HURRICANE/PUERTO RICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday [9-12-18] ratcheted up his fight with Puerto Rican officials, dwelling on the intense criticism he received last year for his response to Hurricane Maria, even as Hurricane Florence threatens millions of Americans on the East Coast. Trump has been aggressive this week in warning Americans in Florence’s path to take the proper precautions, while hailing his government as being ‘absolutely totally prepared’ for the potentially historic storm. But he has spent almost as much time claiming he hasn’t gotten enough credit for his response to Hurricane Maria last September, despite the fact that thousands of Puerto Ricans died in the storm’s aftermath as the island territory struggled to cope with widespread devastation and power outages…Puerto Ricans themselves would grade him differently. A majority of Puerto Rican respondents had a negative perception of Trump and his administration’s response to Maria in a survey by The Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation published Wednesday. About 52 percent of respondents to the survey rated Trump’s performance as ‘poor’ and a further 28 percent rated it as ‘fair.’ Only 15 percent of respondents gave the president a positive rating.”
–Matthew Choi and Emily Goldberg, “Trump reignites hurricane feud with Puerto Rican officials,” Politico, September 12, 2018 4:07 pm