Trump on defensive over Hurricane Maria response
He points to logistics problems, will visit Puerto Rico next week
President Trump said he would visit the stormwrecked territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week as he defended his administration’s response to the third powerful hurricane to hit the United States in a month.
Trump said Tuesday that the islands “have been devastated — and I mean absolutely devastated — by Hurricane Maria.”
But after getting generally high marks for his administration’s handling of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Trump has now found himself on the defensive for the response to Maria.
Unlike Harvey and Irma, the relief effort to Maria has been complicated by a mix of geography, logistics and economics. Puerto Rico is a predominately Spanish-speaking island beset by bankruptcy. And while they’re U.S. territories whose residents are U.S. citizens, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands sit a thousand miles off Florida.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a native Puerto Rican who represents parts of New York City, called Maria “Trump’s Katrina,” a reference to the 2005 hurricane that devastated New Orleans and became what critics considered a symbol of federal neglect by the administration of George W. Bush.
“The most fundamental duty of the president of the United States is to protect the homeland,” she told CNN Tuesday. “That includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The administration has not been able to comprehend the fact that people in the Puerto Rico are dealing with life-and-death issues.”
Only about 5% of the island has power, including just 11 of its 69 hospitals, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said. Only about half the island has access to drinkable water, and much of the island remains cut off from communication to the outside world.
But unlike Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to get high marks from the territories.
“FEMA people have been wonderful,” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said Tuesday. And after meeting with Trump by teleconference Tuesday, the governor thanked Trump in a number of English-language tweets, commending “leadership, quick response & commitment to our people.”
Still, Trump’s sensitivity to the issue showed in a string of tweets Monday night, when he appeared to criticize Puerto Rico for a lack of preparedness for what its governor called the biggest and most catastrophic hurricane to hit in a century. As his Twitter account lobbed criticism at the National Football League and Sen. John McCain, Trump also pointed to Puerto Rico’s antiquated electrical system and the territory’s bankruptcy for slowing relief.
“Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,” Trump tweeted. “Food, water and medical are top priorities — and doing well.”
It was the first time he had tweeted about Puerto Rico since the day the storm hit, and that rankled some of the same officials who have otherwise praised the federal effort.
“You don’t put debt above people, you put people above debt,” said Cruz, the San Juan mayor.
From Saturday morning until Monday night, when he tweeted about Puerto Rico, Trump tweeted or retweeted about the NFL national anthem controversy 20 times. But Trump dismissed criticism Tuesday that he was “preoccupied” by his feud with football owners and players.
“Not at all. Not at all,” he said. “I have plenty of time on my hands. All I do is work.”
At a news conference Tuesday, Trump also said Puerto Rico’s location — “on an island in the middle of the ocean” — played a role in slowing the response. “You can’t just drive your trucks there from other states,” Trump said.
As Trump left for a political fundraising trip to New York on Tuesday, top disaster officials gave additional explanations for the difficulty of the emergency response: Maria’s winds hit the islands at 155 mph — just 1 mph short of the most powerful Category 5 storm. The storm took out air traffic control, and the storm all but eliminated the capacity of local governments to respond, they told reporters.
“Let’s face it: The infrastructure is weak and there were no building codes, so there was a lot of devastation,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said.
On Tuesday, Trump amended his disaster declaration for Puerto Rico, authorizing 100% federal funding for debris removal and emergency measures for 180 days. And on Capitol Hill, members of both parties promised that the territories would not be treated differently.
“This is our country, and our fellow citizens. They need our help, and they are going to get our help,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “I also want the people of Puerto Rico to know that they are going to get the kind of help and aid that Texas and Florida enjoyed.”
Trump visited Texas and Florida within a week of Harvey and Irma. Hurricane Maria hit the island Sept. 20; Trump’s visit will be on Oct. 3.
Trump said he can’t go any earlier “because of the first responders, and we don’t want to disrupt the relief efforts.”
“Puerto Rico is very important to me,” the president said. “The people are fantastic people. I grew up in New York, so I know many people from Puerto Rico. I know many Puerto Ricans. And these are great people, and we have to help them.”
“The most fundamental duty of the president of the United States is to protect the homeland. That includes Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., a native Puerto Rican