Puerto Rico crying for help; Trump lands in New Jersey for 2nd straight relaxing golf weekend

Another example of someone trying to defend the indefensible. Offensive, yes, especially in the venue (among the very Americans he is supposed to lead as president) and timing (while many Puerto Ricans are still suffering). One important role of the president is to be "consoler in chief". Would you say Trump's offensive comments made him a success as "consoler in chief" or a failure? And would the families that did lose loved ones take solace that at least a thousand didn't die? That their loss was any less heartbreaking than those that lost loved ones in Texas or Florida?

You'd think anyone with any amount of morality would be able to handle this role... but with Trump, his utter lack of morality makes even this task out of his reach.

 

Not a real catastrophe

 

I said it was offensive. I don't know what you want me to say that you guys haven't said many times.

 

Perhaps not trying to then spin it with a "it was offensive but true".

 

Really unbelievable, this guy. Imagine you are one of the relatives of the people who died from this Hurricane and you hear that.

 

Wow that is truly looking at the bright side.

"My son got kidnapped and tortured last week, I would like to say that the police responded quickly to the 911 call"

 

Love how he's always quick with sh***y tweets when something happens here in Europe and lectures our leaders, but when a mass shooting happens in Trump's own country, he'll waddle around, not condemn anyone and say it's not time to politicize yet.

 

It's pretty crazy that there are still people that love and support this guy. I wish I could somehow relate, just as a way to find common ground. I can't.

I really wish Dems/Reps would come together to denounce literally everything he stands for. The whole thing is enormously embarrassing for both parties and all Americans.

 

He's worse than useless. The "man" is a danger to the Republic.

 

Katrina was an unusual disaster in that it was the storm surge that killed people in alabama and causing the failure of the levee system. If not for those two things, the death toll would be similar to other hurricanes.

But beyond the death toll, both Harvey and Maria were just as catastrophic. People's lives are being ruined here. Puerto Rico is devastated from what I hear from Puerto Ricans in NY. They are utterly despondent. Economically that island is crushed. Imagine the oil industry if all refineries and oil platforms and storage tanks were destroyed in a few hours. That is what has happened to Puerto Rico's economy. Crops are completely devastated, power is gone so no money can be made, and half the island doesn't have drinking water. 3.5 million people in incredible heat with half of them not having drinking water, and not able to earn a paycheck and struggling to find food while be stranded because of blocked roads and many without a roof over their heads.

If you want to say hey, at least the death toll was low, let's be thankful for that - well, why was no one saying that when Houston was under water? It's easy to sit in an air-conditioned room sipping your drink eating your foot in your comfy chair and talk about how lucky Puerto Rico is but unless you are in that situation, I think it's best not to trivialize people's suffering especially when you don't share them. Have some empathy for god's sake.

 

Trump is an inarticulate, inconsiderate, ******* but whatever... I have to ask, did PR fail themselves? Houston for example, wouldn't need Daddy TX or Granddaddy US&A. Sure Houston would take the help but if it never came I think Houston would be okay relatively speaking.

Which brings about another question that I asked about Houston as well. Should PR be blamed? I and many others blamed Houston (citizens, business & govt leaders) for the three recent flooding disasters. And rightfully so, Houston exasperated the problem and didn't plan accordingly. Should Houston be helped when it won't help itself or worse was negligent?

What say you?

 

Just doesn't get it it appears. So determined to regurgitate Trump speaking points you apparently don't care what people think about you... "but whatever."

 

Detestable dotard. Those that support him are complicit in the ruination of our country.

 

It's ok.

 

lol man

 

I never "supported" Trump and never will. Just talking real talk. PR has the "luxury" of seeing what happened with Harvey, why not some personal responsibility regarding emergency preparedness or lack thereof? Especially true when you consider logistical issues being a Caribbean island. Yes it's part of USA but their leaders let folks down. I mean I filled up all my vehicles, ice chests, batteries, flashlights, matches, candles, food&water, etc... the normal things we are all individually responsible for. Then you hope the civic and business leaders do their part for things that are beyond an individual and his families control. That's the condemnation I had for Houston and it's leaders and I pose the same to PR's because as I said, they had the advantage of seeing what went wrong in TX.

 

WTF!!! Dying of cringe LOL!!!

 

I get annoyed with all the sympathy I get. Yeah, my home was destroyed, but that same night I slept in a cozy bed in an air conditioned house, and rented my own new place by the end of the week. My cars were flooded but I had rental cars by the end of the week and replaced both cars before a month had passed. My kids' school was flooded but they got a new campus to have classes in a month later. I am so okay, it's ridiculous. Meanwhile in PR 2 weeks in, people still don't have water, electricity, communication, or transportation. Some people got it worse than me in Harvey, but I still don't think the levels of disaster begin to compare.

I don't think you're right about Houston not needing someone to bail us out. Sections of our city got flooded, but other sections were just fine. Those sections have been able to keep working and help the city get back on track. Imagine if the entire city was devastated, like PR was devastated; I don't think we bounce back so easily from that. Besides, we did get bailed out by the rest of the country, not just with state and federal resources, but all the industry resources too. My adjuster is from Florida. The tow-truck guy who took my cars was from New Hampshire. It's nice to have an incredibly large country to draw resources from, and all the companies have to do is tell their employees to hop in the truck and drive there. But the tow truck driver can't go to PR. ComEd can't send lineworkers in some utility trucks to put the grid back up. Contractors aren't going to be flying in for work rebuilding homes. PR doesn't have nearly the same support from the wider economy that Houston has simply because of the geography.

As for blame, there's lots of people to blame when it comes to bad policy making flooding worse in Houston, but that's people. Houston overdeveloped. Harris county undermitigated. Politicians in Austin are dumbasses. But the feds are to blame too. NFIP doesn't charge enough for flood insurance risk, so there's not enough market information to change development decisions. I would also say our willful ignorance of climate change also makes things worse. So, how can the feds say we were negligent when they also were negligent? Same with PR. PR is poor and their infrastructure sucks, they don't have adequate political representation and mainlanders don't really see citizens of a spanish-speaking territory as the same kind of citizen that we have in an English speaking state. Is that all PR's fault? That their geography is a liability and American companies don't want to invest there? Would we say it's Maine's own fault if they were flattened by a blizzard because they could never afford whatever investment it would take to withstand it? Do we say it is Kentucky's own fault that they didn't build an economy that could survive the war on coal? I suppose I think it's impossible to parse who is really at fault, and -- if we really are one country -- it doesn't matter after the disaster anyway.

 

At least he dedicated the golf trophy to the victims. Imagine if they hadn't seen his golf tournament and basked in that honor from their upside down residence