After utterly ignoring Puerto for the first five days after the passage of Hurricane Maria, Donald Trump eventually woke up. In the last few days, he’s made several statements about the island and its plight. Those things being:
“We are doing a great job.”
“Amazing.”
“Tremendous.”
“Incredible.”
“Really good.”
He actually said “great job” at least six times, so you know it must be true. Of course, Trump has also made numerous statements about just how difficult this problem is—it’s on an island, in the ocean—and at least two tweets to remind everyone that the lights in Puerto Rico are out. So, while he’s doing a great, amazing, tremendous, incredible, really good job there, some tough decisions ahead.
If that reads like Donald Trump trying to decide if a portion of America is worth rebuilding after a disaster … it’s because it’s hard to find any other way to parse those words. Maybe it’s because people on Puerto Rico stubbornly aren’t agreeing on Trump’s grade card.
The Trump administration declared Thursday that its relief efforts in Puerto Rico are succeeding, but people on the island said help was scarce and disorganized while food supplies dwindled in some remote towns eight days after Hurricane Maria devastated the U.S. territory of 3.4 million people.
Trump isn’t alone in his upbeat assessment. Though Trump hasn’t bothered to nominate a new Homeland Security Director since John Kelly moved over to stage manage the White House, the acting Homeland Security Secretary also thinks the situation is pretty rosy.
“It is really a good news story, in terms of our ability to reach people,” she told reporters in the White House driveway.
Meanwhile, in actual reality, in real world Puerto Rico …
“Well, maybe from where she’s standing it’s a good news story. When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from their buildings … I’m sorry, but that really upsets me, and frustrates me. I would ask you to come down here, visit the towns, then make a statement like that. Which, frankly, is an irresponsible statement. …
Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story.”
It took a week for Trump to lift the Jones Act, but while supplies are now reaching the docks in San Juan, most of Puerto Rico is still desperately short of basic needs. Power remains out. So does communications to many areas. Roads in some areas are still not clear, or washed out. Bridges are down. But the response to Puerto Rico has been a fraction of what was delivered to Florida and Texas.
Puerto Rico is an island—a fact that should surprise no one—but there seems to have been none of the preparatory work that should have occurred to ready a response even before Maria struck. Now, in many areas of the island, it’s local officials and volunteer groups desperately trying to cobble together a response with no effective federal team in sight.
Bayamon Mayor Ramon Luis Rivera told The Associated Press that FEMA officials sent a truck with a limited amount of food Monday. Rivera said he began distributing it to hard-hit rural areas.
“I don’t wait,” he said when asked whether federal officials helped with distribution.