Trump wrong on Puerto Rico

San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz pleaded eloquently for effective disaster aid, condemning inane bureaucracy and a lack of adequate planning. President Donald Trump calls it “fake news” and Democratic propaganda. Has Trump ever lied to you?

She saw total devastation. No electricity. No communications. No water. No food. No ice. No shelter. No medical care. No money. No heavy equipment. Imagine an unevacuated Hilton Head Island left to molder in its ruins for a week, food rotting in the freezers, water boiling over wood fires, the mosquitoes ...

You don’t ask questions, and you don’t bother with red tape. You act. You do what has to be done — helicopters seek out isolated communities, roads are cleared, you pour in the essential supplies, evacuating where necessary. Cruz cited Marine Corps modes of coping and standard military procedures. And you have them there and ready to go as soon as the storm winds cease.

Trump was too busy belaboring NFL players demonstrating on behalf of civil rights and human decency. Clear your head of thoughts of life on Puerto Rico, and contemplate the thoughts of any black man when the blue lights flicker in his rear view mirror.

Trump was too busy trading insults and provoking nuclear war with another sick mind.

He was also too busy enriching the super-rich with his “tax reform.” After all, these are important people, like Russian oligarchs. Who has time to bother with the likes of Puerto Ricans and black people?

This story was originally published October 6, 2017 at 8:17 AM with the headline "Trump wrong on Puerto Rico."