Of red ink and rising tides

Tuesday offered the latest depressing glimpse into the head of President Trump. Two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Trump visited the suffering island with cabinet members in tow. Introducing Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Trump said — semijokingly — “Now, I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.”

Oh? From the moment the storm hit Puerto Rico, the President has obsessed over the cost of recovery there, wringing hands that stayed firmly by his side when discussing hurricane-ravaged Texas and Florida.

Sure, Puerto Rico was a fiscal wreck before the hurricane — but it’s part of the United States, devastated by Mother Nature, in desperate need of aid. One congressional estimate puts the figure at $30 billion.

If Trump is genuinely concerned about budgets getting thrown out of whack, he should look no further than his own tax plan.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the blueprint — a huge boon to the wealthiest Americans — would spike the deficit by as much as $2.7 trillion over 10 years.

Mulvaney, a one-time deficit hawk, is just fine with that, telling CNN, “We need to have new deficits” because, so he says, only red-ink-gushing cuts will yield growth.

We’d call it penny wise, pound foolish. But it isn’t even penny wise.