Trump suddenly focuses on Puerto Rico, promises visit, aidWASHINGTON (AP) — Suddenly, just about all President Donald Trump can talk about is Puerto Rico.
After not mentioning the hurricane-devastated island for days, Trump on Tuesday pushed back aggressively and repeatedly against criticism that he had failed to quickly grasp the magnitude of Maria's destruction or give the U.S. commonwealth the top-priority treatment he had bestowed on Texas, Louisiana and Florida after previous storms.
Trump announced that he would visit Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week. He tweeted about Puerto Rico's needs. He talked about Puerto Rico during a meeting on tax cuts. He raised the subject at a Rose Garden news conference with the prime minister of Spain.
And he attended a hurricane briefing. He called a meeting of agency heads tasked with helping Puerto Rico recover, and sent top officials out to the White House driveway to talk to reporters. FEMA Administrator Brock Long delivered specifics: 16 Navy and Coast Guard ships in the waters around Puerto Rico and 10 more on the way.
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But Trump's fixation on Puerto Rico on Tuesday stood in sharp contrast to his focus on other matters between Maria's landfall Sept. 20 and Monday, including his fight with the NFL over football players protesting during the National Anthem. The president has tweeted about the NFL more than two dozen times since Friday.
By Monday, Democrats, Republicans and Rossello were emphasizing that Puerto Ricans are Americans, too.
Trump was intent on showing he'd gotten the message — but still wasn't ready to set aside the NFL issue entirely.
"We are totally focused on that," Trump said Tuesday of the growing crisis on the U.S. island. "But at the same time, it doesn't take me long to put out a wrong and maybe we'll get it right. I think it's a very important thing for the NFL to not allow people to kneel during the playing of our National Anthem."
Even as Trump insisted he has plenty of time to prioritize both issues — “I wasn’t preoccupied with the NFL,” Trump said. “To me, the NFL situation is a very important situation. I’ve heard that before about was I preoccupied. Not at all. Not at all. I have plenty of time on my hands. All I do is work.” — criticism lingered.
And when Trump talked about the difficulties in getting aid to Puerto Rico, well, classic Trump...
The ‘very big ocean’ between here and Puerto Rico is not a perfect excuse for a lack of aidTwice on Tuesday, President Trump offered an excuse for why government aid to Puerto Rico has been slow to arrive after Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico is an island.
“It’s very tough, because it’s an island,” Trump said during a meeting with members of the House. “In Texas, we can ship the trucks right out there. And you know, we’ve gotten A-pluses on Texas and on Florida, and we will also on Puerto Rico. But the difference is, this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean. And it’s a big ocean; it’s a very big ocean. And we’re doing a really good job.”
Later, during a brief news conference, he repeated the assertion.
“Frankly, we’re doing — and it’s the most difficult job because it’s on the island — it’s on an island in the middle of the ocean,” he said. “It’s out in the ocean. You can’t just drive your trucks there from other states.”
That’s true. Instead, supplies must be transported by airplane or ship instead of by truck. But that’s still not a great excuse for why the island is awaiting supplies.
FEMA is coordinating airlifts from U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes into Puerto Rico, bringing food and water. An update from the agency on Monday indicated that eight aircraft were delivering relief supplies and cargo to both that island and the Virgin Islands. Each aircraft can hold some 100,000 pounds of cargo.
That’s important. But there’s a way to scale that up. In January, a cargo ship operated by the U.S. Navy delivered supplies to researchers in Antarctica totaling nearly 7 million pounds of supplies.
So couldn’t the government have either sent supplies in advance (as it did for Texas and Florida by truck) or sent cargo after the fact that could have gotten to Puerto Rico by now?
The answer is yes and yes.
Yes, Donny, we know Puerto Rico is an island, did you know it's an American commonwealth populated by US citizens?
I'm really not sure he did...he's not too smart ya know?
