DEMS/HURRICANE/PUERTO RICO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Thursday [9-13-18] falsely accused Democrats of inflating the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year, rejecting that government’s assessment that the storm had claimed nearly 3,000 lives. Mr. Trump said that the toll was only six to 18 dead after his visit following the storm, but that was at a time when the estimate of fatalities was changing. It rose to 34 in the hours after the president left the island. Mr. Trump on Thursday said Democrats padded the death toll by including, for example, a person who died of old age ‘in order to make me look as bad as possible’…The president’s comments came as the government prepared for Hurricane Florence, whose high winds were already beginning to batter the coast of the Carolinas. Hurricanes typically provide a platform for elected officials to display leadership and strength. And a poor response, such as the government’s during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, can do significant damage to approval ratings. The federal government’s response to the storm that hit Puerto Rico has been viewed as inadequate — full power was restored to homes in August. Puerto Rico’s leadership and several leading Republicans in Congress took issue with the president disputing the estimated number of deaths in Puerto Rico tied to Hurricane Maria.”
–Eileen Sullivan, Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Nicholas Fandos, “Rejecting Puerto Rican Death Toll, Trump Falsely Accuses Democrats of Inflating It,” The New York Times online, September 13, 2018