Campaign Action
Tropical Storm Dorian is moving toward Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands carrying winds of 60 mph and should bring those winds and torrential rain to both U.S. territories later today. Even though the storm will fall below hurricane level when it comes to wind, it will be hitting areas where repairs from the monster storms of 2017 are far from complete. Infrastructure of all types may still be fragile and many individual homes have not been repaired since the last round of storms. Also, as with most storms, rainfall and local flooding could be a much greater threat than any wind damage.
But even as the islands face a huge test following the 3,000+ deaths of Hurricane Maria, Donald Trump is letting them know that … they can’t count on him. On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted that FEMA was “ready”—though he made it clear that they were ready only if officials in Puerto Rico say please, pretty please, with sugar on top, and demonstrate sufficient gratitude to earn what they’re supposed to be given without question. And Trump went out of his way to make an attack on San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who he still hasn’t forgiven for telling the truth about the extent of the damage or the inadequate response following Maria.
Topping it off, as Trump is saying that he’s all set for Dorian, he’s also busy stealing the money from FEMA to use in building more kinder-jails. As CNN reports, DHS has notified Congress that it’s taking $155 million away from FEMA and shifting it over to ICE … because defunding FEMA at the start of the hurricane season will really teach them a lesson. And because if Trump empties the FEMA coffers now, that gives him a great excuse to declare yet another emergency later. So he can also steal that money for his wall, or child cages, or maybe a down payment on Greenland.
All of which should go perfectly fine when Dorian moves across Puerto Rico, slides into the Gulf, and picks up enough energy from the super hot water there to hit Florida as a category 2 hurricane. Everyone will understand that Trump couldn’t find the money to help.