I increasingly find myself ashamed to be an American. Back in August when we were in Great Britain, we had to constantly make apologies for America's seeming insanity in having elected Der Trumpenführer to the White House. Now, witnessing a Katrinaesque response from the White House and Trump appointed officials to the nightmare unfolding in Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, I find my shame growing. The sharp contrast in the reactions after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and what we have witnessed in delayed aid to Puerto Rico leave me unable to believe that anything other than rank racism and bigotry is responsible. It took Der Trumpenführer eight days to waive the Jones Act for Puerto Rico whereas it was waived almost immediately for Texas and Florida. And then there is the slowness of the military aid response. The Navy hospital ship Comfort, with its 1000 hospital beds and 12 operating rooms and 600 personnel finally left Norfolk yesterday. When it arrives in Puerto Rico, roughly two weeks will have transpired since Maria's direct hit to the island home of 3.5 million AMERICAN CITIZENS. San Juan's mayor has called the situation "close to genocide" and I have to agree with her. Der Trumpenführer's response? To slander the mayor. The man is utterly foul, as noted by the Post piece:
Anybody who is surprised at this from a president who attacked a former prisoner of war for being a prisoner war, criticized a Gold Star family and made fun of a reporter's physical disability has a short memory. This is who Trump is.
Here are excerpts on the plight of Puerto Rico and San Juan's mayor's justifiable complaints from The Guardian:
The mayor of San Juan lashed out at Trump administration on Friday, decrying its relief effort in the wake of hurricanes Jose and Maria and saying if it doesn’t solve the logistics “what we we are going to see is something close to a genocide”.
“We are dying here,” Carmen Yulín Cruz said at a press conference, speaking with tears in her eyes. “I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out the logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles. So, mayday we are in trouble.”
Cruz appealed directly to the president, saying: “So, Mr Trump, I am begging you to take charge and save lives. After all, that is one of the founding principles of the United States of … America. If not, the world will see how we are treated not as second-class citizens but as animals that can be disposed of. Enough is enough.”
The situation in Puerto Rico remains dire as residents face shortages of food, water and fuel. The electric grid was badly damaged by the two storms, leaving many without power and reliant on gas-powered generators. The hurricanes crippled the island’s already weakened waste and water treatment plants while fallen trees and strewn debris block roads and cellphone service remains limited.
Trump has complained that the coverage of the government response has been unfair. But he has faced criticism for raising the issue of the country’s debt crisis as it reels from the impact of two hurricanes.
In her conversation with reporters in San Juan on Friday afternoon, Cruz gestured to two large binders filled with paper and said: “Fema asks for documentation, I think we’ve given them enough documentation. They had the gall this morning … of asking me: ‘What are your priorities, mayor?’
“Well, where have you been? And I have been very respectful of the Fema employees. I have been patient but we have no time for patience anymore.
“So, I am asking the president of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives.
“They were up the task in Africa when Ebola came over. They were up to the task in Haiti [after the earthquake of 2010]. As they should be. Because when it comes to saving lives we are all part of one community of shared values.
“I will do what I never thought I was going to do: I am begging. I am begging anyone that can hear us to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying. And you are killing us with the inefficiency and bureaucracy.”
Continuing to cry, Cruz said: “I am done being polite, and I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell because my people’s lives are at stake.
“…I’m asking members of the press to send a mayday call. We are dying here. If we don’t solve the logistics, we are going to see something close to a genocide.”
Earlier in the day, Cruz was strongly critical after acting homeland security secretary Elaine Duke said the relief effort in Puerto Rico was a “good news story”. “Dammit, this is not a good news story,” Yulín Cruz told CNN. “This is a people are dying story. This is a life-or-death story.”
Would the response have been different if the citizens were all white, English speaking Protestant Christians? I believe it would have been starkly different. Sadly, in Trump's America, if you are not white, heterosexual, and conservative Christian, you are deemed at best second-class citizens and at worse, as the mayor noted, deemed to be animals to be disposed of. I hope every American who is a member of any minority group is watching and paying attention. There is a way to strike back: vote Democrat in every election you can and send Der Trumpenführer, the GOP and their foul supporters a loud message.Cruz implored Duke to visit the ravaged island. “This is a story of a devastation that continues to worsen because people are not getting food and water,” she said. “When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story … I’m sorry. That really upsets me and frustrates me.”
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