‘Will always be with’ Puerto Ricans, Trump tweets
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sought to reassure Puerto Rico on Friday that he was not abandoning the hurricane-ravaged island, shifting his message a day after blaming its leadership for the territory’s ongoing crisis and warning that he “cannot keep” federal troops and emergency workers “in P.R. forever.”
In a morning post on Twitter, Trump stuck to his position that Puerto Rico was already deeply troubled before Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit, but he cast the point in a tone of greater solidarity. “The wonderful people of Puerto Rico, with their unmatched spirit, know how bad things were before the H’s,” he wrote. “I will always be with them!”
He repeated that sentiment in a speech later in the morning. “These are people that are incredible people,” he said, referring to residents of Puerto Rico as well as other places hit by recent storms. “They’ve suffered greatly and we’ll be there. We’re going to be there. We have, really — it’s not even a question of a choice. We don’t even want a choice. We’re going to be there as Americans and we love those people and what they’ve gone through.”
Trump has sent conflicting messages about Puerto Rico for weeks, at times offering expressions of resolve to help those devastated by the storms and at others seeming to blame the island for its own troubles and lashing out at people who have complained about an inadequate federal response. The contrast with his more consistent approach toward Florida and Texas when they were struck by hurricanes has fueled suspicions about why he has treated the predominantly Hispanic island differently.
The president’s tweets Thursday about Puerto Rico generated anxiety. In those messages, Trump noted that the island had already been caught up in a financial crisis “largely of their own making” with “a total lack of accountability” and an infrastructure that “was disaster before hurricanes.” He added, “We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”
The island’s governor quickly telephoned the White House chief of staff seeking clarification and was reassured that the federal government remained committed to Puerto Rico. Trump’s advisers spent the rest of the day sending that message, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency posted its own Twitter message promising Puerto Rico it would be there “every day” to help get through the crisis.
Three weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, 83 percent of the island was still without power, 36 percent had no running water and 45 percent was without telecommunication services. Hospitals were operating on generators, and while most supermarkets were open again, the government was struggling to ensure that they were stocked.
The House on Thursday approved $36.5 billion more in aid to Puerto Rico and other areas hit recently by natural disasters, adding on to a $15.3 billion relief measure in September. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., vowed to help Puerto Rico secure the money it needs to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria after touring the disaster zone Friday and seeing what he called the “dire conditions” facing many across the island.
Ryan toured the island in a helicopter at the head of a congressional delegation and met with local officials and representatives of FEMA for the first time since Maria swept across the entire island as a fierce Category 4 hurricane. “Our heart goes out to the people of Puerto Rico,” he told reporters later in San Juan. “What we have seen here today confirms that this is first and foremost a humanitarian disaster.”
Ryan said he would work with island officials and the Trump administration on longer-term aid.
Ryan said he was struck by the “widespread devastation” in the interior towns and accounts of mayors of communities where lost bridges have left them cut off from the rest of the island. He added that there is a need for longer-term needs to be addressed after the humanitarian crisis passes.
“We are all in this with each other for the long haul to make sure that this island survives, that this is a beautiful place to raise a family,” he said. Information for this article was contributed by Peter Baker of The New York Times; and by staff members of The Associated Press.