Trump Loses It as Courts Block His Election Plan

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Trump Loses It as Courts Block His Election Plan
Date: July 9, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
Special Guest: Harry Litman

Episode Overview

In this gripping episode, the Meiselas brothers dig into the Trump administration’s latest attempts at voter suppression, focusing on recent federal court battles against Trump’s executive orders regarding the U.S. Postal Service. The hosts, joined by legal analyst Harry Litman, break down the implications of the administration’s efforts to block mail-in ballots, the courts’ pivotal role in pushing back, and the broader threats to democracy. Exposing the tangled legal maneuvers and political motivations at play, this episode offers clarity, urgency, and the signature brotherly banter the MeidasTouch Podcast is known for.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Attempt to Weaponize the U.S. Postal Service

• [01:26 – 06:23] Ben Meiselas describes how the Trump administration tried to force the USPS not to deliver mail-in ballots unless states complied with handing over their voter rolls, all via executive order.

  • The USPS posted a proposed rule refusing to deliver ballots, but was quickly sued by the NAACP and others—who won in district court.
  • The USPS is now appealing, arguing that not being allowed to withhold mail constitutes “irreparable harm” to them.

  “How do you know you’re in a fascist regime? When your postal service refuses to deliver your votes and when the postal service becomes a literal tool of the regime, that’s how you know…”
  — Ben Meiselas [02:19]

• The administration claims it needs a stay (pause) on the district court’s order so it can carry out Trump’s plan before the 2026 midterms.

• The USPS’s legal filings contend their right to implement Trump’s executive order outweighs voters’ rights to have their ballots delivered.

  “Our irreparable harm as the Postal Service is that we can’t implement Donald Trump’s unlawful executive order. That’s our irreparable harm. What about the irreparable harm of people who participate in democracy, who want to vote?”
  — Ben Meiselas [03:46]

2. The Save America Act & Legislative Manipulation

• Trump is trying to tie his “Save America Act” (a voter suppression law) to the military budget, threatening essential funding unless Congress passes the act.

  • A tactic to force unrelated, controversial policy through by holding up urgent and popular legislation.

• Also threatened withholding signature from a housing affordability law unless his voter bill is passed.

  “He goes back to war with Iran knowing that we’ll need a military budget, attaches the Save America Act to that as well, then says, ‘Well, you don’t support our troops now unless you pass the Save America Act, which is the voter suppression act…’”
  — Ben Meiselas [04:51]

3. Judicial Pushback & Deeper Legal Context

• [06:23 – 11:25] Harry Litman contextualizes the courts’ response:

  • Courts consistently reject these manipulative efforts because the alleged “harm” is nothing more than not being able to enforce an illegal order.
  • The justification the USPS uses is logically bankrupt—it’s not “irreparable harm” if you simply can’t subvert democracy.
  • The USPS is meant to be strictly nonpartisan; Trump’s approach is akin to authoritarian regimes where the ruling party controls and filters the mail.
  • No legal authority for the federal government, or the executive branch in particular, to dictate or restrict ballot delivery, which falls within state or congressional purview.

  “…It’s a bankrupt argument but it’s been accepted up to the US Supreme Court which is basically this: we’re not going to be able to execute on this order that the president has made. That goes without saying. That’s what actually it means to shut something down because it’s probably illegal…”
  — Harry Litman [07:09]

  “You might as well just say, ‘We’ll deliver, but only Republican mail…’”
  — Harry Litman [08:23]

• DOJ further attempts to intimidate officials with vague threats of criminal charges and is sending federal observers into states like Michigan, another intimidation tactic without legal standing.

  “…It’s just a way of trying to push and pull and cow and frighten the political officials because they haven’t been able to make their will be law, because they have no legal basis.”
  — Harry Litman [09:53]

4. The Bigger Picture – Democracy Under Threat

• The episode underscores the Trump administration’s manipulative tactics as not just isolated incidents but part of an ongoing, multifaceted assault on voting rights, transparency, and democratic norms.
• The hosts and Harry Litman highlight the importance of sustained attention and legal resistance to these maneuvers, and how essential it is for the public to understand the stakes.

