National Guard Soldiers arrive at Barrio Obrero in Santurce to distribute water and food among those affected by the passage of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said “This is a major disaster.” “We’ve had extensive damage. This is going to take some time.” (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)
There has been a lot of profoundly stupid stuff floating around about the Administration’s response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Island. It is much along these line:
Multiple POTUS tweets this weekend about NFL and "rocket man." Puerto Rico is enduring an enormous crisis https://t.co/DEkUdEfjIp
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 25, 2017
Maybe if #PuertoRico had a sports team, they'd get some attention.
HT: @darrenrovell pic.twitter.com/gKyZ8hB3uc
— Lance Salyers (@lancesalyers) September 25, 2017
.@realDonaldTrump Want to honor US flag? Put down dog whistle & send Navy to assist 3.5M Americans w/ water & supplies in #PuertoRico now
— Kevin de Leόn (@kdeleon) September 24, 2017
The implication here is that unless Trump is tweeting about it, it isn’t happening. This is the typical lazy thinking that you find in the media, who find it much easier writing stories from Twitter than actually talking to people, and it carries the subtext, though they are afraid to say it, that Trump and his whole administration is racist and perfectly willing to let Puerto Ricans die.
The actual facts are quite different. My colleague, Teri Christoph, wrote a definitive account of what is being done in Puerto Rico, and she did it by interviewing people at FEMA and Doug Domenech, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs (and father of RedState co-founder Ben Domenech).
This is a infographic of what is being done:
Sometimes people lose sight of the fact that Puerto Rico is an island and while the Cajun Navy could drive over to Houston, it is difficult to get help into Puerto Rico. What is slowing things down right now is that aircraft landings/take-offs are restricted because there is no power to the air traffic control system and the ports are not safe because of debris and wrecked ships.
Satellite night images of #PuertoRico. #HurricaneMaria knocked out power grid, millions without electricity. More @ https://t.co/UxxCHH5OVC pic.twitter.com/yUDLk8V0Jf
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) September 25, 2017
Tonight, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló was on PBS NewsHour and was asked specifically about federal assistance;
FWIW, Rossello is a Democrat who doesn't gain all that much from flattering Trump. https://t.co/fcOLWwMjv8
— Michael Watson (@MichaelWatsonDC) September 26, 2017
There is still a lot of time for things to go wrong. And getting Puerto Rico back on its feet is going to be a Herculean task. But even considering the administration is coping with the aftermath of two major hurricanes which have severely damaged Texas, Florida, and now Puerto Rico, the efforts seem to be on the mark.
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