Trump says he’s 'best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico’ & trades insults with San Juan mayor
Calling each other “unhinged” and “crazed,” President Donald Trump and San Juan’s Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz went tit-for-tat on Twitter over relief efforts in Puerto Rico which is still recovering from a 2017 hurricane.
“Politicians like the crazed and incompetent Mayor of San Juan have done such a poor job of bringing the Island back to health,” Trump lamented in a series of Tweets on Monday, blaming the continued “poor health” of the Caribbean commonwealth on both the mayor and local government.Cruz was quick to hit back on Twitter, showing herself not to be shy about matching Trump’s sharp rhetoric and tendency to use superlatives.
“Pres Trump continues to embarrass himself & the Office he holds. He is unhinged & thus lies about the $ received by PR,” she wrote, adding “I am right here ready to call you on every lie, every hypocrisy and every ill fated action against the people of Puerto Rico.”
She was referring to the “$91 billion” Trump claims has already been given to Puerto Rico. Trump has been touting the seemingly exorbitant figure for a week despite government agencies putting the current post-disaster payments closer to $3 billion.
Trump was likely referring to the $82 billion investment the director of the federal control board, tasked with overseeing Puerto Rico’s finances, estimated would eventually be needed to be sent to get the commonwealth back on its feet.
Also on rt.com Puerto Rico is 'still a US colony’ and deserves self-determination, says Ocasio-Cortez“Puerto Rico got far more money than Texas & Florida combined, yet their government can’t do anything right,” he wrote, keeping the pressure leveled at the island’s administrators.
While not mentioning Cruz again by name, Trump made clear he had more to say on the issue the following day, adding that Puerto Rico had received “more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before,” money which “bad Island leadership” has been squandering. In a line better suited for a film noir movie, he also made the rather grand claim that “the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico is President Donald J. Trump.”
....The best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico is President Donald J. Trump. So many wonderful people, but with such bad Island leadership and with so much money wasted. Cannot continue to hurt our Farmers and States with these massive payments, and so little appreciation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019
Cruz isn’t the first Puerto Rican politician to end up at odds with the President. Her anger at Trump at least stayed at the level of personal insults, unlike the island’s Governor Ricardo Rosselló who warned the White House, just last week, that he would “punch the bully in the mouth” for failing to prioritize relief efforts.
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