE that we do not want him as our president,” the 30-year-old singer wrote Saturday. “He’s chosen to blatantly cheat and put millions of Americans’ lives at risk in an effort to hold on to power.”

Swift seemed to be referring to Trump’s attacks on the postal service and demonstrated dislike for mail-in voting, the option many Americans will likely turn to in November amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely,” Swift added in a second tweet, before urging fans and followers to vote. “Request a ballot early. Vote early.”

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In addition to suggesting the election be delayed, Trump has falsely claimed that mail-in voting will lead to fraudulent results and that the Postal Service doesn't have the wherewithal to accommodate the surge in mail-in voting heading into the upcoming election, which USPS has denied.

"The Postal Service has ample capacity to adjust our nationwide processing and delivery network to meet projected Election and Political Mail volume, including any additional volume that may result as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic," the agency said in a statement to CNN earlier this month.

Louis DeJoy, the newly installed postmaster general and a Trump donor, has also made cost-cutting changes to the USPS that have led to concerns over voter suppression.

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On Friday, CNN reported that the Postal Service had begun reducing hours and removing mail collection boxes in a number of states, though a USPS spokesperson has since announced that the push will be halted until after Nov. 3.

"We are not going to be removing any boxes," the spokesperson said in a statement, according to the outlet. "After the election, we're going to take a look at operations and see what we need and don’t need."

Like Swift, singer Jason Mraz has encouraged people to vote in the wake of Trump's comments, sharing on Friday that both he and his father previously worked for USPS. He said that based on his experiences, the service would not "fail" during an election because of high volume.

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"Do not think for a minute that this time tested system would fail us during an election," he wrote on Instagram. "A government by & for the people would make sure the postal service is running at full capacity instead of closing branches and turning off AUTOMATED sorting machines which make sorting faster and easier - but - suspiciously, we have an administration trying to undermine the hardworking service men & women who make the USPS possible."

Former President Barack Obama has also criticized Trump, saying in a recent podcast episode that the current president is trying to "kneecap" the U.S. Postal Service.

"What we've seen in a way that is unique to modern political history is a president who is explicit in trying to discourage people from voting," Obama said in an interview with former campaign manager David Plouffe. "What we've never seen before is a president say, 'I'm going to try to actively kneecap the Postal Service to encourage voting and I will be explicit about the reason I'm doing it.'"