This is just another desperate attempt by Trump to preserve his self image. It must be getting more difficult by the week.
3
Is this what Trump supporters mean when they say they appreciate him "telling it like it is"? Keep tweeting Mr Trump; it speaks volumes to your character and intelligence.
5
Let’s be very clear about the Puerto Rico situation:
The number of deaths there from Hurricane Maria is nearly identical to how many Americans died in the 9/11 tragedy that struck the World Trade Center Tein Towers, the Pentagon attack and in the Pennsylvania crash of a hijacked plane.
Trump is doing the equivalent of saying there were only the Pennsylvania plane deaths on that terrible 9/11 attack.
How shocking, and despicable, that any USA prez would consider the majority of deaths irrelevant and not worth counting.
5
Ugh.
Everything is about him.
Even the inconvenient death of others.
Do we need any more proof that he is a malignant narcissist and sociopath?
8
There's still no indication that Donald Trump recognizes that the people of Puerto Rico are American citizens. To deny the death toll there insults our intelligence; to deny Puerto Ricans the respect they deserve insults America.
6
Trump's vile comments about those who died needlessly in Puerto Rico are just what you would expect from a deranged extreme narcissist.
Donald Trump, the infantile wannabe dictator, is the greatest threat to the Constitution, to the rule of law, to decency and moral leadership that this nation has ever faced. No American with a functioning brain and heart can support Trump or any Republican coward who protects Trump in any way.
6
With hurricane Florence, Trump is going to get another chance to prove his hurricane management skills. Obviously, doing better than the "10" he gives himself for Maria will be hard to beat. Maybe he will petition for a new "11" to be put in place, akin to the Spinal Tap 11. In a perfect world, Trump would realize the cost of cooling the climate might end up being less than the money spent on salvaging the destruction from yearly "storms of the century". For example, he might realize the money saved by freeing up oil company methane releases is dwarfed by the cost of rebuilding states decimated by climate driven storms. Unfortunately, ... well, Trump doesn't read, learn, or even comprehend, so ... we are stuck, like the present Carolina citizens. Rained on relentlessly with little recourse but to wait it out and hope for the best. The storm will pass.
Rebuilding will begin , especially with the vote in November.
4
Of course he only sees himself. Hr is an egomaniac. He has a god complex. He can do no wrong. In his little universe he rules supreme. We are all mere mortals to his omnipotence. The public created a monster when they elected him. He is a dog off his lease. And that is dangerous. We can only hope he stumbles and falls before it is too late.Someone please save us from this nightmare called Trump.
1
I look forward to the day when trump speaks and the only one who can hear him is the prison guard.
9
When when when when when will it be time for the New York Times to just simply use the words "lie" and "liar" on the front page, in every headline, day after day, week after week. Just say it as in "President Trump's statement is a lie," "President Trump is a liar." Stop using "error, erroneous, mistaken, incorrect, not correct, not factual. Just say it is a lie. Another lie. He lies again. The Washington Post has calculated that he has lied 5000 times since taking office. How many more times does he get to lie before the New York Times will just simply say it.
What else needs to happen?
6
September 14, 2018
The American departments of affairs is world class and of course paid by our Federal administration. Has President Trump given time to tour the agencies operations that can and does offer evaluations for our national interest and as such Trump must utilize the reporting fact findings in matter of interest so that by his call for information that is fine tuned can give the best information to our interest - as such both Puerto Rico state informational agencies that indeed monitor statistical comparative information reporting - and as well the Washington Agencies that will collaborate findings of import and lessons learned in the process - Trump must desist from tea leaf intuitions and ego glory political gamesmanship - life is not casino politics or torturous battles for ego glory - History is not made by any one individual but by the agencies of superior historic mature offerings - all paid for by you and me.
2
Is he crazy, dumb, or is he in the throes of dementia? This is a serious question.
11
The Democrats funded George Washington University's (Michael) Milken Institute of School of Public Health to report that 3000 Puerto Ricans died in Hurricane Maria and Amazon's Bezos (who hates Trump and owns the Washington Post) supports the Milken (Junk Bond King, including now Puerto Rican bonds) Institute theory.
Could it be that the issue of Puerto Rico's junk bonds are worthless (PR refuses to pay US taxes because it is socialist) in the aftermath of Maria, and that the condemnation of Trump by the Mayor of San Juan for his claim, is just a Democrat ploy to discredit the Trump Administration and justify the splaying of the US economy to pay for poor Puerto Ricans who have no interest in supporting the USA?
I think Americans, excluding Trump, are very naïve about the fact that the political motive of all political parties/entities involved in American and international politics are ALL ABOUT MONEY (short of war).
Note: not EVERYBODY is "short of war" in this dispute, and eventually economic wars, if not resolved through compromise, always lead to hot military wars.
As John Wayne said, "Walk softly, but carry a big stick." Military power is the determiner of all economic wars.
1
BTW, it was Roosevelt who said Walk softly and carry a big stick....
6
Although generally holding Trump in contempt I agree with him here. It's a poverty stricken island where hardly anyone works, huge numbers are on welfare, food stamps, you name it. Why should we spend 1 dollar on PR? What do we get out of the relationship? We should cut them loose.
2
@Jim Tagley
Know what, Jimbo? A lot of us feel the same way about Florida.
10
Don't fall for the line that Rick "Medicare Fraud" Scott cares about the people of Puerto Rico. He just wants the key to the federal purse.
Don't believe the crook.
4
Is there anything left to say about the degeneracy of this man?
4
I expect it's almost certainly the case that Donald just literally didn't know that PR was part of the US; and he has little interest in knowing it now, either.
13
Complete lack of ability to feel any empathy is part of the definition of psychopathy. In that man it's evident every hour, in every speech and tweet.
10
After reading another article about thoughtless and stupid people ruining a good thing for everyone, I believe it's going to be a very long time for administrations after trump to ever regain the status, prestige, and respect that the WH and the United States once had at home and around the world. Yes, I know my comment is debatable but that's my analogy.
5
This is way beyond sickening. We need another president yesterday if not sooner. Wait, we already elected her!
10
This is terrible news, but why is it news now? Where has the news media been? Where has the coverage been of Puerto Rico and what people have been experiencing since the hurricane? Oh right, they have been obsessed with Russia, Stormy Daniels, and the click-bait three ring circus of D.C. This failure to tell this story is as much a damning indictment of our pathetic mainstream news media as it is of Trump.
4
Wrong, I’ve read and followed reports almost daily. Maybe you should turn the channel to a station or read a newspaper that has a fuller content of world event.
8
@FXQ: Here in New York we read reporting about Puerto Rico, hurricane Maria, and trump's poor response to our fellow Americans that live on the island of Puerto Rico nearly every day since it happened.
Not receiving this news in Cincinnati? Contact your local news outlets and demand coverage of this American disaster.
Further, trump's Russian partnership, his extra-marital affairs with Stormy and others, his money laundering and his bank fraud are all still there too. I don't blame you for being overwhelmed!
7
@FXQBecause you live in Ohio. The new West Virginia!
1
“ … This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!”
Where was he getting the billions of dollars from? Did he have a telethon? When the farmers were threatened with a loss of income because of his tariffs, he had $12 billion dollars for them without blinking. When Puerto Rican/American citizens are dying during a natural disaster, Trump blames them for not having the funds to cover the costs of the death and destruction and begrudgingly sent aid.
12
As a citizen of Puerto Rico who rode out both Irma and Maria, and working through the aftermath and recovery, I can attest to the fact that the post-storm death toll is actually much higher that from the storm itself. And while now one really can know exact number, 3,000 is more than plausible. I personally lost friends and colleagues after the storm because they could not receive their regular medical treatment.
There is no conspiracy Mr. Trump, except that which you contrived by your ham handed disaster response. And for the record, Mr. Trump, we in Puerto Rico are all proud United States Citizens.
4
In Trump's mind any people of color only add up to 5/8 of a person, no matter what.
8
He has obviously never had to dig bodies out of building wreckages. He has never done anything physical in his life. He doesn't do any construction. He puts his name on a building and claims to be the master builder.
8
Trump just likes to fight. He thinks that makes him tough. And he lies when it's easier to tell the truth. I'm 64 years old and just hope I live long enough to see this bully go down swinging. Never thought I'd see the day we'd have a President of the USA who will be joyfully cheered by millions for biting the dust.
11
And yet Trump's approval ratings hover at around 40%, as they have for most of his presidency.
I gave up on hoping that he would stop being cruel, that he might grow up, stop lying, or start making less idiotic choices; do I have to give up on the American public as well? Will our shame ever take on critical mass? What's wrong with this country?
11
At what point in time will Republicans say, "ENOUGH." When will the quote unquote "Adults in the Room" invoke the 25 amendment and end this National nightmare? Here's your answer: never. As long as they get their Tax cuts and Judges they frankly could care less, and THEY will be judged accordingly by History and those folks who don't hide behind the Flag but actually value what it represents.
7
Of course many died over rhe months after Maria because of the damaged infrastructure. But that was because corruptiom and incompetence over many years let it deteriorate.
Trump is refering to the federal response after the storm, But since
he could not possibly rebuild the entire system, the lingering death toll was not on his jands.
2
Trump makes Richard Nixon look better.
6
and the time with Nixon. i was young and knew a corrupt person when he talked.Trump can't even lie good
2
@slater65 or well, for that matter
Soon he’ll claim that was not him throwing paper towels into the crowd in what was surely one of the most politically asinine stunts ever.
Donald stars in the Me, Myself, and I show which runs in his mind 24/7 365 days per year. One of the longest running shows ever—72 years and counting. No need for other programming ever.
5
Can Mother Nature order up a hurricane and sweep Trump outta this country for good? Christ. There is no bottom with this guy.
Thank you to the 100K folks in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania who gave us this guy. While you may be living in states with the highest unemployment, opioid use, and vulnerability to Russian hacks in your Facebook feed, one thing is certain for the country: When this presidency is over, we will collectively think it's been one colossal waste of time.
1
Yeah, but since Puerto Rico is an inaccessible island, surrounded by so much water, how can we blame Trump; I mean those paper towels must have saved at least dozens of lives?
Bottom line: if he always wants to get the credit (even on things for which he's not responsible), he should also take the blame for failure, when due.
2
3000 American citizens, dead by neglect in Puerto Rico,
apparently are worth 1 Donald.
Spot the mathematical error.
3
This monster exposes his sociopathy every single day. There's really no other way to put it. It is truly unreal how little regard he has for the lives of others. It's as if Charles Manson is in the White House. After all, when we boil it down, Trump is a cult leader just like Manson was, with a much larger group of enthralled and enraptured supporters who ignore all his lies, buy his wild conspiracy theories, share his same hatreds and prejudices, burn with a desire to punish their scapegoats, and would never -- as he has stated -- abandon him even if he shot a person in broad daylight for no reason. His rampant sociopathy has debased the presidency and our government, yet the rest of his party stands silently by, ignoring all the insanity so they can get tax cuts for the rich, money into the coffers of arms manufacturers, and eviscerate education, social security, Medicare and Medicaid.
3
Times says Many of these deaths were preventable.
If so, how so, and what exact role did FEMA and the Feds not play in the alleged prevention?
Trump is absolutely correct. They made up this nonsense to harm Trump.
1
The lives who were tragically lost in in the hurricane were human beings who should be mourned for their deaths, not treated as insignificant numbers by a callous man devoid of any feelings of empathy nor respect for humanity. He will have his day of reckoning for his despicable lies.
7
This week alone Fist bumps an a memorial service and then I saved Puerto Rico all by my super self. I truly is all about the Trump the Magnificent. A title be has bestowed on himself
2
He is, and continues to be, a national and international disgrace!
3
Mr. Trump told us that the Puerto Ricans deserved what happened because they were lazy and corrupt. The racial innuendo was transparent. Trump and his cult believe brown Americans are not real Americans. Make no mistake. Puerto Ricans are American citizens, just like the folks in Houston or Miami. The pre-hurricane state of the Puerto Rican economy was in good measure a direct result of our own federal policies that they have no control over. When Trump visited Puerto Rico, he threw food at the refugees as if they were animals. The FEMA outcome in Puerto Rico was far worse than the outcome after comparable hurricanes in Houston and Miami. Countless examples place the blame squarely on the White House and their FEMA management. The restoration of essential services took forever. Folks died, for instance, after sitting outside in wheelchairs for days waiting for promised FEMA pick-ups. My goodness! A two-man politically-connected company from Idaho was given the contract for restoring the entire electrical grid. Did it take one year for the electricity to be restored in Houston or Miami?
I was not surprised by yesterday's behavior by the deplorable Mr. Trump. That doesn't, however, mean that we should stop calling it out for what it is. Mayor Cruz on the other hand has been an exemplary public servant throughout this FEMA debacle. What I wouldn't give to have a president like her!
11
If the Democrats take the House and Senate this fall, a referendum on Puerto Rico's statehood should follow. While this would be an obvious boon to Democrats, PR's current status as a territory is unsustainable. Without an adequate means for self-determination and accountability, PR will continue to be an economic and social basket case with few available avenues for reform.
3
How did Puerto Ricans rate their own elected officials on their response, since under that Stafford Act, it was the mayors and governor who were in charge of not just first response, but readiness in the first place? If they had managed their responsibilities well, it matters much less how well Trump did. I see no one even asking such questions of the politicians and local officials whose primary job was to be ready and respond. If the Times were interested in the humanitarian crisis Maria caused, they would direct their attention there before looking anywhere else. On 9/11, was it the US army running into the twin towers, or was it FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority personnel? Disaster response is by design focused on the local level. PR politicians pointing fingers elsewhere only tells me that they still haven't learned the lesson or taken responsibility. The Times seems ok with the deflection and political maneuvering.
3
@TD
Problem is that unless Trump is willing to forswear taking credit where disaster relief seems to have worked out well, he cannot shift blame to local officials when it suits him.
2
@Matt Who really cares? Politicians take all sorts of credit and place all sorts of blame. We need to focus on where the problem is, not where others point us.
We are witnessing evil - while good individuals do nothing. Something must be done immediately.
2
When I heard The Donald’s response to the fact that nearly 3000 Puerto Ricans, instead of just the few initially reported had died, I immediately thought of what my grandfather said when I was a young boy. He had spent several weeks right after the Galveston storm of 1900 pulling bodies out of the rubble there. That storm still ranks as the worst natural disaster in American history, but granddad said they didn't count the bodies of blacks or Mexicans, so the death toll was probably a lot higher than officially recorded.
1
What is so complicated about a human being who has absolutely no respect for anything, least of all human life? History has had many like this and those of them who succeed to leadership eventually wind up causing the unnecessary deaths of millions of people.
If you think Trump wouldn’t be like that you’re horribly naïve. I can tell you right now he will NOT permit his demise, politically or otherwise. He has the diehard support of 40% of the country and probably another 10% to 20% who are closet Trump supporters , not to mention the vast majority of the Republican party.
If he has to he will start a war with Iran, declare the country under martial law, get rid of Mueller and rule like he’s been intending to do since he first got the idea to run for the presidency.
Everything he has done has pointed in this direction.
I believe that he has "trouble processing new information" because he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. If we had had a real doctor to evaluate him instead of party animal Ronny Jackson, we might have some real information on the *president's mental health. As usual, it's one tRump scandal piggybacking on another. To quote a Shakespearean tragedy, "One woe doth tread upon another's heels, so fast they follow!"
3
"...by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible ....."? Surely he does not need any help to make him look bad, with all the howlers he has been spraying!
3
It's always about him regardless of the subject matter. This is a very flawed person. Never once has he expressed compassion....he's a cold fish. He acted like a fool when he tossed a few rolls of paper towels into the crowd. We ask what was he thinking when he does/says such idiotic things. The problem is he never thinks. He's a huge embarrassment.
6
It still galls me, and always will, that ANYBODY voted for Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States. Nobody who voted for him should ever be allowed to vote again. Ever.
2
I think that it is appalling that 3000 Puerto Ricans died as a reasult of the hurricane simply to gratify their partisan effort to make Donald Trump look bad. Is there no limit to their desire to victimize the president?
4
When Mr Trump took the oath of office nearly two years ago we were alerted that it was an “All ABOUT ME “ presidency.He said the sun shone, it didn’t, he said that the crowds were historic, they weren’t, he said all refugees should be stopped from entry to the country, they weren’t.He saw his oath of office as a declaration to honor, protect and defend Mr.Trump.As we learn of his self serving denial of deaths and destruction in Puerto Rico ,we can see that we have to vote to take back American decency to make America as great as it is.
1
Why would this surprise a single person ? Trump exists solely for the adoration of himself. Most of us know he’s a sociopathic narcissist, he care not a bit for anything but himself.
2
Everyone is making this far too complicated - it's simple. Most people in Puerto Rico are not his base - (read: not white). It's all about race and dehumanizing/devaluing the lives of those who are not white. They don't count...at least not to him.
5
No one is surprised by anything President Moron says or does anymore.
Our focus and outrage should be on the GOP leaders, Ryan and McConnell, who consistently fail to do their job to call out the egregious and corrupt behaviors by this con man masquerading as president.
Ryan and McConnell are Trump's Co-Conspirators and need to be held accountable for enabling DJT attempts to attack our intelligence agencies, our judicial system, our environmental protection safeguards, our healthcare and our core values of honor, dignity and decency in this country.
Their inaction is not only outrageous, these two are a danger to our nation.
We should be demanding Ryan and McConnell resign immediately for failure to execute their constitutional duties of oversight, checks and balances, on this deranged, unfit president
4
JM- You are so right! We should focus on holding congressional leaders accountable for the endless Trump horror show. Trying to reason with El Jefe himself is pointless.
1
One of the best headlines ever. Says it all. Congratulations to the NYT.
4
Donald J. Trump is a megalomaniac that seems to pride himself by his stupidity. All this by choice of course, as he is unable to shake his irrelevancy without self-praise and applause. He would die without the needed attention, however out of place and undeserving. Puerto Rico is a thorn in Trump's side by his own making, an arrogant stance that won't allow him to recognize he might be wrong, and that statistics beyond the event (natural disaster) do count as a true reflection of what happened.
1
I literally have run out of words to describe this Man(?). I'm not even sure he is that. Claims the Anthem kneeling is disrespect for the many lives lost by our Military, but then blows off deaths from a Hurricane. Why? Because, they were probably not born in this Country. Every time you think he possibly can't sink to a lower level, he does. They need to start calling him the Limbo President.
He is a thumb in the eye of the nation; he is the eye of every hurricane, whether it is from the ocean or from his office.
1
Let me just say I would NEVER get in a life raft if Trump was onboard!
Trump is a deeply disturbed , mentally unbalanced person, who needs professional help, and he needs it now. Trump's fingers are close to many of our nuclear weapons and we are letting this continue? Maybe we need help too by letting this continue at a rapid pace.
Congress do something now before we are all a pile of nuclear ashes.
2
The Left will stoop to the lowest depths in their failing efforts to smear and slander our Great President Trump. Their latest lie is some made-up fact-free nonsensically high death toll in Puerto Rico. The Left has zero evidence to support their fake claims, but who cares? Maybe the “journalists” at the NYT could investigate the far left Puerto Rican Big Government that is letting supplies rot since delivery months ago
2
@Larry: The article states quite clearly, “This shift was not a result of partisan trickery, but of the preliminary findings of a study by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The study is continuing, meaning that the numbers could shift again.”
It often takes a while after a disaster of the magnitude in Puerto Rico for all deaths to be reported and tallied, especially in a situation of almost complete infrastructure collapse. In such cases, people are, of necessity, prioritizing efforts to get the basics of life pulled back together and official reporting understandably takes a back seat. That said, I’ve never beard of Mr. Trump expressing any regret for any of the loss of life there, as if no one who died mattered in the least. Sad.
1
I dunno...the commies at Georgetown University who did the study you haven't so much as glanced at sem pretty sure.
Otherwise, all hail Our Great President Trump, I guess.
2
Trumps behavior now relative to Puerto Rico should be no surprise to anyone. When he threw paper towels at a crowd while visiting there after the hurricane, he was again showing us what he is, a classic sociopath. There is no limit to the depths of depravity to which he will sink. Yet he has supporters.
4
I myself simply adored the Trump surrogate who brayed that the car wreck disaster relief became in Puerto Rico couldn't possibly have anything to do with racism, because Houston is really well integrated and they did fine.
Everything is a Democrat conspiracy and that now includes documented deaths in Puerto Rico. We will never have a normal presidency because Trump is not normal.
Every day of his presidency screams for mandatory psychiatric evaluations to be performed on presidential elects prior to their taking office, and then routinely during their term. The president of the United States is in charge of 325M Americans and decisions that impact the entire world. The first prerequisite for the job should be that he or she is sane and rational.
