MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin spoke to Puerto Rico’s former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla (D) on Thursday, who said that President Donald Trump’s haphazard response to Hurricane Maria and his contemptuous attitude toward the people of Puerto Rico are because Trump is “just racist.”
García Padilla reminded Melvin that Puerto Ricans did not ask to become U.S. citizens. “It was imposed by Congress just prior to the first World War so our young Puerto Ricans back then can go into military service. So it’s the duty of the United States to put its boots on the ground here in Puerto Rico.”
“It’s not that we are begging,” he said. “It’s what we deserve.”
Trump, said García Padilla, “is talking to his electoral base. He’s not talking about law or about history. He’s showing off the he’s just racist. Let’s call it by name.”
“That’s a pretty bold assertion, there,” said Melvin, “to call the president of the United States a racist.”
Yeah, that’s bold — it’s also very likely true since Trump just threatened to pull FEMA and first responders off the island and San Juan Mayor Cruz turned to the UN and Unicef to “stop the genocide” that she says “Hater in Chief” Trump continues to ignore.
The official death toll has risen to 34 from the original 16, while Vox estimates the actual death toll is now over 500 due to the various people who have died in Hospitals without power, needed medicines, water of food including those who have died from leptospirosis, which is a disease that spreads when the urine of infected animals gets into streams and rivers that people have been forced to use for drinking water.
At Vox, we decided to compare what the government has been saying with other reports of deaths from the ground. We searched Google News for reports of deaths in English and Spanish media from Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria. We found reports of a total of 81 deaths linked directly or indirectly to the hurricane. Of those, 45 were the deaths certified by the government. The remaining 36 deaths were confirmed by local public officials or funeral directors, according to the reports. We also found another 450 reported deaths, most of causes still unknown, and reports of at least 69 people still missing.
Padilla argues that he hasn’t treated the Hurricane victims of Hurricane Irma in Texas or Hurricane Harvey in Florida with threats, derision ultimatums because simply put — he hasn’t.