07 October, 2017
Then on Tuesday, following a clumsy effort to project empathy in Puerto Rico-which included reassuring victims that their hurricane wasn't "a real catastrophe like Katrina" and throwing paper towels into a crowd like he was at a sporting event-Trump made a decision to inject some financial volatility into the mix. In fact, during the interview, when asked about how Puerto Rico is now faring, she started with this aid from individual entities, only mentioning FEMA's response as an add-on.
The co-hosts weren't having it. Whoopi Goldberg noted that the visit took place two weeks after Hurricane Maria made landfall on the USA island.
During the weekend that followed, while the island was totally in the dark and crying for help, Trump wrote 17 tweets about his claim that NFL athletes who refuse to kneel during the national anthem are disrespecting the flag. There's also the small question of whether or not Trump or the federal government actually has the power to help forgive Puerto Rico's debt burden anyway. Trump said, comparing the outcome favorably to that of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in 2005.
Houston is sending canned food, water as well as treatment systems to Puerto Rico. Sunny Hostin cut in, referring to Trump tossing out rolls of paper towels to crowds of desperate citizens. Carmen Yulin Cruz also repeated the plea on an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC the following day.
But Cruz was more positive about her meeting with White House staff.
"Puerto Rico kind of looked to us like a bad company with a bad balance sheet", said Okada.
For those of you who don't know, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are US properties and the residents are American citizens. "They don't have medical resources".
She went on to add, "I would hope that the president of the United States stops spouting out comments that really hurt the people of Puerto Rico because, rather than commander in chief, he sort of becomes miscommunicator in chief". "Letting people know help is on the way", she continued.
It is noteworthy that the president did not raise similar concerns about the cost to the federal treasury of aid to Texas, Florida, Louisiana and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were battered by storms during an unusually violent hurricane season. They shook hands and spoke briefly. He did not respond.
The request was expected to come on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: Workers use backhoe loaders to remove damaged electrical installations from a street after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Salinas, Puerto Rico September 21, 2017.