3
The news that millions of dollars of money for disaster relief has been diverted to ICE should be appalling to the people in the mid-Atlantic whose lives and property will be hurt by Hurricane Florence. She is not the last hurricane that will cause devastation in the U.S. in the next year or two, nor will such hurricanes be the only cause of disaster given increased wild fires and flooding due to other causes in other parts of the country. This administration has its priorities backwards and too many people don't get it.
2
My Republican friend said: Trump has passed tax cuts and wants to stop immigration and the stock market is high. Ignore all else.
5
"The president sees the accepted death toll of nearly 3,000 as evidence of a political conspiracy against him."
Sure.
So does half of America, all of republicans. Republicans in Houston were demanding federal help after their storm, and in the same breath, wanted Puerto Rico to rely on themselves.
Pointing to Trump does not solve the attitudinal problem (federal help and free money for me, self-reliance for you).
Maybe civil rights legislation was helped because there were enough Norwegian-likes who felt shame at the gratuitous evil perpetrated toward fellow citizens; even as the glorious southerners and their heroes publicly proclaimed that they had unfettered right to treat fellow citizens with utmost cruelty with no recourse.
Less than 60 years after the first real rumblings toward civil rights, all is in disarray. Our understanding of why this is the way it is, is too polluted with anecdotal and descriptive evidence; and blinded by broad beliefs about our inherent goodness and decency. A lot is reported about how people feel disempowered - a result of choices they made and the result of factors beyond their control - that have triggered hate and division, and empowered Fox, Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and the religious right.
But if we truly understood the causes, maybe we could address them. We currently don't. And blaming Trump is just an indication of this problem. He will be gone by 2024 from the WH, but this problem will endure.
1
I can hardly wait for the Don's final Tweet as he is run out of town.
16
After Hurricane Florence does its damage, we all will still be stuck with Hurricane Donald, head deep in his racial polarization and drowning in the electrified waters of his lies.
17
“ … This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!”
Yadda, yadda, yadda, four lies in one paragraph...
“an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico..."
Yea? Well, the dead can't show appreciation now can they...and the living see nothing to be appreciative about.
"...even though an inaccessible island..."
Puerto Rico, not being on the Moon, is wholly and completely accessible to the Navy's amphibious forces...besides - the island wasn't too inaccessible to prevent Trump from from flying in on AF-1 to hold an ego pampering photo op now was it...
17
Deceptions, falsehoods, untruths. NYT can you please call what spews from Trump’s mouth daily and especially in this case, LIES. Yes, it’s an ugly word but in this case, it’s the truth.
11
“ … This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible" No Mr. Trump, you don't need any help with that, you do that very well all by yourself.
12
We have a president with some amazing deficits. He lacks character, insight, intellect and empathy. His grandiosity is overwhelming and repulsive. When people die, Donald, you are supposed to express your concern and condolences. Something really went haywire in your childhood. Sad. Even a booming economy can’t make up for your lack of humanity.
20
Reminds of the Alice Roosevelt Longsworth quote:he is “....the bride at every wedding, the baby at every baptism and the corpse at every funeral”.
12
Teddy did want to be the center of public attention. But in his actions he demonstrated that he put the country and its citizens at the center of his attention. A huge unfordable gulf exists between Teddy and the Donald.
2
Too bad Puerto Ricans cant vote in US elections
2
@Curt Bender they can! They are U. S. citizens.
1
@Mari: PR sends nonvoting representatives to Congress (like Democrats, but they don't get to register their indignation). They don't get to vote in Presidential elections (like people in Ohio, but the law is not on their side). You're right, though: They ARE US citizens, so they can't be deported, although Stephen Miller is trying to figure out how.
1
A ManGod strides with mighty steps his Nation - his Mind conceives and forges - water, wind and land -- and by his Powers -- gives birth -- a new number, a new truth, a new world. TrumpNation roars his Might in salutation- then kneels in holy adoration -- A ManGod strides the Land -- Heart of America.
4
Hasn't the New York Times figured it out yet?
There is NO ONE else in trump's world except trump.
Everything he does is based on and for the sake of the truly only one real person in his life and that is only trump himself. There is no one else.
7
Why do PR government officials conti8inue to get a total pass on their incompetant, mañana and AWOL posture during tjmyýhe crisis? They did not plan, much less, execute and hid from sight for days. Reverse Racism ?
3
@SW Pilgrim you’re not paying attention.
1
In the last one hundred years, over 200,000 Puerto Ricans have fought in America's wars. The breakdown of the numbers of Puerto Ricans who served, and who died, in all the wars from the First World War to the present, are a testament to the loyalty of these American citizens, who deserved better treatment from a bone-spurred (supposedly), cowardly blowhard, who holds all people whose skin is a shade darker than his own in contempt.
17
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a more apt title for this Editorial.
2
Mr. Trump is accurate that democrats and their liberal media outlets have tried to make Puerto Rico the new Katrina, a ploy that has failed miserably with the general public. How soon the NYTs forgets - the first attempt to radically inflate the death toll came months ago via a group from Harvard, and that number of approximately 4,500 deaths was grabbed onto by all media outlets... until push back showed the numbers to be flimsy, speculative and without any basis in reality. The new number is alleged to be more exhaustive (a ha says the Times!) but a brief review of the available information shows a range of deaths include demises that seem to have little connection to the storm and poor response.
4
Beyond the fact that you don't know what you're talking about, the editorial is correct: nobody needs to work at making Donald Trump look like an eejit.
Sure, the electrical grid was a problem. But that had zippo to do with the millions of bottles of water still sitting in a field, the failure to send needed helicopters, keeping the Comfort docked until the failure showed up in the news, and a dozen other failures.
Liberals didn't force Trump to throw paper towels, feud with Puerto Rican officials, and generally bray out his heroism. Nor did liberals and the media force this...President...to blow the simplest possible chance to look good just this week. All the man had to do was make a few reassuring statements and look serious for five minutes; couldn't manage it.
That's on him, and it's on you for supporting this fool.
7
From Charlotte NC, eh? Thoughts and prayers friend.
5
I don's know if the medical community defines a narcissist as a medical illness. Regardless, he is responsible for the damage he has created, and his quiet accomplices: the entire GOP, NRA, FOX NEWS, Right wing radio and supporters of Citizens United all should be held to the same level for criminal and civil liability.
To a one, they wrap themselves in the flag and religion of fascism.
6
Although I never agree with your positions and therefore don't want to help you and your fellow travelers, I do advise you that your smug conclusion ("Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own.") will enable your failure once more fail to outvote the masses who support your nemesis.
1
@No Oh, but you're wrong....every time he tweets, or says (or does) something just so against the norm, so appalling....that it awakens yet more Democrats from the malaise they suffer at times.
Remember 2006? A blue wave election, brought about by anger at the Bush Administration's war in Iraq.
I've got to point out that Democrats are a lot angrier and motivated by this guy, than even Bush motivated them.
But you go on and cling to that hope.....
2
This is a criminal lie of trump's, even worse than all his other lies - to refuse to acknowledge people's deaths. Chillingly repulsive.
5
64?
2975?
The question is: what number in between these two would Trump accept that was NOT created to make him 'look bad'?
1
If Trump called and promised me a billion dollars if I allowed him into my living room, I'd hang up. The man is just disgusting. I'm ashamed he's my president
18
@michael cullen: I'd recommend taking the billion bucks in advance, making sure the check doesn't bounce, letting him into your living room but not out of it (you've got a billion bucks now, surely you can think of a way), buying a new living room, and giving the rest to your favorite charity (he wouldn't). Good luck!
1
To identify and to address any mistakes made by local, State, and federal responders to natural and man-made disasters, hearings and studies are necessary. The independent studies concluding revised death tolls in Puerto Rico were requested by the Governor of Puerto Rico.
Petty ignorance and political near-sociopathy were clear yesterday from remarks from the president, some GOP members of Congress, and on MTP Daily. In a panel discussion on the latest presidential conspiracy theory and lack of empathy regarding the revised death toll on the island, one GOP operative stated Puerto Rico could achieve statehood if they could show they would vote for Republicans - a cold, idiotic statement and one that demonstrates greed for power, single-mindedness, and contempt for anyone not Republican.
The Republican Party has become a cult of jealous, hateful conspiracy victims “of the other political side” with craziness from the top.
Is the Times arguing that no one is out to get the President? No one has a plan to impeach? No one had an "insurance policy"? No one paid for dirt on him at Fusion GPS? He may well be paranoid, but that doesn't mean there are not powerful people out to get him. Politicizing natural disasters to smear presidents isn't new. Bush was brutalized over Katrina. All of this ignores the actual responsibilities of local and state governments under the Stafford Act. PR/Maria wasn't just one hurricane, first of all. Second, the debt and and mismanagement they ran up made them extremely vulnerable. All of these vulnerabilities built over the course of years, not the months Trump was in office. PR politicians have a motive for pointing fingers at the Federal level. And Democrats are happy to exploit it for political gain. Trump is a calloused solipsist. But please do not sell me the bill of goods that his opponents haven't used this against him. He should be ashamed, and so should they. This is not at all what we need.
2
It is cold comfort that Trump looks bad paid for by 3000 people's lives.
1
Meanwhile, a category 5 typhoon just hit Guam, a U.S. territory, downing 80% of electricity on the island. Hopefully, there are adults in the room attending to that disaster already in progress.
6
Once again, like day after day after day for seemingly unending months, I ask myself, How can such an awful person actually be president of the United States of America? People of other countries must think we are just plain nuts to have done this ourselves.
7
We've incessantly heard the non-excuse, "Oh, that's just Trump being Trump!"
What about Mitch and Paul? What rabid cat has their tongues?
They're as guilty as getaway drivers.
4
Chris Hayes pointed out that there have been 10 congressional investigations into Benghazi, where 4 Americans died; and none into Puerto Rico/Hurricane Maria, where almost 3,000 died.
Democrats should leverage the president’s irresponsible rhetoric and call for a congressional investigation into how Democrats were able to rig the hurricane fatality numbers. They colluded with Russians, perhaps?
11
"Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own."
And it is the only thing in this presidency that he is managing with any success.
3
Donald Trump is a very malignant narcissist and the GOP and his base love him. We exist on this earth to bow before the magnificent Donald. There is Donald and praise for Donald. Nothing else matters in his world.
2 more years of this is in store for us and we ain't seen nothing yet. Donald redefines every week what it means to go lower.
3
Dear Mr. President,
You do not need the Dems or others to make you look bad. You do a fine job of it yourself each and every day.
3
Just when one thinks Trump has hit rock bottom, he transcends.
Arrogant, ignorant and blind is no way to go through life, son.
2
I am highly offended by those on the right and their cavalier attitude toward the nearly 3,000 deaths in PR. One colleague at work had the audacity to say to me "you wouldn't care either except that your wife is Puerto Rican" which speak to me of the overview of the Trump supports and many in the Republican party. If it isn't White America, who cares...
4
I would like to have more information about “the billions” he was raising. Did he promote some charitable event that escaped my attention? How did he “raise billions” for aid to PR? Or, in his twisted mind, all the money in the US Treasury belongs to him?
6
Give Trump a break. He did a great job in Puerto Rico. Overcoming painful bone spurs, he applied his baseball experience at the New York Military Reform School to accurately pitching paper towels into the crowd. And what a crowd it was, must have been thousands there cheering him on.
After all, no one pronounces "Puerto Rico" as well as Trump.
7
Like many small children, Trump, apparently arrested in a small-child state, consistently denies anything unfavorable in a matter that even suggests his responsibility. For whatever reasons, the inadequate federal response to the hurricane that affected US territory Puerto Rico last year surely caused, in a secondary way mainly, loss of lives that are included in the total account of lives lost recently made. It is rightly disturbing to any US citizen to have the nation’s elected presiding officer fail again and again to take reasonable responsibility in situations like this (as part of the process of making adjustments for the “next time”). Insofar as this failure of Trump is an indication of personal fear and cowardice (worse, that can only be relieved by false flattery to ground denial), concern for basic national security is magnified. No doubt about it: we have a “situation” on our hands that is not isolated but pervasive.
1
Our president doesn't need anyone else to make him look bad, he only needs to open his mouth and speak.
2
Republicans own this and should shut his just plain stupid comments down immediately. Instead they hem-haw, kick the ground looking down and make more excuses. Republicans in congress are JUST AS GUILTY. Shame on all of them. And just as disgraceful are his supporters who no matter what he says cheer him on.
6
While Trump is probably right that only 6-18 people died in or during the two hurricanes. The 3000 deaths attributed to the aftermath of the storm (lack of electricity, clean drinking water, sanitary conditions) could have been prevented by the Trump administration were it not for an insufficient, incompetent, and callous response to the suffering of people he considers lesser Americans. We'll see if he's learned anything after Florence, although, then again, those are true
Americans
2
Too much talk on the airwaves about hurricane Florence, it's trump we should be focused on!
Is he comfortable?
Is he inconvenienced in any way?
He's the "most sound minded president ever" he just announced.
2
When a man who has never performed a lick of public service in his life is thrust into the most public of public service positions...and continues to not perform a lick of public service, but does act in exactly the opposite manner, the result is uglier than the mess Maria made of Puerto Rico. For one, this mess is bigger, encompassing nearly 1/3 of a continent, not to mention the collateral damage sustained in and on all the other continents on Earth, even Antarctica due to Trump's efforts to prevent new measures to stem global warming, to undo those currently in place and to return to soot-blackened skies of the times when coal was king.
Thanks to Trump and ilk (if they are not deposed from power), within a couple of hundred years, Miami, New York City, Houston, and the rest of the cities in the coastal plain will be visited only by the species of fishes that have not been eradicated by man's pollution, and, if any semblance of intelligent life remains, the occasional diver doing scientific research or, more likely, plundering the treasures beneath the water's surface.
12
This headline hits the nail on the head. trump doesn't care one iota for thousands of deaths; it's quite obvious he only cares about himself.
3
If only they were white Republican voters, I'm sure the response would have been much different.
4
They would have to be "White" rich males only, not Southern, part of the Trump golf set, and old.
The conspiracy deepens. Now we have people dying, just to embarrass Trump.
17
I will never forgive my country for electing him or for it's apathy. When your kids ask you how you allowed this to happen I hope you have an answer, because I do not have one for mine.
15
When can we just ignore what he says since most of it is garbage or lies? Can the media stop reporting on him? How lovely it would be not to hear or read the daily rantings of a person who is totally unmoored from any sense of reality or facts.
7
What a pathetic, odious man—engulfed in delusions of grandeur and self-pity and who's making him look good or bad. Puerto Rico of course is one of those "(blank)hole" places.
And remember (as he told the mocked-up crowd in Montana recently) it's your fault if I get impeached or removed from office.
And post-removal, the word "TRUMP" as a business moniker is finished, as well it should be.
8
Is shame even in his vocabulary? I think not. What a morally deficient being.
7
First, Trump says he believes Putin did not interfere with the 2016 election because he spoke to Putin and Putin denies it. Then, Trump says he believes that none of his staff wrote the New Times Op-Ed essay because he spoke to his staff and his staff denies it.
Next, Trump will tell us that he believes that 3000 Puerto Ricans did not die as a result of Hurricane Maria because he spoke to them and they deny having died.
3
The perfidy of Trump has resulted in the Times under reporting what's going on. Trump's near crimes demand so much attention that the Times is under reporting the crimes the rest of his administration are doing.
Consider email. In 2015, the Times devoted a third or more of its coverage about Hillary Clinton to her email procedures. The Times said over and over that her private server ill served our country, even though her server was NEVER compromised, but the State department and DOD servers were. Now, nearly ALL the people in Trump's White House are using private email accounts and private servers, but the Times has hardly reported about that. If it was so bad when Hillary did it, why isn't it bad when more than 100 Trump White House staffers do the same thing?
Throughout the campaign for President, the Times gave Trump the benefit of the doubt and NEVER gave Hillary the benefit of the doubt. Even with all the near crimes we know of Trump, his White House is still being given much, much more benefit of the doubt than was bestowed upon Hillary Clinton's campaign by the NYT.
6
No, Mr. Trump is right. I was part of the team the Democrats hired to inflate the numbers. Anyway, those people are brown. 3000 brown lives roughly equal about 16 regular lives. That's what Trump meant to say. #makepuertoricogreatagain
4
Mr Trump wants the rest of the world to believe that he is making America great.
The rest of the world, however, thinks that he is dragging the good name of an already-great nation down into the sewer.
8
What’s this about “successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico”?
12
@Ronald I suppose Trump thinks the taxpayers had nothing to do with the money spent on behalf of PR. Or, maybe the Trump Foundation found a convenient way to take tax deductions for that money.
Puerto Rico’s corrupt and incompetent leaders are to blame long before Trump became president. Just ask any Puerto Rican.
3
I would wager that the darker poorer zip codes after this storm we are in passes will be lucky to get third rate services.
The will be more likely to see someone from ICE or DEA than FEMA.
I hope I am wrong.
1
I can't believe the head of our government is denying thousands of deaths didn't happen because it makes him look bad. Trump is trying to "hide the bodies". This is crazy 3rd world dictator stuff. This whole event is the benchmark of the complete criminal incompetence of the Trump administration. These people died openly from lack of basic resources for months and months. News media was reporting ongoing for months the problems and dysfunctions of the Trump administration's response. Yet the Trump administration is so dysfunctional that this whole country basically ignored what was happening everyday in Puerto Rico because Trump kept manufacturing a new crisis every week/day/hour. We have a "man" in the Whitehouse that can't even be counted to console a war widow. Think about that. Now remember the republicans gave us this man. Remember the only reason this dangerously unstable creature is still in the Whitehouse is because of the republican party. Vote. If you haven't checked that your voter registration is in order do it now.
3
Revelations from an article titled "Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All" in the New Yorker, July 25, 2016:
Tony Schwartz kept a journal in which he expressed his amazement at Trump’s personality, writing that Trump seemed driven entirely by a need for public attention. “All he is is ‘stomp, stomp, stomp’—recognition from outside, bigger, more, a whole series of things that go nowhere in particular,”
“Lying is second nature to him,” Schwartz said. “More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.”
If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”
12
With his level of intelligence and willingness to whine, I wonder how in God's name he got as far as he did. He is like the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind a curtain of deception!
5
Tax returns, tax returns, tax returns.
Surprise! His first reaction after 9/11 was "Now my building is the tallest."
7
Maybe he believes this paranoid nonsense he's spouting, or maybe it's just cynical deflection. Either way, Trump has reached an astounding new low.
Conspiracy-vendor Alex Jones lied about the deaths of children in a school shooting, and Trump praised him: “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.”
Now Trump performs the same outrage on an even bigger scale, lying about the deaths of even more Americans.
7
Americans, including myself, have become increasingly numb to Trump's despicable Tweets. However, even I was shocked at this latest one. Trump scraped the bottom of the barrow with this. Not surprisingly, Congressional Republicans said little or nothing in response.
1
It's time to stop normalizing Donald Trump's behavior. Instead of "deceptions." it really should be called what it clearly is "delusions." Instead of "mendacity," it should be called "immorality." Instead of just quoting, "'I love Puerto Rico!'," it should be called a classic Freudian defense mechanism of "reaction formation" which should be translated as "'I hate Puerto Rico and all Hispanics, especially that 'nasty' woman who is Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz!'" Instead of "whining on Twitter," he was "ranting and raving on Twitter." Instead of "Mr. Trump seems incapable of processing new information," you need to state the truth that "Mr. Trump is mentally unstable suffering from an anti-social personality disorder called "narcissism" that prevents him from accepting any blame for his mistakes, feeling remorse, or having any sense of empathy for those who died." After "Anonymous," after Bob Woodward's book, "Fear," and now after this delusional attack on reality, it is time to face the "inconvenient truth" that we have a mentally ill man in the Oval Office who must be removed for his own good and that of the nation. It's not normal; it's abnormal, and it's not rational; it's irrational. That is what mental illness looks like and acts like and normalizing it is just enabling it. That must stop if we're to save him from himself and save ourselves and the nation as well.
If the loss of life wasn’t tragic enough this latest conspiracy theory from Trump would be laughable.
Rather than use a lessons learned approach we have the “everyone is picking on poor little Donny” whining.
We could hope for more responsible leadership and governance from this administration rather than the childish tantrums we see on a frequent basis.
But, his tantrums and conspiracy theories play well with his followers.
Dear President Trump: Honor the victims of Puerto Rico by an Executive Order declaring Puerto Rico the 51st state of the United States. Keep moving and issue four more Executive Orders declaring the U.S. Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, America Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands to declare them to be the 52nd, 53rd, 54th and 55th states of the United States. Then start rebuilding Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. That's being Presidential.
Does anybody think that Democratic leadership would think to make Trump look worse than he can make himself look?
