(This caricature of Donald Trump is by DonkeyHotey.)Donald Trump finally made it down to Puerto Rico -- and it might have been better if he hadn't, because all he did was embarrass himself and the decent people of this country.
He started out by chiding the people of Puerto Rico for throwing the U.S. budget out of whack. WTF!!! I don't know if that was a joke, or just stupidity -- but it was the wrong thing to say, at the wrong time, and to the wrong people. Puerto Rico had no control over their being hit by two hurricanes in about a week.
Then he compared the disaster in Puerto Rico to "a real catastrophe like Katrina" -- comparing the death tolls of each. Again, the wrong thing to say, at the wrong time, and to the wrong people. The American citizens trying to survive their island's disaster don't need to be told that other disasters were worse -- they need help, and they need it desperately. And many parts of the island have still had no help at all, and when help reaches them, the death toll is sure to rise.
Those gaffes would have been bad enough, but Trump wasn't done. He spent the rest of the time bragging about what a good job his administration had done (and was doing) in Puerto Rico -- even though any rational observer knows that the response from the Trump administration was clearly inadequate. Trump showed that he cares more about his own image (public relations) than he does about getting adequate help to that troubled island.
I am ashamed of Trump's narcissistic performance in Puerto Rico, and I think all decent Americans should be. There is simply no excuse for more not being done to help Puerto Rico this late after the hurricanes, and Trump doesn't seem to realize that. Whether thru ignorance or incompetence, or both, Trump has failed the people of Puerto Rico -- and he continues to do so.
