Another Day, Another Insult

This is how Dear Leader responds to the urgent needs of Puerto Rico in the wake of hurricane Maria.

Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz answers:

Actually, I was asking for help. I wasn’t saying anything nasty about the president. I will continue to do whatever I need to do, say whatever I need to say, compliment the people I need to compliment, and call out the people that I need to call out. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about anyone. This is about lives that are being lost if things do not get done properly real quickly.

Update (October 1):  Kali Holloway says we need to expect more of the same.

[Von Clownstick's] indifference to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico is par for the course. Racism and malice form the core of who he is; these traits are the essence of his presidency, and while his response is stunning, it’s also perfectly in line with every other action he’s taken in office. ... The more disturbing fact is that 63 million people recognized [Fuckface's] hatefulness and racism, liked what they saw enough to vote for him, and even now, continue to fervently support him.

But Allen Frances gives a warning and let's me recall a phrase attributed to Joe Hill--"don't mourn, organize!"

It's a great mistake to confuse bad behavior with mental illness. [Von Clownstick] is one of the worst people we could possibly imagine as President, but that doesn't mean he's mentally ill. When we confuse the two, it's a terrible insult to those people who really are mentally ill. They're mostly nice well-meaning people who don't do harm. He's a bad person, not well-meaning, very selfish, who does lots of harm.

It also distracts us. [Fuckface] is a terrible political problem for America -- in some ways the greatest threat to democracy that we've had since the Civil War. He is a terrible environmental threat to the whole world. ...

If we spend our time thinking about what's his diagnosis, we won't be focusing on what's more important: How do we contain this guy? We have to have Congress, we have to have the courts, the press, and most importantly we have to have the people stand up to [Dear Leader] and direct us back to national sanity.

Update (October 4):  Mayor Cruz reacts to Dear Leader's visit.

This terrible and abominable view of him throwing paper towels and throwing provisions at people, it does not embody the spirit of the American nation.

But Heather Digby Parton understands where he's coming from.

If you need something from the king, you'd better tell him how great he is and then ask very, very nicely.

Update (October 29):  There might be some payback for how Puerto Rico got treated.

The exodus of tens of thousands of voting-age Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland following Hurricane Maria is likely to change the political complexion of several states.

Update (November 23):  In light of plans to deport 58,000 Haitians who have been living in the U.S. since the 2010 earthquake, Heather Digby Parton imagines a holiday scene:

[Fuckface] is in Florida for Thanksgiving. At some point during his sumptuous feast, perhaps the fact that he only won the state by 1.2 percent in the last election will come up in the conversation and maybe someone will mention that next time the state will be filled with new voters whose lives were upended by hurricane Maria. He will ask how long before they can be deported back to the island, and someone will tell him that they can stay as long as they like. It might just ruin his holiday.

Update (February 12, 2018):  It's all too easy to forget about the on-going problems in Puerto Rico. And now there are efforts to privatize the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

Update (April 10, 2018):  David Faris writes about statehood for Puerto Rico.

Update (May 30, 2018):  A Harvard University study finds that hurricane Maria was far more devastating than previously reported.

The study, which surveyed 3,299 randomly chosen households in Puerto Rico over three weeks, found that from Sept. 20 to Dec. 31, 2017, at least 4,645 people died in connection to the storm. The government’s death toll is 64.

Eight months after the storm, many Puerto Ricans are still without power or reliable access to health care ― a deadly combination for those who remain on the island, particularly in the face of the 2018 hurricane season.

Update (June 2, 2018):  Sandro Galea explains that not only was the death toll on Puerto Rico underreported, it was worse due to neglect.

Every death on the island is an indictment of years of political failure to foster health by improving conditions in the region.

Update (August 28, 2018):  Governor Ricardo Rosselló announced that the official death toll for hurricane Maria has been raised from 64 to 2975. It's now the deadliest natural disaster in the U.S. in over 100 years.

Update (September 13, 2018):  And yet the insults continue as Dear Leader denies the death toll.

This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible.