Rebuilding Puerto Rico: Trump’s Response to Maria
Playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted that President Trump will go to hell for his disaster response (“Helluva Twitter War,” Oct. 1).
If Miranda is looking to place blame, he needs to look at the first line of defense: local government.
Unfortunately, the people of Puerto Rico remain at the mercy of not only the devastation of Hurricane Maria, but also incompetent civil leaders.
Jorge Rodriguez’s article (“Isle’s corruption is an unnatural disaster,” Oct. 1) on Puerto Rico’s inept handling of social needs, its poor water and power systems and its $118 billion debt crisis (which began mounting years before Maria) clearly shows a mismanaged government hindered by its inability to navigate an emergency. Carmine Lucia Long Valley, NJ
One has to question the motives behind Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz’s diatribe disparaging the federal support effort in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Cruz could have chosen not to voice her disappointment in the “lack” of adequate government response while standing in front of pallet after pallet of bottled water and other relief supplies sent there by the federal government. The visuals alone made her look very bad.
Mark Dorney
Poughkeepsie
Puerto Rico was hit with a devastating double whammy: Hurricane Maria and a president asleep at the wheel, who reacted with anger and meanness at being disturbed by the mayday calls from the San Juan mayor.
Trump tweeted racially
inflected insults accusing the islanders of wanting “everything to be done for them” rather than helping themselves.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who led the military response to Hurricane Katrina, implied that critical days had been squandered by the sluggish Trump administration.
It took eight days to suspend the archaic Jones Act — a relic of the post-World War I era.
Tejinder Uberoi
Los Altos, Calif.
Miranda’s criticism of Trump is not only wrong, it’s stupid.
The necessary supplies are in Puerto Rico, but where are the local truck drivers and other workers to facilitate the distribution of those supplies?
B. Pero
Farmingdale, NJ
As someone who voted for Trump, I’m very concerned and frustrated by his crude tweets attacking the mayor of San Juan.
I heard the mayor’s cry for help for her city and her island in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Maria, which pretty much leveled all of Puerto Rico.
A crisis of this magni-
tude is not about Trump; it’s about the Americans who are suffering.
How can the president actually tweet that “they want everything to be done for them”? Harsh words not needed in a presidential response.
The federal relief effort to date leaves much to be desired. Puerto Rico is not some foreign nation; it’s part of America — just like New York. This kind of disaster needs less politicizing and more unity in action.
Sal Giarratani
Boston, Mass.
Miranda’s rant against our president is typical. His hatred for Trump predates Hurricane Maria.
Although one of the 1 percent in terms of net worth, Miranda is one of the 99 percent of the “artists” (for lack of a better word) who have never gotten over Hillary Clinton’s loss.
If Miranda chooses to believe the incompetent and partisan mayor of corrupt San Juan over Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, that just shows his innate bias.
Robert Sieger
Manhattan
Miranda should have criticized the corruption in Puerto Rico prior to the storm. Trump did exactly for Puerto Rico as he did for other ravaged areas.
Jorge Rodriguez hit it home: We should allow federal contractors and officials to rebuild Puerto Rico, so we can see where our taxes are going.
Trump cannot be blamed for every mishap on earth, as much as liberals think he can.
Donna Orosz
New Hyde Park