What's Behind the Trump Regime's Shameful Treatment of Puerto Rico?

Take a good look at the people - Trump sees them as less than human. Disgusting!

Numerous news outlets - Fox News not included (its current storm coverage focuses on Maria and the Outer Banks which will see minimal impact - have reported on the horrific conditions and Puerto Rico and the pathetic aid effort being marshaled by the regime of Der Trumpenführer.  The failures in aid range from failing to send the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort (so far it has not yet sailed from Norfolk), not sending sufficient numbers of military troops to assist in the recovery, to refusing to lift the Jones Act restrictions against foreign flag ships bring cargo to U.S. ports.  Combined, these failures and the stark contrast with what was done for Texas and Florida after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, it is becoming difficult to attribute the Trump regime's behavior to anything but racism and anti-Hispanic bigotry.   A column in the Washington Post  helps put the crisis in perspective and also looks at what sadly seems to be Trump's motivation for abandoning Puerto Rico.  Here are excerpts:

Suppose that the entire San Diego metropolitan area had lost electrical power, and it wouldn’t be restored for months.

Or, suppose that most of the ports, roads and cellular towers in the Seattle metropolitan area had been destroyed, and a major dam had failed.

Or, that most of the homes in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota were either damaged or destroyed in one day.

Or, that the combined populations of New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont had seen much of their forests and agricultural land wiped out.

Or, that the residents of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming — combined — had lost access to food and clean water, leaving them vulnerable to cholera. And imagine that overflowing hospitals, without power, had no capacity to deal with an outbreak.

Now, imagine that in response to any of these scenarios, the president of the United States variously ignored the plight of the affected Americans (in all of the above cases about 3.4 million people, give or take), blamed them for their own troubles and provided inadequate help. This is precisely what is happening right now to the 3.4 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico, an island territory more populous than about 20 states. Hurricane Maria essentially wiped out these Americans’ ports, roads, electricity, communications, water supply and crops and many homes. Yet, a week after the storm, the response from the American mainland has been paltry. There is no rush, as there was after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, to approve the emergency funds that Puerto Rico will surely need. There has been no massive movement of military personnel and equipment to Puerto Rico: no aircraft carrier (one was sent to the Florida Keys in response to Hurricane Irma), no hospital ship (finally on Tuesday afternoon the Navy said it was sending one). President Trump, so visible when Harvey and Irma hit, all but ignored the devastation that Maria brought to Puerto Rico, devoting more attention to respect for the flag at NFL games. When he did turn his focus to Puerto Rico on Monday, it was to say that the island “was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt” and that its “old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars . . . owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.” And the Trump administration said it would not assist Puerto Rico by waiving the Jones Act, which restricts the use of foreign cargo ships, after waiving the act in response to Harvey and Irma. Phillip Carter, a military specialist with the Center for a New American Security, wrote a piece for Slate likening Trump’s “anemic” response in Puerto Rico to President George W. Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Carter told me Puerto Rico conservatively needs a response of 50,000 U.S. troops. Even Haiti — a foreign country — got the help of more than 20,000 troops after its 2010 earthquake. Trump, he said, “is more interested in the NFL than Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”

No question the logistics are harder in Puerto Rico. But the 3.4 million U.S. citizens there have long endured second-class status: no voting members of Congress, no presidential vote, unequal benefits and high poverty. Now, the Trump administration’s failure to help Americans in Puerto Rico with the same urgency it gave those in Texas and Florida furthers a sad suspicion that the disparate treatment has less to do with logistics than language and skin color.

Sadly, what we are witnessing in Puerto Rico is much the same as occurred under Bush following Hurricane Katrina.  To Republicans, especially Der Trumpenführer, non-whites, non-straight, non-English speakers and non-Christians simply do not matter. I am ashamed to have ever been a Republican.  I hope  people will send a message by voting Democrat in Virginia in 2017 and across the country in 2018.

Damage in Puerto Rico