Weekly civic intelligence report · v2.2
International mail carriers paused US deliveries due to confusion over Trump's tariff policies. The disruption represents unintended consequences of trade policy.
This event scores low on constitutional damage (A=9.24) as it represents temporary operational disruption from policy confusion rather than structural democratic harm. Rule_of_law gets 2 for policy implementation chaos affecting international obligations; separation gets 1 for executive trade policy creating unintended cascading effects; capture gets 1 for potential corporate/trade interests involved. The disruption is highly reversible once clarity emerges. However, B-score is high (29.12) due to exceptional media appeal: global mail stoppage is highly novel, extremely meme-able ('Trump broke international mail'), strong outrage potential, and perfect media narrative about policy chaos. Layer 2 shows significant mismatch between dramatic international response and actual constitutional impact, with moderate intentionality around 'incompetent administration' narrative. D-score of -19.88 clearly indicates List B classification.
Monitor for: (1) actual duration of mail disruption and whether it extends beyond initial confusion period, (2) whether this reflects genuine tariff policy problems or carrier overreaction, (3) any permanent changes to international postal agreements or treaties that could elevate constitutional concerns, (4) whether narrative shifts from 'confusion' to systematic trade policy violations. Current assessment: high-distraction event with limited constitutional damage, likely to resolve quickly once policy clarification occurs.