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Trump's Disdain for Puerto Rico Should Be His Undoing
Trump sees the U.S. colony as a personification of his usual enemies
Apr 05, 2019
Puerto Rico's death toll of about 3,000 from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 ought to be the biggest strike against President Donald Trump. The majority of deaths on the island occurred in the days and weeks following the hurricanes, largely due to inadequate health care and the admitted failures of the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA), suggesting that these were preventable deaths. And yet to Trump, Puerto Rico is the recipient of fantastical amounts of undeserved money.
In many ways, Trump sees the U.S. colony as a personification of his usual enemies. Puerto Rico is brown skinned, non-English speaking, foreign, Democratic, and poor--whether or not any or all of these things are entirely true. Therefore, if it does not accept his patronizing gestures with undying gratitude, it deserves nothing but disdain.
That disdain has been apparent right from the start, most notably during Trump's post-hurricane paper towel-throwing exercise in 2017 and in his denials of the extent of the hurricane-related death toll. It was also on full display earlier this week during his Monday night tweet-storm. In an error-filled statement, Trump tweeted that "Puerto Rico got far more money than Texas & Florida combined, yet their government can't do anything right, the place is a mess--nothing works." He also said, "Puerto Rico got 91 Billion Dollars for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before." Trump--who, like his base, feels his manhood is deeply threatened by strong women of color leaders--called San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz "crazed and incompetent." He then spoke of himself in the third person, bombastically asserting that "The best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico is President Donald J. Trump."
Multiple news outlets exposed his $91 billion figure and claims that Puerto Rico received more money than any other region for a hurricane as flat-out lies. No one is quite sure where Trump conjured up the number, but some have speculated that he confused the total amount of damage suffered by Puerto Rico from the 2017 storms with the amount it has actually received. The Washington Post reported that it "is a combination of $41 billion that's been set aside for recovery combined with $50 billion expected to be spent over the life of the recovery effort." Regardless of where he got the figure, the difference between reality and Trump's fiction ironically encompasses Puerto Rico's actual need.
Trump's claim that Puerto Rico was given more money than any hurricane-affected region has ever been granted is also erroneous. Federal funds to Louisiana after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina totaled about $120 billion.
The president's bizarre comments come as the Senate failed to pass two bills on disaster relief this week hinging on expanding Puerto Rico's food stamp program. Trump has privately told his Republican colleagues that he will not support additional funding going to Puerto Rico, proving that the consequences of his defiant misinformation have a real-world impact. Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA, put it in these terms in an interview: "Puerto Rico has become kind of a bargaining chip to move forward proposals." He explained that Trump considered "taking aid that was committed for Puerto Rico in order to build or strengthen the border wall."
What Trump also exposed in his series of tweets was how he has clearly "otherized" Puerto Rico. In his complaints against Senate Democrats for voting down the disaster relief bill for other states that he backed, the president tweeted: "Puerto Rico has already been scheduled to receive more hurricane relief funding than any 'place' in history." His use of the quotation marks in referring to Puerto Rico as a "place" is suggestive of his uncomfortable attitude toward the U.S. colony. He also complained about how Puerto Rico's politicians "only take from USA," implying that the island was not part of this country, rather an outsider leeching from the federal treasury. It's not just Trump. White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley twice referred to Puerto Rico as "that country" during an interview this week. LeCompte explained to me that "Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don't understand that people who are living in Puerto Rico, people born in Puerto Rico, are U.S. citizens." It seems as though this ignorance may extend to the White House under Trump.
Trump has also decided that Puerto Rico's governor does not deserve his attention, and in a manner that can only be described as utterly juvenile, as he has been actively avoiding Gov. Ricardo Rossello. Rossello responded by saying such behavior was "below the dignity of a sitting President" and "irresponsible, regrettable and, above all, unjustified."
The fact that about 3,000 Americans died on Trump's watch in Puerto Rico should be at least as large a stain on his presidency as Hurricane Katrina was on George W. Bush's legacy. That 2005 tragedy resulted in 1,833 deaths and was seen as the lowest point of Bush's domestic record. But amid the endless fallout of Trump's train wreck of a presidency, there has been very little accountability for Puerto Rico's hurricane deaths. And now Trump has gone further in trying to rewrite history, making up facts and figures to suit his agenda, and shirking his responsibility to even meet with Puerto Rico's leaders.
Today, according to LeCompte, there are more Americans of Puerto Rican descent living on the mainland than on the island. Years of human caused and natural disasters have fueled an ongoing exodus. After Hurricane Maria alone, an estimated 200,000 Puerto Ricans resettled on the mainland, many of them making their homes in places like Florida. Republican politicians counting on reelection in states with a sizable Puerto Rican population have "put distance between themselves and the president," said LeCompte. And he said they have "been very clear in public statements and social media that they disagree with the president's statements on Puerto Rico." For example, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, in a Spanish-language ad last fall, asserted that he "confronted" Trump over his denial of the actual hurricane-related death toll.
Some political scientists have warned that Puerto Rican voters in key presidential election swing states like Florida could undo Trump's reelection hopes in 2020. "The Puerto Rican diaspora vote is a very important vote," said LeCompte. In addition to Florida, he cited key states like Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois where this critical vote could make a difference. Indeed, it would be a delicious irony if Trump's presidency was to be undone by the very demographic that he has maligned and let suffer.
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'He Is Unhinged': San Juan Mayor Rips Trump for Lies About Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief
"He knows his response was inefficient at best. Shame on you!" Carmen Yulín Cruz said in response to the president's Twitter tirade
Apr 02, 2019
"He can huff and puff all he wants but he cannot escape the death of 3,000 on his watch."