Trump and the Russian-trolls expect us Democrats to believe that most Republican Constituents would be stupid enough to believe that our leadership lied about Maria’s death toll instead of him?
I think Putin and his criminal-trolls know that our American Democracy is leaning towards a Democratic Congressional Majority and want to portray all Republicans as loving Trump on social-media so Republican’s come out in large numbers to vote for Trump's Republican party this mid-term. The Putin/Russian’s know that if a Democratic Majority puts limits on Trump, it will make America look better.
Maybe some Republicans are thinking Putin is trying to make their party look bad, too. In the meanwhile, Trump is saying Democratic leadership are trying to make ‘him’ look bad instead of doing anything about Russia trying to make America look bad.
Every Trump tweet these days lowers the bar on simple human decency. The man is not only unfit to be president, he is empty of all feeling for anyone but himself. And his Congressional enablers continue to sit meekly by in embarrassed but deafening silence.
4
Trump is, as usual, a self-centered nut job. One thing that should be at issue now is the question of statehood for Puerto Rico. In the 90s, they benefitted from the lack of federal taxes when the pharmaceutical companies made PR the manufacturing center of that business. It is time to make a decision, one that I understand a majority of Puerto Ricans want. Make PR the 51st state. The will have taxes, but they will have the benefit of being treated as equals in the United States. This would hopefully mean there would be many improvements to both infrastructure and poverty. Without statehood, they will continue to be mistreated and without recourse. They are not allowed to vote. Give them the vote and statehood, and our responsibilities to our fellow Americans will be clear.
President Trump should be DEPORTED to any country that would take him. (after legal impeachment procedures of course—we’re a country of laws)
Match him to an oligarchy where financial Might makes Right and crazy egotism is equated with admirable power.
For the sake of our safety, civil liberties and respect for all citizens, it's time to escort Trump out to JFK airport, sirens blaring, cameras rolling, as the world watches. Put him on a plane, with armed guards, to a country with values better aligned with his--- where he can build a new Trump palace, and tweet all night.
We’ll all come out and wave good-by, heave a sigh of relief, then set about cleaning up the political swamp trash left behind and restoring our self respect.
2
He truly believes that we must believe he is the most important person on the planet. It's simply endless, yet daily tweets more evidence he belongs muzzled and in a cage
I am not surprised by this. Trump lives in his own world oblivious to other people. He is devoid of empathy. Recently large amounts of funding were diverted from the budget for FEMA and the Coast Guard. It has been re directed towards detention centers for illegal immigrants. The insanity of this is beyond comprehension. It is very obvious of the effects of climate change on the environment. The aftermath of Florence will be costly both in terms of money and the disruption of everyday life. More funding not less will be needed as the intensity of hurricanes & other weather related disasters occur. Clearly Trump is incapable of critical thought. He is fixated on his obsession of what he believes to be hordes of illegals "invading " the country. Thus come hell or high water he is determined to stop it. Blind faith in ridiculous notions is one hallmark of incompetent leadership.
One final point about Trump's tweeting regarding the loss of life on Puerto Rico. It should be apparent to everyone that Trump has a very narrow definition of whom he considers to be important enough to care about. His disregard and disrespect towards Puerto Rico is appalling. It does not matter whether they are US citizens. It does not matter that
Puerto Rico is in financial distress. What does matter is that
there are people who are in a very bad situation that need
help. People are not disposable but unfortunately Trump is incapable of realizing that.
1
In the wake of Trump's "election," NYT articles included an appreciable number of readers' comments supporting Trump. As time has passed, that number has dropped, and now it is rare to find a comment in favor of Trump (and when one does appear, it invariably contains inflammatory language, poor grammar, and fallacious logic). In the midst of our national misery, I find this heartening. Maybe some Trump supporters are finally waking up.
4
Mr. Trump's coda in his latest PR tweetstorm "...I love Puerto Rico!" evokes only the memory of History of the World Part I where Mel Brooks' comments as the King at a shooting party, "I love my subjects" taking aim as one flies across the screen.
We need more Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen quietly cooking thousands and thousands of meals for Puerto Rico and less of Mr. Trump hurling paper towels as if they could magically sop up all the destruction of Maria.
I want to say this is a new low, but realistically it probably isn't. I've simply lost track.
If Trump is indicted or impeached, his defense will be that he is insane.
I experienced a political awakening of sorts that began in Mr. Obama’s first term and continues today. I’m a simple guy, of average intelligence and possessing little talent for original thought, painful though that is to admit. I wasn’t raised with politics, and I put in over 20 years in the military, which doesn’t have a lot of vocal liberals in its ranks. So I went into my “awakening” leaning conservative, but on the fence. I’ve since become a staunch moderate Democrat, watching, reading, and trying to see how anyone in their right mind could find anything positive about most of what the Right says or any of what it does. Now it is supporting a criminal who has, for decades, been serving as a money launderer for the Russian mob. As President of the United States. As though that alone weren’t a sufficiently egregious insult to everything that our country is supposed to be about, Mr. Trump has proven himself a moronic, though cunning liar, manipulator and twister of facts to a staggering degree. He has also committed enough criminal offenses to be indicted many times over. Yet here he remains, tweeting his inanities and insanity while dismantling the very structure of our government. And the Republicans aid him at every turn in covering up the evil he has done and ignoring the evil he is still doing. If the only tool available to save the country is the vote, we had better use it. If the dust clears in November with the Republicans still in full control, there is no hope.
6
Maybe he hasn’t achieved primary object constancy yet.
1
I certainly hope that any of you who are planning to die in Hurricane Florence or its aftermath will have the decency to do so in a way that reflects well on Donald Trump.
8
You wrote, "Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own."
To what avail? His lies increase daily, he is not learning from his mistakes, he is profiting from his businesses while president, and he is unable to feel empathy. The citizens are becoming immune to this disgrace of a man.
Who will step forward?
1
Factually, there were many post hurricane deaths. The question becomes one of what was the proximate cause the hurricane or other factors.
What is truly disturbing is The Editorial Board's focus on Trump and not the plight of Puerto Rico. The infrastructure is a wreck, the island's finances are beyond repair, people are in a desperate daily struggle and all The Editorial Board chooses to chime in on is the count of the deceased. Is it all the news that's fit to print or all the news and opinions The Editorial Board deems they want to print! The Editorial Board should focus on the real issues impacting our lives and not its daily war on the current administration. Enough with the liberal ire and get back to reporting the real news!
2
Let us not forget the untold number of lives saved by the "president" tossing rolls of paper towels into a crowd. It's becoming more and more difficult to decide which of his self-congratulated successes will be the most memorable day of infamy of his administration.
1
It is difficult to be civil in the face of terminal narcissism produced by a bald-faced liar. The vulgarity coming from the Oval Office is surpassed only by Trump's apologists, who pollute the airwaves nightly with distraction, diversion and half-truth aimed at covering the moral bankruptcy of the remnants of the GOP.
We could have hoped that Congressmen had enough moral courage to end this fiasco. What we have seen is that the House GOP to a man prefers its job security to its honour. What a disgrace to America.
Has he no shame? Not a concept he understands or a feeling he has ever experienced . With a hurricane barreling into the mainland, many in its path his ardent supporters, this is what preoccupies him. Rather than learning from the Maria experience, as usual, it’s all about his enormous ego needs. And yet, that base of supporters, like their feckless GOP Congressmen, they won’t budge from their support, perhaps imagining a souvenir roll of paper towels that he may toss into their waiting hands.
3
The federal government is good at handing out money, but we shouldn't expect more than that. The primary responsibility for managing disasters lies with state and local government. The more corrupt and incompetent local government is (e.g. Louisiana and Puerto Rico) the greater the disaster.
The New Jersey and New York governments may not be perfect, but they are head and shoulders better than Louisiana and Puerto Rico, and that was reflected in their response to hurricane Sandy.
@J. Waddell There are numerous arguments to be made with regard to how and why Puerto Rico became so ill prepared to fend for its citizens. Regardless of the how and why is the stark reality of almost 3000 people dying from storm related issues. Acknowledgment of that tragedy is the issue here. Empathy for the loss of lives is nonexistent in Trump. It is one of many major flaws in his character.
1
After a year and a half of all the lies this guy has told you have to wonder who would be stupid enough to believe anything this guys says anymore. But apparently there are plenty of people as stupid as he is.
2
McConnol? Ryan? Cornyn? Collins? Murkowski? Your deafening silence signals that you are ok and agree with the leader of your party on this.
Are you all indeed so beholden to the oligarchy and the hard Christian Right that you will let this stand as the official response of the Republican Party on the disaster in PR? You really expect history to be kind to you for falling n line so much with Trump?
The world hears your silence and unconditional support for Trump loud and clear.
2
Something is deeply missing in this man. He has no compassion, no empathy, no humility. Perhaps some community service would help: picking up trash by the side of the highway, working in a homeless shelter, or tagging bodies after our next natural disaster.
2
Not one word of empathy from Trump about the thousands of victims in Puerto Rico or their families. It never happened and is all some sort of plot against Trump by the Democrats. Trump is a sick man. With him in charge, the nation is at grave risk.
The problem was, and still is, Congress and the budget. Despite the trending evidence that natural disasters are increasing in both frequency and intensity, congress always assures itself that next year will be better than last year so they don’t need as much money. Puerto Rico was the victim of too many disasters and not enough money for resources. Also, the rules of FEMA which aren’t to bring infrastructure up to snuff, only to make it like it was before (another piece of wisdom based on the premise that lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place and disasters don’t hit the same place).
Trump’s problem is Trump himself. By making everything about him, he runs the risk of taking the blame for something that he isn’t responsible for, like the death toll in Puerto Rico. What he, and the RNC, are responsible for is an underfunded FEMA and other agencies that deal with natural disasters based on the assumption that next year will be better when all signs say they will be worse.
With JFK we had Camelot. With LBJ we had The Great Society.
Now, with Trump, we have the revised version of a modern fairy tale.
" Instead, he did what he always does: reject inconvenient data in favor of a story in which he is the hero. "
4
There were 64 reported deaths. Many months later they started reporting 3,000. Trump is correct (especially when you look at how they arrived at that number).
1
Actually he is not.
The total # of deaths which are storm related is 3000.
2
This is a failure of Republican politics as much as it is the Exeutive Branch. At some juncture, Senators and House members need to get off their chairs and start to do their jobs — regardless of the direction the President does (or doesn’t) want to take something. From the minute of the “paper towel” incident, one knew the President had done his little thing in San Juan. He wasn’t going to do much but tweet about FEMA’s great successes since, after all, that is what DJT does: tweets about himself in congratulations or someone to criticize. It’s a little thought to criticize people who have no power or are under water. But what is the excuse of Congress? Knowing that 3.8 mm American citizens in an American protectorate are in dire straights? What’s their excuse for sitting around and not passing legislation to help? Congress passes authorizations and legislation. SUre, the government has to run at the direction of its Executive, but there were many ways Congress on both sides of the political aisle could have taken action but like everything the Congressional branch seems to get greater energy out of playing politics pointing blame at each other than.
5
every American should feel a deep sense of shame for inflicting this hollow shell of a man--if he might be called that--on themselves and planet earth.
13
Growing up in the 1960's and 70's there were any number of people who saw a Communist under every bed. Today, Trump and his base see a Democrat under every bed. Isn't this an example of paranoia?
7
We the people have to get our country back from this the guy and those around him.
8
Trump's reign is a performance worthy of Andy Kaufman or Sacha Baron Cohen.
But enough already. We get that we were pranked. So off with the costume and reveal yourself.
4
Who ate the strawberries?
4
Trump is obsessed the “the biggest, the most, the best.” In this case, it is best to obsess about having the least amount of deaths. He is compelled to argue if someone suggests otherwise. Another incident that provides proof he has delusional thoughts. Someone get him to a psychiatrist. Get him out of office and let’s move on already.
9
You know, I'm starting to think that Donald Trump wasn't a very good choice for President of the United States.
12
The denial of the failures in Puerto Rico is a new low for Trump. From 65 to 3000 and Trump says they died of old age in the meantime and it's the dems fault anyway. Please. Another huge bald faced lie right to your face.
But the denials are not even the worst of it. It is every morning has to start with ugliness and aggression from Trump. It's soo negative, so corrosive that this man has an endless reservoir of hate and ugliness to give each and every day.
The man is utterly lacking in empathy and compassion, he has little love to give anyone. But the ugliness and the viciousness, of those he has a seemingly endless supply.
It is very destructive to have such a sick and angry man as our president providing such a horrific example of how to behave for all the nation. Have you asked yourself what the children are learning from this man?
13
This fits nicely with footage I saw yesterday of Trump on TV on Sept. 11, 2001 proclaiming that, now that the Trade Center was gone, his building was almost the tallest in the city.
12
Trump has gone from an embarrassment to just grotesque.
He simply has no values, American or even just basic human values. Epic Fail.
30
To put this in perspective, the death toll in PR is comparable to the toll in 9/11. And in both cases, a president elected by a minority of the electorate was asleep at the wheel.
26
@joshbarnes: Well said. Excellent points made in two simple sentences.
2
@joshbarnes, perhaps Clinton's ignoring the warnings from the CIA escapes your limited grasp of the facts.
The lack of action pre 9/11 goes back further than Bush! Just for the sake of clarifying where we are now, who stopped ISIS and put North Korea on the path of denuclearization? TRUMP!
Donald Trump in just the last week has confirmed everything that was written in Bob Woodward’s book and the anonymous editorial in your paper. He is unfit for office. Congress needs to begin the process to remove him ASAP!
15
@Connie Moore "congress needs to begin the process to remove him ASAP." why would you even think to write something so outrageous? congressional republicans are as complicit in this horror as if they had done these despicable deeds themselves. mcconnell and ryan are traitors to america. i wish i had a magic wand to vanish these vultures. how dare they attend the funeral of john mccain and say the things they said. they are wretched.
The denials of this unfit and clearly unsound presidential poseur beggar belief.
What is absolutely unacceptable are the enablers in our pitiful Congress who turn a collective blind eye to the lies and misdeeds.
Vote! It’s our only remedy to this endemic issue
12
Since the citizens of Puerto Rico cannot vote in federal elections they mean nothing to the republicans. Just watch and see how much attention and aid his red states of North and South Carolina get in the coming days.
26
On par with desecrating the dead, this type of offensive callousness are the things that people do not forget.
8
President Truman had a sign on his desk in the oval office that said "The Buck Stops Here."
Trump has a sign that says "We Pass the Buck Here."
6
@RT
Even the republicans and trump have the motto,”not my fault”, someone else did it. And the voters seem to believe it because they also do not take responsibility for anything.
1
My takeaway from this, a wild and wacky statement among so many wild and wacky statements, is that this is such a sadly little man unable to take responsibility for what happens on his watch. He morphs reality and believes that if he says it, it will be so. He confuses “taking credit” with actual accountability. He confuses respect with loyalty. Integrity is a concept that doesn’t exist in his lexicon, along with compassion and humility. His treatment of the children in tents and cages, survivors of hurricanes and school shootings and America’s working class confirm this every day. We deserve better. If you’re not a billionaire or Russian oligarch, you deserve better. If, like me, you are one of the struggling middle class who pays all of our taxes, we all should be outraged and take it out on the Republican Party in November.
19
I suspect that aside from his narcissistic broadsides, Trump also knows that his low-information base will readily accept his conspiracy theory about the Democrats. Add in his rampant racism and to him at least, it was the "perfect storm" of lying and deflecting.
4
Revenge is sweet, when done for the right reasons:
Let’s start a campaign called:
Vote for your Mother
This is to get Puerto Ricoans who live in the US to vote in the 2018 election. Trump thinks they don’t count, let’s show him, they can make a difference.
Be sure you are registered, and have a picture ID, no matter where you live. Then, proudly go and vote in honor of those who died when Harvey hit Puerto Rico.
8
It’s my understanding that one one the traits of sociopathy is intelligence. I believe that we’ve got ourselves an outlier.
9
So now it's a vast conspiracy of M.D.'s, mathematical statisticians and epidemiologists at George Washington University's Milken School of Public health. Trump's behavior is beyond revolting.
12
@Mike T
They’re all Democrats. Sigh.
What is it with Republicans and natural disasters? It should be an easy layup. Everyone, of every stripe wants to help American citizens during a disaster. They cavalierly throw tens of billions at the military, (with help from the Democrats), but then can't even get the electricity back on. Instead, it's used as an opportunity to prove government doesn't work. It's viewed as the equivalent to welfare, or socialized medicine. This isn't only an issue with Trump, Bush W., didn't help people in Louisiana, a state that supported him, full of white people, in the continental United States. Puerto Rico, was practically on it's own, wrong skin color, different language, and an island off shore.
2
"The study found that the 2,975 excess deaths related to Hurricane Maria in the six months following the hurricane is 22 percent higher than the number of deaths that would have been expected during that period in a year without the storm."
The Puerto Rican official death toll was 64, for several months. I presume a death in PR is handled like any other death in America. A body is examined and as best as can be determined, a cause of death is affixed to a death certificate. Bodies found days after a hurricane are likely a result of the hurricane. I'm less convinced that someone performing a task, as a result of a hurricane, qualifies as a hurricane death, especially if others performing the same task, don't die.
This just another "drive by" story aimed at the low information voters.
2
I'd give the trumper a break. After all, he threw out paper towels!! Those towels saved more people than ever before! God bless the trumper and his throwing arm.
2
How can any American stand for this? I’ve read that republican law makers rejected funding after Hurricane Sandy hit NJ and the premise that the * president * is doing the same with PR. It’s mind boggling.
Canada’s not perfect and we also have our ‘red and blue’ provinces but this is never a fact during disasters.
I’d also like to note that Canadians are assisting in your current hurricane response ( Nova Scotia power workers) even in light of Trump’s NAFTA bullying. It’s the right thing to do.
9
Of course Twitter makes gobs of money from the tweets of that aberration, but since they would still make gobs of money without him, they ought to cut him off. That would really get to him.
3
The history books will tell an accurate story of the hugely devastating death toll in Puerto Rico due to the ferocity and tenacity of Hurricane Maria made exponentially worse by the extreme weakness, ineffectiveness and indifference of Donald Trump. Randomly tossing rolls of paper towels to residents of Puerto Rico after such a catastrophic hurricane, does not a great or even mediocre leader make.
Historically epic storms are comin' to DC. One can only hope for "Hurricane Mueller" to quickly and decisively remove everyone currently working in the White House while "Hurricane Midterm" blows every Congressional Republican permanently out of Congress. The survival of our Union and our democracy depend on it.
5
How Puerto Rico is treated by the USA is shocking. How the US president speaks of the hurricane's death toll of nearly 3,000 on Puerto Rico makes things even worse. It is a disaster when a leader interprets everything as a praise or a criticism to himself. This ridicules the USA and its historical values of democracy and equality.
5
A tragedy but the only thing remarkable about it is a novel way to calculate deaths, the casualties of any natural disaster could be multiplied by a hundred-fold if you trace indirect deaths this way. Excuse me if I spit but PRs claim to injustice is like a drunk engineer on a grossly mismanaged dilapidated rail line complaining that the first-responders are not saving their victims fast enough after it derails. This recalculation is little more than weepy creative advertising about racism and callousness to sell that idea, over and over and over and Trump is the bad guy. Trump and FEMA may be many things but not this drivel being lapped up in some quarters. A terrible tragedy to befall the people of PR but I would listen to their complaints more if their own elected officials took responsibility for their own gross, corrupt incompetence in causing these deaths and the limits both they and FEMA have in orchestrating help for them as an island with inaccessible areas 1,000 miles offshore.
3
“Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own.”
To you and me perhaps. He doesn’t look bad to Republicans. As of yesterday 85% of them approve of the job he’s doing as president. Ponder that. 85%. What does the Editorial Board of think about that? I wish they would tell us. That’s as important a subject as the president being stark raving mad.
8
I’m not buying the 3000 number either.
Also, we have Florence, here in the continental US to worrry about . PR was over a year ago, let’s move on.
1
Donald Trump does not know what a President is supposed to do. He is treating his position as a CEO which has been his background. It is not surprising that he likes the dictators of this world as they are acting like CEOs of their countries.
As a CEO he tries to keep his management from public clamor; hence, his count ended when he left Puerto Rico. What happened afterword is not his concern. But it should be!
2
A self-professed victim provided real soon-to-be victims of Hurricane Florence with a compelling observation: "[It] is tremendously big and tremendously wet."
What do sane people do with the realization that almost 130 million votes were cast in November 2016, yet we have a vacancy in the Oval Office?
What do sane people do with the realization that nothing will be done to remedy this Constitutional crisis for another two years?
