At this hour, Tropical Storm Dorian is approaching Puerto Rico. Forecasts do not indicate that the storm will reach hurricane intensity before sweeping across the island, but fully two-thirds of Puerto Rico could experience torrential rain and tropical storm-force winds, a threat that is intensified by fragile, poorly repaired infrastructure and homes still damaged by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
The storm’s approach is generating deep—and completely justifiable—concern in areas that will facing the punishing weather. And Donald Trump is doing what he does best: Making the situation hugely worse by flat-out lying and indulging a petty grudge against millions of American citizens.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday that the “Congress approved 92 Billion Dollars for Puerto Rico last year, an all time record of its kind for anywhere.” This is a lie, on all fronts. First off, the federal government allocated about $41 billion for relief from the hurricanes of 2017. $20.3 billion has been confirmed for Puerto Rico by federal agencies. So far, $11.2 billion of that has actually reached the island, and half the funds allocated made it only after Trump deliberately held up the process for months, overtly acting to harm American citizens in Puerto Rico because he felt like the leadership there hadn’t been sufficiently effusive in praising Trump for visiting the region and jump-shotting some paper towels into a crowd.
Not only did Trump generate a completely out of his orange a$$ monetary figure, he also lied about the payout to Puerto Rico relative to other areas. Several other disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, received more federal funds than did the victims of Hurricane Maria.
If Trump really wanted to deal with the damage that was done to the island, $91 billion would be a good start. But not only is the reality about $80 billion short of that mark, Trump is currently fighting against Democratic proposals to send more money to Puerto Rico. Considering the scope of the damage—including the death of more than 3,000 people—even the larger figure would barely seem sufficient.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego filled in the mystery of where Donald Trump got the extra $50 billion between the $41 billion actually allocated and the $91 billion that Trump tweeted. Apparently this is sourced from a FEMA estimate of disaster funding for Puerto Rico over the next 20 years. Estimate. Over 20 years. Definitely not “allocated by Congress.”
And when it comes to the amount actually allocated, Trump held out for more than six months before signing the disaster relief bill in June. Then, to rub salt in the wound, he tweeted that “Puerto Rico should love President Trump. Without me, they would have been shut out!” despite the fact that Trump held the bill up precisely because he didn’t want funds going to Puerto Rico.
In fact, it wasn’t just citizens on the island who had to wait. Americans across the country, including farmers facing floods in the Midwest and those trying to recover from California fires, had their money delayed because Trump was still nursing a grudge over funding Puerto Rico.
Maybe he was holding out because he was still hoping to trade it for Greenland.