Tag: disaster response

Trump defies critics of his Puerto Rico response by conducting business as usual

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website October 1, 2017:

The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights

President Trump dedicates the Presidents Cup trophy to hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida during the awards ceremony at the golf event in Jersey City. (Susan Walsh/AP)

JERSEY CITY — From a glass balcony overlooking the 14th hole of the Presidents Cup golf event, President Trump on Sunday conveyed a clear statement: He would not be intimidated by the outcry over his administration’s response to the devastation on Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

His decision to preside over the Presidents Cup, stopping on the way back to Washington from his own luxury golf club in Bedminster, N.J., is likely to further the outcry from some Puerto Rico officials, congressional Democrats, civic leaders and celebrities that he has compounded a slow federal response to the devastation in Puerto Rico with a personal insensitivity to the suffering.

During Trump’s visit here he sought to convey the confidence of a leader. Wearing a sport coat and a white collared shirt but no tie, the president waved at a crowd in the distance and pumped his fist when a group of VIPs mingling in a courtyard under the balcony noticed him. Then, Trump turned to chat with his hosts — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and his predecessor, Tim Finchem. Continue reading “Trump defies critics of his Puerto Rico response by conducting business as usual”

Trump would slash disaster funding to the very agencies he’s praising for Harvey response

The following article by Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website August 29, 2017:

FEMA Administrator William B. “Brock” Long, center, speaks during a Hurricane Harvey update in Corpus Christi, Tex. (Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

As he toured rising floodwater in Texas on Tuesday, President Trump effusively praised his administration’s Hurricane Harvey response, an effort he began touting on Twitter last weekend even before the storm made landfall.

But not too long ago, the president proposed a budget calling for cuts to some of the federal government’s most consequential efforts to prepare states and local communities and help them recover from catastrophic events such as Harvey. Continue reading “Trump would slash disaster funding to the very agencies he’s praising for Harvey response”