6
President Trump continues to embarrass our nation with his detached, wildly unrealistic pronouncements. He seems to believe that his voice can end man caused global warming, turn clear enemies into fast international friends, and now even defy the death of thousands. As he speaks, the world listens and follows; in his mind only. We are being lead by a very trouble man. He doesn't need more advisors. He needs psychotherapy.
3
Horrific, President Trump's relentless insistence that he did "an unappreciated fantastic job!" after Hurricane Maria, and that the figure of 2,975 Puerto Rican dead after that storm was confected by the Democrats! Now we are facing Trump's Waterloo as Hurricane Florence devastates the Carolina coasts in the coming days. People who hunkered down in their homes instead of avoiding high flood waters by evacuating may well be on their roofs by next week, a frightening Katrina Redux scenario. May the loss of life from Florence be far less than that of Katrina (1,833) in 2005, and Maria (2,975) in Puerto Rico. May the president's rampant paranoia and narcissism do him in.
11
"I know the best words, I have the best words."
Here is a new term to add to your vocabulary:
excess mortality
Etymology: L, excedere, to go out, mortalis, mortal
a premature death, or one that occurs before the average life expectancy for a person of a particular demographic category.
Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 9th edition. © 2009, Elsevier.
Which means, but for Hurricane Maria, 2900+ US citizens would still be alive.
1
By his tweets Trump reveals himself to the nation and the world at large.
Every time he tweets he only proves himself to be a sociopath.
Definition from wikipedia:
"A sociopath can be defined as a person who has Antisocial Personality Disorder. This disorder is characterized by a disregard for the feelings of others, a lack of remorse or shame, manipulative behavior, unchecked egocentricity, and the ability to lie in order to achieve one's goals."
Surely the 25th Amendment should be brought into play and the sooner the better ......
For the good of the nation and the world at large.
9
Learn from mistakes? In order to do that, one has to admit that one has made mistakes. And of course in his mind Trump has done everything right! This is what Americans get for electing a narcissist President.
2
There is a lunacy that artificially reduces all issues to senseless argument. The real issue here is how FEMA is performing. And Congessional Democrats have praised its 2017 responses to Harvey and Irma. The Maria performance was inadequate for numerous reasons including the relative poverty of Puerto Rico, which is not unlike the situation In Haiti. Those who care about disaster relief hope to take lessons from failures in PR. Those who want to stir up trouble are knee deep in the unhelpful question of how many deaths occurring during and after the storm were caused by Maria and how many had different causes. Either you care about improving disaster relief or you revel in partisan argument. There is no middle ground.
52
@michjas: The only one who is "knee deep in the unhelpful question" about deaths resulting from Irma is Trump. Why is it a problem to report findings from a respected research source? Why is it a problem to discuss it? Of course FEMA had a problem with its response but don't try to absolve Trump's disingenuous comments by claiming that to provide new and relevant information is evidence of not caring.
3
The editorial is not primarily about disaster relief. Presenting a binary choice between improving disaster relief and partisan politics does nothing for either cause. Trump’s injection of partisan politics into the discussion of identifying the flaws of hurricane relief efforts so that they may be improved does nothing for the process.
How is it possible to improve when you give yourself an A+ in virtually everything you do??
2
@michjas sorry you are flat out wrong. I has been noted by many that Puerto Rico had neither the ability nor the competence to determine an accurate death toll tied specifically to events surrounding the hurricane. In fact, The Washington Post noted just some of the studies as of June 2018 that this New York Times (yes!!) calculated 1,052 deaths through October 2017. The Center for Investigative Reporting calculated 985 through October. University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez professors calculated 822, with a 95 percent confidence range that the total was somewhere between 605 and 1,039. Pennsylvania State University professors calculated excess deaths of about 500 in September, or a total of 1,085 if the same pattern held in October. That estimate was based on six weeks of mortality records. A Latino USA analysis, using updated data from Puerto Rico’s Department of Health, calculated 1,194 excess deaths in September and October. The Post noted that the new estimates hovered around the 1,000 mark. Plus you had a San Juan Mayor who despised Trump and did everything she could to thwart recovery efforts.
1
Don't worry. I'm certain at the next White House briefing, now held every 20 days or so, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will provide a lucid, comprehensive explanation about how consistent the President has been in his concerns for those who lost their lives in Puerto Rico. She'll then point out that the Democrats are obstructing Mr. Trump's message for political purposes and she'll do it with a straight face and then repeat it over and over again as she was instructed. The Republicans in congress will then feel so much better that the matter has been cleared up and proceed with their agenda to elect Vladimir Putin's best asset in the U.S. to a second term. See? Problem solved. And the Trump supporters will all scramble for tickets to the next rally wherein Trump will again tell them all how wonderful he is and how everyone else is weak, low energy and not as smart as he is. And the crowds will roar with applause and approval, because after all, he's better than Hillary.
Remember, everything you're reading or seeing is not actually happening and only "HE" can fix the country's problems.
7
Where does the buck stop in this administration? Is anyone responsible? Obviously, Trump is the hero of his own little Hobbesian universe; but, who's running the show in the universe where the rest of us live? It's a bit of a mystery, but I'm going to vote in November as if Trump is accountable. I think there's enough of us that Trump will feel more than a tremor in the force even in his galaxy far, far away.
9
Trump has all the compassion of a shoebox and the intelligence of a box of crayons (my apologies to under-rated boxes).
Thousands died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and Trump claims the democrats link the deaths to the storm to make him look bad. The only need he noticed during his visit was a lack of paper towels, which distributed during a game of catch. So he insults Puerto Rico, it’s leaders, and its citizens for not appreciating his efforts. His lack of compassion for those who have suffered and lost loved ones is crass and insensitive. He simply cannot comprehend complex issues like cause and effect. He cannot extrapolate a lack of clean water, unsanitary conditions, lack of medicine and medical care, lack of shelter and power leading to deaths.
Perhaps this explains the gaffes that have made up his presidency to date—his inability to see the repercussions of not filling all the positions necessary to keep a country running efficiently, his refusal to accept the advice of advisors, and his negligence of concentrating on national and international issues and policies in order to focus on pep rallies.
Trump has surrounded himself with pandering toadies who lack the integrity to let him know he is unfit to lead this nation. These "yes-people" are committing a dangerous disservice to this nation. Would that one of them would advise the emperor that he is wearing no clothes. Will there be a John Dean for this century?
6
If the United States of America (a name that becomes more ironic every day) truly wants to face up to its problems, a good place to start would be admitting a simple fact: Donald Trump's approval rating has stayed glued at 40% over the last few weeks as a torrent of negative events have befallen his presidency. Damaging books, criminal convictions, plea deals, devastating insider accounts of incompetence...none of it has moved the needle on his support levels.
Focusing on the ongoing train wreck of Trump's tenure, while necessary, ignores the far more serious problem of tens of millions of Americans who somehow are taking satisfaction in his catastrophic presidency. Where will these people look to next?
11
@Rob: I share your concern about the millions of T----p voters for whom he can do no wrong. It is safe to assume that, deprived of their Feckless Leader, they would quickly annoint some other demagogue.
This why it's important for us to get rid of the Electoral College. We're stuck with the Liar as a minority president because of it, the second of the last three presidents. I've nothing against Wyoming voters (apart from disagreeing with most of them, they are decent people), but why should each of their presidential votes count as equal to those of 3.6 from California?
Yes, it will require a Constitutional amendment (probably taking years) to abolish the Electoral College, and it won't be easy (why should Wyoming give up its power?). That's why we need to begin right away. Meanwhile, we need to deal with the likelihood of more like we have. Fortunately, we have one chamber of Congress that is elected in a way that (somewhat) reflects our population and can act as a brake on executive excesses. To free it from the grip of the so-called pesident and his cronies, VOTE!
There is absolutely no limit to the self-centered dishonesty of Donald Trump, and his remarks about the hurricane death toll in Puerto Rico proved that ugly reality again.
Most, if not virtually all, of Trump’s carefully cultivated base of pep rally attendees will believe their hero’s claims.
They have no empathy for any brown-skinned citizens who are fluent in Spanish and often in English, so believing this lie is easy for them.
The only hope for our nation rests with journalists of the mainstream media and with average, fair-minded Americans who take the time to seek the truth.
Never in the history of the United States have there been midterm elections with greater consequences than we face in November.
Every effort must be made to fight the Republican voter suppression machine for victory in the first step towards ridding the nation of the Trump disgrace.
15
It isn't all that complicated. He is a truly horrible person, to the core and without any redeeming qualities. That pretty much explains his words and actions: horrible people do horrible things for horrible reasons. Now, how he got elected is another matter, and how we get rid of him yet another, but what he is no longer poses a question.
13
True. The Democrats don't need to make Trump look bad, under any conditions. But the Democrats do need to lift a finger, as do the rest of us. Trump is not well, and his condition is infectious. As a result we are all losing our judgment. Trump's continued presence in the White House is evidence of that. Trump needs to be removed from office.
12
@HSM remove trump from office and we have pence, the grandest bigot on the planet, and one who has been planning his presidency from trump's day one. but as least he's not certifiably insane, as trump is. how do his supporters justify this madness? is everything a conspiracy? my family voted for trump, even after his "Access Hollywood" remark about women, and i can barely speak with them any more.
In my entire 50 plus years of life on the planet, including my experience having studied and read thousands of philosophical, historical, political, and literary works and travelled or lived in numerous countries, I can say without much hesitation that Trump is one of the most pathetic, revolting, selfish, idiotic, corrupt, and dangerous figures I have ever encountered and, quite possibly one of the worst humans now alive. But of course, Trump would likely try to turn such indictments of him into either a reflection on his "great" character and/or the fault of others. It pains me that so many fail or refuse to see how utterly horrible he is.
30
@David Macauley Trump is a moral vacuum. He demeans the office of POTUS every day. All of our American friends (my wife and I are frequent visitors) are baffled and depressed that so many of their fellow citizens could actually support this low value human.
1
For what other storms has this methodology been used? Was the death toll from Katrina calculated a year later based on expected vs. observed deaths?
This study was commissioned by the Democrat governor of PR. Even if the study was meticulously done, it was obviously not the kind of study routinely done by FEMA - or it would have been done by FEMA - so one has ask whether it provides a basis for comparing the quality of FEMA's reponse to any other hurricane for which a similar study was done. If not, it would be naive to think those commissioning it didn't expect a high number relative to other storms and didn't care that invalid comparisons would follow.
I'm reminded of the sentiment attributed, probably apocryphally, to Golda Meir that the worst thing about war is not what is done to us but what we are forced to do to others. Trump has brought out the worst in his detractors. That's part of the damage he has done. When he goes low, they low, too. He lies, so they lie.
It's time for the Dems to campaign on the positive things they will do if they get the reins. Trump should be allowed to self-destruct. Energy spent taking him down is wasted and, in this case, maybe even a little embarrassing.
@Nemoknada, so there are no facts, only politics? If the "Democrat (sic) governor of PR" requested this independent study by qualified scientists, their painstaking labors must have been part of a conspiracy, like the one where they claim human activities are causing climate change? Straight out of Orwell. These are indeed scary times.
1
"Mr. Trump seems incapable of processing new information or learning from mistakes."
Even though this is demonstrable every day in this administration, it still bears constant repeating.
But what is even more stunning is that this ego massaging delusional behavior is enabled by the morally bankrupt Republican Party. If you are a student of history, there are but a few parallels.
5
How does the GOP sit on the side of Trump's lies and not stand up for truth and justice? GOP congressmen want to keep their jobs funded by corporations and will do anything to protect corporations. They will let the US turn into Hungary in order to keep their jobs while the rest of America suffers.
8
@Anthony these people have no sense of humanity, only the almighty dollar. i have always thought of the united states as that 9/10ths of a penny on the price of a gallon of gas. that's us.
« If you’ve stopped being surprised by the flagrancy of President Trump’s deceptions, you’re not alone. »
I hear the qualifier, « it’s not a surprise that..., » a lot lately.
I honestly don’t understand why people feel the need to qualify their outrage. Do people think surprise makes them sound naive?
I am surprised. I’ll never acclimate to a President who is so incompetent or so dishonest.
9
Nothing amazes me about Trump. Everything about him appalls me.
Every time he comes on, my radio or TV goes off. Sometimes, I can't read or watch any news involving him because he makes my heart ache and my soul long for someone of decency in the presidency again.
Each new story about the plight of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria causes me to weep inside.
How do we stand up to Trump right now? How much more will he harm us before we figure out a way, in addition to the polls, to force him to cease his ignorant and deplorable behavior?
7
Trump and his Team has a major problem of deceit, it did not start with his inauguration crowd, but it has always been there whether it was the Birther movement or his wealth. He has never been forthcoming and has always blamed someone else for his shortcomings. It is nothing new as he prepares the ground for his failures re the impending natural disaster in the shape of Florence. When his team would fail, he can always blame the Democrats for 'Fake News' instead of the facts.
It is a shame we have him as the President
8
We comment over and over about Trump's character as if we believe somehow these messages will reach him, and he will change. He will not change. However, removing him from office via the 25th Amendment or impeaching him will give us Pence, who is probably even more dangerous. Pence clearly wants a theocracy, is more polished about political maneuvering, and has a whole complicit GOP to follow him. We may have to endure Trump a while longer, admittedly risking more destruction of our country in the short-term, but the only safe way to get rid of him without leaving ourselves at the mercy of a religious fanatic is to vote him out of office and vote against their enablers at every opportunity.
5
@Georgia Lockwood: I share your low opinion of Pence. In his favor, though, I believe he can be trusted not to vaporize us all in a temper tantrum.
I do not have a similar confidence in the so-called president.
In any case, we are unlikely to free ourselves of the current occupier of the White House until after the new Congress is seated in January, and even then, we'll probably find ourselves stuck with him for 2 more years or the end of life on Earth, whichever comes first. At least he'll be (partially) defanged if the Gutless Old Party doesn't run the House, so by all means, vote!
1
Given the plethora of appalling statements and actions, the silence of Congressional Republicans stands out. They seem committed to ensuring no consequences result from Trump’s civil and ethical transgressions, preferring to remain willfully blind, ignorant, fearful, or quietly complicit.
They’re performing as much as a disservice to America as he is, perhaps more, as they’re supposed to be representing us, most of whom DO NOT support Trump.
254
@SMK NC
Exactly. It remids me of a quote from MLKing, “nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
1
@SMK NC Paul Ryan made a statement yesterday flat out stating he has no reason to deny the numbers.. They're definitely standing against his claims, but not denounce the Cheetos Twittler in any fashion which is sad to see.. Not surprising with the pending election cycle however..
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/13/ryan-no-reason-d...
@SMK NC The hypocritical GOP is holding their nose in order to ram through their radical conservative agenda. Meanwhile, thoughts and prayers for NC...
Not a single thought for the loss of life. Not a drop of interest or curiosity about what really happened in this part of America. His ability to dehumanize others is his most marked skill. I have literally never encountered another person so willing to transparently demonstrate his rock bottom worst impulses. Literary critics would scoff at a character so one dimensionally self-focused.
365
@Mrs True, he is a caricature of a man who sadly is the President of our country.
@Mrs Whit Most pro-life President since Reagan. Listen to his words at the recent 911 ceremony in Schenksville not the media's reporting of them.
The Trump show is not about administration or about truth: it's about entertainment. Controversy entertains, insofar as it distracts us from our quotidian existence much as "Survivors" does. Trump is not interested in governing or in truth -- he's an entertainer, and he loves the spotlight. By being outrageous, he entertains us all, even as we all huff and puff at his Arch Bunker philistinism. P.T. Barnum was right when he observed that people enjoy being fooled, if it is part of an entertainment package. One might think that Americans would prefer leadership to entertainment, when it comes to the President, but we'll have to wait until 2020 to see.
4
Unfortunately, Trump will be able to take advantage of the esoteric nature of the official death toll by making the remarks that he did. His base will side with him because of the 'complex' methodology used to determine the actual figure.
Puerto Ricons don't vote in presidential elections or mid-terms unless they reside on the mainland.
Granted, this is an extremely cynical musing but I think fair to wonder if this is why the reaction to the devastation in Texas was so rapid and comprehensive (relatively speaking) and so slow to pick up speed in Puerto Rico.
6
The Times published a comprehensive piece just a week or two ago, outlining how one woman died in Harvey because of a failure of institutions in a critical and overwhelming emergency. Her widower can't get her death recorded as a storm death.
Politicians don't like to count up the dead on their watch.
Given that we are reading that in poorer areas, people are still not back in their homes, and that as you move down the chain, the people with the least recovered the least, I'd have to give our efforts on Harvey a question mark, not an A+.
That leaves me with no qualms in believing that Puerto Rico - harder to reach and suffering from being poorer, and out of sight, out of mind (not to mention the number of Americans who don't know that PR residents are citizens) - likely had a very poor response indeed.
It is a political attack to tell the truth, publish reality. A well deserved, hard earned attack. The right way to handle it is to outline the reforms and changes made as a result of the autopsy of the effort and the revealed failures.
Or of course, you can tweet out a whiny complaint and move on.
12
While the position of consoler in chief is not official, past presidents have done it out of kindness to people and situations as they knew it would have some good affect. Not this guy, never and that is unacceptable.
8
Puerto Rico and DC need to be rid of their second class citizenship. Unless they have equal representation in structures of power, they will not be treated as equal citizens. The response in Texas (republican stronghold) clearly established that. It wasn't the difficulty in reaching PR (we fight in remote Afghanistan!!) that prevented adequate response, but the lack of desire to care for certain groups of people.
41
I am a New York Puerto Rican who now lives in Ireland. I follow the American news and continue vote in all US local and national elections. I have been dismayed about American politics since Trump was elected. And, the latest only is another item that confirms why I should feel this way. I agree with David NY's comment. He only serves his own base and has little regard for groups of people who cannot help him advance his agenda. Plus and most importantly he is not and has never been qualified to be the POTUS. All any of us who want change can do at the moment is vote in the midterm elections and bring the right people to Congress. If you are in the US, get out on election day and cast your ballot. If you are overseas, please ensure that you get your absentee ballot in time. Visit www.fvap.gov/ It only takes a few moments to fill out the application.
63
Trump knows his base does not care about Puerto Rico.
His base ONLY cares only about having their economic status restored and believe [falsely] that Trump will restore their well being.
Beside Puerto Rico has NO vote in presidential elections.
Given Trump's value system [or lack thereof] why should Trump care.
50
I think and hope with growing certainty that the era of president Trump will end soon, one way or another. It won' be a beautiful ending and, believe it or not, we will feel sorry for him....
32
Hi Robert in Bruges -- No, I don't think many people will feel sorry for Drumpf, the trumpeter. He's the antithesis of what so many people and their forebears have worked to avoid.
14
@robert Sorry, but Trump will get zero sympathy from me when he receives his well-deserved comeuppance. Someone so lacking in empathy for others deserves none.
2
Speak for yourself. I won't "feel sorry for him" no more than I feel sorry for any other individual who offends every aspect of our nation's moral and legal fiber.
If there is any resistance or deep state or steady state out there please jam his tweets! It will cause an implosion and that will be beneficial to the universe.
OR
Twitter, close his account. That will show a modicum of decency at long last.
67
@DaveB
Better to just let Trump tweet away.
Every time he tweets he only proves himself to be a sociopath.
Definition from wikipedia:
"A sociopath can be defined as a person who has Antisocial Personality Disorder. This disorder is characterized by a disregard for the feelings of others, a lack of remorse or shame, manipulative behavior, unchecked egocentricity, and the ability to lie in order to achieve one's goals."
Trump evidently didn't acquit himself very well in Puerto Rico, but I think that there's so much talk of the 3,000 deaths, a misleading figure, in my view, in large part for the reasons he says--that is, to get at him.
As the southeast braces for Florence, there have been accounts in the press of past hurricanes to hit the area. Hugo, for instance, which caused more property damage than María, is often (and uncritically) referred to as having caused eighty deaths. I don't believe that the number of deaths caused by María and number caused by Hugo were calculated in the same, but they are reported in the press as if they were.
7
"... Puerto Rico’s shoddy infrastructure was one of many extenuating challenges."
Puerto Ricans were not paying their electric bills. A decades old agreement allowed municipalities to use some electricity for free and to pay for whatever they used beyond this amount. Many municipalities used way over their allotments of free electricity, but neglected to pay for any of it. Some municipalities built structures that were heavy electricity users, such as air conditioned buildings and then rented them to raise money. (Electricity was included in the rent.) One municipality built a night-lit sports stadium and an ice skating rink (on this tropical island) to make money on entrance fees, but never paid an electric bill.
Many private citizens did not pay their electric bills, either. A large percentage of Puerto Ricans were thought to work “under the table” so they did not have to declare any income. Puerto Rico had the 2nd highest number of public housing units. H.U.D. actually gave the public housing residents an allowance to pay their utility bills. Many of the residents just kept the money.
The result was that the power company lacked the money to maintain its equipment or prepare it for storms. The situation on Puerto Rico was bad before the storm. We cannot blame everything on FEMA and Trump.
9
@ann
No one disputes the challenges PR faced (and continues to face) with its infrastructure.
That is not what the article is about. The President of the United States made an unsupported claim that disputes a much accepted review of the devastation and death toll after the hurricane. He falsely, and without support claims that the death toll was fabricated by political opposition to discredit him.
At some point, regardless of your support for a hard right oligarchy, you must admit this is not fitting of a world leader.
151
@ann
Who blamed Trump? He is so paranoid until he jumps in quckly--no matter what the cause--to ignore real evidence and blame himself--in other's name!
Puerto Rico's recovery should be honestly and objectively covered and reviewed. Trump made the focus on personal, on him. It is dangerous when a leader focuses on his feelings and perceptions, blaming others, and not on solving problems!
62
@Walter Rhett
Well, I agree with what both John and you say, but I am wondering where the editorials are that ask why so many Puerto Ricans did not declare any income from their small businesses or pay their housing or utility bills. How is it that the mayor of San Juan can accuse Trump of neglect, saying people died on his watch, when she, herself, and other Puerto Rican politicians let their island’s infrastructure deteriorate? Do Puerto Ricans only see themselves as victims? Don’t they have any agency?
It is terrible that so many people died. Do Puerto Ricans realize that they, themselves, hold some responsibility for this?
The editorial board has one column after another condemning Trump. Where is an editorial asking if we are expecting FEMA to do too much?
Our President is completely crazy, and has been for a long time. Is there no short term remedy available? No thank you, Mike Pence or Paul Ryan.
106
Imagine if FDR had tried to deny the extent of the losses at Pearl Harbor, challenging any attempt to deliver accurate reports of casualties because he felt it was a personal attack and its sole intent was to embarrass him. That's kind of where we're at with Donald and his denial of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Trump hasn't shown a shred of empathy for the losses of the Puerto Ricans, instead claiming the relief effort was a victory. An opinion not shared by the mayor of San Juan or millions of Puerto Ricans.
At what point and after what event will the Trump base begin to recognize how delusional he is and that they are equally deluded because of their continued support?
103
@Garth The casualty toll at Pearl Harbor was not released until after the war. It had nothing to do with FDR's ego -- which was substantial, but not on a par with Trump's narcissism -- but was considered a matter of national security.
They won't. Ever.
Trump is a circus master, imagining that not only his closest coterie (if such a thing still exists for him) but all the people of this nation, are his to command and control.
One wonders what happens to the brain of a person who lies so consistently and so insistently for so many years, does he truly believe some of his own malarkey, is it an insane drive to never be 'weak' as he has accused others of being, to never admit to being wrong.
It is clear that whatever his mental condition, he is unbalanced and with each perceived 'attack' on him (the Democrats made up number of dead from the hurricane which struck Puerto Rico to make him 'look bad') .. this man is clearly out of his depth, deeply ignorant and increasingly paranoid. He is exhibiting some of the same symptoms as Richard Nixon, before that man's stunning demise.
68
@Tim B I think this is worse than Nixon because he was intelligent. You can't compare apples and oranges. Trump refuses to know history. A dangerous combination - ignorance, paranoid and petty.
Rethinking how to measure the value of adjectives in Trump language. The valuation of his government's response to the hurricane in Puerto Rico as "great", on a score from 1-10, Trump's "great" job is a 1. When we hear Trump say "great" the new meaning is "poor".
46
No - 1 is too high a rating!
I love the way this man categorically denies a statistic he knows nothing about or how it came to be.
"When I left, there were 16 deaths...." The only thing that matters to this president is what had happened while HE was there. After that, mere fabrication!
Clearly he knows nothing about epidemiology, how deaths from natural disasters are counted, or how statistics need revision and updating for some time, particularly in a storm-ravaged environment that lasted as long as it did in Puerto Rico.
I listened to how the figures came to be revised. First, they have to gather all deaths over the past year, then subtract those from natural causes unrelated to disease progression from storm-related problems such as toxic drinking water, lack of access to hospitals, etc.
Then they have to factor in other extenuating circumstances in terms of population age, and morbidity.
Only then can they begin to analyze how many deaths out of all reported in the past year were directly due to lack of resources (potable water), lack of access to healthcare (vaccinations, medications, etc.) and lack of treatment interventions given at intervals sufficient to keep a patient disease-free or in maintenance mode.
No, Donald Trump, Democrats didn't pull the new death toll out of thin air. Nor did PR wait until the worst possible moment to make you look bad.
For shame!
252
@ChristineMcM
"When I left, there were 16 deaths...." The only thing that matters to this president is what had happened while HE was there.
Indeed. Also, the "there" he visited represents the entire disaster. He can't fathom that the the disaster extends beyond his own field of vision.
3
I cannot recall a single negative incident or event during the time of Trump's presidency when he accepted responsibility for his actions, let alone blame. Conversely, any positive occurrence has been totally because of him. Further, I cannot recall any positive incident or event when he has even shared the spotlight with others by stating something like "Because of my team and me, we have......"
In this administration, Trump's only team is "Me, myself and I." Is it therefore any wonder that so many people have unloaded when they spoke with Bob Woodward? Trump grumbles that he can't trust anyone in the White House. Apparently he never learned that trust is earned. It can't be ordered.
Next he will declare that Democrats are to blame for the volcano on the island of Hawaii.
195
@ TomQ I think he took the blame for Eric.
The headline says it all. Thank you NYT for calling it like it is.
128
Mr. Trump: אוי געוואַלט. Enough already. If you're not willing or able to be a mensch, a human being, then just go away. Stop putting this country through an emotional meat grinder in order to assuage your fragile man-child ego and false victimhood while working the ultimate kleptocracy, and realize that the great majority of people don't like you. It's not the deep state: it's America. We don't need a McCarthy-era moment when Mr. Welch stood up to a bully, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" And we don't need another Shakespearean tragedy of epic 9/11 and Iraqi proportions. But it may have to come to that. Please, sir: go away.
264
This opinion piece feels a little disingenuous. As a foreigner watching coverage of the disaster unfold it was interesting to me how often news anchors felt obliged to gently remind their audiences that PR is a part of the United States and therefore its inhabitants are American.
I don’t think the president could get away with such an outrageous lie if Puerto Rican’s were more strongly identified as Americans. As has been pointed out, the death toll is not far off from 9/11, yet seemingly hardly any coverage (until now).
43
First, thanks to all Canadian friends of the United States, including M, who are sympathetically following our tragic self-destruction. Next: in fact, within a day of the end of the storm news coverage was emphasizing all the deaths that would follow slowly from loss of medicines and medical care, lack of clean water, lack of food, lack of electricity, etc., and that would amount to many more than the violent deaths during the storm itself. This story has been there all along, and has been covered. But there is a lot going on in the world, so I can understand if it was missed.
36
Wrong - it as coveredthe day of its release, even down to the methodology. Was it attended too, even by you? Another question entirely.
Most America’s couldn’t find Puerto Rico or Guam on a map. You think people know residents of us territories are citizens and not “natives”? You give the masses too much credit
Mr. Trump should have turned down the position of POTUS, for which he was stupendously unqualified, and ridden off into the sunset with his giant ego intact. Unfortunately, his ego still needed inflating so he assumed the position and will go down in history as the worst potus ever. Hopefully, his shameful blathering ineptitude and disgraceful personal history is an eye opener for all Americans that will be addressed at the ballot box. Like the old saying goes, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!
90
"So they were wet! Did I not got down there personally and chuck towels at them so that they could dry themselves off.
How dare they die - deliberately I suspect just to make me look bad!
Did I mention it's an island. Everyone knows islands are inaccessible, except islands like Bali where I own golf resorts. They're accessible. But not islands like Puerto Rico.
It's the Democrats I tell you. They brought on that storm. But they won't get me this time. Even before Florence came close to land, I was getting accolades for the tremendous job I did saving the Carolinas from harm.
I told Fema - I said you get out there and make sure I don't look bad. And while you're at it, make sure my golf course in Charlotte is not damaged. Put a wall around it if you have to.
And be real careful how you count dead people. Count them the way I count strokes when I'm playing golf - every second one.
If I look good after Florence, people will give me a mulligan on Puerto Rico."
139
Every time I think DJT can’t go any lower, he does. This is ridiculously low.
A narcissist to the nth degree, divorced from reality, no compassion, and a lack of curiosity combined or any love of learning, as far as I can tell.
Me me, me, and visions of money, money, money is what D. Trump boils down to, IMO. A two-dimensional figure in more ways than one.
93
Trump lives in his own small world where everything is always all about him. He hears, sees, thinks only about himself. He has a personality disorder. He is not a normal person. This is why he never reacts to anything in a normal way. This is why he is attracted to dictators. He probably thinks like them, he wants all the power and attention he can get. I doubt if this is all a clever political ploy, he is just being Trump, a narcissist. This is why they call this a personality disorder. He is naturally attracted to absolute power so he undermines anything that relates to democracy.Left to his own devices he will become a dictator. This is the bargain his party made when they elected him. Now, like the sorcerers apprentice, they don't know how to contain him. What you see is what you get. What you really get is chaos.
61
My Goodness how frighteningly true.
But what are the chances that soon he will accuse people of actually dying to embarrass the Donald.
35
@Just Me
In fact, that's not so far from what Kelli Ward, running for the Senate in Arizona, said about Senator McCain's death. More precisely, she said it about the timing of the announcement of his death, but with such egregious behavior it's hard to focus on the details.
Fortunately she lost the primary.
1
If 3 photos of Puerto Rican Maria victims were publically posted every day it would carry us into June 2021. In so doing the memory of the deceased would be honored. It would simultaneously serve to graphically underscore the venal lie Trump is attempting to put over. Honor and remembrance for the victims and humiliation for Trump. sounds good to me.
40
Someday like all of us he will stand before his maker. His sins will be shown as a black and white documentary. From the very beginning through his life each act , each lie, each criminal act he has done out of greed, jealousy, ego, hatred will be shown him. His punishment ? To see it through our eyes.
15
Who knows what will happen after death? Nobody, despite the certainty some speak about it.
But should the soul indeed be immortal then yours makes for poetic justice.
Still, humanity cannot wait for that. It needs to make sure by 2020 this all ends.
2
@Elly That pearly gates scenario is highly unlikely. Should Trump be subjected to due process, convicted, and incarcerated in this life would be most satisfactory.
2
Letter to Editor, NY Times, by psychiatrist/author (see Amazon):
"Psychiatrists Warn About Trump’s Mental State
Nov. 30, 2017
To the Editor:
I am the editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”
We represent a much larger number of concerned mental health professionals who have come forward to warn against the president’s psychological instability and the dangers it poses. We now number in the thousands.
We are currently witnessing more than his usual state of instability — in fact, a pattern of decompensation: increasing loss of touch with reality, marked signs of volatility and unpredictable behavior, and an attraction to violence as a means of coping. These characteristics place our country and the world at extreme risk of danger.
Ordinarily, we carry out a routine process for treating people who are dangerous: containment, removal from access to weapons and an urgent evaluation. We have been unable to do so because of Mr. Trump’s status as president. But the power of the presidency and the type of arsenal he has access to should raise greater alarm, not less.
We urge the public and the lawmakers of this country to push for an urgent evaluation of the president, for which we are in the process of developing a separate but independent expert panel, capable of meeting and carrying out all medical standards of care.
BANDY X. LEE, NEW HAVEN
The writer is a forensic psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine."
73
What is it going to take for the GOP to accept that the mental imbalance of this man is an outright danger. Certainly more than his shooting someone on 5th Avenue because that would be only one dead person. That person is still theoretical, yet GOP Senators and Congressmen are okay with him lying, essentially to himself because those of us on planet Earth know the truth, about real deaths that occurred on his watch (despite his philanthropic and helpful tossing of gov't issued paper towels which should have fixed everything). If GOP Senators could extricate themselves from being ruled by their dictator, Mitch McConnell, and actually DO what their constituents want (remember them GOPers?),their Constitutional duty would be to control this madman.
99
Hmm - maybe, loss of control of one or both houses of Congress.
1
@B.R. getting blown out in the elections -
But it doesn’t matter…his followers and, more insidiously, Republicon members of Congress will never relinquish their support because he satisfies their world order paradigm.
Thank you and please continue your efforts at chronicling his lurid behavior. At least there will a contemporaneous record that historians will be able to refer to so they will realize there were people who cared.
42
We are all getting a good lesson in narcissistic behavior. Everything is always all about him. Classic behavior. This will not change, Trump will not "learn". This is what you get. It may get worse.
104
More than 2,000 of the bereaved applied for FEMA burial assistance. That statistic can be verified as can the deaths in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities due to loss of power for ventilators, etc. Every news outlet should push back hard with those available statistics and interview family members who witnessed those deaths. Under the Trump imperial presidency this could happen again, possibly in the Carolinas or in your home state or in mine.
55
Your headline captures it perfectly.
33
Donald, Donald, you know you are a liar. Why defend yourself? Be like the Joker and admit that you are evil. Then you won't have. to worry about making yourself look bad.
23
Never mind being above the law, so far as his supporters are concerned, Trump mustn't be expected to possess so much as a hint of common decency.
36
It would be truly Shakespearean justice if trump were to be haunted forever by the spirits of the 3000 who "did not die".
76
Let's compare the death toll from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with that of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Only a few were killed by the actual hurricane (Katrina) in 2005, probably comparable to the initial death toll from Hurricane Maria. The high death toll from Katrina came in the days and weeks that followed, most from flooding but many because of the loss of power in hospitals and nursing homes or lack of access to critical medical services.
54
I was watching "Lincoln" last night. Of course, there had to be some literary license taken since the technology of the time did not the sometimes microscopic views of our politicians we are not afforded. But Lincoln's self-written and extemporaneous remarks and speeches--despite the daily, crushing stresses of waging a terrible war and his profound periods of depression--made me shudder to think what djt's unscripted remarks would have been during a time when the nation was being torn apart, and how he would have made himself the subject of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address.
46
@Thomas Hughes....Yeah, Lincoln was subject to severe depression at times, but--- he was sane, and a superbly ethical and moral person, instead of crazy, and criminally exploitive.
Churchill also had bad depressions. Both Lincoln and Churchill cried more than most leaders in history. They were moved by huge the problems they grappled with.
Picture the guy we've got now crying. No way.
30
@Meredith
"Picture the guy we've got now crying. No way."
And you never see him laughing, either.
2
I’m not even sure it’s a guy in the WH. Could be some non-specified other, an alien species without empathy.
1
Two astonishments:
1. That anyone voted for this coarse, crass individual
and...
2. no one has found a Constitutional way to remove him
121
@hotGumption
1. Truly astonishing
2. Not at all astonishing. The Constitution is unequal to the task of removing even a grotesquely unsuitable president without the most cumbersome process. In other democracies it's a simple matter of a no confidence vote.
36
@hotGumption
That's not quite true--plenty of people have "found" several Constitutional ways to remove 45 from office.
The problem is Congressional republicans, who have--uniformly--abidcated their Constitutional duties and responsibilities and have refused to provide the Constitutionally required "check" on the Executive.
Hopefully, the Democrats will re-take at least one of the Houses of Congress in November, and will remind themselves of the powers the Constitution grants the Legislative Branch, then ACT on those powers.
15
@mancuroc it would be far less cumbersome if the majority party would do it's constitutionally mandated duty rather than be subservient to the executive.
He's ignorant. He's vile. But more than anything else, he's tiresome. When will this nonstop farce finally be canceled?
104
A mentally unstable president with access to atomic weaponry ? Is there anyone to counter him !!
46
@Charles Welles - not so long as GOP continues to protect him. Remember this when you vote at the next election.
14
The president is allergic to truth. He needs to hear in a Jack Nicholson voice, "You can't handle the truth!"
24
Hillary was correct. Trump is deplorable
97
In Trump we see a pathetic excuse for a human being. He is—in my opinion—unworthy to visit the White House even as a tourist, but alas, here we are...
42
Gigi — Wait, you're saying he's a human being? It doesn't seem that way ...
"
Me me me me is what you think that i care about
Me me me me is all i ever want to talk about
Who's your daddy?
It's me"
Louis Xiv - Louis Xiv (song)
24
Only another crazy person answers a crazy person. The proof of that is every time Trump opens his mouth the Board has a timely reply. You’re past the point of getting it. That makes two now.
1
Senator Robert Menendez said it best in a tweet, “You’re right, Mr. President. The Hurricane didn’t kill 3,000 people. Your botched response did.”
488
Two thoughts spring to mind describing this President & our Congress. Survival of the UNfitest (sorry Darwin & thank you Bob Woodward) & Karl Marx "The end Justifies the means".
15
@Kathy
Machiavelli not Marx
The closest Machiavelli comes to actually saying “the ends justify the means” quote is from Chapter XVIII of “The Prince.”
What exactly is the written out sound of continuous throw up?
25
A question for Trump's base - what does Donald Trump have to say or do for you to (finally) say "Enough already!!! I am done supporting and defending Donald Trump!!!"
51
Where oh where are the Trumph apologists,surely someone out there in the 40-5 % can explain why this whole issue is a leftist deep state plot
19
Trump is correct in saying "3000 people did not die...". Of course 3000 other people did. Even on Twitter one might expect a better command of the English language.
8
NYT,
Please do very clear, thorough reporting regarding the amount of Puerto Rico that still hasn’t recovered.
Trump may be unconcerned about “brown skinned”Americans, but most of us care.
66
Little off topic but Unfortunately I caught another snippet of crae-crae-in-chief this time at the Medal of Honor Reception annual celebration of American heroism laboriously reading aloud, “You are the strongest, the bravest, and the finest among us.” And then he said “See, my ego is not that big.” It’s seriously IMPOSSIBLE not to make literally everything about himself.
He’s a DISGUSTING HUMAN BEING.
I’m just overjoyed that it seems more people are catching on to that FACT.
100
@MiND Save the celebration for after GOP actually does something besides sigh and wring their hands. (p.s. don't hold your breath...)
I’m counting on voters at this point to see the light. The GOP is a lost cause.
1
Black holes, antimatter... Similarly, Trump = "anti-president"
16
Trump is headed for the point where he will not even care about his base or his family. He is headed for a spot even beyond Louis XIV's "l'etat c'est moi." Trump is headed for "the universe is me." Nobody will be able to inflate the number of celestial bodies under his control.
48
I'm glad we have Trump instead of Hillary.
2
We can see why. This is all going so well.
38
@JackC5. I think it's a great tragedy that we have Trump instead of Hilary.
42
Please, Americans, get this man out of office! Impeach him! Hospitalize him! 25th Amendment him! Convince him to resign! Buy him a kingdom somewhere on another planet, but get him out!
166
@Mike Dear God, hear our prayer!
Our President is a disgrace and it is well past time the leaders of the GOP call him out for being so and begin working to remove him from office.
89
All that the Republican controlled Congress seems to want to do is enable Trump's worse antics.
1
@Jon Creamer Don't hold your breath.
I want him to keep talking just like this till November 6, keep talking Don only you can save us from you.
42
I don't see either parties being any better than the other or the candidate's on either side being any better. If you google Uranium One and get the full details you find out that Hillary signed 100 ranchers land away to Uranium One which was a Canadian Company with ties to the Russians. Namely Rosatom
Rosatom now owns the land and we know who controls any Russian Company. Obama didn't do any better. It seams that all Politicians are liars. How can one man be blamed for everything that happened in Puerto Rico? There are organizations that were in place that obviously didn't do a very good job. They were not prepared for a storm this big. It wasn't just one huricane that happened. One man can only do so much. More people died as a result of not getting what they needed after the storm than died when the storm hit. However I do not agree with what Trump said about the number of deaths. He never should have said the number if it was not the truth. Unless the truth comes out about why it happened and how it happened the same will happen again. I am sure I will be attacked for what I've said but everyone is entitled to there view. Talk is cheap. What can be done to prepare for the next storm? I will not argue with anyone about what took place. I consider argueing as ignorance. I will discuss what happened and what the answer might be so it does not happen again. Attacking everyone does not help or resolve problems.
2
@Garry Tidwell
If the President was at all concerned about the citizens of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit the island then he would have organized a much better response, such as sending out a large contingent of the National Guard. Instead he spent his time criticizing the Mayor in Puerto Rico.
I’m going to have to agree with Trump. I watched on Twitter as journalists clamored for the “Trump’s Katrina” narrative shortly after the storm hit. The death toll was at 64 and then the NYT paid for a study that said 1000 died.
