Days after Hurricane Maria – a Category 4 storm – made landfall in Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump has barely spoken about the plight of the island. Instead, he’s chosen to use his platform to denounce the NFL players who, much like Colin Kaepernick, kneeled during the national anthem to protest the police brutality that remains prevalent in our country. Over the weekend, he failed to acknowledge Puerto Rico’s lack of electricity, food, water, and their inability to communicate with their loved ones inside and outside the island. He did, however, go into detail about why taking a knee during “The Star-Spangled Banner” is disrespectful. On Monday, he took a break from discussing the NFL protests and took Twitter to talk about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Puerto Rico. But instead of offering more than 3 million Puerto Ricans support and words of hope, he shifted blame onto the island.
In the tweets, which also seemed to defend the federal government’s lackluster response to the crisis, Trump lacked empathy and blamed Puerto Ricans for what they’re going through. By focusing on Puerto Rico’s debt, he also showed that his priority doesn’t lie in their recovery. According to The Guardian, this is the first statement Trump has made about Puerto Rico since the hurricane made landfall. It came five days after the storm struck and devastated the island. His previous comments came before the hurricane made landfall.
Following his insulting and insensitive comments, Twitter has called out Trump for his callous response. Check out a few tweets below: