This is only my opinion, and not the representation of Saintel Daily, LLC.
Donald Trump definitely doesn’t have something that the rest of us do – and that’s empathy. Trump went on his normal tirade, Tweeting up a storm. This time, it was directed at the Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulín Cruz. Why exactly? Well, Trump is saying that the relief effort has been successful, but that the people of Puerto Rico just “want everything done for them”. Did Trump see the pictures of the Mayor in chest deep water looking for people with a bullhorn? Doubtful. He was probably too busy golfing. Not only is this a ridiculous statement, it’s also racist. I understand that Florida and Texas are states, however, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory. Which means that the people living there are U.S. citizens. Which makes you wonder why he’s not being more supportive of their need for assistance?
In addition to being racist, Trump is accusing the Mayor of being nasty. Stating that she must have been told by the Democrats to treat him that way. So now he’s paranoid? Trump had this to say about the Mayor:
“… Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.”
And good for Mayor Cruz, who defended herself against these attacks by saying “I don’t have time for distractions. I’m trying to save lives”. I ask, yet again, what is Trump doing to try to help these people? People who are his people. Maybe not in colour, but by birth. My favourite response to Trump in all of this is comes from Lin-Manuel Miranda:
“You’re going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump. No long lines for you. Someone will say, “Right this way, sir.” They’ll clear a path.”
As we mentioned in a previous post, the hurricane has made it so that 3.5 million Americans citizens are living without clean water, electricity and medical care. Trump was slow to acknowledge the devastation but finally did by issuing a temporary 10-day waiver which allowed supplies to make their way to the island. The waiver was issued under the Jones Act, which was established during World War I. The goal was to prevent ships from reaching the island. But that law is no longer necessary. And in fact, it’s hurting the people on the island. And I’d like to say once again, that they’re American citizens, Mr. President.
I, myself, am not placing a higher value on American citizens over others. I am, however, pointing out how Trump places a higher value on American citizens. And yet, fails to act or show any kind of compassion when his own people are needing assistance. But this takes me back to the racism point. Donald Trump doesn’t think of these people as his own, which is why it’s taking so long to send any kind of assistance.
I don’t even know if I have the words to describe how this makes me feel. I struggle to understand how someone can be so careless when it comes to helping other people. I’m not saying that everyone needs to reach out and help the people of Puerto Rico, but this is the President of the United States of America. He holds one of the highest (if not the highest) offices in the world, and he is denying his own citizens clean water, electricity and medical care? This doesn’t make sense to me. He is a hateful, hateful person who doesn’t care about anything except himself, his rich friends and his family.