These deaths were indirectly caused by the storm. The study in question even includes suicides The methodology of counting deaths due to a storm varies. Even this 3000 number is an estimate and counts deaths months after the fact.
Trump is bombastic but he’s right to question the methodology and the extreme jump in deaths. There’s nothing definitive about the count.
2
After Hurricane Irma hit South Florida last year, 10 elderly people died in their nursing home due to lack of power. The death toll in PR is most certainly in the thousands, and many could have been avoided with a proactive response from the government. It's not a right or left issue. These are human lives. American lives.
34
@Ed - Trump is not questioning the methodology. He is incapable of understanding the methodology even if it were explained to him.
3
@Ed
Trump is not "questioning methodology." He's making up a nonsensical conspiracy theory about democrats coming up with a different count. The counts were produced by University researchers using the best science and statistics available. They are still being refined. The methods used were published. You can be sure Trump did not look into these methods, which is what "questioning methodology" would imply. He doesn't care about methodology. He only cares to defend his ego, to deny any failure or responsibility, and to attack his critics in the ugliest ways possibly.
5
So what else is new?
What agency / agencies are responsible for this miscalculation, especially after so long of a time?
Only NOW we find the number is 43 times higher than first posted?
As for Donald Trump, nothing left to say.
3
I’m a 65-year-old Democrat. I was too young to comprehend much until Kennedy. I didn’t like Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush. But none were as despicable and morally bankrupt as our current specimen. And he is a specimen ..... for psychological study.
25
How can Americans tolerate this president?
How can one tolerate denial of death?
How can honesty survive with the American believe in the Republican Parties 25 yr Attack upon truth, honesty, democracy.
Proven over and over.
Americans evidently rather believe in “ narratives” instead of facts.
We are loosing OUR Republic, Democracy, & Humanity.
20
@Mark Kircher Pretty sure that the last election showed that at least HALF of Americans do NOT believe in "narratives" instead of facts.
Have you no sense of decency?
A quote from a different era, but so appropriate for this time and this man.
30
Well, at least give Trump some credit, for consistency and predictability … the lies, paranoia, egocentrism, and ignorance of facts just never stop. Sadly, he is the true embodiment of the phrase that when your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like nail. He clearly is incapable of responding to anything in any other way. But, like the horror show monster you think has been vanquished only to return and assault again and again, his monotonous act is getting old. November 2016 and 2020 cannot come fast enough.
8
@Len
Let's give Trump credit for making the Bush II administration seem like the good old days
12
It's all about trump all the time .
If the press could just join in a concerted effort to
completely ignore him, it would be the best thing
It could do.
So sick of this man
,
So sick of seeing what this country has become.
25
If a statistically created number of death after several months of the incident is used to attack Trump politically, he is justified to hit back. It has nothing to do with honoring or not honoring the victims. Trump is well aware of the political games you people play and don't complain if he hits you back. He knows very well what happened to other Presidents when you people created a narrative like this and they did not react out of fear of negative comments. They got buried by the narrative and they never recovered. If America needs to treat Puerto Rico like any other state, it has to become a state. So, stop complaining. You people do not want to be a part of America, so, don't complain if you did not get full benefit. Probably Trump gave you more than you deserved, but you are attacking him. Blame your government over there for not taking care of you properly. Do not blame Trump if you did not get proper medical care even though he provided you everything. That is not the President's job. Ask the mayor who complains too much about Trump, what she did to help you.
2
So do the victims of 9/11 that didn’t actually die on 9/11 not count either?
1
Trump's Presidency is fast being reduced to nothing more than emotional reactions directed against anyone, or any institution, that elaborate on the inherent failures of his character and his policies. To point out that he is thin-skinned and arrogant is redundant. To point out that he doesn't belong in the White House as a result is a foregone conclusion. To speak of the many ways to remove him from office is becoming more and more frequent, on both sides of the Congressional aisle, though the guilty side(GOP) is keeping that discussion behind closed doors. This comment by Trump belittles people who he perceives as non-white, undeserving, and thus politically liberal, his sworn enemies. It also glosses over the fact that many people died during a freak storm, and he possesses enough talent, imagination and intellect to.... blame his critics. This act of vapid idiocy is just another nail in the coffin that is his impending impeachment. It can't possibly come soon enough.
74
Strange that Trump always portrays himself both as a victim and as a strong guy who never loses.
27
There is something, probably several elements, that make bipeds human. Whatever it is or they are, President Trump never received any such attributes.
Hurricane Florence is devastating the coastal southeast right now. This is no time to wallow in imagined victimhood about last year's death-dealing cyclone.
That mismanagement is history. Don't repeat it to feed some pathological need to look like Superman in spandex tights way too tight.
7
“Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own.”
Yes, indeed! It would be an insult to President Bush to call this Trump’s Katrina. Does Trump even realize that the people who die during a hurricane can be attributed to an act of god, but those who die in its aftermath is invariably due to the negligence of the government at the local, state and federal levels. And, in this case, the buck eventually stops at the Oval Office.
Trump’s callous disregard of the 2975 American lives – that were lost in Puerto Rico long after Hurricane Maria had wreaked its havoc – is an abomination. While foreign terrorists were responsible for the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks, it’s our own government that is responsible for the lives lost following the 9/20/17 hurricane. Trump’s deliberate politicization of the tragedy in Puerto Rico puts him in a class of his own – he has fallen so low, even sewer rats would look down upon him.
58
This strange exercise in self-serving denial of truth that there were near 3,000 deaths in Puerto Rico is reminiscent of one thing; the denial of the reality of the tragic deaths of school-children at Sandy Hook by that foulest of conspiracy theorists, Alex Jones.
It is no better than that. Given their relative stations, Trump's conspiracy theory denial (the Democrats did it!) is arguably worse than that of Jones.
24
I heard some pundit explain that being empathetic was not in the presidents wheelhouse. But recall his tweet on Manafort - "I feel very badly for Paul Manfort and his wonderful family."
I guess empathy is something you save for your criminal family.
44
@Jenifer
When he says he feels badly, that does not mean that he feels anything. He lies about that too.
This latest remark by Trump is a stunning example of the claims Bob Woodward makes in his latest book. Trump can’t listen to his administration’s corrections and facts. He gets something in his head and that’s it! He loves to lie and gets attention for it too.
Let’s keep track of how many things he does that are consistent with Woodward’s book!
11
Each time that this malignant narcissist opens his foul mouth, a Democratic takeover of the Senate comes into a clearer focus. His raging amorality will, at least, yank Congressional control from the compromised, complicit, and grimy hands of Trump’s Republican enablers.
12
@John Grillo
One can hope - AND VOTE!
1
This editorial makes no attempt to explain why the death toll went from 64 to nearly 2,975. In what way were these additional 2,011 deaths "caused" by the hurricane? Did they drown? Were they hit by falling trees? Electrocuted by downed power lines? Swept out to sea? No. As the report providing the figure of 2,975 states:“The official government estimate of 64 deaths from the hurricane is low primarily because the conventions used for causal attribution only allowed for classification of deaths attributable directly to the storm, e.g., those caused by structural collapse, flying debris, floods and drownings." The new and far higher death toll is based on a much broader causation analysis. To take only one example, people who could not get to the hospital and died for lack of care were counted in the new study. It is not Trump's fault the island's power and road system failed completely. However, he is being blamed as though it was.
2
@Paul McBride
But it's definitely his fault that his administration's response to those issues happening to American citizens was so intensely poor. It's definitely his fault that they have not done anything to resolve it in the last year.
He's being blamed for his awful response to his denial of his *other* awful response--and it is deservedly so.
3
@Paul McBride
It is Trump's fault for not mounting a response anywhere near what was called for to prevent most of the indirect deaths. Given the enormous logistical capabilities of our military and civilian aviation such a response was eminently possible. Trump has proven himself to be entirely without empathy for anyone other than his disgusting self. So no one should be surprised at his failure.
4
@Paul McBride: The Puerto Rico deaths are probably counted the same way the Katrina deaths were.
My six-year-old is more mature, has a better sense of right and wrong, and is actually able to admit when she has made a mistake. She also has empathy for others, something Trump completely lacks. Seriously, how can anyone stand being around him? I almost feel sorry for his family and staff. I say almost because if they had any character themselves, they would come forward and urge Congress to remove him from office.
33
@Rose J They're too busy spending his money to worry their little heads about America.
I often find much of the staff more repellent: it seems he's inescapably narcissistic, but that they are willing to come out and lie on his behalf is the most revolting part. Take your clearly unfit relative/friend/boss/coworker out to a nice home and let them rant and rave to their heart's content in your inexplicable company.
Don't foist them upon a nation and world, and make poor attempts to cover up their blatant unfitness.
1
Can anyone explain what kind of personality would brag about what a great job he did, when it is obvious to anyone with the slightest amount of intelligence, what a disaster the FEMA actions was?
What do you think his motive is? Does he really believe himself, or is it his style of public relations? We know he is a braggart, but most braggarts do no try to take credit for failures. Does he think his fans will believe him? Why would he say anything about it, just let his lackeys talk for him, or make vapid statements, like we tried to to the best we could?
Is he delusional, hallucinational, is he psychotic, what kind of being is he, is he even a humanoid? We also know that he promotes and brags about his hotels, and golf clubs, they are the best he says. He said the same thing about the Atlantic City Casinos while bankrupting them. He seems to have fellow travelers that go along with him, even though he has swindled many who did. He got people to buy into his fake university, he is a master con man, the suckers took the bait and voted for him. The mark of a real con, they get taken and come back for more, there is just no accounting for it.
17
@David Underwood
He also took credit for his failed attempt to "prove" that Barack Obama was foreign born, patting himself on the back for raising the question. It was in one of the debates with Hillary Clinton.
1
Every day, it seems, Donald Trump cannot drag the American presidency through the rancid, floating gutter any slower than he already has. He seems to revel in the degradation of his office. And Republicans do not mind. At all.
He didn't shoot anyone on Fifth Avenue, but if he did, he would have been arrested. Three-thousand-plus American citizens in Puerto Rico died on his watch. He should have been arrested for not caring about the people under his watch, as his oath prescribes him to do.
And I think of Barack Obama's grace and humor and intelligence and I despair.
And I think of George W. Bush's face when he was told that two airplanes incinerated the Twin Towers.
And I think of Bill Clinton who held a press conference the very next day after Oklahoma City, praising the lawman who stopped Timothy McVeigh.
And I think of George H. W. Bush who sent air and ground forces into Iraq to teach Saddam Hussein a lesson.
And I think of Ronald Reagan who joined Mikhail Gorbachev in watching the Berlin Wall blown up
And I think of Jimmy Carter's gentleness that was tested by the betrayals of his close associates.
And I think of Gerald Ford's attempts to rebuild trust after Watergate.
And I think of Richard Nixon's outreach to China and Russia.
And I think of LBJ's Great Society.
And I think of JFK's last hours in Dallas.
And I think of Ike's highway system that opened up America.
And I think of Harry Truman's integrating the armed forces.
And I think of FDR and 12/7/1941.
81
A leader leads.
At some point Trump's constant lying and promotion of made up conspiracy theories will catch up with all of us. There will come a time where the public must know the truth but no one will know what to believe. When this happens, watch out!
America is leaderless!
24
And this is the leader of the worlds strongest nation?
13
@Sherry Moser steiker
No, he isn't. Because The US is NOT the world's strongest nation and hasn't been for quite some time by most measures. The only thing we seem to excel at is spending money on the military industrial complex. MAGA...snort...now that's funny.
10
You can't really blame Trump for Puerto Rico. The weather was beyond his control and PR's infrastructure was garbage. Not Trump's fault. It's kind of like how you can't blame W for 9/11. Plus, in both cases they had only been president for a few months.
That said Trump could comport himself much better in Maria's wake and knock off the finger-pointing.
3
@MIKEinNYC
Who is blaming Trump for the hurricane or infrastructure? What salient part of this opinion piece eluded you?
30
I will bet my house that will NEVER happen
12
Ever read Jane Austen's novel "Persuasion"?
An Admiral and his wife are renting a house that belongs to a baronet, Sir What's-his-name Eliot. It's a nice house. They like it. Except for one thing:
The bedroom.
It's full of mirrors. "Such a dressy man!" exclaims our Admiral. "There was no getting AWAY from oneself." And they get rid of the mirrors. Windows, I expect, are better than mirrors. . . .
. . .unless you truly ENJOY--looking at yourself. Surveying yourself. SEEING yourself--now on this wall, now in that corner--SEEING yourself here, there, everywhere.
Ring a bell?
It's true, New York Times. The man NEVER lacks the ability to appall you.
My wife (this is NORM speaking)--my wife has been involved in an effort to get medical supplies and basic commodities to Puerto Rico. And the President is quite right. Logistical problems? Indeed yes! They are considerable. I'm not denying it.
BUT STILL!. . . .
. . .it's true. The man really DOES make it--all about himself. His administration (so to speak) is a room full of mirrors. Except that even mirrors. . . .
. .. cannot exclude the din of angry dissent rising from streets and towns and cities all over America.
And right now. . . .
. . .that includes Puerto Rico.
Lots of luck with those mirrors, Mr. President. But I'm with that Admiral.
I prefer windows.
When I LOOK at the world, I want to SEE the world.
And not myself.
29
The President is weaned on Fox "news". Of course he will spout a conspiracy theory! I am eager for the day when truth will have a home in our government and facts are recognized as the building blocks of any government policy.
13
I'm a psychologist and our code of ethics does not allow us to offer diagnostic classification without examining our patients in person...............
8
Trump can rant all hr wants about his conspiracy theories. He will of course not be visiting the morgues in Puerto Rico where people have not been buried a year later. The callous attitude of this president is beyond belief unless you know the meaning of the word sociopath.
Being a hurricane denier is kind of funny when you think about it: there must be millions of pictures of Maria and also the corpses.
15
You would first have to have a conscience. Trump is an empty vessel, a bot faking some Human moves with his little tweets.
“Anonymous” pointed out that Trump is amoral even to the people enabling him for the bucket of warm spit that’s worth.
You could have seen this train wreck from outer space and years ago.
31
When I first heard of trump blaming Democrats for inflating early mortality numbers from the storm, I snorted my beverage out of my nose. Yes, we jaundiced. I'm now coping by cynically laughing out loud.
15
Trump's mendacious incoherence is even more juvenile than the cyber-aggression of a fifth grade bully, but the entire GOP is complicit.
According to the Times, "Paul D. Ryan, the House speaker, said on Thursday that he had no reason to 'dispute' the higher number of people estimated to have died in Puerto Rico, but avoided directly criticizing Mr. Trump."
Doubtkess Ryan said this in his most solemnly didactic voice while doing his pathetic impression of a person to be taken seriously. What a shining example of courageous, principled, honest leadership!
GOP congressional representatives must wear steel rods zip-tied to their torsos. Otherwise they would all collapse into formless puddles of jelly.
31
A great day for P.R. If I had known that Trump could raise the dead I may have voted for him myself. On second thought....
15
The American president shouts to the world that he's a victim of Enemies who make up a fake death toll for political gain!
Let’s look another historical 'victim':
“All around me there is treachery, cowardice, and deceit."
- Tsar Nicholas II Romanov, March 17, 1917, Declaration of Abdication.
That was the outraged Tsar’s “Tweet” to the world. The supporters of the monarchy agreed. A 300 year old Romanov dynasty was being overthrown.
America, with a Constitution, Bill of Rights, and universal voting, was once the beacon of democracy for the world.
Now America has a leader of the same mentality as the last Tsar of Russia.
19
@Meredith
Don't forget Louis XVI--he didn't tweet but he was just as much of a birdbrain.
8
Folks don't come down too hard on the president. He sacrificed bigly on a personal level during Hurricane Maria. I mean he took time away from playing golf at one of his personal properties during the storm. Surly he should get a commendation for throwing paper towels at desperate citizens like they were zoo animals. So what he fudged the math on the official death toll. Trump never been a fan of math, stats, and facts for those things get in way of his 'messaging.' Let's give him a standing ovation and presidential medal of freedom for his hard work and sacrifice. [being satirical of course.]
23
@damon walton
“. . . Surly he should get a commendation for throwing paper towels at . . .”
— – - — – - — – - — – - — – - — – - — – -
Excellent—if unintended—use of the word “Surly”!
Well done!
Let's see if Trump goes to the Carolinas and flips paper towels to the people there.
20
It's easy to be so exasperated by Trump's denial of the tragedy that one overlooks the other damning action here: wildly accusing the Democrats of fudging these numbers to undermine him. It's just the latest in a long list of wild and false accusations about everything from Obama lying about his birthplace or tapping his phones to seeing cheering crowds in Jersey City after 9/11.
Normal people understand that accusers have a moral responsibility to present evidence. Put up or shut up, Mr. President.
45
He called work done in Puerto Rico a success. I suppose that means that he thinks that the deaths of 3000 Puerto Ricans is a success. At what point does his and his adherents' violent racist ideology become too much to bear for the "checks and balances" parts of our government?
Clearly, the tri-partite form of government we have is not adequate to protect the interests of the citizens, and really they should all go to jail for not, at least, demanding a full accounting, or commissioning a report like the one created the last time 3000 US citizens died...on Sept 11, 2001
9
Witnessing Obama as president made me favor presidential system; seeing the majority politicians prostrate under a dysfunctional president makes me favor again parliamentary cabinet system.
22
"... to make him look bad" ? I don't care to make the most authentic and pervasive menace to Western Civilization since syphillis, look bad. I care to get rid of it.
27
Not good enough, and showing unacceptable moral fatigue. We do not elect Presidents to set new precedents in how low the human character can go. At some time it is appropriate to exercise Constitutional sanctions against the abuse of the national interest. We have no use, no need for opinion leaders to humor us with chumminess toward our revulsion. Eventually a newspaper has to declare whether it believes the nation has interests, and what they are.
6
More people than Trump claimed probably died in Puerto Rico as a direct or collateral effect of Hurricane Maria. Whether or not it was 3,000 … who knows? In any event, no man is an island and we should mourn each one of those American deaths.
It should be noted as to the very high number of deaths in PR (2,975 deaths now are estimated to have occurred in PR out of the total number of deaths estimated for all the venues hit by Maria at 3,057), that no distinction seems to be made between those who died as a direct result of the Hurricane (which was the greatest such natural calamity to befall the island in almost 120 years) and those who died in the aftermath, as electrical power failed and still hasn’t completely been restored after a year and as rescue efforts were impeded by the poor infrastructure that existed there, notably roads that had been washed out.
The direct casualties of the hurricane may have been as moderate while tragic as they were in other places in the Caribbean and the U.S. if the infrastructure in PR had been more robust, and the collateral deaths certainly would have been more moderate if such had been the case.
1
Dude, helicopters exist. Too funny for words.
Trump gave himself an A plus for his administration's handling of the hurricane response. If the A stands for what I think it does, then he is correct.
18
Why dispute the death toll figures at all? Instead of pushing through Congress a tax bill that will saddle the government with a deficit in the trillions, he could have allocated millions in relief aid for the island last year.
Apparently, he believes that his very presence in Puerto Rico and his generosity with tossing paper towels was quite enough to get these American citizens through their hardship. He's using hurricanes and human suffering to make political points. What's really bothering him is that the menace of Florence has been the top news item all week and he resents not being the center of attention.
26
Something remains in me that is still surprised, shocked but not surprised, or just aghast. How low can he go, I still ask. But he'll probably go much lower before this sorry episode in our history is finished.
And when I say "shocked," I don't mean it in the Claude Rains sense.
Truth really is stranger than fiction. Sinclair Lewis never had Buzz Windrip throw paper towels in response to a hurricane.
Trump's falling approval ratings give the lie to the idea that once a Trumpster, always a Trumpster. Fellow progressives, let's welcome those who have belatedly come to know the truth about Trump. Better late than never.
23
What's frightening is that we face at least another two years of denial of climate change when every day takes us closer to effects that may not be reversible. We are seeing more frequent, deadlier storms like this but the Trump Administration claims it's all a "hoax." Trump won't be around to see what our world will become in 2100 but many children born today will. They will wonder why didn't we do more to stop it.
559
@Tom Rostock When Obama gave China a pass to INCREASE emissions until 2030, he too was effectively denying climate change. Addressing climate change involves more than talk.
"China’s CO2 emissions rose in 2017, suggesting that it is still too early to say if CO2 emissions have peaked. China’s Paris Agreement commitment requires its CO2 emissions to peak by 2030."
https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/china/
Trump is of course wrong to deny it. But he did not BEGIN our slide towards disaster. That has been going on for years.
Trump is merely the most convenient scapegoat. What we need is to get off our bottoms and take the issue seriously rather than in a partisan way.
A friend of mine is trying to encourage some evangelist folk to install solar panels. but in order to succeed, she first has to convince them that this is not part of some anti-Republican strategy.
