Trump waived the Jones Act to get aid quicker to Florida and Texas after Hurricanes Irma and Jose, but he hasn't for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He's been tweeting his short fingers off about the NFL, but he's hardly had a thing to say about Puerto Rico.
That the people in Puerto Rico probably matters not to Trump. He divides the world into two places: Those places that voted for him and those that didn't. You can see that in the trips he takes; Trump only goes to states that he carried in the election. Most presidents at leas pay lip service to being the president of the entire country, but not Trump. He's more concerned about the shipping industry making money than about people suffering and dying. Because shipping executives can donate to his campaign. Their workers can vote for him.
Puerto Rican residents are American citizens, but they can't vote in presidential elections. Therefore, Trump doesn't see a difference between the island of Puerto Rico and Belize. He doesn't even attempt to project an image of caring because the residents can't vote for him. There are no votes there for him to win.
Sooner or later, the citizens of the island will break the code and realize that they have no clout in D.C. and won't, until they can vote in Federal elections. The way to get that is through statehood.
So if Puerto Rico becomes a state, it will be, in no small measure, because of Trump.
UPDATE: Trump banged a Uie. But only for ten days. Which, given the speed that ships travel, is fucking nothing.
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4 comments:
CBS had a blurb about how they had thousands of containerloads of supplies that were sitting there waiting for trucks. And they said they had available trucks, but no drivers. The logistics must be a nightmare.
I'd rather that PR go it's own way rather than become a state. Their financial troubles are worse than Illinois or California, and if they become a state, their issues will become the Federal government's problem. (And part of their financial issues (not, by any means all, or even most) are caused by Federal rules.).
Let them be a state; I believe that would be best for all parties. But I also believe should be unified by language.
California, in 2015, paid $405.9 billion into the federal treasury, more than $100 billion more than the next highest contributing state, B, so what are you smoking? And fifth on the list, behind Texas, New York, and Florida is Illinois with $158 billion.
Anyway, yes there are thousands of shipping containers sitting at the port in Puerto Rico with no real way of getting to the people who need their contents. There is a shortage of trucks, passable roads, drivers, fuel, and management to make it happen.
Meanwhile people are dying in hospitals that don't have electricity to power the life support machinery. The USNS Comfort has been dispatched, but won't make it there for several more days. People are walking miles in 90 degree heat to stand in line for hours to buy fuel for their generators, and about half don't have potable water.
So yeah, the situation could be better managed.
As for statehood, they aren't going to be in a financial crisis forever, and wasn't there once something about taxation without representation?
-Doug in Oakland
I am and always have been against a "Official" USA language, and I'm in good company. This idea has been cropping up since, what? the early 1800's? Instead of being Exclusive. We should work to be Inclusive. And by that we should teach English, Spanish, French and Portuguese starting from Kindergarten (German! Ha!) and make fluency a diploma requirement. Then you are good to go in the Western Hemisphere.
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