‘Unhinged, insensitive and lying’: Trump uses bogus bar graph to spread falsehood about Puerto Rico hurricane aid
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump spent the opening minutes of a campaign rally in Panama City Beach, Florida on Wednesday attacking hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico for not sufficiently appreciating his administration’s relief efforts—which critics have decried as grossly inadequate —and attempting to use a bar graph to bolster his repeatedly debunked claim that the island has received a record amount of storm aid.
“I brought a chart. Would you like to see a chart?” Trump said, pulling a piece of paper from his jacket pocket to cheers from the audience
As The Associated Press reported , Trump’s “number is wrong, as is his assertion that the U.S. territory has set some record for federal disaster aid. Congress has so far distributed only about $11 billion for Puerto Rico, not $91 billion.”
After a guy in audience yells "I love you!" Trump makes sure everyone knows he's not gay.
"That's a guy, but I love him. Whoever the hell you are, I love you," he says.
Trump, who opened his speech touting how much disaster relief he's given to Florida, indicates he thinks people of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico are ungrateful.
He then brandishes chart purportedly showing how much more he's given PR than elsewhere & bashes PR politicians.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz—who Trump has repeatedly singled out in his attacks on Puerto Rico’s political leaders— slammed the president’s remarks on Twitter .
“Unhinged, insensitive, and lying,” Cruz wrote. “His racism knows no boundaries.”
Others echoed Cruz:
A real monster, riling up hatred and resentment against a devastated American island. https:// beta.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/ 05/07/president-trumps-claim-that-puerto-rico-has-been-given-billion/?outputType=amp …
Pres holds up chart to show that Puerto Rico has received far more disaster relief funding than Texas or Florida. "They got $91-billion," Trump says of aid to Puerto Rico. Says he thinks people of Puerto Rico are really grateful to him.
As Common Dreams reported in March, over a million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico have faced large cuts to food stamps and other services in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria as a relief package—which also includes disaster aid to Florida and other states—remains stalled in Congress due to opposition from Republicans and the Trump administration.
Even in the face of the island’s devastating circumstances, Trump has reportedly said that he “doesn’t want another single dollar” going to Puerto Rico.
In a statement following the president’s rally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats are moving ahead this week with a $17.2 billion disaster relief package that includes aid to Puerto Rico.
“Sadly, Senate Republicans have been more committed to hurting our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico than healing communities everywhere,” Pelosi said. “Meanwhile, the president has doubled down on Republicans’ callousness, deliberately delaying assistance payments to Puerto Rico and inflicting more needless suffering on the Americans who are still reeling from his administration’s disastrous response to the hurricanes.”
Why do republicans hate everyone but themselves?
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Trump shows his racist and hate and anti-Christian side again
Waits for the first to defend him.
It has been long established that a big part of Trump's appeal is to white grievance. People who are not white are always lacking something to this mindset.
There is no way Trump will change. He wants a fighting chance in the election and without the white grievance vote he has none.
"So far." That's the key phrase there.
I would be fine with criticizing Trump's $91 million claim if the criticism weren't so hypocritical. Based on the existing legislation, Puerto Rico could indeed - given time and the right circumstances - see that amount of money eventually. It's not really an invented number. Of course they haven't seen anything close to that yet, so I agree that it's wrong at this time to claim they have been given that much money.
My problem with the criticism is that politicians of all parties (and the media) do this all the time. For example, let's say there is a proposal on the table to increase Medicare spending by 10% for the next budget. Someone else counters with a proposal to increase spending, but only by 5%. Their opponents will claim they are trying to cut Medicare spending by 5% even though it will actually be an increase in spending from the current levels.
These people lie with numbers and it's SOP so I just kind of roll my eyes a little when they see Trump do it and want to call him a liar.
And where do you get that, oh Fox and friends
Sorry, I don't watch your shows - especially that one. My understanding is that it comes on at like 3 o'clock in the morning where I live. I'm busy sleeping then.
Since my reference seems unclear to you, I will give you some examples of what I am talking about.
A 5 Percent Discretionary Cut Still Provides Ample Spending
Obama’s claim that Obamacare has reduced health-care inflation ‘every single year’ since it was passed
As you can see, both sides do it.