Trump's response to Puerto Rico will cost Republicans
The GOP has a Trump/Puerto Rico problem, and it will cost them plenty in coming elections.
On the verge of his scheduled visit to the hurricane-devastated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, Donald Trump suggested islanders struggling without basic services were lazy, and that the mayor of its largest city was a poor leader and a politically-motivated “ingrate.”
As criticism poured in, the president may have done lasting damage to his efforts to show how much his administration cares about helping the battered island, and to the Republican brand among Latino voters. The racial undertones also risk stoking unease generated by Trump’s controversial stance on violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, just over a month ago.
...Some saw Trump’s tweets and actions, especially his attack on San Juan’s mayor, as the latest instance of “punching down” at critics, political opponents, or others who’ve crossed him.
“It’s got a lot of people scratching their heads, Republicans especially,” said Susan MacManus, political science professor at the University of South Florida. “Why pick a fight with a key demographic that is only going to grow in importance?”
...Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
That "key demographic that is only going to grow in importance" isn't just some day in the distant future. It's now!
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello warned Tuesday that millions could flee the commonwealth for the U.S. mainland if sufficient aid doesn’t arrive soon to stem a crisis that’s been unfolding over the past two weeks.
...“You’re not going to get hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans moving to the states -- you’re going to get millions,” said Rossello, who briefly lost his voice at one point during the news conference, perhaps a sign of fatigue from the round-the-clock recovery effort. “You’re going to get millions, creating a devastating demographic shift for us here in Puerto Rico, a brain drain.”
Florida Governor Rick Scott has already declared a state of emergency in Florida in anticipation of all the refugees from Puerto Rico.
Here's the thing:
Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico are American citizens without federal voting rights.
Puerto Ricans in Florida are American citizens with voting rights.
Now imagine what a sudden influx of millions of new voters that Trump just spat upon is going to do.
The GOP probably just lost Florida in 2020.
Eventually there will also be an impact on the bond market when a depopulated Puerto Rico can't service their debts on any level, but that's for another day.
Comments
Other than tweets, though...
Trump isn't doing any less or any worse in Puerto Rico than any other president would be doing given the circumstances. I don't think it will cost him as much as people seem to think it will.
Even if Trump did a good job
it'll still be bad for the GOP because PR residents would be Democratic leaning.
And yes, some other presidents would do a lot better.
This happened under Obama's watch
This alone should have gotten their foundation shut down and sent them to prison. Remember that Obama sent the military there and took the costs out of the reconstruction money. Why did he do that? For security reasons. I don't remember hearing reports of looting or violence. This caused a lot of problems.
How the Clinton Foundation Got Rich off Poor Haitians Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/437883/hillarys-america-secret-history-democratic-party-dinesh-dsouza-clinton-foundation
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
This article doesn't cover what Hillary's state department
did with the elections and many other issues. A quick search for that will bring up many links to articles.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Carnival Cruise sent a ship. Maverick's owner sent plane.
Hairball is forcing private citizens and companies to do his job ahead of his photo op trip. To use his own words, he's a loser. Hopefully, he suffers for being such a dick, but I won't hold my breath.
I'm sure other companies have stepped up to help since I saw the stories
about Carnival and Cuban (sp?).
What they seriously need though, is medication, medical supplies, and electricity. Won't hold my breath for loser to help with that either.
Do you know who is there and what they're doing?
Or are you just making assumptions?
Would you like to enlighten us all?
Or are you just trying to sound pissier than usual?
My essay from a week ago...
Discusses recovery efforts as of last Thursday.
Puerto Rico Hurricane Recovery Effort
@edg, lost my job the day before
Lost my job the day before; didn't see it, but I'm heading there now.
Thanks for the link!
Sorry to hear about your job.
Do you have something else lined up? At my age (nearly 62), I've had to do freelance work to make a living. Despite applying to over 200 jobs I'm well-qualified for, nobody would hire me.
Thanks, and nope
I watched it happen to others, but thought they wouldn't have wasted their money to train me for a solid month, then keep me for six months.
BWAHAHAHAA!
Apparently, it's profitable to hire and fire in a wheelhouse fashion. (Health ins stuff? I'm totally lost as to the real reason, but I did end up in the hospital last year and used my insurance, but on my previous employer's insurance and am still paying for it.)
Sorry to hear this, deja
I'm not sure what to say about this, but hope that you are doing okay.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
i was talking to an undergrad today. she's in the guard,
and she said they're inviting guard members to volunteer for a 45-day deployment in Puerto Rico.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Could have many effects
* Pisses off existing Latino voters, seeing how Puerto Rico is being treated
* As stated, a shift of Puerto Ricans to the mainland could push Florida (or wherever they choose to settle) away from the GOP. Call it an "anti-gerrymander".
* Whither statehood? A strong emergency response followed by a New Deal scale rebuilding would probably impress enough people to finally choose statehood. If deplorable conditions force a third or more emigrate to the mainland, does that make statehood more or less likely for the voters remaining? On the one hand there would be no good feelings towards the rest of the US, on the other hand they might feel they need full statehood to catch a break.
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone
The Ghosts of Puerto Rico
If Puerto Ricans upset the applecart in Florida, so be it. The U.S. acquired the country in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, but they were not given independence. In 1917 the Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship; however, two months later, Congress enacted a Selective Service bill at President Wilson's urging and 20,000 Puerto Ricans were drafted during WWI.
Not only that
But our government let the banks and hedge funds load them up with debt and then passed extreme austerity measures against them. The minimum wage is $4.25 and I believe that it was lowered from a higher wage. There were so many other measures that they were hit with. It's never the people who take out these massive loans, but they always have to pay for it. Just like what happened to the people in Greece which was a trial run for how to do it to other countries.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
What else should we expect from President Reject?
I would use another 'R' word, but comparing him to the mentally handicapped would be an insult to the mentally handicapped. Unlike president reject, the mentally handicapped are actually capable of empathy.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
We haven't even made it through
the first year with Trump and one wonders what America will look like and 3 more years. Things are deteriorating so fast perhaps the Grays will step in and expose Trump as one of the lizard people...now don't go all fae on me I tells ya it could happen.
Sorry to say it, but
this sounds a lot to me like what I called Hillary's "magic Mexican"plan - wait and increases in hispanic population will guarantee victory. She was so sure of her theory she thought she could condemn Honduran children to death ("teach their parents a lesson") without consequences.
You might be right, and the odds are better than they were for Hillary, but I wouldn't base my hopes on millions of refugees swarming out of camps to vote for a conservadem in 2018 or 2022.
On to Biden since 1973
Rick Scott is race baiting
According to the US Census, there are more Puerto Ricans in New York State then Florida. While there may be enough immigrants to tip FL to Democrats, it's not really a blip on the screen.
Ricky has a deep rooted fear of brown people.
Trump is announcing now that he's going to
bail out PR's debt to the tune of $72 billion... slimy bastard.
What won't be said in the American media is that the Puerto Rican people won't see a dime of that money or receive any help from it. It's going to repay the holders of PR bonds. Note that PR was already bankrupt, the debt wasn't the pressing problem. What's happened now is that Trumpophile dirtballs like Seth Klarman have bought up PR bonds at pennies on the dollar, and are now going to cash in at full face value and more.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."