WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday played with the pronunciation of Puerto Rico as he saluted Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House.
Trump drew out the name in an accented fashion three times — “Pueeeeerto Rico” — telling the crowd, “We love Pueeeeerto Rico.” Then he said it without any accent: “And we also love Puerto Rico.”
That got a laugh from the crowd of Hispanic leaders gathered in the East Room of the White House, and Trump’ s other statements of support for the recovering U.S. territories drew cheers.
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were walloped last month by Hurricane Maria and are struggling to recover. Trump visited Puerto Rico this week, and Vice President Mike Pence toured St. Croix on Friday and was headed for Puerto Rico as well.
Trump has rankled Hispanics with his tough immigration policies, including building a border wall between the United States and Mexico, and he drew sharp criticism for his initial response to the toll Maria took on Puerto Rico. Critics have said the president was slow to recognize the magnitude of the hurricane’s impact early on and has overstated the effectiveness of federal recovery efforts.
Last month, Trump signed a proclamation marking Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as National Hispanic Heritage Month. In the proclamation, Trump mentioned that Hispanic-owned small businesses are the fastest growing businesses in America.
He moved from behind the microphone Friday to hug a Medal of Honor recipient in the crowd, and said that 60 Latinos in the Armed Forces have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
The way I saw it was that he was ridiculing the accent. He didn’t have to imitate the accent to pronounce the name of the island but he did, more than once. That’s not playing, that’s making fun of the name for his own sick amusement.
He is one sick fuck. I hope the legal beagles make his life as miserable for him as he has so many people in the short time he’s been in office. I hate waking up every day to find out what new messed up thing he’s done to the country. He’s disgusting.
Couldn’t have said it better.
President Donald Trump on Friday played with the pronunciation of Puerto Rico as he saluted Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House.
TRANSLATION: Trump played with himself while he saluted himself.
It was almost predictable. Being President forces a person to get out of their bubble, even if they resist, by the very nature of the job. You have to travel the country, the world, meet lots of different people, etc.
Puerto Ricans are no doubt a particularly troublesome group for Trump’s inner demons, because they have been a significant “Other” in NYC for a very long time.
So after visiting PR and being forced out of his bubble, he had to reinforce it strongly by publicly making fun in order to achieve the necessary balance in his demented brain.
“I’ve seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.”
— Michelle Obama