“Louis was a national fundraiser for the Republican Party. He asked employees for money. We gave him the money, and then he reciprocated by giving us big bonuses,” said David Young, DeJoy’s longtime director of human resources, who had access to payroll records at New Breed from the late 1990s to 2013 and is now retired. “When we got our bonuses, let’s just say they were bigger, they exceeded expectations — and that covered the tax and everything else.” (“Louis DeJoy’s rise as GOP fundraiser was powered by contributions from company workers who were later reimbursed, former employees says,” Washington Post, by Aaron C. Davis, Amy Gardner and Steve Swaine)

That pattern violates federal and state laws and raises the question of how far Postmaster General DeJoy would go to deliberately delay mail delivery in order to sabotage tens or hundreds of thousands of votes from being cast or counted.

DeJoy’s spokesman suggested that he “encouraged employees and family members to be active in their communities, schools, civic groups, sporting events and the politics that governs our nation.” Furthermore, “Mr. DeJoy was never notified by the New Breed employees referenced by the Washington Post of any pressure they might have felt to make a political contribution, and he regrets if any employee felt uncomfortable for any reason.”

I’ll venture the observation that you don’t become “a top Republican power broker in North Carolina,” if you feel squeamish about pressing people for cash. Especially if you know you’re going to pay them back. Nor do you get rewarded as head of the U.S. Postal Service, if you’re sensitive about pushing people past their comfort zones.

Last month Steven Bannon was charged with fraud by federal prosecutors. Before Bannon, there were: Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, and Michael Cohen.

Let’s hope Louis DeJoy will be joining that club in good time.

With Trump, the swamp is especially deep. And it’s not rocks or turtles, but shady characters of one sort or another, all the way down.