Big Trouble In Paradise

Flag of Puerto Rico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's been a couple of weeks since Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, leaving 24 dead (as of October 1) and plunging the island into darkness.  There's no power, little food and approximately $85 billion worth of damage to the 3.4 million who live on this American commonwealth.  And there won't be much improvement for months.

Help has been slow in coming from Washington.  President Donald Trump, when he's not tweeting about athletes who don't salute the flag or why negotiating with North Korea is a waste of time, has insisted that FEMA is doing a wonderful job and that he's satisfied relief efforts are going well.

But not according to Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of the island's largest city San Juan, who was seen on TV begging for help from the seemingly indifferent federal government.  What the mayor got for her trouble was a series of tweets from the President, accusing her of poor leadership, and Puerto Rico of wanting everything done for them.  As if Cruz didn't know, insults on Twitter are now considered typical behavior for Trump.

Because it is a commonwealth, Puerto Ricans are by law considered American citizens.  They can't vote for President or Vice President, but they do have a non-voting representative in Congress.  Which makes it hard for anyone in Washington to take them seriously.

Some are saying this is Trump's Katrina, the storm that helped sink George W, Bush's presidency, with his poor decision-making.  Let's compare.  Katrina destroyed New Orleans, a major American city with history and culture on its side.  Puerto Rico has history and culture too, but they're a tiny archipelago in the middle of the Caribbean Sea (and not just in the middle of a great big ocean, as the President referred to it), alongside other island nations that got hit by hurricanes.  You can't get there unless it's by boat or plane.  But that's true of any flooded area.

Complicating matters is the fact that the government has already doled out billions in the past month to revive areas of Texas and Florida, which have had their own bouts with hurricanes.  They also happen to be places where retirees and rich folk like Trump tend to reside.  Life is slowly coming back to normal for them.  As for Puerto Rico, they're full of the kinds of people Trump would like to see deported.  So it's no surprise that they're getting the short end of the stick.

Trump is scheduled to visit Puerto Rico this week, presumably to see for himself what Maria had wrought.  He'll either be moved enough by the relief efforts to promise more federal aid, or declare everything to be in tip top shape before moving on.  Or else it'll be one big photo-op.

You want an indication of how seriously President Trump is taking this humanitarian crisis?  He dedicated the President's Cup, an international golf tournament won by the United States this past weekend, to the hurricane victims.  That's nice, but the survivors of Harvey, Irma and Maria need more than trophies right now.  They need help.