You too should realize that saving the globe is more than pursuing an anti-Republican or anti-Trump strategy. Will you?
1
@Ludwig But the point is that Republicans and their supporters have been leading the denial charge for years. To call Obama's action or inaction "denial" is inaccurate and misleading; he was not in a position to dictate policy. Maybe he didn't do enough. But one person cannot get this country to change or pivot.
3
@Ludwig. Don't change the subject. Democratic policies - the actual policies, not the talk - are designed to curb emissions and support adaptation, and they always have been. You can see it in their appointees, legislation and international agreements that they negotiate. Perfect no, but politics is the art of the possible, and Democrats choose to see what's possible.
Right wing policies are deliberately hostile to scientific inquiry, and addressing climate change. They *choose* to increase emissions, prevent states from enacting their own climate change policies, and curtail industries like wind power that would mitigate increasing CO2 levels. trump and his enablers are a huge part of the problem but, as you say, they aren't the whole problem. They are the proud public head of the snake pit of deniers, anti-intellectuals, coal and oil money, and radical libertarians who all want to see all environmental policies killed, to the detriment of billions, and the benefit of the 0.1%.
1
Donald Trump belongs in a psychiatric hospital.
His acute "malignant narcissism is a psychological syndrome comprising an extreme mix of narcissism, antisocial behavior, aggression, and sadism."
"Grandiose and always ready to raise hostility levels, the malignant narcissist undermines families and organizations in which they are involved, and dehumanizes the people with whom they associate."
The social psychologist Erich Fromm first coined the term "malignant narcissism", describing it as a "severe mental sickness" representing "the quintessence of evil".
He characterized the condition as "the most severe pathology and the root of the most vicious destructiveness and inhumanity".
Psychoanalyst Edith Weigert saw malignant narcissism as a "regressive escape from frustration by distortion and denial of reality".
Psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg pointed out that the antisocial personality was fundamentally narcissistic and without morality.
Malignant narcissism includes a sadistic element creating, in essence, a sadistic psychopath.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malignant_narcissism
Our Malignant-Narcissist-In-Chief is happy to spit on the graves of Americans, veterans and the entire United States government.
Impeach
Indict
Incarcerate
November 6 2018
Sadistic psychopathy is no way to lead the world's marquis democracy.
311
@Socrates, and now we have three.
2
And every single Republican in office today is complicit.
21
@Socrates
Oh gosh...I read "Incarcerate" as "incinerate" on first glance and thought well, we could send him to toss paper towels in the midst of the wildfires?
3
What bothers me most is the lack of response (with a few exceptions) of Republicans. once again. Democrats criticized Obama, Republicans criticized Bush. This is not normal. It is also dangerous because it leaves all of us vulnerable to an unreliable President who is not checked by the legislature, as the constitution intended.
873
@ vthornton two reasons:
1. The Republican congress is afraid of trump's base which is also their base. It's important to play to the base.
2. They are getting some things they want from him: tax "reform", among other things. And soon there will be no more Obamacare, no more abortion, no more civil rights for gays, and no more clean air and water.
1
@ vthornton The only check on a legislature unwilling to accept their constitutional responsibilities comes every two years in November. Engaged and informed voters must fulfill their constitutional responsibilities to unseat those in Congress who have chosen to ignore that which they took an oath for. Americans must vote. Vote like their lives depended on it! It just might.
2
@ vthornton I agree wholeheartedly. The people who conceived and created this country were geniuses, but I believe that they made one disastrous a priori assumption: that in all circumstances, at least one of the three branches of government would be controlled by sane, well-intentioned people. We're living in the perfect storm created by having every branch of government in the hands of cowardly and venal right-wing ideologues, and checks and balances will not save us until we make some fairly serious personnel changes.
1
Speaking of 3000 deaths ... this is the same man who, just after 9/11, couldn't resist pointing out that one of HIS buildings was now the tallest in lower Manhattan. This is a man whose childish egotism knows no bounds, and whose empathy is microscopic. Yet this is the man whom tens of millions of Americans perceive as their savior. Why?
125
Because half of his supporters cannot win on a level playing field; and the other half only think of their bank accounts.
6
@A reader
Because they are aggrieved victims under attack. Fox News and their Pastor told them so. Because they enjoy this.
Who will rid us of this shameless, repugnant, abominable man? Have we fallen so low as a society that we can no longer choose between good and evil? If we have so completely lost our moral compass there is very little hope for us with or without Trump. For the fault is not in our stars, but truly in ourselves. May God help us.
Jerry W N E Kingdom VT
54
@Jerry N E Kingdom Who will stop the rain?
3
@Jerry N E Kingdom Who will? You will, if you vote for the Democratic candidate in 2020 instead of a buffoon like Ralph Nader or Jill Stein or their equivalent.
14
@Jerry N E Kingdom What's this "we" business? Speak for yourself - I voted for Hillary.
1
Thousands more people died in Puerto Rico than in Benghazi. The lives of the civilians who died in Puerto Rico are no less important than the career diplomats in Benghazi. We should demand to have 8 sets of congressional hearings about the failures of the Trump administration that caused these deaths. We should subject Trump to 11 hours of grueling questining.
Congressman Trey Gowdy, have you no sense of decency, sir? Congressional Republicans, have you no shame?
134
@Paul-A Again, you must be kidding if you think Republicans have the capacity for shame or any sense of decency. They have proven that in the divisive tactics they have used in every national election since 1980.
10
@Paul-A
Of course you know the answers to your questions are "No" and "No."
1
You can argue about the Puerto Rico numbers all you want, but somebody definitely stole the strawberries from his refrigerator.
20
Mr Trump, trying telling the families of the 2975 people who died that it never happened. It is shameful that you would even think it, no less express it out loud on Twitter.
This is almost as bad as the Alex Jones theory that the 20 1st graders in Newtown didn't really die; it was just a hoax.
The scary part is that Alex Jones can easily be ignored and dispensed with.
Donald Trump, however, is the commander-in-chief and leader of the free world.
Heaven help all of us.
28
Only occasionally has GOP politicians stood up against Trump when he lied and has gone crazy on all of us. What is it now? Over 5000 lies at this point.
GOPers, I realize you want to win elections and accomplish your agenda but will you at least have enough integrity to stand up when your president (not mine!) lies and deceives our country??? It really makes me hate you, and while there is such thing as a "righteous anger,"(Ephesians 4) I don't think the type of anger/hatred I feel is that helpful, nor righteous. Are there any Republicans who have enough integrity to stand up for what is truthful and honorable rather than what is deceitful and political???
36
@Dolly Patterson Republicans with integrity? Seriously you must be joking.
12
The short answer is “No”.
1
The elected members of the GOP are going to wait until...what? To what level of depraved indifference does the president have to sink before somebody decides to grow up, grow a spine and do what is right for the country? What are they worried about? Keeping a job with the lowest public regard numbers in history? Being tweeted at? Really?
21
The emperor is naked, evil, and entirely without intellect.
And the Republican Congress is silent.
Shame on us, America. Shame on all of us.
62
@Edward Allen No, shame on the Americans who were duped by the orange evil one, or whose racism and bigotry blinded them to the truth. I do not share in blame for that.
13
Trump gave them plenty of paper towels to mop up with. Those Puerto Ricans were too lazy to use them. As he says, they just want everything done for them. So why not take $20 million in disaster relief funds and use them to build more prisons for immigrant children?
18
Am I the only one who thinks that all the talk of hurricanes and casualties came at a convenient time for Trump.It gave him a rant to distract from the laser like focus of the Woodward book “Fear”.it was nothing but “Fear” until the hurricanes took center stage and he could conveniently change the subject.He will say anything to obfuscate!
16
You would think that, at some point, even Republicans will begin to realize how suspicious it is that Trump always claims to have done the most amazing job ever at anything he does.
Trump is your kid who claims he got all As even as you're reading the Fs on his report card.
26
Having previously read about the questioning of the original numbers, I was grimly unsurprised by the recent report. But not until I read about the horrific tweets by this despicable man did tears come to my eyes, for the dead, their families and for our country.
23
I would say 'Shame' but he's shameless. It seems as though we're living in a bad psychology experiment, but it's all too real.
14
If there is anything President Trump does to perfection for his base, it is to make himself look good, in a way that they feel he has every right to do as he needs to protect himself from his detractors. It's only politics and they believe he is doing a terrific job with the economy, etc. This opinion that "Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad" because "he is managing that all on his own" will enable him to help his candidates win in the mid-term elections and get him re-elected. If the NY Times believes President Trump does not deserve the office, they must clearly and simply convince his base. Puhleease!
5
Why is this horror still in office? Oh right, the Republicans don't care, as long as they get their tax cuts, get a SCOTUS justice who will pose a threat to Roe v. Wade, and can deregulate industries that destroy our environment.
35
To me, denying the death of your own citizens by such sheer number is almost no difference from what the Chinese government did to what happened in Tiananmen Square ... perhaps except he did not directly order the killing. Disrespectful to human lives, his own citizens : this is by no means a country's leader nor elected servant.
9
And yet on and on he goes. It isn't enough to recognize that efforts in Puerto Rico weren't up to the level that were made on the mainland?
How is it possible that with each passing day the lies are not only rapidly exceeding one's ability to ignore but the immensity and the boldness of the untruths continues to stagger the imagination.
And we do see that information against powerful men has caused almost immediate loss of power, prestige and position. Yet this perpetrator of documented similar behavior continues his assault on honesty and his lack of dedication to the position to which he has been entrusted.
Has his base no shame, no awareness of the damage being done to our home in the world? What are they thinking?
And is there no counter to the constant assault on truth in order to prop up this, the greatest threat to America ever by a holder of the office of president?
Each lie should not be left to stand without a positive response.
17
As long as the media are determined to use the fallout from every natural disaster as prima facie evidence of Trump's ignorance of climate change, xenophobia, lack of empathy and general lack of fitness for the office of the Presidency, I'm going to tune them out. They have no credibility on the issue.
2
@c smith
Thousands of those deaths were easily preventable, had Trump actually done the job of a president and ordered an appropriate disaster relief effort, using the full abilities of the US military.
Instead, he played golf and had a political rally to make himself feel better (it was only 9 months into his presidency).
31
@John Watlington,
Very well said. Thank you for speaking out.
3
A friend of my son’s was recently back to Puerto Rico for the first time since the hurricanes as her parents kept saying everything was fine, and they were doing well. She was appalled when she finally went for a visit to see the devastation still all around and plans to go back shortly to lend a hand. What is the purpose of the odious statements that her president has made? If someone dies as a result of the fallout of a calamity like Hurricane Maria, of course they are a victim of the storm, even if they die at a later date. Who cares how many were dead when he was there dispensing paper towels? Everything was chaos at time, there was no way to count the dead with any surety, as so many areas of the island were cut off and inaccessible. A clearer picture has now emerged and a there is now a true count of those who perished. And what is this fixation with always blaming everyone else, especially the Democrats – what does the death toll in Puerto Rico have to do with any political party? I pay close attention to the news, too much, some would say, and I have never heard of the president raising billions of dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. I did read that his administration – the Treasury Department and FEMA - were withholding funds that had been promised to Puerto Rico. And then he ends with ‘I love Puerto Rico’! It is unbelievable what this man fantasizes about and presents as fact; he is truly delusional and should be removed from office.
40
@Jazzie "and plans to go back shortly to lend a hand" That's a fine sentiment, and I'm sure your daughter is a wonderful girl, but more people going to the island is probably about the last thing they need. No offense, truly, but she'd be just one more mouth to feed, one more person looking for a place to sleep, unless she's a doctor or has some other vital skill. There are over three million people there already, so there's no shortage of physical labor, and whatever they can manage with their current resources they're already doing. Supplies and building materials are what they need, or the money to buy them. Your daughter would accomplish a lot more by remaining on the mainland and using whatever excess income she has to send cash to the relief agencies.
4
@gary89436, please read my comments more carefully. It is not my daughter I am referring to, but a friend of my son's. I think many parents would minimize the seriousness of their situation in order to not alarm their offspring. Now that she is aware of how dire things still are I think no one would think she is 'cluttering' up the country, as you seem to imply. Those are her parents, she will not be off on some sort of jaunt, being a 'do-gooder'.
Trump's assessment of Puerto Rico was spot on. His quick decisive action saved countless lives. He gave himself credit because the fake news media never does. Good job POTUS. That was truly an unsung success.
@Steve Trump deserves the Nobel Prize for his great humanitarian effort. Who else could throw paper towels with such accuracy?
22
I said to a coworker earlier today that Trump's comment about Puerto Rico and the people who lost their lives there angered me more than any other comment he has made. It's one thing to be incompetent like Bush, it's a whole other thing to disrespect the dead after neglecting the island, not to mention blaming the victims.
65
trumps incompetence far exceeds GWB. At least he loved his country. trump only loves trump.
1
At this point I feel that Trump himself is a hoax.
That he was elected President of the United States is a hoax.
That he will make America great again is a hoax.
That he cares about anybody else is a hoax.
That he has any capabilities in business is a hoax.
That he understands the world around him is a hoax.
That is he is a stable genius is a hoax.
That his hair is real is a hoax.
That he tells the truth is a hoax, and on and on and on.
16
@Decebal
Oh, his hair is real - it's just dyed and redistributed. And a strong wind revealed the bald head underneath.
7
Has he claimed glory yet for the fact that Florence has been downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane to a Category 2 hurricane in the past couple of days?
After all, his attempts to paint himself as God seem to play in rotation with his role as a victim.
17
He has zero concept of not being able to find and afford whatever it is that you need in life. The consequences of a lack of medical facilities, or the means to reach them and pay when you are treated doesn't even cross his mind. He cannot put himself in the shoes of the less-fortunate because he doesn't care to do so. Just as he reportedly had the braille removed from the elevators because he simply won't allow blind people.
16
I cannot see how even his best supporters could not be enraged at this manifest display of selfishness, lying about the official death toll and then blaming democrats for trying to make him "look Bad". Its amazing that the only republicans speaking out are from Florida. The others have thrust their fingers into their ears.
He grabs credit for anything he can get his hands on. The economy is doing well despite his ignorance of the most fundamental laws of economics, his tax cut has benefited mostly the rich, his isolationist foreign policies have alienated our best friends, and he longs for the power of dictators because they control the local media, and he is frustrated because he cannot. He lashes out at anyone who reports the truth if it goes against his truth. If all this together is not 25th amendment stuff, what is?
22
@qiaohan The people who support Trump are not enraged because all FOX news never "reports" actual news, only Trump lies and propaganda, and that's their only source of their information (beside Russian twitter accounts).
12
Yes, of course, call Trump to account for yet another despicable act, but all the outrage directed at him does nothing because the only ones who CAN do something are the Republicans who control Congress! They are every bit as despicable as Trump, and perhaps more so because they hide behind his coattails, too cowardly to come right out and say how they support his policies and actions because they think this will give them deniability. Wrong! Wait until November.
A reckoning is coming.
16
The seriousness, volume and quantity of lies and misleading statements alone should be enough to impeach and convict. If not, someone's going to have to explain to me why it's not.
16
@Mark Explanation is simple: GOP protects their own, regardless of the consequences. Solution: VOTE!
1
The editorial board is confusing the Federal Government's area of responsibility and the Government of Puerto Rico's area of responsibility.
FEMA has a specific role in disasters. In general, that role does not encompass the scope of what the Editorial Board imagines it to be.
1
The federal government is responsible for Puerto Rico... they are US citizens after all.
23
@mannyv
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror."
That is directly from FEMA's own web page. So exactly what scope do you think we are all mislead about? Puerto Rico is a US Territory and it's inhabitants are US citizen's. I don't see anywhere in that statement that says "except for territories"?
17
@JC He'd probably care more if their skin color was lighter.
Winners and losers.
Anyone who died as a result of hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico after Trump was there (and given the first fatality numbers) do not count. These people either lacked “killer” survival skills, or they never existed at all. They are not to be counted, nor do they matter, these people are made up, it's all a plot.
Trump simply must be on top, always with the bigger numbers, (or smaller ones in this case), reality places no role in any of it.
There is no reflection, no heartfelt feelings of empathy or loss, it's just numbers.
This man is an empty vessel.
20
This is beyond ridiculous. Listening to Trump is a guaranteed assault on reason. Meanwhile the GOP tip toes behind him abnegating all responsibility to reel in a disastrously out of control lying maniac president. Get out and vote in November, vote the GOP out of Congress and out of the Senate.
27
The figure of 3000 did not just arrive unheralded.
Back when the first lowball numbers were stated, relief hadn’t even reached many small communities, especially the mountainous central part of the island. So no one was even there to count immediate deaths for some time. Then there were the lingering deaths due to lack of medical care or ability to refrigerate certain drugs or lack of electricity for those on oxygen or the effect of heat without air-conditioning on elderly people, especially the frail elderly.
All of this was reported at the time. Along with the expectation that the death toll would rise as more evidence became available,
It a a shame and a dreadful indictment that, sitting in the White House with every possible means of gathering accurate information, we have a benighted, self-absorbed man whose own foolishness and arrogance insists on making up his own delusional view of the world - to suit his fantasies.
How long must this monstrosity of Mis-leadership go on?
22
Days like this only highlight just how phony Donald is when he does try to feign empathy. He can't help revealing how he really feels.
11
At first I wished Mr. Trump would not tweet. But now I welcome it since his tweets are so revelatory about the quality of his character, his level of intelligence and the reliability of his mental processes. As terrifying as that knowledge is, I think is is far better to be aware than not.
755
@Alan
And no one has been hurt nor killed by a Trump tweet. Thank God Trump is no Putin.
Being aware is not the same as being effective and wary. Knowledge without action is worthless.
@Alan Yes, Alan, but now we know it and we know nothing is going to change in trump's little world. Do we still need to be bombarded by it to realize who and what trump is?
1
@Alan
I have yet to read a tweet on anything important that made it author look wise. I wish everyone would just stop, especially the POTUS.
“The constant, obvious flattery, contrary to all evidence, of the people around him [Tsar Nicholas I] had brought him to the point that he no longer saw his contradictions, no longer conformed his actions and words to reality, logic, or even simple common sense, but was fully convinced that all his orders, however senseless, unjust, and inconsistent with each other, became sensible, just, and consistent with each other only because he gave them.” Tolstoy.
Sound familiar? And, how did that work for him?
97
Trump's comment only serves to emphasize that he has neither paid attention to nor cared in the least about the ongoing tragedy of deaths in Puerto Rico.
Once he was done with his paper-tossing photo op, nothing mattered to him.
57
@Lynn
Photo ops are intended to show the subject in a good light. That's why they're called photo ops (i.e. photo opportunities). That this towel-throwing scene was meant to show the thrower in a good light is both bewildering and disgusting.
10
@Lynn Much of his fake presidency has just been a photo-op.
14
Narcissism is a recognized personality disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur and lies.
242
@W.A. Spitzer Trump is way beyond narcissism. A study of leading psychiatrists purporting to rank US presidents by their narcissism had LBJ, JFK and Teddy Roosevelt in the top 5. There is much more going on or not going on inside Trump's head than narcissism.
5
@James Ricciardi
LBJ, JFK, TR and GWB all seem humble next to Trump.
Florida politicians are expressing dismay with Trump's words because of the state's large Puerto Rican voting bloc. Otherwise, no one much cares about these deaths. The reason is that these poor folks had brown skins and lived far away in a barely disguised American colony mainly valued for its strategic location. The death of 3000 white Houstonians as a result of the Texas hurricane, on the other hand, would have produced a raging scandal.
The Puerto Ricans might want to explore possible pathways to independence while opening up discreet conversations with the Chinese. A deal that trades a coastal military base site for massive infrastructure investment might prove attractive to both sides.
78
@woofer
Many of us would welcome Puerto Rico as a State with 2 United States Senators and 5 Congressional Representatives (based on population) to help restore sanity to Congress.
116
@woofer
That the influx of Puerto Ricans in Florida is creating a bigger and bluer voting bloc is poetic justice. Gov. Rick Scott and other Republicans are right to worry. But Scott, at least, knows that Republican rule is in trouble. He is not in the same impregnable bubble that encloses Trump.
8
For Donald Trump to blame Democrats for the death toll in Puerto Rico is a shameless politicization of a tragedy. The bottom line is that he really doesn't care about the individuals who died, and he certainly won't accept any responsibility for these deaths. Disgusting excuse for a man.
117
@Alan from Humboldt County
Well said.
...somehow, some way--isn't Hillary to blame for what happened in Puerto Rico? Surely Mrs. Clinton can be made responsible for this, too.
27
@Mark I can't believe he has not yet dragged her and Obama into the Maria disaster.
6
@Mark: No, it was clearly Obama's fault.
