Donald Trump will visit Las Vegas on Wednesday but the day isn’t starting well.
"It's a very, very sad day for me personally."
Can Las Vegas manage to cheer up Trump? On Tuesday, Donald Trump dropped in on San Juan, Puerto Rico, where his primary activity was gathering a crowd of people, and making them say good things about Donald Trump.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselo was called out for praise for "appreciating what we did." The island's representative in Congress, Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon, was thanked for saying "such nice things" -- and asked to repeat her praise on Tuesday.
And the result was that Trump had such a positive, positive visit. Everything in Puerto Rico is great.
"We've only heard thank yous from the people of Puerto Rico," Trump told reporters upon Air Force One's return trip, when asked if he heard any constructive criticism while on the ground.
Which is easy when people who have made even the slightest criticism of Trump, including San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz, were not allowed to speak. And now that Puerto Rico has consoled Trump about the hurricane, it’s Las Vegas’s turn to make Trump happy about the shooting.
Making Trump happy is pretty much a full-time job that requires a whole nation.
Trump has spent the last eight months reeling from crisis to crisis, mostly of his own making, approximating the chaotic whirl that has characterized his entire adult life. The Las Vegas massacre and Hurricane Maria, however, are examples of sudden, uncontrollable crises that inevitably batter each White House, and have the capacity to define presidencies.
Only Trump doesn’t give comfort. He takes it. Even in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, Trump wagged a finger at local officials about the cost of the clean up, then switched to bragging about how only sixteen people had died compared to the “thousands” that died in in the “real” disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Of course, the official death toll in Puerto Rico more than doubled overnight to 34, but that’s not on Trump’s watch. Nothing ever is.
Trump’s response to visiting an island where at least 34 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless?
"That was a terrific visit, that visit was terrific," he said.
Barack Obama’s response to visiting with parents following the Sandy Hook massacre?
A grief-stricken silence hung like a pall over Air Force One that night, as the president and his entourage returned to Washington after a traumatic few hours in the company of parents whose beloved kids had been ripped away.
So the real question today is: What will Las Vegas do to make Donald Trump feel better?
Critics also accuse the President of using the office as a prop for his own ego -- a trait in evidence on Tuesday in Puerto Rico.
What had been billed as a chance for Trump to see the devastation himself turned into a cheerleading session for a relief effort that some news reports suggest has been plagued by delays and logistical snarls.
A number of people have been asked to remain in Las Vegas as witnesses during the early stage of the investigation. Perhaps the city could arrange to make them all stay at Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. He always likes that.