President Trump threatens to pull the plug on Puerto Rico

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HELP ENLIGHTEN YOUR FELLOWS. BE SURE TO PASS THIS ON. SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON IT.

By Rafael Azul, Special Correspondent, wsws.org


In 1975, in the midst of the New York City financial crash, the Daily Newspublished the famous headline “Ford to New York: Drop Dead!” Its front-page article went on to denounce then-President Gerald Ford’s decision not to bail out New York City.

A similar headline would be appropriate today—“Trump to Puerto Rico: Drop Dead!”—following president Trump’s most recent threats and tweets about the financial and environmental crisis that have mired this island since the twin impacts of Hurricane Irma and particularly Hurricane Maria.

“Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making,” he claimed, quoting right-wing television journalist Sharyl Attkisson. He added Thursday morning, in three separate tweets: “A total lack of accountability say the Governor [sic]. Electric and all infrastructures was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend. ... We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”



Trump’s statements are a brutal response to Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello’s appeal this week to grant emergency low-interest loans to provide his government with much-needed liquidity. On Wednesday, Rossello also asked the US Congress for $4.9 billion in to fund the community disaster loan system. Puerto Rico has been shut out of the debt market since its bankruptcy.

Hurricane Maria destroyed the island’s electricity grid, caused the near collapse of telephone and wireless communications, a water and sewage crisis, floods and landslides. Puerto Rico must now deal with a severe health crisis, with a weakened infrastructure of damaged hospitals and clinics.

Water, food, and fuel are rationed in many parts of the island. According to press reports Thursday, food supplies are running low and the number of meals provided through relief agencies is dwarfed by the need. Absent a massive infusion of aid, the very survival of hundreds of thousands is in question.

Next week will mark a month since Hurricane Maria struck. Six thousand are still living in shelters; only about 17 percent have electricity. Forty percent lack access to clean water. Following his very brief visit to Puerto Rico, Trump requested that Congress free up $29 billion for Puerto Rico, but $16 billion were earmarked for payment of the island government’s $74 billion debt. Wall Street will get more “relief” than the people of Puerto Rico.

While high-ranking military officials attempted to minimize the impact of Trump’s tweets—chief of Staff John Kelly made his first appearance at a press conference Thursday to declare that troops and first responders would remain in the island until the “job was done”—it is clear that the US government has no inclination to undertake the massive investments required by Puerto Rico.

This was conceded by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. After reminding her audience that relief operations “will not last forever,” Sanders reaffirmed that Trump and Congress are seeking a “fiscally responsible” way out of this crisis. These are code words for the further impoverishment of the Puerto Rican working class, paving the way for a handover of whatever assets are left to Wall Street speculators and vulture hedge funds.

Alongside his attacks on long-term aid to Puerto Rico, Trump decided to not renew his 10-day suspension of the Jones Act, which bars foreign ships from moving cargo between Puerto Rican and US ports, imposing extraordinary shipping costs on the island.

Adding to the catastrophic impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the financial crisis and the refusal of Trump and FEMA to offer sufficient food water and other essentials to Puerto Rico, is a jump in unemployment. In the city of Ponce last week, thousands of workers lined up at the headquarters of the Department of Labor and Human Resources (DLHR).

Many of those who were already unemployed on September 20 have not received their unemployment compensation checks (due to the collapse of mail services) and were there to collect their payments.

However, the majority of those waiting in line were newly unemployed workers or those whose hours had been cut. A 26-year-old unemployed worker at a clothing store told the local newspaper La Perla that “we are forced to come because our bosses quickly resort to cutting hours and let the workers be damned.”

The number of applicants for unemployment benefits this week was more than 3,000, compared to 960 the week before Hurricane Maria. DLRH officials expect this number to continue growing in the weeks ahead.

In San Juan, Labor Secretary Carlos Saavedra has so far refused to respond to press inquiries about the huge growth in the number of unemployed workers. In Ponce, many businesses and plants remain closed. Those that are in operation in many cases have slashed their hours, including factories in Ponce, Yauco, Juana Díaz, Santa Isabel, Salinas and other southeastern cities.

The DLRH plans to announce 26 weeks of paltry disaster relief checks for the unemployed, with weekly checks averaging $110.

In response to Thursday’s tweets by Trump, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz angrily renamed the “commander in chief” the “hater in chief,” denouncing Trump for lacking the “moral imperative” to help Puerto Rico. Governor Rossello responded, also via tweet, without mentioning Trump; “US citizens in Puerto Rico demand the help and support our nation’s citizens are entitled to.”

These statements by capitalist politicians are a pale reflection of the anger felt by millions of Puerto Ricans and their families, not only on the island, but also on the mainland. The politicians’ differences with Trump are mostly tactical, centered on how best to make workers pay for the financial and environmental crisis in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, California, Texas, Florida and elsewhere.

Trump’s tweets, his and Congress’s minimal help for Puerto Rico, and their demands that the banks be paid first are a warning that American imperialism has no solution to the crisis in one of its first colonial territories. There must be independent joint struggle of all workers, both in Puerto Rico and the mainland, for a massive effort of reconstruction and social investment for all the victims of the hurricanes of 2017.  


Press reports seem unified in condemning Trump

Mainstream media (in this case MSN) also blast Trump for his glaring presidential malpractice in the face of a national tragedy

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico on Thursday, insisting in tweets that the federal government can't keep sending help "forever" and suggesting the U.S. territory was to blame for its financial struggles.

His broadsides triggered an outcry from Democrats in Washington and officials on the island, which has been reeling since Hurricane Maria struck three weeks ago, leaving death and destruction in an unparalleled humanitarian crisis.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, with whom Trump has had a running war of words, tweeted that the president's comments were "unbecoming" to a commander in chief and "seem more to come from a 'Hater in Chief.'"

"Mr. President, you seem to want to disregard the moral imperative that your administration has been unable to fulfill," the mayor said in a statement.

The debate played out as the House passed, on a sweeping 353-69 vote, a $36.5 billion disaster aid package that includes assistance for Puerto Rico's financially-strapped government. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the government needs to ensure that Puerto Rico can "begin to stand on its own two feet" and said the U.S. has "got to do more to help Puerto Rico rebuild its own economy."

Forty-five deaths in Puerto Rico have been blamed on Maria, about 85 percent of Puerto Rico residents still lack electricity and the government says it hopes to have electricity restored completely by March.

Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence visited the island last week to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the island's recovery. But Trump's tweets Thursday raised questions about whether the U.S. would remain there for the long haul. He tweeted, "We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 file photo, destroyed communities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. The House is on track to backing President Donald Trump's request for billions more in disaster aid, $16 billion to pay flood insurance claims and emergency funding to help the cash-strapped government of Puerto Rico stay afloat. The hurricane aid package Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, totals $36.5 billion and sticks close to a White House request, ignoring - for now - huge demands from the powerful Florida and Texas delegations, who together pressed for some $40 billion more. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

© The Associated Press FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 file photo, destroyed communities are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. The House is on track to backing President…In a series of tweets, the president added, "electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes." He blamed Puerto Rico for its looming financial crisis and "a total lack of accountability."


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RAFAEL AZUL—While high-ranking military officials attempted to minimize the impact of Trump’s tweets—chief of Staff John Kelly made his first appearance at a press conference Thursday to declare that troops and first responders would remain in the island until the “job was done”—it is clear that the US government has no inclination to undertake the massive investments required by Puerto Rico. This was conceded by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. After reminding her audience that relief operations “will not last forever,” Sanders reaffirmed that Trump and Congress are seeking a “fiscally responsible” way out of this crisis.

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Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found

In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” -- acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump -- a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all. Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report 

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