Trump is basically telling Puerto Rico to f*ck off

As a humanitarian crisis grew for Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million American citizens in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the President of the United States didn’t say a word about their plight and instead chose to focus his outrage on kneeling football players.

Taking to Twitter on Monday, Trump finally addressed the crisis by reassuring his followers that Texas and Florida are “doing great,” but then went into a litany of alleged issues that seemed to suggest he was blaming the country for its own suffering.

He continued:

Needless to say, Trump reassuring Wall Street that it can still collect its debts as the country faces a humanitarian crisis invoked a furor across social media. If watching out for the interests of Wall Street in the face of Puerto Rico’s crisis wasn’t bad enough, Trump also wants to make sure the shipping industry comes out okay.

This Wednesday, Trump seemed hesitant to wave the Jones Act, which only allows shipping between American Ports and American ships that have American crews and owners, as a means to provide aid to the island. When Hurricanes Irma and Harvey made landfall in the U.S., the Jones Act was waved, allowing the shipment of fuel to reach affected areas.

But a week after Hurricane Maria made landfall, Puerto Rico hasn’t been afforded the same courtesy.

“On Puerto Rico, Mr. President, why not lift the Jones Act like you did in Texas and Florida?” a reporter asked Trump according to Talking Points Memo.

“Well, we’re thinking about that,” Trump replied. “But we have a lot of shippers, and a lot of people — a lot of people that work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted. And we have a lot of ships out there right now.”

In other words, the business interests of the shipping industry get priority over suffering Americans.

Senator John McCain, who waged a campaign to repeal the act, slammed the Trump administration for failing to afford Puerto Rico the same courtesy as hurricane-damaged areas on the U.S. mainland.

“It is unacceptable to force the people of Puerto Rico to pay at least twice as much for food, clean drinking water, supplies and infrastructure due to Jones Act requirements as they work to recover from this disaster,” McCain wrote in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. “Now, more than ever, it is time to realize the devastating effect of this policy and implement a full repeal of this archaic and burdensome Act.”

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico is facing worsening conditions in the wake of the storm, which includes continued flooding and rising temperatures. According to the U.S. military, nearly 44 percent of the island (1.5 million people) doesn’t have clean drinking water and 97 percent of its residents are without power.

Featured image via YouTube

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.