Hurricane Response Belies Critics’ Hit Job on Trump By Steve Cortes
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/10/05/hurricane_response_belies_critics_hit_job_on_trump_135183.html
Although Donald J. Trump lacked political experience when he became president, the gods of politics have not given him a soft transition into the job. The most active American hurricane season in 12 years, rocket-launching North Korea, horrific acts of terror from London to Las Vegas – the latter being the worst mass shooting in American history — have tested the mettle of our nation’s first neophyte commander-in-chief.
Recently Puerto Rico was ravaged by two consecutive hurricanes, Irma and Maria. The very practice of naming hurricanes seems strange to me and, in this case, they have ironically wonderful sounding Latina titles … but the devastation unleashed has been anything but mellifluous. Puerto Rico was, sadly, as Carl Cannon of RealClearPolitics wrote, “underwater before it was underwater.” The island is $74 billion in debt and its infrastructure was in shambles before the storms — and young people were already fleeing en masse for job opportunities on the mainland, especially Florida.
How, then, have local leaders responded to this epic crisis, and how has President Trump? The mainstream media commenced on a rather predictable, yet ghoulish, mission to fashion this Puerto Rican tragedy as “Trump’s Katrina.” Instead of assessing the actual challenges of delivering massive humanitarian aid at rapid pace to an island that already lacks basic road and electrical infrastructure commensurate with an American territory, the anti-Trump media blame-game found a poster woman in Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz of San Juan.
Never mind her 24 percent approval rating among constituents or her obnoxious support for convicted anti-American terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera, Mayor Cruz’s anti-Trump tirades and strange T-shirts claiming Puerto Ricans are literally dying because of our president were enough to endear her to most media. My own home city’s congressman, Luis Gutierrez, similarly played the press with teary-eyed condemnations of Trump. Gutierrez represents the worst kind of political huckster, as evidenced by his own shameful validation of Lopez Rivera.
The reality on the ground belies such shameful grandstanding. Despite a calamitous storm, over two-thirds of all gas stations are operational on the island, along with the majority of grocery stores and big box retailers. More than 12,000 federal employees are providing aid, more than half of it from the U.S. military. Things are far from normal in Puerto Rico, but the response from the Trump administration has been massive and swift. Don’t take my word for it. As the Democratic Gov. Ricardo Rossello told Fox Business Channel host Maria Bartiromo, “The president and the administration, every time we’ve asked them to execute, they’ve executed quickly.” Similar praise emanated from U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp, who told Trump directly: “Because of your commitment, Mr. President, we’re talking about opening schools and welcoming cruise ships back.”
Finally, the well-worn, tired idea that Donald Trump somehow neglects Puerto Rico because he’s only worried about white Americans flies in the face of massive aid to storm-ravaged Houston, perhaps mainland America’s most diverse major city, which is 25 percent African-American and 37 percent Latino.
The truth is that Mother Nature can be cruel, and she’s been most unkind this season. Those, like Congressman Gutierrez and Mayor Cruz, who seek to take political advantage of such poor fortune should be ashamed. President Trump and his team should be highly praised for an impressive response to historic challenges so early on in the game.
Comments are closed.
