The pictures out of the stricken island of Puerto Rico are stunning and heartbreaking. And what you can't see is worse.
Millions of desperate people without food and water, with no power, no fuel, no way to communicate with loved ones and friends, or the outside world.
But for almost a week while people suffered and died, Donald Trump did nothing.
Being too preoccupied with other matters to notice or care
And when he did finally notice what was going on, all he did was repeat what everyone already knew, and praise himself.
Over and over again.
Or talk about how if that poverty stricken island was going to be helped, it would have to discuss how it's going to pay back its massive debt.
“It’s really hard to talk about bankruptcy and debt when people have no power, no water, no homes, and their entire lives have been devastated,” said Julio Ricardo Varela, 48, a journalist from Puerto Rico who co-hosts the In the Thick political podcast.
“Comments like those come across as not only incredibly short-sighted and insensitive, but it just confirms how the United States, as a country, views its colonial territory. Bringing up the debt just brings up old wounds. ‘Yep, we’re a colony. You had to remind us, huh?’ The island’s destroyed, but you had to remind us that we have no control over our destiny. Thank you.”
Even as the mayor of San Juan begged the world for help.
San Juan mayor: "I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out the logistics for a small island..." pic.twitter.com/R1N0xDT0fz— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 29, 2017
And why did it take so long for Trump to respond?
Answer: because he was too busy hanging out at one of his fancy golf clubs.
At first, the Trump administration seemed to be doing all the right things to respond to the disaster in Puerto Rico.
But then for four days after that — as storm-ravaged Puerto Rico struggled for food and water amid the darkness of power outages — Trump and his top aides effectively went dark themselves.
Trump jetted to New Jersey that Thursday night to spend a long weekend at his private golf club there, save for a quick trip to Alabama for a political rally. Neither Trump nor any of his senior White House aides said a word publicly about the unfolding crisis.
And he did nothing until he saw the pictures on TV, and began to feel the heat.
Even though local officials had said publicly as early as Thursday that the island was “destroyed,” the sense of urgency didn’t begin to penetrate the White House until Monday, when images of the utter destruction and desperation — and criticism of the administration’s response —began to appear on television, one senior administration official said.
And today, as millions are hungry and thirsty, and heroic medical workers struggle to treat the sick and try to keep cholera at bay, Trump is back spending the weekend at one of his golf clubs.
And it is his Katrina moment.
George Bush's slow response to that hurricane finished off his presidency.
But the lazy incompetent Trump's response was even worse...
And all I ask is that when that criminal clown is finally driven from office, that he be put on trial, charged with criminal negligence and/or genocide.
And be made to pay for his crimes...
13 comments:
You need to look up the definition of genocide.
At first, the Trump administration seemed to be doing all the right things to respond to the disaster in Puerto Rico.
I'd like some evidence for that claim. Trump's response to Maria has been seen to be a disaster from the get-go. This is just media BS to appear "balanced" instead of flat out reporting the truth of what's happening in PR and the US VI.
hi anon...I only used the word because the mayor of San Juan used it, and while she may be exaggerating, when sick people are dying because there is no power to keep things like dialysis machines working, and waterborne diseases like cholera are a real threat maybe she isn't exaggerating that much. And when Trump is trying to cut more than 30 million people off the healthcare rolls, I think genocidal isn't such a bad way to describe his behaviour...
hi anon... I cut out the paragraph that followed the one you quote for time
As Hurricane Maria made landfall on Wednesday, Sept. 20, there was a frenzy of activity publicly and privately. The next day, President Trump called local officials on the island, issued an emergency declaration and pledged that all federal resources would be directed to help.
And the author did use the word "seemed." But I agree with you, it amounted to almost nothing, and Trump's whole management of this emergency has been nothing but disastrous...
anon: Deliberately causing a population to starve or die of thirst fits the definition. Trump is doing that because he doesn't like hispanics.
Truck Fump. Is Canalot helping, or are they strapped? It's not right that they should have to clean up the messes left behind by their drunken downstairs neighbors, but good on them for doing so anyway.
Anon 9:13 here. I hear you, Simon, but it's still BS balance crap.
PR was hit by Irma on Sept. 5 and Trump issued an emergency declaration and all federal resources then. Irma knocked out power to 2/3rds of PR residents and 60% of hospitals. So FEMA should already have had a huge presence on the island, just as they did in FL after Irma hit there. But they didn't. So when Maria hit two weeks later, knocking out power to 95% of PR including the hospitals, much of the resources to deal with it should already have been there. But they weren't.
Now 10 days after Maria hit, Trump is trashtalking and racist dogwhistling the mayor of San Juan on Twitter and telling Puerto Ricans that they want "everything to be done for them." He claims 10,000 federal workers are on the island, which coincidentally is the number of National Guard that were always in PR. And he's firing off these Tweets as he takes a long weekend at his f-ing golf course!
When he flies in for his Tuesday visit, I hope the Secret Service leaves him and Melania in one of the hardest hit areas to fend for themselves. No food, no clean water, no power, no cellphone connection. We'll see who wants everything done for them.
Canada seems to be currently concentrating heavily on helping Dominica and helping supply air transport for other countries. Presumably the Cdn Gov't thought the country with the world's largest economy and largest military needed the help less than a tiny and devastated island nation.
I did notice that both Cuba and Venezuela have offered aid to Porto Rico. I have not seen anything about the US response.
If enough people leave P.R. then the developers can move it and make it a lovely new resort area for Trump towers to be built.
Trump isn't dealing with P.R. in the same manner he and the W.H. did for Florida and Texas because Florida and Texas have billionaires and a lot of white people. they most importantly have voting politicians in Congress. Trump doesn't need to take into consideration how the people of P.R. feel about the situation, they don't have representation in Congress. Until they do no one is going to pay much attention to their needs.
On an America blog some one suggested the Democrats make some commercials now for the elections next year. They aren't going to do anything either because the people of P.R. do not have voting representatives in Congress. About the only way the message is going to get out about the plight of P.R. is if some Hollywood and New York types produce and run the commercials.
Most of the supplies would most likely come by ship and for that to have happened they needed the Jones act to be suspended. that didn't happen until this week.
it might be a good idea if P.R. did look to join another country and Canada might want to send some aid. Just think, our 11th province in the Caribbean.
its O>K> to leave Trump but please don't leave his wife there.
hi anon 3:24... I didn't mean to sound like I was defending the Orange Oaf. I only wanted to clarify what the author of the Washington Post article had said. But I agree with you Trump did nothing, even though one hurricane had already hit the island, and another one was on the way. And only racism can explain that paralysis...
hi e.a.f...I hope the Democrats do get some attack ads out of the Puerto Rico disaster. If they can't nail him for racism as he deserves, maybe they can at least use it as another example of his hopeless incompetence...
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