This is not up for dispute, official numbers show almost 3000 people died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria. In the world of alternative facts though, Donald Trump is delivering a huge dose of fake news today. Lying about the numbers at his inauguration is one thing, but lying about peoples’ lives (and deaths) is a completely new low for the President of the United States. Trump simply cannot handle the criticism that has been reignited this week over his handling of Puerto Rico. So he took to Twitter this morning to dispute the facts. He says only a handful of people actually died in Puerto Rico and somehow found a way to falsely blame Democrats for inflating the number.
3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
…..This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
If you are one of the thousands who lost a loved one as a result of Hurricane Maria, imagine seeing that tweet today. It can only add to their grief. He is basically dismissing their deaths, minimizing them, lying about them. The Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz replied by saying, “Mr Trump you can try and bully us with your tweets BUT WE KNOW OUR LIVES MATTER. You will never take away our self respect. Shame on you!”
This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING! pic.twitter.com/OJEDqT74Sr
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018
This is the insane unconscionable drivel that vomits out of the US president’s mouth on a day that America is about to be hit with a devastating hurricane. He is beyond unfit for office. He is unfit for the human race… #Trump #HurricaneFlorence
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) September 13, 2018
This is the kind of thing that in normal times would cause a rebuke from Congressional leaders. But we know these are not normal times. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, we are looking at you.