Tag: Puerto Rico

Lost weekend: How Trump’s time at his golf club hurt the response to Maria

The following article by Abby Phillip, Ed O’Keefe, Nick Miroff and Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website September 29, 2017:

Doctors in San Juan are worried that hospitals could run out of power, endangering patients. (Video: Ashleigh Joplin, Whitney Leaming/Photo: Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/The Washington Post)

At first, the Trump administration seemed to be doing all the right things to respond to the disaster in Puerto Rico.

As Hurricane Maria made landfall on Wednesday, Sept. 20, there was a frenzy of activity publicly and privately. The next day, President Trump called local officials on the island, issued an emergency declaration and pledged that all federal resources would be directed to help. Continue reading “Lost weekend: How Trump’s time at his golf club hurt the response to Maria”

San Juan Mayor Rebukes Trump Administration for Rosy Comments on Relief Effort

The following article by Richard Fausset, Michael D. Shear, Ron Nixon and Frances Robles was posted on the New York Times website September 29, 2017:

Angela Ontivero, 83, walked through the wreckage of her San Juan neighborhood, Barriada Figueroa, on Friday. Credit Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

SAN JUAN, P.R. — In the storm-battered neighborhood of Barriada Figueroa on Friday, neighbors greeted visitors with a now-familiar question, one that was inevitably followed by a disappointing answer: “Are you FEMA?”

Hurricane Maria had ripped walls and metal roofs from the brightly colored homes in this working-class neighborhood in central San Juan. Nine days after the storm hit, putrid water still lay stagnant in the streets. Continue reading “San Juan Mayor Rebukes Trump Administration for Rosy Comments on Relief Effort”

Trump’s Katrina? Influx of Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria could tip Florida toward Democrats.

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website September 28, 2017:

Donald Trump hugs the United States flag during a campaign rally in Tampa, Fla., last year. (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

THE BIG IDEA: More than 50 million ballots were cast by Floridians in the seven presidential elections from 1992 through 2016. If you add them all up, only 18,000 votes separate the Republicans from the Democrats. That is 0.04 percent.

Florida is rightfully considered the swingiest of swing states.Control of the White House in 2000 came down to a few hundredhanging chads – and one vote on the Supreme Court. The past four statewide elections – two governor’s races and two presidentials – were all decided by a single percentage point. Continue reading “Trump’s Katrina? Influx of Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria could tip Florida toward Democrats.”