Trump Makes Death Toll Report From Hurricane Maria All About Him

He is a petulant, self-absorbed, awful human being. The stain of Trumpism will not wash off of those who have enabled him. It will not be easily forgotten.

Today’s fresh Trump outrage is particularly notable, as I, and other east coast Americans brace for Hurricane Florence to inflict her fury upon us.

I am sitting in the North Carolina “red zone” of the projected path of Florence. I have taken precautions, stockpiling ice, water, nonperishable food, and other necessities, in the event there are a few days of pre-technology living.

When Matthew hit in 2016, I was unprepared. As a result, my family and I spent three days without electricity.

Just three days.

Out of that experience, I have come to several conclusions.

The first is that I am not cut out for living off the grid. I’m a complete wimp, beholden to lights, running water, air conditioning, and the internet.

The second is that I have much to be thankful for. Living in inland North Carolina, as opposed to say, Puerto Rico has assured that in the worst of these events, the hit is only going to be so bad, and that our infrastructure is such that we have resources and help that cut down on my time spent in the dark, considerably.

When Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico in 2017, a failing infrastructure resulted in catastrophic damage.

This was a powerful category 4 storm (having weakened from a category 5), and Puerto Rico took a direct hit.

What’s more, parts of the island were still struggling from Hurricane Irma, which had hit the island only two weeks before. Tens of thousands were already without power.

After Maria, that number went up to millions.

Think about it: People on breathing machines were without. People on medication that requires refrigeration had to see their medicines go bad (not to mention the spoiling food).

And there is actually a lot of blame to go around, beginning with the infrastructure that had never been properly attended to.

There were missteps on the ground, corruption within local governments, and sustained rejection of accountability.

However, the government’s response to the plight of Puerto Rico – American citizens – was pathetic.

FEMA failed to respond to requests for generators to keep food and medicines from spoiling. There were other failures, as far as providing food, water, and shelter.

The help came, but it was days, even weeks later, and in many cases was inadequate to meet the overwhelming need.

We could blame so many, but the bottom line is that blaming doesn’t help and the goal should be to make sure this level of failure does not happen again.

People died.

The most recent number associated with Hurricane Maria came recently, after an independent investigation by Puerto Rican authorities: 2,975.

That is tragic.

To President Trump, however, the biggest tragedy is that the number makes him look bad.

“3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths,” Trump tweeted. “As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.”

Ok. I guess, technically, he’s right. It wasn’t 3,000 people. It was 2,975 people. That’s 25 less people.

And of course, let’s not forget how everyone is out to get Trump.

…..This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018

UGH!

Do you think it’s possible that he thinks when they say the death toll was 2,975 that he’s thinking of people in Maria’s path that were swept up in the winds and killed, physically, in that moment? Do you think it’s possible that he doesn’t realize that if someone dies as a result of not having electricity to run their breathing equipment or from losing their medication or other medical needs, that those deaths that come can be attributed to the hurricane, as well?

There’s no excuse for his saying that the death toll was a political plot to “make him look bad.”

Then there is the completely wrong, callous, bad takes by those Trump loyalists, whose first instincts prove to be their worst instincts, as they reflexively defend him.

Dems learned how to politicize natural disasters when Katrina hit New Orleans. It worked against Bush 43 so now they’re trying it against @realDonaldTrump with his response to Maria in Puerto Rico last year. It won’t work this time because now we have a president who fights back!

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) September 13, 2018

There are so many differences between Donald Trump and President George W. Bush.

He’s right. Democrats seized on the failures following Hurricane Katrina to pound away at the president, and it was absolutely political.

What makes this case different isn’t that Trump is a fighter. It’s that George Bush was a gracious, patient, intelligent man.

Rather than take it personal, he understood the nature of politics and set about looking at how to make the situation better. He didn’t take the political bait. He didn’t demean his office or his status as a man by whining over bullies.

Seriously. Trump’s devotees call him a “fighter” and try to conjure up images of a tough guy, but they spend an awful lot of time defending him and saying, “STOP TEASING HIM!! YOU’RE NOT BEING FAIR!”

That’s because he’s not a fighter. He’s not tough. He’s not intelligent or rational.

He’s a dangerous, petty, coward. He’s also a bully, and day by day, he reveals his dangerous lack of fitness for the office he holds.