That was San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz's response to President Donald Trump's Monday night tweet-storm, in which he once again inflated the amount of federal aid Puerto Rico has received since Hurricane Maria and attacked Cruz as "crazed and incompetent."
"He is unhinged," Cruz tweeted in response to the president's rant, which came after a GOP emergency aid bill stalled in the Senate, in part due to Democratic opposition over the legislation's inadequate relief to Puerto Rico.
"He knows his response was insufficient at best," the San Juan Mayor continued. "Shame on you!"
\u201cPres Trump continues to embarrass himself & the Office he holds. He is unhinged & thus lies about the $ received by PR. HE KNOWS HIS RESPONSE was innefficient at best. He can huff & puff all he wants but he cannot escape the death of 3,000 on his watch. SHAME ON YOU! 1/2\u201d— Carmen Yul\u00edn Cruz (@Carmen Yul\u00edn Cruz) 1554177255
\u201cMr President I am right here ready to call you on every lie, every hypocrisy and every ill fated action against the people of Puerto Rico. My voice,and the voices of the people of Puerto Rico, will continue to unmask your insentive, incapable & vindictive ways. SHAME ON YOU! 2/2\u201d— Carmen Yul\u00edn Cruz (@Carmen Yul\u00edn Cruz) 1554177683
Trump's Puerto Rico rant came as over a million U.S. citizens on the island are facing massive food stamp cuts amid congressional inaction.
The president has repeatedly claimed Puerto Rico has received $91 billion in federal disaster relief. According to the Washington Post, this number "appears to be a steep inflation of what's actually been appropriated."
Trump has also reportedly told aides that he "doesn't want another single dollar going to the island."
The $13 billion relief bill that failed in the Senate Monday included $600 million in aid for Puerto Rico's food stamp program, as well as aid to California, North and South Carolina, and other states.
As the Postreported, Senate Democrats argued the GOP legislation is "inadequate to meet the U.S. territory's needs as it attempts to recover from Hurricane Maria."
According to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last year, as many as 6,000 people may have died in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria.
"Democrats are embracing a House-passed relief bill containing hundreds of millions of dollars more for Puerto Rico than the GOP version, but it, too, failed to advance Monday as Republicans opposed it," the Post reported. "Trump opposes sending any additional aid to Puerto Rico apart from the food stamp money, funding Republicans convinced him to accept as the price for passing the long-pending disaster bill."
In a statement last week, Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello accused Trump of treating residents of the island as second-class citizens.
"People from all over the nation, and the world, have witnessed the inequalities Americans face on the island," Rossello said. "Mr. President: Enough with the insults and demeaning characterizations."
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'Vindictive Behavior': Trump Complains Puerto Rico Getting 'Too Much' Disaster Aid as Over a Million Face Food Crisis
"He continues to make the humanitarian crisis worse. He is ensuring that people don't have food to put on the table," said San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz
Mar 27, 2019
With over a million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico facing devastating food stamp cuts as Congress fails to provide necessary hurricane relief funding, President Donald Trump reportedly complained to Republican senators on Tuesday that the island is receiving "too much" aid--a position that was decried as both false and cruel.
"The president continues to show his vindictive behavior towards Puerto Rico and he continues to make the humanitarian crisis worse," said San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. "He is ensuring that people don't have food to put on the table."
"The federal response and its treatment during these past months in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria is clear evidence of our second-class citizenship."
--Ricardo Rossello, governor of Puerto Rico
Trump's remarks came during a private lunch with Republicans Tuesday, during which--according to the Washington Post--the president inflated the amount of aid Puerto Rico has received since Hurricane Maria and pushed lawmakers to limit funding to the island.
"At the lunch Tuesday, Trump rattled off the amount of aid that had been designated for other disaster-hit states and compared it with the amount allocated for Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricane, which he said was too high," the Post reported.
After claiming that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion in federal aid--it is unclear where he got this number--Trump reportedly said "one could buy Puerto Rico four times over for $91 billion."
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello responded with outrage to Trump's reported comments in a statement late Tuesday.
"People from all over the nation, and the world, have witnessed the inequalities Americans face on the island," Rossello said. "The federal response and its treatment during these past months in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria is clear evidence of our second-class citizenship."
"Mr. President: Enough with the insults and demeaning characterizations," he added. "We are not asking for anything more than any other U.S. state has received. We are merely asking for equality."
Trump's complaint about aid to the storm-ravaged island comes as an estimated 1.3 million Puerto Ricans--including hundreds of thousands of children and elderly people--have had life-saving food aid cut amid inaction and obstruction from the White House and congressional Republicans.
"We just don't have the money right now," said Myrna Izquierdo, an administrator at a Puerto Rican health clinic that relies on food stamp funding. "It's very hard. It is so unfair. That cut is going to kill us."
\u201cThe amount of reporting we have about the president's willful neglect of American citizens in Puerto Rico should be a bigger story, imo https://t.co/sSTj8CGRN9\u201d— Astead (@Astead) 1553602419
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate advanced a disaster relief bill that Democrats said is far from adequate to address the crises in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. According to one study, the storm may have killed nearly 6,000 people.
"The lack of leadership and coordination, combined with delays in meeting the basic needs of the island, more than 18 months after receiving a presidential disaster declaration, has left far too many children and elderly citizens in unhealthy and unsafe conditions, families in severely damaged homes and communities without adequate infrastructure to sustain a decent quality of life," Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to the White House on Tuesday.
Despite the island's dire situation, Trump has reportedly said that he "doesn't want another single dollar going to the island."
"Puerto Rico is in dire need of increased food assistance funding," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on Twitter this week. "It's unconscionable that we've allowed our fellow Americans to suffer for so long without the full resources of the U.S. government. We must act now to end this crisis."
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