While Trump was tweeting and obsessing over the NFL, he didn’t receive a briefing on Puerto Rico from anyone involved in disaster relief for four days.
The Washington Post lays out the timeline, “As Hurricane Maria made landfall on Wednesday, Sept. 20, there was a frenzy of activity publicly and privately. The next day, President Trump called local officials on the island, issued an emergency declaration and pledged that all federal resources would be directed to help. But then for four days after that — as storm-ravaged Puerto Rico struggled for food and water amid the darkness of power outages — Trump and his top aides effectively went dark themselves. Trump jetted to New Jersey that Thursday night to spend a long weekend at his private golf club there, save for a quick trip to Alabama for a political rally. Neither Trump nor any of his senior White House aides said a word publicly about the unfolding crisis.”
In typical Trump administration fashion, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the story false:
WP story on PR is false. @POTUS gave military & first responders 100% support & has been updated daily on efforts by Gen Kelly and @fema
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 30, 2017
One of the reporters on the Washington Post story replied:
We asked WH & FEMA to tell us if Trump was briefed between 9/22-9/25 by anyone directly involved in hurricane response. They refused. https://t.co/LPRFSxMbJq
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) September 30, 2017
Last weekend Trump had no calls scheduled to local officials, but suddenly this weekend he has 5:
Unlike last weekend when we couldn’t find evidence of a single call Trump made to local officials on the storm, he has 5 on sked tomorrow pic.twitter.com/6y7PvuhS2T
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) September 30, 2017
While Trump was picking fights with NFL and crashing and burning on Obamacare repeal, he wasn’t even being briefed about the crisis in Puerto Rico. The narrative that the White House is trying to avoid is that Trump is ranting on Twitter instead of paying attention US citizens who are dying after two hurricanes hit their island.
Trump is going to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, but it is too little too late. The thought that plagued policy experts has come true. Trump’s indifference to governing for every citizen has caused a humanitarian crisis where people are dying in Puerto Rico.
The failed presidency of Donald Trump is proving to be deadly.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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