President Trump touts 'fantastic job' in Puerto Rico even though Hurricane Maria death toll increase

Further: (Emphasis Added)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/06/us/puerto-rico-power-grid-hurricanes.html

Compounding those problems, the grid was decrepit, corroded and poorly maintained, and Prepa — which, like Puerto Rico as a whole, is effectively bankrupt — had failed to keep sufficient stocks of replacement parts and other critical supplies. Shipments of parts from the mainland were slow to arrive and languished in the battered ports. The terrain is so forbidding that replacing a single power pole can require a helicopter and a team of line workers. The effort seemed to go impossibly awry.

It took more than a month for Prepa’s decision on aid from utilities, known as mutual assistance, to be undone. In late October, with the reconstruction seemingly stalled, Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico met with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a veteran of Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters. Mr. Cuomo strongly recommended invoking mutual aid.

Weeks more would pass before the full mobilization got underway, but beginning in November, the first of some 3,000 utility workers from across the country began pouring in.
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http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-puerto-rico-power-20170925-story.html

As recently as 2016, the island suffered a three-day, island-wide blackout as a result of a fire. A private energy consultant noted then that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority "appears to be running on fumes, and … desperately requires an infusion of capital — monetary, human and intellectual — to restore a functional utility."

Puerto Ricans in early 2016 were suffering power outages at rates four to five times higher than average U.S. customers, said the report from the Massachusetts-based Synapse Energy Economics.

And then came Maria.

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All a plot by Disney to buy PR and turn it into a true 'Pirates of the Caribbean' theme park...

 

I hope people here will read what you posted and let it sink in. I think too many folks are picturing only the pretty parts of Puerto Rico they've seen on tourism ads, and assuming the whole country is like that, and I think they're just taking for granted PR has the same efficient well-run power co as their little suburbs here in America, but PR simply isn't like that. (But then, I can remember when Puerto Rico first became a topic here, and sitting here in disbelief to learn some posters didn't even realize PR was an island.) Anyhow, government in Puerto Rico is notoriously inefficient and corrupt, and the power grid was a flustercluck long before Maria. Trying to blame Trump for that is ludicrous.

I hope all of the money we dumped into that island came with a helluva lot of oversight.

 

Seems to me all the intellectually vacant want to prove is how gullible they are. Add in a large dose of racism and bigotry being encouraged and fed to them, and the truth no longer is required to exist.

The issues of PR's economic and infrastructure problems were hot topics before Maria. It's as if that truth didn't exist. What these poor gullible souls are left with is dog whistles they seem anxious to bark at.

 

Unlike you I learned to respect anyone who deserves it years ago, that's one of those things you learn when you serve.

 

Trump knows how to value friendship and loyalty. Governor of Puerto Rico - good. Mayor of San Juan - bad. Who cares if the death toll hits 3000, I did a helluva job for those ungrateful foreigners, rapists and criminals. "Only I could do it (for once an accurate assessment)." And "those people" are a bunch of ingrates. Didn't they see all those paper towels I tossed? Exhausting.

Heck, quit whining, 2975 lives aren't much. Think about Hiroshima - now THAT was a hurricane!

 

Any stats on cause of death? You know ... like drowning -vs- dysentery, or heart attack? "Better" Federal response might have reduced casualities associated with conditions of the aftermath, but I suspect no level of response could have prevented the majority of fatalities.

 

trump is a legend in his own mind. for him bragging about puerto rico is just another example of his immaturity.

 

"residents should be “proud” only 16 people died, as the government estimated at the time"

What's your problem?

 

I heard a commentator on MSNBC system yesterday Trump "is not taking responsibility " for those 3000 deaths. Do you agree and what exactly is the Presidents responsibility. You know Puerto Rico is a self governing territory.

 

Quote where Trump was giving himself credit for anything. He was giving credit to the US government and in particular FEMA which from what I have read he is correct they have done a good job under very difficult circumstances and the American taxpayer has spent BILLIONS down there to pay for it even though they don't pay income or corporate taxes to the US Treasury.
What us your gripe here?

 

Imagine what would have happened in Puerto Rico if the US and FEMA hadn't intervened.

 

So you are in favor of Trump seizing control of PR during the local crisis when he found out the food and water sent there was not being distributed?

 

PR was totally unprepared for a massive storm.. and we couldn't mobilize.. Trump repeatedly praised his response.. yet he only lifted the damned antiquated Jones Act for about 10 days.

Puerto Ricans are US citizens and deserving of the same assistance as Texas or Louisianna.

Look at the death toll and the fact that over 100,000 still don't have power.

 

Yeah wasn't it carpet bombed all eight years?

 

As I've said in a couple of other threads, a board I frequented for more than 15 years had an unofficial "Rule of So" which stated that any post starting So..... was almost certain to be a gross mischaracterisation of the original.

It's by no means infallible but it's a good first order approximation.

 

Oh, I know full well what I was saying in response to the meme. What was Trump supposed to do when the corruption of PR was discovered that wouldn't have had the left screaming "fascist" and "Nazi", to force the government to give out the supplies to the people?

 

Do you think Trump was smart enough to figure out WHY and rise to the challenges of logistics and transportation?

 

Jesus, the storm washed out roads and bridges.

 

So why doesn't Puerto Rico fix it? They live there.

 

If the one churning up off the Sahara presently hits Puerto Rico the only thing you could do is send the Marines and Army with orders to get supplies to the people in the most remote villages and every other place that needs supplies. You need people who can do stuff in the physical world, not just sit at a desk and try to plan stuff.

 

You need combat engineers to make a way that is passable.

Not up to DOT standards, just passable.

 

Because of the Jones Act.