Trump came to Puerto Rico like an emperor: with pomp and little sympathy. Puerto Rico: Trump appears to complain about cost of relief effort. | Susanne Ramirez de Arellano | Opinion | The Guardian

"President Donald Trump arrived in Puerto Rico like an emperor, coming to scold his uncooperative subjects. “I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack,” he said during a visit to the island on Tuesday. He might as well have blamed us for throwing ourselves in the path of a hurricane.


Apart from the cost, the worst part about this catastrophe for Trump seems to be how damn ungrateful these Puerto Ricans are. The president called the mayor of San Juan, the capital, a “politically motivated ingrate” over the weekend. Then, on Tuesday, he suggested the island was exaggerating its woes. Puerto Rico isn’t facing “a real catastrophe like Katrina” the president said. Just grow up and stop all your whining, in other words.



Trump arrived on the island more than two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit. Despite what he claims, the situation is still devastating. Only 5% of the electrical grid has been repaired; only 17% of the cellphone towers are working and more than half the island has no running water. Most of Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million citizens have to stand every day in hellish lines for food, water, gas and medicines. This is the new normal for us and our families.\


Yet, the president spent much of his time on the island patting his administration on the back for how well it is handling everything. “You can be very proud. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what’s been taking place in Puerto Rico,” he said. "



Trump came to Puerto Rico like an emperor: with pomp and little sympathy | Susanne Ramirez de Arellano | Opinion | The Guardian