If Ohio were Puerto Rico - Arizona echo opinion

"What would Ohio do?

Echo opinion from Arizona by E.J. Montini in Arizona.com

Hurricane Maria analysis.

If a storm killed 2,975 people in Ohio, would Donald Trump call it an 'unsung success?'.

I’m not 100 percent convinced that Donald Trump understands that the men, women and children living of Puerto Rico are Americans.

They are.

But, I’d guess that even if Trump knows this to be true, he still may not think of Puerto Ricans as real Americans, because if he did I don’t believe he would have said what he said about the government’s response to the disaster that was last year’s Hurricane Maria.

The latest Puerto Rican death toll from that storm, based on a study done by researchers from George Washington University, is 2,975.

Nearly as many who died on 9/11.

The island is still recovering

In addition to the 2,975 dead there were many injured and many others still suffering after effects, and Trump this week called the work done by FEMA and law enforcement in Puerto Rico as "an incredible, unsung success."

Hurricane Maria caused what is said to be the largest power outage in U.S. history, one that took nearly a year to fix.

Recovery efforts will continue for years.

And Trump called it “an incredible, unsung success.”

Without labeling that remark ethnically insensitive – at the very least – is it not safe to say that if a monster storm killed 3,000 men, women and children in Ohio Trump would NOT call it an “unsung success?” No matter how well FEMA and law enforcement responded.

Insensitive? Ignorant?

We all hope and pray that the government is prepared to respond to whatever occurs when Hurricane Florence reaches the East Coast.

(Our family has relatives in the Carolinas.)

Hopefully, as well, that no matter how well the government responds, that Trump would choose not to brag about it, at least in deference to those who suffer losses.

It’s like what San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said in response to Trump’s “unsung success” remark.

She said, “In a humanitarian crisis, you should not be grading yourself. You should not be just having a parade of self-accolades. You should never be content with everything we did. I'm not content with everything I did, I should have done more. We should all have done more.”

Reach Montini is a columnist for the Arizona Republic newspaper.

Donald Trump lies about Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria recovery

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz : If Trump doesn't learn, God help us all

Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz is advocating for the 3,000 people who died as a result of a poor response by the Donald Trump administration to the devastation caused by the 2017 Hurricane Maria*

Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, said that bureaucracy and inefficiency across local and federal government entities are to blame for the deaths of nearly 3,000 on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which came to light as part of a newly released study commissioned by the Puerto Rican government. People died from neglect.

San Juan Mayor Questions Trump's 'Success' Claim After Puerto Rico Storm Cleanup

San Juan Mayor Questions Trump's 'Success' Claim After Puerto Rico Storm Cleanup | Newsmax.com

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico is pushing back on Donald Trump's insistence that last year's hurricane cleanup on the island was an "unsung success."

A short time after Trump made the remark during a brief press availability in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon, Carmen Yulín Cruz tweeted her disagreement:

"Success? Federal response according to Trump in Puerto Rico a success? If he thinks the death of 3,000 people is a success God help us all."

Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico last September days after Hurricane Irma made a pass just north of the U.S. territory. Nearly 3,000 people are said to have perished on the island because of the storm.

While talking about Hurricane Florence, which is slated to make landfall on the North Carolina coast later this week, Trump praised the job the federal government did in Puerto Rico — despite much criticism his administration faced last year during the storm recovery, which left the island in shambles.

Lie # 1. "Puerto Rico was incredibly successful. Puerto Rico was actually our toughest one of all because it's an island. You can't truck things onto it, everything's by boat" (OMG! ~ so what happened to air transport?), Trump said.

Lie # 2. "I actually think it was one of the best jobs that's ever been done with respect to what this is all about. Puerto Rico got hit not with one hurricane, but with two."

Trump then referenced Puerto Rico's struggling and aging electric grid, which was completely knocked offline by Maria and was only restored to full power last month.

"The job that FEMA and law enforcement and everybody did, working along with the governor, in Puerto Rico I think was tremendous," he said. 

Lie # 3. "I think Puerto Rico was an incredible, unsung success."

*Hurricane Maria is regarded as being the worst natural disaster on record to affect Dominica and Puerto Rico and the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Hurricane Jeanne in 2004. Wikipedia
Category: Category 5 Hurricane (SSHWS)Trending
Highest wind speed: 175 mph
Date: September 16, 2017 – October 2, 2017
Total fatalities: 3,057 total
Lowest pressure: 908 mbar (hPa); 26.81 inHg
Affected areas: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Dominica
Did you know: Maria is the third-costliest Atlantic hurricane ($91.6 billion in damage). wikipedia.org