Why Puerto Rico Is Not Trumps Katrina

[riversedge]

I have seen lots of commentary noting that HurricaneMaria-Puerto Rico is Trumps Katrina. I saw this article title earlier today and ignored it because I just thought quickly that some right wing person had written it. Then I ran across it again a bit ago and noticed the author- Sarah Kendzior --and thought It might be good because I like her tweets.

She is right--IMHO--PRico probably will not be trumps Katrina, simply because we do not expect much from Trump anymore.

I have wondered if he shot someone on 5th AVE, if he would be arrested.





Sarah Kendzior?Verified account @sarahkendzior 22m22 minutes ago

My latest for @FastCompany: Puerto Rico Is Not Trump’s Katrina https://www.fastcompany.com/40474782/why-puerto-rico-is-not-trumps-katrina … Spoiler: it's worse.

Link to tweet

09.29.171:29 pm pov

Why Puerto Rico Is Not Trump’s Katrina

https://www.fastcompany.com/40474782/why-puerto-rico-is-not-trumps-katrina

This crisis isn’t a PR disaster for our president because, frankly, we don’t expect any better of him at this point.
Why Puerto Rico Is Not Trump’s Katrina



[Source photos: Flickr users Jamelle Bouie, Ricardo’s Photography (Thanks to all the fans!!!)]

By Sarah Kendzior6 minute Read

This story reflects the views of this author, but not necessarily the editorial position of Fast Company.

Hurricane Maria’s destruction of Puerto Rico on September 20 was an entirely predictable crisis. For a week, meteorologists charted the path of Maria as it moved through the northeastern Caribbean and devastated Dominica before smashing into Puerto Rico, which had been hit hard by Hurricane Irma two weeks before.

There are moments when it feels as if advanced global technology – smartphones with cameras, social media networks that transcend borders – developed just in time to render us helpless voyeurs to the world’s demise. As the hurricane hit, Facebook and Twitter filled with warnings from Puerto Rican officials telling residents to evacuate or die, videos of palm trees snapping and homes collapsing — and then an agonizing drop in live reports as the island’s power grid and many transmission lines were destroyed. More anguish followed: Puerto Ricans on the US mainland wondered if their loved ones were alive, and the major of San Juan wept as she declared a humanitarian crisis amidst “apocalyptic” conditions. US politicians ranging from Hillary Clinton to John McCain urged the federal government to send aid, while Puerto Rican celebrities like Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez pledged money and asked for help.

As this disaster played out on US soil, President Trump said nothing. When he finally tweeted on September 25, it was seemingly to cast blame: “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,” he tweeted, adding that “Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.”

That is what Donald Trump thought was sad about Puerto Rico – not the hospitals in rubble and the patients near death, not the shortage of food and water, not the millions of American citizens who lost their jobs and homes. Wall Street, not Puerto Ricans, won his pity. As president, he put this philosophy into practice, initially refusing to waive the Jones Act and allow supplies to be shipped to Puerto Rico unimpeded . The Act was finally lifted on September 28. His rationale for the delay? “We have a lot of shippers and a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted,” he explained. Heaven forbid millions of desperate US citizens disturb them.

Much as Hurricane Maria was a predictable catastrophe, so is Trump’s cruel reaction. It is what one would expect from a narcissist unable to detach an external crisis from his own reputation. Much as Trump invents fake threats – voter fraud, soaring crime, “The Bowling Green Massacre” – he denies real crises, often while fabricating fake triumphs. Even when dealing with a disaster that is, for once, not caused by him, Trump cannot fathom the suffering others experience as anything other than a potential blight on his image and it appears that he attempts to remove that suffering from public view. On September 27, the White House announced that all US lawmakers would be prohibited from visiting the island – thereby reducing oversight and official complaints about the botched recovery.................................................

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1. if this argument is valid, the Katrina wasn't shrub's Katrina

Shrub was never a great or bad gen competent president whose image was shattered by his response to Katrina. Shrub's tenure in office was marked by incredibly high hopes and expectations after 9/11 followed by an inexorable decline as people gradually realized he was one of the worst presidents ever.

Katrina was merely a crystallizing moment. Perhaps it did change a few minds that weren't already convinced, but mostly it was something that symbolized what so many if us had known well before, that he was simply not up to the job.

It galvanized opinion. It made his opponents more vocal, it made his supporters more quiet.


Puerto Rico similarly isn't going to change many minds, and Donnie's reputation for incompetence and lack of compassion is now well-established. But that doesn't mean Puerto Rico won't galvanize opinion against him.

One way it may yet be Donnie's Katrina is because it's not a matter of policy, or at least, the policy of "help Americans after a natural disaster" is one of the few things we pretty much all agree on. Usually, anyways.

So we now have something to point to that shows what we already knew, that he's inept and uncaring, but they can't come back with some argument like, "you're just saying that because you disagree with his policies"

No, we're saying that because he's a disaster.