Puerto Not So Rico

"Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble."

"It's (sic) old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with."

“Texas and Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from a broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble”

Three post-Hurricane Maria tweets from Donald Trump

Trump issued 24 distinct tweets on the burning issue confronting him before turning to a totally devastated Puerto Rico. North Korea’s preparing for war based on their perception that a Trump tweet was a de facto declaration of war against them? No. The failure of the GOP to get a “repeal and replace” healthcare bill passed by the September 30 parliamentary deadline? No… although both of these issues did generate a few Trump-tweets and verbal responses. Nope, those 24 tweets were all about those “son of bitches” NFL players who exercised their First Amendment rights and, to Trump, disrespected the national anthem and the U.S. flag.

After the worst storm to hit in 89 years, the island territory of nearly 3.5 million people (virtually all are U.S. citizens) lost roads, bridges, 90% of cell phone towers, had thousands and thousands of homes destroyed or rendered unlivable, water supply systems unable to deliver potable water (as of September 27^th, according to the DOD, 44% of the population remain without access to drinking water), ATM machines (those with power) are drained of cash, livelihoods vaporized, vital tourism gone, there has been a 97% collapse of the power generation capacity as well as much of the grid itself, horrible food shortages are dire, medical supplies continue to dwindle towards zero, people are dying in hospitals running out of fuel for their generators (even as fuel arrives onto the island, getting to gas stations, which also don’t have electricity to pump it, is very problematical), raw sewage is flowing through broken pipes and into the many flooded areas that have not drained away and the main airport simply cannot begin to handle the demand, hot and fetid from the lack of power. The above two satellite photographs show a night view of Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria slammed into the island.

“The Trump administration scrambled on Tuesday [9/26] to show it wasn’t snubbing Puerto Rico, with the White House trotting out officials to describe an aggressive federal response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation and President Donald Trump insisting he’s gotten ‘good marks’ for the relief efforts.

“Trump and his aides have found themselves on the defensive for the president’s muted response to the latest storm, which devastated the island and left millions of American citizens without electricity, housing or running water.” Politco.com, September 26^th. Indeed, during an early afternoon press conference with the Spanish Prime Minister, Trump insisted that the NFL cacophony was not distracting him and that he was getting “really good marks” and “tremendous reviews” in how he was handling the situation, saying he was receiving particularly high praise from Puerto Rico governor (who claims he was just asking for more federal aid).  Pat, pat, pat… yourself on your back!!! How stunningly appropriate!

Meanwhile according to CNN, as of September 28^th, 10,000 containers, filled with needed supplies, sit motionless behind fences in the San Juan harbor; only 4% have made it into the territory where these goods are needed. No drivers. No fuel. Many roads and bridges remain impassible. FEMA’s presence is still marginal, with only minor immediate relief, claiming that there is a process that needs to be followed. Right… process is so important while people are suffering. Imagine what could happen if the U.S. military were charged with this mission; it would get done! As will be noted below, there is some movement towards handing this debacle to the military.

“But [even] short-term efforts like search-and-rescue missions or restoring Puerto Rico’s power grid are different than long-term projects like hardening the power grid to ensure it can withstand a major hurricane. The FEMA money focuses on the short-term effort, but months from now Republicans and Democrats will inevitably debate the merits of long-term relief for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Texas has 38 votes in Congress and Florida has 29, and if they stick together the majority-Republican states can be an important voting bloc in a contentious negotiation… In contrast, Puerto Rico has one non-voting delegate.” Miami Herald, September 25^th.

Yes, FEMA is present. Yes, one single naval hospital ship is en route. And yes, Donald Trump is ordering more federal troops to the island to help with reconstruction.  Trump acknowledged the greater complexity of bringing aid to an island, but as the above tweet illustrates, Trump is blaming the debt-ridden territory of Puerto Rico itself for allowing the infrastructure to deteriorate to the point where a hurricane could render the island into a powerless chaotic mess that will take months, if not years to repair.