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Memorable Quotes

• Ben Meiselas [02:19]:
  “How do you know you’re in a fascist regime? When your postal service refuses to deliver your votes and when the postal service becomes a literal tool of the regime…”

• Ben Meiselas [03:46]:
  “Our irreparable harm as the Postal Service is that we can’t implement Donald Trump’s unlawful executive order. That’s our irreparable harm. What about the irreparable harm of people who participate in democracy, who want to vote?”

• Harry Litman [07:09]:
  “It’s a bankrupt argument, but it’s been accepted up to the US Supreme Court, which is basically this: we’re not going to be able to execute on this order that the president has made… That’s what it means to shut something down because it’s probably illegal…”

• Harry Litman [08:23]:
  “You might as well just say, ‘We’ll deliver, but only Republican mail…’”

• Harry Litman [09:53]:
  “…Just a way of trying to push and pull and cow and frighten the political officials because they haven’t been able to make their will be law, because they have no legal basis.”

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Notable Segments & Timestamps

• [01:26] — Introduction to Trump’s postal service orders and legal background
• [04:51] — Discussion of the Save America Act being forced onto military funding
• [06:23] — Harry Litman joins: Breakdown of courts’ responses and the legal standards for “irreparable harm”
• [08:23] — Analogy of partisan mail delivery and USPS’s proper role
• [09:53] — Federal threats/intimidation tactics and their legal emptiness

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Final Thoughts

This episode is essential listening for anyone concerned with democratic integrity in America. Through a careful breakdown of current events, expert legal analysis, and passionate advocacy, the MeidasTouch team and guest Harry Litman reveal just how high the stakes are—and how concerted, creative, and relentless legal and civic vigilance must be to protect the vote.

To keep up with Harry Litman’s legal insights, the hosts encourage listeners to check out his YouTube channel and substack, "Talking Feds."

Transcript

[A]

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[E]

Start your free [e-mail] the United States Post Office suffered a major loss in federal court after trying to execute on Donald Trump's voter suppression executive orders saying that they will not deliver mail from any states with people's mail in ballots unless the state provides its voter rolls to Donald Trump.

[C]

And.

[E]

And so that the United States Postal Service will just not deliver your mail. Now, a federal judge rejected that. And now what the Trump regime is saying is that they will suffer irreparable harm if a court of appeals does not stay a district court order blocking the United States Postal law Service from refusing to deliver mail. How do you know you're in a fascist regime when your postal service refuses to deliver your votes and when the postal service becomes a literal tool of the regime, that's how you know that you're becoming a fascist. By the way, I also said, how do you know? Even in North Korea, Kim Jong Un doesn't sign their currency. But yet Donald Trump's now forcing his signature upon our $100 bills. But I digress. You take a look right here at this notice of appeal from the United States Postal Service. Defendants hereby appeal to the D.C. circuit from the district court's order and accompanying memorandum of opinion blocking them from not delivering your mail. So the US Postal Service is now asking a circuit court to pause the lower court's order, and they're asking the district court to also stay its order. Pause it because it doesn't want to deliver your mail. In the filing that just took place this week, the Postal Service argued that unless the court grants a stay, the injunction will severely disrupt the Postal Service efforts to promulgate a final rule fulfilling Trump's March 2026 order ahead of the November midterm elections. Our irreparable harm as the Postal Service is that we can implement Donald Trump's UNLAW executive order. That's our irreparable harm. What about the irreparable harm of people who participate in a democracy who want to vote, who want to vote by mail because they're allowed to vote by mail? I just want you to think about the audacity, the sheer like, wtf of what the federal government's doing. And I'm not sure if you know if this was even covered on any corporate news, maybe briefly, maybe a footnote in some coverage, but like, this is a big deal. So you have the Postal Service posting its proposed rulemaking that it won't deliver your ballots. Then it was sued by the NAACP and others saying, yeah, this shouldn't be taking place. And then the NAACP and others won in the district Court. And now the usps, the Postal Service is saying, we don't want to deliver people's mail. And it goes on to contend that the NAACP is improperly splitting claims because it filed a separate lawsuit. They don't have standing. We need citizenship lips from each state. And then they said that they suffer these irreparable harms before the election. And so I just want you to see, like, what efforts are actually being taken place behind the scenes to suppress your vote. Also, bring in Harry Litman and just mention this, too. Not sure if you saw Trump has made a post that he wants his so called Save America act, which is his voter suppression law, attached to the military budget. Then he goes back to war with Iran knowing that we'll need a military budget, which by the way, he shouldn't get any of it, attaches the Save America act to that as well, and then says, well, you don't support our troops now unless you pass the Save America act, which is the voter suppression act, and then refuses to sign a housing Affordability law, Harry. And so you know, there's so much that this Trump regime throws in our faces every day. Weapon of mass distraction, Donald Trump's personal fraud, covering up child pedo rings, you know, the Daily Border Patrol and ICE Gestapo still killing people. And then you got something like this, Harry, which it's like rulemaking of the U.S. postal Service. So it feels in the weeds. But Harry, this means they don't want to deliver your ballot. That's what the U.S. postal Service is arguing they shouldn't deliver your mail 100%.

