The current occupant of the White House, who took an oath to be the President of the United States, seems to be willing to kill off a part of it. Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are part of the United States, and the beleaguered inhabitants are U.S. citizens. A month has passed since hurricane Maria devastated the islands (and it’s more than a month after Irma) and only 12.33% of Puerto Rico has power. The last report I saw on St. John, USVI, they still have no power at all. The Department of Defense just stated that power restoration could take a year in Puerto Rico.
Donald Trump has given himself a “10 out of 10” for his relief performance, which is ludicrous—what is worse is that he insinuates that Puerto Ricans are lazy, that somehow they don’t deserve full FEMA and military support, that because things were “so bad” before Irma and Maria that whatever sop is thrown at them is more than they deserve.
Trump’s barely concealed racist disdain communicates instantly to his ardent supporters. Dragging his feet on full aid is red meat to his base— who purport to be Christians— exhibiting little in the way of Christ-like attitudes towards those in need.
Polling on Trump’s Maria performance:
The results break largely along partisan lines. Nearly three-quarters of Democratic voters, 74 percent, say the government hasn’t done enough in Puerto Rico, but only 27 percent of Republicans agree. Independents say the government hasn’t done enough in Puerto Rico, 49 percent to 29 percent.
Let’s look at those numbers again — 73% of Republicans think Trump has done enough. These are the same American flag waving folks who are in a frothing fury about black athletes taking a knee. These are folks who clearly missed absorbing the lesson of the parable of the Good Samaritan, told by their Jesus in Luke 10:25–37.
I read this piece in the Washington Post this morning:
What jumped out at me were these comments:
Ramirez worries that when the government makes money easily available after a natural disaster, there’s an opportunity for corruption and a chance that some people will take more than they need. And she thinks that media coverage of the crisis in Puerto Rico has lacked context, especially in reporting that nearly all of the island is still without electricity. “Guess what? There’s a big chunk of the population that lives without electricity all the time,” Ramirez said, saying she was sharing the experiences of a friend who has family on the island.
Hogg, 76, nodded his head in agreement: “They never had it. Never had it.”“They don’t live deprived, because it’s a beautiful environment,” she continued. “The weather is nice, the climate is good most of the time, so it’s different from here . . . It works there because of the climate. It wouldn’t work here.”
About 96 percent of Puerto Rico’s electricity customers had service before Maria made landfall, according to federal data; many of the rest had no power because of Hurricane Irma two weeks earlier.Ramirez said the government should encourage those living in the hardest-hit areas to move to the mainland, out of the direct path of hurricanes and into communities with more-reliable infrastructure.“I object. I object. They should stay where they are and fix their own country up,” Hogg responded softly, shaking his head, wrongly referring to the U.S. territory as a separate nation.
Oh hell no!
Puerto Ricans don’t live in little huts with no light and electricity frolicking their lazy days away in sun and fun.
These people, who think of themselves as “Trumpsters,” proudly wave their American flags and call themselves patriots, and are complicit in condemning other Americans to death and suffering. Imho — a better label for them is “Hatriots.” As long as Republicans can depend on this group to march to the polls and re-elect them, we will remain dependent upon the valiant efforts of individuals and fund-raising groups for aid, and on the fierce persistence and resilience of Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders for survival.
As long as Trump (and his enabling Republicans in the House and Senate) feels he can get away with this — and the polling indicates he can — Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders will continue to suffer. As the Puerto Rico news slips out of the headlines (and the USVIs aren’t there at all) conditions will worsen.
In the words of the Rev. William Barber, “If we ever needed to vote...we sure do need to vote — now!”
We need to keep PR and the USVI in the headlines. We cannot let up on pressuring our elected officials. Use all your social media resources, and personal networks to spread the word.
In the end — the only solution to all of this will be to take back the House, the Senate and the Presidency. We know we are faced with climate change and more hurricanes, and disasters are on the horizon.
We have to GOTV and vote — because our lives and the lives of others depend upon it.
Folks on the islands cannot vote in our national elections. It is up to us to do it for them.