Trump takes off for Puerto Rico to survey Hurricane Maria damage
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U.S. President Donald Trump is calling the man who killed 59 people and wounded hundreds of others at a music festival in Las Vegas a “very, very sick individual.” (Oct. 3)
AP
WASHINGTON – As he took off Tuesday for Puerto Rico, President Trump defended the federal response to the hurricane that ravaged the island two weeks ago.Â
“In Texas and in Florida we get an A-plus,” he said, citing recovery efforts from earlier hurricanes on the U.S. mainland. “And I’ll tell you what, I think we’ve done just as good in Puerto Rico, and it’s actually a much tougher situation.”Â
Yet Trump may get a frosty reception from some Puerto Rico residents, after more than a week of back-and-forth between the president and local critics of the U.S. relief effort.
On Sunday, Trump described critics of his government’s response to the humanitarian disaster “politically motivated ingrates.” Yet some residents took issue with Trump’s tone. “People need water, gasoline and tarps, without the politics,” resident Liza Minnelli Pacheco told USA TODAY.
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Aerial footage shows how the once beautiful destination has been utterly devastated by Hurricane Maria.
USA TODAY
Trump is expected to spend about five-and-a-half hours on the island. The president and first lady Melania Trump will receive a briefing on Hurricane Maria relief efforts, according to the White House schedule, and will “visit with individuals impacted” by the deadly storm.
After landing in San Juan, Trump also has meetings planned with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, as well as members of the U.S. military who are leading the relief efforts. Trump is also scheduled to speak with Gov, Kenneth Mapp of the Virgin Island, also damaged by Hurricane Maria.
In confirming his trip on Monday, Trump continued to defend the hurricane response. “It’s been amazing, what’s been done in a short period of time on Puerto Rico,” he told reporters at the White House.
Some Puerto Rico residents may differ. According to the Puerto Rico governor’s office, a little less than half of residents have access to potable water, while 95% of the island is still without electricity.
Trump has also clashed with San Juan Mayor Carmen YulÃn Cruz, who criticized the pace of relief efforts and objected to the acting Department of Homeland Security chief calling Puerto Rico relief a “good news story” while people were dying.Â
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With President Trump set to visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday — after it was struck by two hurricanes — San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz plans to attend a briefing with the U.S. president.
Buzz60
Trump this weekend accused Cruz of “poor leadership” over Twitter and said she was taking instructions from Democrats that she “be nasty Trump.” In another missive, Trump said too many people in Puerto Rico “want everything to be done for them.”
In an interview with MSNBCÂ on Saturday, Cruz said she wasn’t being nasty to the president, she was only “asking for help” for her constituents.
“This is a time when everyone shows their true colors,” Cruz said. “I will continue to do what I have to do, say what I have to say, compliment the people that I have to compliment, and call out the people that I need to call out.”Â
Cruz also said she’d be willing to meet with the president if asked, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the mayor has been invited to participate in events with Trump. “Our focus is to bring the mayor into the coordination efforts,” Sanders said.Â
Speaking with reporters at the White House before his departure, Trump said Cruz has been more conciliatory in her more recent remarks, and “I think she’s come back a long way; I think it’s now acknowledged what a great job we’ve done, and people are looking at that.”
Trump’s unscripted public remarks have led critics to accuse him of exacerbating racial tensions.
After the violent white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump blamed “both sides.†During his Twitter lectures on largely black NFL players who refuse to stand during the National Anthem, Trump suggested that largely white team owners were “afraid†of the players. And his suggestions last week that Puerto Ricans were waiting for help rather than taking steps to repair the damage themselves left the impression he was criticizing Latino Americans.
“Given the president’s history on race, given the fact that he, a few months ago, told us that there were good people on both sides when neo-Nazis were marching in Charlottesville, yes, I think we have a right to be suspect that he is treating the people of Puerto Rico in a different way than he has treated the people of Texas or Florida,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Trump travels to Puerto Rico a day ahead of another somber trip to Las Vegas, in the wake of the mass shooting that killed at least 59 people.Â
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