[C]

Look, it is ruthless and indefatigable their efforts to mess with the election. And what's happening here Ben, is there have been a number of courts is that you can't do that. You can't do that. So they're fastening on to these second and third level efforts to try to do the same thing with different legal stratagems. First, thank you, thank you, thank you for zeroing in on a reparable injury. We've talked about this, you and I have. When it's come to the so called emergency docket, how really slap dash and inconsistent up to the U.S. supreme Court. The higher courts have been about applying these four different factors that are supposed to be indispensable before you grant a stay or here dissolve a stay. And one of them, yes, irreparable injury. And again what is the irreparable injury here if the depart, if the post office has to deliver the mail like it does every single day. And it's a version of the same argument they make again and again. It's a bankrupt argument but it's been accepted up to the US Supreme Court which is basically this we're not going to be able to execute on this order that that the president has, has made. That goes without saying. That's what actually it means to shut something down because it's probably illegal and, and the bootstrapping involved there of oh terrible irreparable injury. We can't do the maximum leaders edict here. That's what it is. Okay, next point. The post office by charter is completely non partisan politically. And think if it were otherwise you compared to authoritarian regimes where you control the mail and you look at it or decide who gets what it's it's just a fundamental sort of ancillary point about freedom of speech and freedom of, of information that there they can't apply a political filter and that executive order by Trump absolutely violates it and it's going to go down for that reason. We're just at the temporary provisional point, but they are now the US Post Office. They must have the same sense of shame that many of the DOJ do. Now they've got to go in in support of this. Plainly not just unconstitutional, as if that isn't enough, but order that completely pulls the rug out from what they know they're about. You know, you might as well just say we'll deliver, but only Republican mail and the like. Third, it's not simply that you have to be apolitical as the Post Office. The federal government has no fucking authority here. They've tried it again and again. This would be up to the states. It's not. There is no. And if it did, we can go into this longer. And you and I have. There's a modicum of authority in the Congress and there's all kinds of authority in the states. There's nothing. There's no hook he can hang this unconstitutional order on in terms of legitimate executive branch authority. They don't have the role to play here, but they can't handle that. So they're trying to go at it many different ways. I'll just, you know, there's two or three every day. Another thing we just found out about today, the head of the Civil Rights division sends a letter to all the states saying that officials could be charged with a crime if there are people who are not eligible to vote who do you know, uh, it's, it's sort of empty saber rattling. I guess you could, if you somehow purposely tried to subvert the law. But it's just a way of trying to push and pull and cow and frighten the, you know, political officials because they haven't been able to make their will be law because they have no legal basis. So it's just ways of trying to slap people around and scare them. We also found out today they say they're sending observers to the polls in Michigan. God, you know, God knows why. Maybe we'll next see. I just want to point out that they're not allowed a separate federal law to use any kind of be armed at all there. But this is just what happens when Trump, including the very good point you made about the SAVE act, just wants this in any way he can. But they're on second, third, fourth level efforts now because the basic stratagem happens not to be to comply with the constitutional scheme.

[E]

Everybody make sure you subscribe to Harry Lippman's YouTube channel. It's called Talking Feds. He also has a substack by the same name called Talking Feds. Subscribe now. Subscribe often and tell Harry in the comments that we say hello. Go to the YouTube bar search talking Feds. Thanks Harry. We appreciate you.

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