Nothing explains federal ambivalence like the following scenario; it’s pretty obvious that the Trump administration is more interested in optics versus a full-blown effort to help desperate people: “On Monday [9/25], U.S. Representative Nydia Velázquez [D-PR] and seven other representatives asked Elaine Duke, acting head of Homeland Security, to waive the nearly 100-year-old [Jones Act] shipping law for a year to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria… The Trump administration on Tuesday [9/26] said there was no need to waive shipping restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, because it would do nothing to address the island’s main impediment to shipping, damaged ports.

“The Jones Act limits shipping between coasts to U.S. flagged vessels. However, in the wake of brutal storms, the government has occasionally issued temporary waivers to allow the use of cheaper, tax free or more readily available foreign-flagged ships… The Department of Homeland Security, which waived the act after hurricanes Harvey and Irma, did not agree an exemption would help this time.” Reuters, September 26^th. Local Puerto Rican officials obviously and strongly disagreed. Hey, one rule for “white states” that voted for Trump…

 “‘We’re thinking about [lifting Jones Act restrictions], but we have a lot of shippers, a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted,’ Trump told reporters Wednesday [9/27]. ‘And we have a lot of ships out there right now.’” TheHill.com, September 27^th. Seriously? OK, while Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens with a right to U.S. passports, they are (i) mostly Latinos, (ii) mostly supportive of the Democratic Party, (iii) the territory has serious financial issues and (iv) it does seem as if Trump will only go so far – maximize the optics but minimize the assistance – for a U.S. territory he seems to dislike.

But those “optics” of holding on to the Jones Act, such a minor effort to grant a waiver, finally got to the President. He finally cracked on September 28^th and, responding to the desperate pleas of PR Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, finally issued a temporary easing of Jones Act restrictions. But the effort to generate the level of financial support for bankrupt-Puerto Rico that the island really needed is nowhere.

It seems that Trump himself may have been one of the reasons Puerto is insolvent. In the summer of 2015, Trump International Golf Club in Ro Grande, Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy. Among the creditors left high and dry was the territorial government, stuck with an unpaid $33 million bill. "This has absolutely nothing to do with Trump. This is a separate owner. We purely manage the golf course," said Eric Trump at the time. Hey, wonder if he got his degree from Trump University? It’s okay, Eric boy, daddy has promised to visit both the U.S. Virgin Islands (also decimated) and Puerto Rico in the coming days.

Trump’s insistence that Puerto Rico must simultaneously deal with its recovery nightmare as well as the restructuring of its debt seemed a bit callous to the mayor of capital city San Juan. “San Juan's mayor urged the United States on Tuesday [9/26] to prioritize ‘people above debt’ as it helps rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, after President Donald Trump said that the island's crippling debt [$72 billion] ‘must be dealt with.’…

“‘You don't put debt above people, you put people above debt.’ San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told CNN in an interview. ‘There is a moral imperative ... When someone is in need, when someone is in dire need, when someone is in a life or death situation, there is a human, moral imperative to deal with that situation before dealing with anything else.’” AOL.com, September 26^th. Not how it works in Trumpland, Carmen. Latinos don’t support Republicans or Donald Trump. Is that why during that 24-NFL-tweet-storm, Trump issued four about Puerto Rico. Trump only began to move, slightly, when he was beginning to look bad even to his own base. Hey Puerto Rico, you might just let Donald foreclose on the entire island… then, it’s his problem.

While Democrats are pushing for the same kind of Congressional aid for other recently hurricane-impacted states (post-Harvey support quickly passed Congress), there is nothing wending its way to a floor vote to meet the incredible and desperate needs of the people of Puerto Rico. Even release of existing, short-term FEMA funding needs immediate Congressional support. There is nothing yet resembling the kind of FEMA reaction after hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Trump’s FEMA-head, William Brock Long speaking on CNN (September 28^th): “It takes time.” Yeah… time.

Perhaps finally realizing that ineffective-FEMA is making Donald Trump look so much worse (optics, optics, optics), “Lt. General Jeffrey Buchanan has been appointed to lead all military hurricane efforts in Puerto Rico, according to multiple US Defense officials. Buchanan is expected to arrive in Puerto Rico today [0/28]. The military will focus on trying to improve distribution networks of relief supplies.” CNN, September 28^th. Why wasn’t this done a week ago… and exactly how many resources can Buchanan access and deploy… and how quickly?

I’m Peter Dekom, and we have now added another category to the polarization that defines modern America: third class citizens.