San Juan, Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz is still not holding back when responding to President Donald Trump’s remarks.
During an appearance on CNN Tuesday night, Cruz disputed Trump’s latest tweet taking aim at Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria recovery funds last year, as another storm approaches the island.
Wow! Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico. Will it ever end? Congress approved 92 Billion Dollars for Puerto Rico last year, an all time record of its kind for “anywhere.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2019
Cruz said that the $92 billion appropriation that Trump mentioned in his tweet was not true and that the recovery relief amount was close to $42 billion. She noted that only $12.6 to $14 billion have come to Puerto Rico.
“Still, things have not worked appropriately. Things continue to change,” Cruz said, citing “different attitudes and different laws and restrictions” brought upon Puerto Rico that are different from any other jurisdiction.
Cruz then pointed out that “it appears that FEMA has learned some of the lessons from the past from Irma and Maria” when it comes to supplies and shelter.
“I got off the phone [FEMA’s director in Puerto Rico] and it appears they have, you know, 3.2 million liters of water. They have five warehouses there in Puerto Rico,” Cruz said. “He told me they have around 200,000 blue roofs — blue tarps, sorry. So, you know, it seems like some people have learned the lessons of the past or are willing to say that they didn’t do right by us the first time and they are trying to do their best.”
Cruz, however, said that sentiment “is not the case with the President of the United States.”
“We are not going to be concerned by frankly his behavior, his lack of understanding and it is ludicrous,” Cruz said. “3,000 Puerto Ricans did not open their eyes this morning because this racist man did not have it within him to do his job.”
Cruz concluded the segment by saying that Trump needs to “get out of the way.”
“Let the people that can do the job get the job done,” Cruz said.
Watch the San Juan mayor’s response below:
San Juan Mayor: "So get out of the way President Trump and let the people that can do the job get the job done." pic.twitter.com/Ao38fKjWvh
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 28, 2019
We ALL need Trump to get out of the way. The world needs Trump to get out of the way.----
She should run for Governor.
He’ll get a twofer if he nukes this one
I wish someone would point out Trump’s cowardly use of Twitter. “We will not be concerned by someone who wants to rule us by Tweets instead of speaking directly to us to resolve our common problems.”
There. Is that so hard?
I’d like to suggest the book “We Fed an Island” by Chef José Andrés if you’re interested in what it was like on the ground in Puerto Rico for a group trying to feed people during the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
You may have first heard of Chef Andrés as the chef that walked out of a restaurant agreement with trump when trump began his Hispanic and immigrant-bashing during the 2016 campaign.
The book is conversational in tone and recounts his team’s efforts to bring food to hard-hit areas - he doesn’t shy from pointing out failures in disaster response, but the focus of the book is on his food projects.