Puerto Ricans, home alone
The administration snapped to for Texas and Florida, but not for Puerto Rico
Suppose that the entire San Diego metropolitan area had lost electrical power, and it wouldn’t be restored for months.
Or, suppose that most of the ports, roads and cellular towers in the Seattle metropolitan area had been destroyed, and a major dam had failed.
Or, that most of the homes in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota were either damaged or destroyed in one day.
Or, that the combined populations of New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont had seen much of their forests and agricultural land wiped out.
Or, that the residents of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming — combined — had lost access to food and clean water, leaving them vulnerable to cholera. And imagine that overflowing hospitals, without power, had no capacity to deal with an outbreak.
Now, imagine that in response to any of these scenarios, the president of the United States variously ignored the plight of the affected Americans (in all of the above cases about 3.4 million people, give or take), blamed them for their own troubles and provided inadequate help.
This is precisely what is happening right now to the 3.4 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico, an island territory more populous than about 20 states. Hurricane Maria essentially wiped out these Americans’ ports, roads, electricity, communications, water supply and crops and many homes. Yet, a week after the storm, the response from the American mainland has been paltry.
There is no rush, as there ... owed to Wall Street was after Hurricane Harvey and the banks which, sadly, hit Texas, to approve must be dealt with.” the emergency funds that Two Trump Cabinet Puerto Rico will surely members, Energy Secretary need. There has been no Rick Perry (who traveled massive movement of military with Mr. Trump to Texas personnel and equipment and Florida after hurricanes to Puerto Rico: no aircraft there) and Interior carrier (one was sent Secretary Ryan Zinke, made to the Florida Keys in response a joint public appearance to Hurricane Irma), Monday but didn’t even no hospital ship (finally on mention Puerto Rico. And Tuesday afternoon the the Trump administration Navy said it was sending said it would not assist one). The Washington Post Puerto Rico by waiving the has reported that the three Jones Act, which restricts Navy amphibious ships dispatched the use of foreign cargo to Puerto Rico are ships, after waiving the act “a modest fleet given the in response to Harvey and scale of the crisis.” Irma.
President Donald Finally, Mr. Trump began Trump, so visible when to say the right things Harvey and Irma hit, all but Tuesday, acknowledging ignored the devastation Puerto Rico “needs a lot of that Maria brought to money.” He said he’ll visit Puerto Rico, devoting more next Tuesday. Mr. Trump attention to respect for the explained that there’s “a flag at NFL games. When very big ocean” around he did turn his focus to Puerto Rico but said “we’re Puerto Rico on Monday, it doing a really good job” and was to say that the island predicted his administration “was already suffering will get an “A-plus” for from broken infrastructure its response. & massive debt” and that That’s out of the question, its “old electrical grid, but Mr. Trump could avoid which was in terrible a failing grade if he hurries. shape, was devastated. Experts say the island could Much of the Island was destroyed, within days have disease with billions of dollars outbreaks and the loss of law and order.
As the Post has reported, Adm. Paul Zukunft, the Coast Guard commandant, said Monday that he understands why Puerto Rico’s residents feel forgotten. “They feel isolated, and they’re probably getting a sense of betrayal, of, well, ‘Where is the cavalry?’” Adm. Zukunft said.
Good question. Phillip Carter, a military specialist with the Center for a New American Security, wrote a piece for Slate likening Mr. Trump’s “anemic” response in Puerto Rico to President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Carter told me Puerto Rico conservatively needs a response of 50,000 U.S. troops. Even Haiti — a foreign country — got the help of more than 20,000 troops after its 2010 earthquake.
“The response to Harvey and Irma and previous disasters has been much more substantial,” Mr. Carter said. Mr. Trump, he said, “is more interested in the NFL than Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”
No question the logistics are harder in Puerto Rico than on the mainland. But the 3.4 million U.S. citizens there have long endured second-class status: no voting members of Congress, no presidential vote, unequal benefits and high poverty. Now, the Trump administration’s failure to help Americans in Puerto Rico with the same urgency it gave those in Texas and Florida furthers a sad suspicion that the disparate treatment has less to do with logistics than language and skin color.