6
@Mark
Don't worry: Trey Gowdy is probably working on that at this very minute.
1
Trump is a desperately sick man. But his is a willful sickness, born from his unrelenting narcissistic arrogance in remaining willfully ignorant of the world around him.
Without his father's money, he would be in a home somewhere, dribbling, and muttering incoherences to an unlistening audience.
It's long past time to forget the man. The rest of the world has already moved on. America will now have to play catch-up, like a child held back a year. Or four.
650
@James Devlin Our country will be more like a prisoner reentering society after four years. Not very successful most of the time.
9
@James Devlin
The Russians haven't moved on. He is still a useful tool to divide and weaken this country. Once that value is gone, I suspect, due to his significant debt to the Russian Mafia, he and possibly his family will have a mysterious death by poisoning.
9
My greatest fear for the United States and her citizens is the knowledge that we may have two more years of his denials, self-aggrandizement, lies, more lies, and even more lies. How much more of this can we take? I am worn out. Please, everyone, VOTE. It is your privilege! Don't think your vote doesn't matter. It does. Our Founding Fathers were no angels, and even Mssrs. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Bushes, Reagan, Carter, Clinton and Obama had their faults, but this man is unworthy to even scrap the soles of his shoes on the Oval Office doormat from the Rose Garden, yet he sits there for photo-ops and make comments like 'tremendously big, tremendously wet.' Again, VOTE. It may make a difference that we can all live with.
357
@Ellen Your greatest fear should be that we may have SIX more years. I don't see a Democrat who can beat him.
3
@Ellen I agree wholeheartedly. Voting is not just a privilege that we are lucky enough to have, but given how many have died to sustain this privilege, it is the responsibility of each of us to exercise that right--so that it isn't taken away! That includes fighting gerrymandered districts, restrictions of voting rights, the whole thing.
VOTE as if your lives depend upon it--because they do!
1
I hope all Trump supporters take note that the only victim he acknowledges wasn't even on the island during Maria!
39
Yes, always, Trump is the victim. He blames everyone for all his failings, and hasn't once taken personal responsibility in his seventy years. This is who he is.
But more importantly, this is who Trump's voters are. Like him, they see their shortcomings as the fault of others, usually those "brown people". Never once do they think that many brown skinned citizens have worked a lot harder than they have, to get into good universities and pursue higher paying professions. Instead, Trump voters refuse to accept responsibility for their own failure to work as hard as some of their darker skinned neighbors, and believe that something was "taken" from them.
Why does this matter regarding Puerto Rico? Because it is absolutely clear that the reason Trump didn't help our fellow citizens on that island is that they are darker skinned. Had the majority of them been whites, the money would have been pouring out of the White House.
And too, his supporters don't want him to help those "other" people, who, for some inexplicable reason believe Puerto Ricans are less entitled to the benefits of citizenship than are Trump voters.
And therein lies the victimhood. Any time a community of whites suffers, such as with the opioid crisis, all of a sudden our nation must open its coffers and help them. But if a natural disaster occurs, not caused by anyone's behavior in Puerto Rico, well, those folks are on their own.
It always comes down to race with Trump and his voters. Every. Single. Time.
425
@Cooper Hawkes
Spot on.
10
@Cooper Hawkes
The only objection I have to this is the part about the opioid crisis. Trump and repubs have talked about the need to open up the coffers, but have actually done very little to nothing. Trump and the repubs are really only interested in helping the very rich. His supporters are just being played.
6
@Cooper Hawkes
You are right it is a kind of racism, but it doesn't matter how light the skin of a person of Hispanic origin, they are regarded as the "other" due to perceived cultural differences (mostly sterotypes).
1
I hope at the mid term election, voters will remember his response to this terrible disaster. Not 16 or 64 but over 3,000 people have died and all he could do at the time was to toss paper towels into the audience. After Hurricane Florence, will he go and visit the victims and toss paper towels to them?
104
@Martha White
Are you kidding? Trump will make a big show about the people he really cares about by glad-handing away in front of the TV news cameras.
All I have to say is I wouldn't want a guy like Donny boy watching my back under any circumstance. Just hope no major disaster (natural or human) befalls you, or your family. You can rest assured no help will be on the way.
31
Trump calling Puerto Rico a success is, possibly, worse than Alex Jones' conspiracy theory that called Sandy Hook shooting a staged, fake tragedy.
231
@NMS
No. While it’s bad, nothing is as bad as Alex Jones calling the Sandy Hook tragedy fake. People went out to harass the poor parents who lost their children at Sandy Hook. Nothing is as awful as that.
8
Thank you NY Times for keeping the focus on PR as the anniversary of Irma passes and the anniversary of Maria approaches.
89
@Susan
You are so correct!
Has any American president abandoned thousands of citizens before, especially in their times of life threatening need?!
8
His insecurity matches that of his supporters.
134
The Republicans have broken America.
581
@Jake News
Trump was elected President, he continues to have the support of millions of Americans, as do Republicans in general, impeachment is out of the question based on facts known today, too many Americans would simply not stand for it, and with what consequences, who knows, but they would be a crisis. If America is broken, the responsibility for it goes much deeper than the politicians.
1
@Jake News
No they may have bent it back a bit but they have not broken it.
And blamed the Democrats for it.
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting burn-out from the ongoing denials and flagrant lies...
68
@BD
Hang in there, and VOTE.
8
@BD
Then take a vacation from Trump news. But not a long one, as our local think tanker suggested. Just a few days. Then, if a bombshell is dropped, you won't have so much catching up to do. I was on a Trump vacation when 45 said those amazing things at Helsinki. I got back on track after a few days, after I got an email asking if this isn't what we have the 25th Amendment for.
2
By now, most of us have accepted - some perhaps grudgingly, that we have an incompetent, self-centered, buffoon for a president. He is ugly in deed, thought, and actions. We have tried not to use insulting words to describe him and his behavior due to respect for the office of Presidency of the United States. But there comes a time in history when we just have to call a spade a spade and hope/work for his removal through the course of justice or elections. Otherwise history will judge us all for our inaction.
217
Give Trump some credit, please! He threw a roll of paper towels to them! AND he DIDN'T play golf while he was. (I don't think so, anyway) Hail to the Chief!
18
The death toll in Puerto Rico from the devastation of Hurricane Maria is very sad. The president's remarks are offensive to the families of victims, easily shown to be false by the facts, and lacking in empathy and common decency. These deaths have been verified independently, and were caused by the lack of power, fresh water, and medical care as a result of the devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico.
145
@Sally
His remarks are offensive to MOST of us!
He is our SERVANT! He serves US.
He needs to get on board with that job description.
His #1 responsibility to is to keep us safe, and acknowledge how many of us are in danger, suffer, die of tragedy.
8
Thanks for stating the facts of why it happened.
4
@Jean - uh - he's SUPPOSED to serve us, but the reality is that he feels we should all serve him -- on our knees, kissing his fat behind. You don't SERIOUSLY believe that he's working to keep us safe, do you? He views us as marks to be exploited and wrung dry -- same way he views everybody except his immediate family.
A shameful man. Every solemn occasion-a hurricane, a funeral, a memorial is an excuse to whine. Even if he were being treated unfairly, which he isn't, the job of a President to is to suck it up. Mr. Trump chose to run for the office, rather than remain on his fake "reality" TV show, He is incapable of performing the basic functions of a Head of State, healing and binding up the wounds, not pumping up his own ego.
And any thinking person only had to look at the pictures of utter devastation at multiple locations on the island to know that the death toll was far higher than the original estimates.
91
@le And all those who voted for him and continue to support him are equally shameful. I wonder how they will explain this to their children and grandchildren.
9
It's what he does best and his republican friends like it. This is the reality we're stuck in unless Americans get involved and do something. Do some work for your favorite local candidate to flip the house and senate. It's easy work. Join your local Indivisible group!!! Until then, we have no check and balance system in place and it feels very uncomfortable. Let's fix this mess! Call, write, walk, support your good candidates!
50
What was it that Rex Tillerson called the president, again?
405
Each time I read of trump's latest self-aggrandizing lie, I wonder... are his devotees growing tired of him too?
At some point in the story, the boy who cried wolf was eaten.
66
@Seattleite58
"Each time I read of trump's latest self-aggrandizing lie, I wonder... are his devotees growing tired of him too?"
Most of them aren't but some of them are, if his falling approval ratings mean anything.
4
Very sad!
14
Next we'll hear that the hurricane was actually created by hate-filled Democrats still sore about there massive election loss, and that all those Puerto Rican's actually committed suicide in order to make Donald Trump look bad.
And, in case you didn't know, I heard that World War II was actually all about Donald Trump. Don't think so? Just ask him.
48
Trump is finding it difficult to grasp that others are questioning his Hurricane Relief by Paper Towel Toss insufficient. The American people have watched him these last 19 months respond to every issue and circumstance only as a reflection of himself. What a sad, pathetic, delusional man he is.
93
I am so frightened and ashamed that we have this lying, selfish, unhinged person as a supposed "leader." It's past time to stand up and DEMAND that our government representatives, who, in fact, work for us, promote OUR best interests, not those of corporations. We need to force congress and the executive branch to spend our tax dollars as we want them spent; not on war machines, not on cages for children, not on tax breaks to make the rich even richer, but on environmental protection, universal healthcare, pensions, education and compassionate care of the less fortunate among us.
71
@Leslie McBride
Many of your fellow citizens have been hoping for a really long time that Kentucky voters were stand up en masse and relieve both of your U.S. Senators of their jobs.
Removing Mitch McConnell from the Senate would be a benefit and blessing to the entire country.
5
“ The Democrats are doing this to make me look bad “. NO.
Trump doesn’t need ANY help to look bad. In that narrow circumstance, He is an entirely self-made “ man “.
Seriously.
80
"Democrats don’t need to lift a finger to make him look bad. He is managing that all on his own."
Unfortunately, too many Americans don't see what he's doing as bad. They listen to his lies, especially the ones about how everyone else is lying to make him look bad, and they agree. Even when he admits that he lies, they still back him.
I'm really not sure what it is going to take for his base to wake up to what they elected. Even when he does things against their own interests - like start a trade war with China - they still support him.
27
So, what's different about this story from the thousands preceding it . . . Something bad happens, people are hurt one way or another, Trump claims he is the victim when criticised for his stupidity, inaction, lies or corruption and attacks everyone in sight?
What happened in Puerto Rico last year was terrible and it is unacceptable that the highest elected official in America could not bring his administration to mount an adequate and appropriate response to the disaster, nor find even a sliver of respect and empathy for the victims. I hope preparedness for this year's rounds of storms is adequate, but have no illusion Trump's behaviour will be.
21
Once again, Donald Trump's comments only serve to show just how out of touch he is with reality to even think that only "6-18 deaths" were the result of one of the most powerful hurricanes in recent history, and then blaming the more updated and realistic number of over 3,000 casualities on Democrats in a deliberate attempt to besmirch him.
To be sure, no amount of Trump's grandstanding or promises to do a better job with Hurricane Florence will ever erase the memory of his berating of San Juan's Mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, or tossing paper towels to people as though that would immediately solve the island's problems
It also won't bring back those thousands who lost their lives.
So, no. This is not a 'politcal conspiracy'.
This is a crime against humanity.
74
I basically flipped out over Trump and Sessions' solution of deterring asylum seekers by yanking their children (including babies and toddlers) away from their parents at the border, putting them in cages, fanning these children out across the country to foster care and institutions, and quickly deporting these parents whose children were taken from them.
In the wake of the Trump-made trauma for these children and their families, Trump has acted totally unconcerned, callous, and cruel by having no interest in reuniting these children with their parents.
So, no surprise that Trump engaged in his usual cold-hearted, pathological lying by denying the thousands of deaths that occurred in Puerto Rico, falsely claiming only 16 or so deaths occurred, and then having the gaul to claim his handling of the Puerto Rican hurricane disaster was a huge success.
I heard a number of interviews of the abandoned Puerto Rican residents and officials on NPR, and Trump's neglect of these human beings was shameful. But we will never catch Trump feeling shame or guilt.
Trump is a sick man, but maybe even sicker are the Republicans and Trump supporters that not only refuse to criticize him but cheer him on.
If you are disgusted with Trump's behavior, then show it by voting in November and giving both Trump and the GOP a dose of reality by showing your rejection for such inhumane treatment of human beings. Show the world and each other, This is NOT who we are as Americans.
212
@PB Anybody without a lot of money is a loser to Trump. Anybody with a lot of money is a winner. He only back winner. Have you noticed?
1
Even sicker than those cheering the President on are those ace and fema people willingly following his evil scripts.
1
The tragedy of all this is the Republican Congress and those that surround him are silent. Not a one to rebut him. And it will only get worse.
As we get closer to election in November with Trumps mind faltering, he acts more and more like a wounded and cornered animal. He'll strike out at anyone and everything. He has no upper limit on evil actions.
49
When you have an utterly corrupted soul, or no soul at all, this is how you behave. We have been witnessing the most tragic consequences of an electorate with little to no political awareness and an electorate that is not interested in facts. The piper is being paid as we speak and we are all suffering the consequences.
31
For a man who watches so much TV, someone needs to screen him The Seinfeld episode “The Opposite” where George comes to the realization that only by doing the opposite of what he instinctively thinks is right will he ever have any chance of success.
It’s worth a shot.
25
60% or more of the population believe he's dishonest. So is he lying when he says this? There really are no words for this disgrace of a human, let alone a leader. How much lower can he go?
24
If Trump agrees to debate during the 2020 campaign, the Democratic nominee can speak volumes without uttering a word.
The Democratic nominee can simply hold up a list of the hurricane victims in Puerto Rico.
The Democratic nominee can simply play a tape of children crying in detention centers.
The Democratic nominee can simply play a tape of Trump saying that there were very fine people on both sides.
Then, simply hold up a copy of the NYT Op Ed and all of America can watch how unhinged he really is as he stomps about the stage in an unfettered rage.
Never has a more shameful person been the leader of a democracy.
184
@John
Yes, and it was chilling to watch him stalk Clinton at the third debate in an attempt to intimidate her. I don't want to wait that long! 2020 is too far away. Soldier on, Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein--Godspeed.
1
Of course, he doesn't know about disasters and never will. Pointless to bring it up. We know who he is, and it doesn't matter what he says: the Republicans use him to further their agenda. I know papers need to be sold but these articles preach to the choir.
15
This is only 1 out of dozens upon dozens of legitimate reasons to impeach him. Yet, we keep talking about him like he is the problem. The problem is a Republican majority Congress who will not act to stop this disaster of a Presidency.
FEMA dollars were diverted to separate and imprison immigrant children away from their parents to carry out his cruel and inhumane executive order.
We need an amendment that holds a President accountable for criminal liability and allows them to be Federally indicted. How can we drain the swamp of corruption if government officials in all branches are not held accountable? Preventing accountability is guaranteeing corruption.
54
The further Mr. Trump praises himself with his lies of the "low" death toll of 18 deaths in Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria, the lower his approval ratings go.
The 2,957 figure is the best estimate calculated by the George Washington University's Milken Institute of School of Public Health after careful surveys and subtracting for the normal death rates from previous years. In May, the New England Journal of Medicine estimated a range of 793 to 8,498 deaths, with a midpoint of 4,645 deaths. One has to remember that the true number of deaths took many months to tabulate due to the delays in filing and recording of the death certificates. This was caused by the extended power outages and overall disruption of the local government agencies in Puerto Rico.
Even if the death toll in Puerto Rico was not exactly 2,957, it is certainly much, much higher than 18.
This is just one more Trump lie that his shrinking base will blindly believe while the rest of the country knows the real truth. As Mr. Trump would tweet: Sad.
32
@nkda2000
The way Trump uses that three-letter word is ruining it for situations that really are sad.
6
Three thousand deaths and it's a conspiracy against him? Okay. I guess these people died to make him look like a bad president because the Democrats asked them to die for just that reason. It wasn't because of a hurricane or its aftermath. Just like the "fact" that his inauguration attracted more people than Obama's did. And let's not forget that the NY Times and CNN are reporting fake news.
Trump has a difficult life. Everyone lies about him. Every event is about him. He's persecuted, prosecuted, and victimized at every moment of every day. It's a wonder that he can get out of bed in the morning to deal with the business of running the country. Oh, that's right, he's running it into the ground so we don't have to.
I've heard of and met my share of self centered spoiled brats but Trump takes the cake. I can't decide if he means it, is putting on act, or what. But I see the results and Trump is not fit to be president of anything. That the GOP continues to support him says more about their needs than it does about him. That is truly frightening.
296
Echoing statements in Bob Woodward's new book, Donald Trump doesn't know the difference between the truth or falsehoods. Neither exist in his mind.
Trump truly does exist in a world where him winning is the only reality. He can't be bothered with facts. Any facts that prove him wrong are completely false. Any facts that measure his accomplishments are also tossed aside because they limit his greatness. Trump's accomplishments are without bound. He isn't just good, he is the best that ever was. The economy is the best ever. No president has ever accomplished more than him. The Russia thing is all made up lies. North Korea is turning over their nukes. Now, add in the more than 5000 lies he has uttered since his inauguration.
Looking at the situation as it pertains to Puerto Rico and the past two years, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn. Which is, Donald Trump is mentally unsound. The legal definition of insanity with regard to committing crimes is did the accused understand that his actions were wrong. In other words, have they lost their grip on reality. Here we have a president who doesn't understand the difference between the truth and falsehoods. That is very close to completely disconnecting from reality. Donald Trump may not be legally insane, but he is very close to insanity and moving closer with each crisis.
455
@Bruce Rozenblit
So what?
In the 2016 Preidential election 63 million Americans voted for Trump delivering him a meaningful Electoral College victory. Being a natural born citizen and at least 35 years old is all that is required to become POTUS.
The real truth is that Trump is our one and only President. And lying and telling tales is not grounds for removal nor impeachment. Instead of malice aforethought perhaps Trump is just ignorant, immature, immoral, incompetent, intemperate and insecure. If Trump can't accept or discern reality what does that mean?
1
@Blackmamba: Trump is ignorant, immature, immoral, incompetent, intemperate and insecure, no perhaps about it. None of that is incompatible nor mutually exclusive with malice aforethought. When combined with his obvious criminality and highly probable treason, all together they make a compelling case for a diagnosis of criminal insanity. That's a conundrum as mental disease or defect is generally considered a viable defense for most crimes, but I'd argue here we have a case of someone clearly presenting a danger to himself and to society at large. Do you really believe the minimal requirements of age and birth are sufficient? Now mind you, I disliked HRC almost as much as Trump, it felt like the arctic dilema. As for lying and telling tales, when you do it under oath it's called perjury. Trump took the most solemn oath we have. We require better vetting of military recruits, sanitation workers, home health aides and call centers service reps than we do of the president, is that satisfactory?
I hope, as the various investigations yield more fruit, you come to appreciate the vast spectrum of his crimes, his utter lack of empathy and his infantile intellect, and how all of that degrades us as a nation. I'll give you this: Puerto Rico did a pretty bad job for itself, but we should have done much, much better than we did, and we easily could have, had Trump not deliberately and with malice aforethought, flipped them the bird.
These tweets are alone sufficient evidence to remove Trump from office using the 25th Amendment. Trump clearly has no connection to reality, and we will now see whether his supporters are similarly affected.
517
Agree. But I think the founders of Twitter will one day be considered similar to the amoral scientists, who gave us atomic weaponry and nuclear power in their quest to invent regardless of the consequences.
3
@Don Terndrup
The reality is that 63 million Americans plus Fox News, the Wall Strerr Journal, Julian Assange, James Comey, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin wanted and still want him to be President of the United States.
@Don Terndrup
Trump supporters are on board for the duration of the Trump fun-house rave presidency. He’s their “Dude” and they’re his cult. On his mad tea party ride “things fall apart the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed....”
2
Trump's tweets incriminate himself.
"6-18 deaths" when he was there were from the storm itself; that means 2957 were preventable deaths from lack of food, water, electricity and medicine - entirely his responsibility.
His tweet:
"When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.."
462
" .. To be sure, the recovery effort, after a slow start, wound up being substantial, and Puerto Rico’s shoddy infrastructure was one of many extenuating challenges .."
Oh .. 1,000 ocean miles from Miami is a "challenge?"
Fifty years ago, it would have been similar to a death march.
Y'all mostly ignored BHO for eight years .. and haven't give "Not Hillary" one week of peace, since the election. DJT can't say "good morning," without being blamed for "too much sun" due to "global warming."
We know where you're at, you're not newsworthy, you're 99% predictable.
1
@BabyBlue
I heard last night on the news that when Trump left Puerto Rico, the death toll was already up to something like 68, so even his "6 to 18 deaths" doesn't pass muster (someday, he will say that nobody died).
4