CRISIS/PUERTO RICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Tuesday [10-3-17] told officials in Puerto Rico that they should be proud that only 16 people died in Hurricane Maria, compared with the ‘thousands’ killed in ‘a real catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina.’…
Hurricane Katrina claimed 1,833 lives. Officials in the Trump administration have often compared the relief efforts in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico to the George W. Bush administration’s response to Katrina in 2005.
But the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz, complained that the response in Puerto Rico fell short of that in Texas or Florida.
In Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump’s schedule will limit his exposure to the public. He will be briefed by local officials in a hangar at the Luis Muniz Air National Guard Base, then meet with storm victims at an undisclosed location, before heading to a Navy amphibious assault ship for meetings with the governors of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands.
The White House asked the governor of the Virgin Islands, Kenneth E. Mapp, to fly to Puerto Rico because of the logistical complications of having the president and his entourage travel to those islands, parts of which have been severely damaged.
The president has gotten more comfortable with these visits, after traveling to Texas after Hurricane Harvey and Florida after Hurricane Irma. On Tuesday, he wore his now-familiar uniform: a blue windbreaker with the presidential seal and white baseball cap, emblazoned with the letters USA.”
-Mark Landler, “Trump, in Puerto Rico, Compares Death Toll to Katrina’s and Says Residents Should Be ‘Proud’,” The New York Times online, Oct. 3, 3017