Weeks after a Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Puerto Rico, it was reported that 95 percent of residents on the island were without power, 35 percent of grocery stores were closed, 50 percent of roads needed to be cleared of debris, 86 percent of cellphone towers were not functioning, and 25 percent of shipping ports were closed. “We will get through this TOGETHER,” tweeted U.S. president Donald Trump, who then referred to Puerto Rican officials as “politically motivated ingrates” told by “the Democrats” to say “nasty” things.[1][2][3][4] “They want everything to be done for them,” tweeted Trump, who has spent a fourth of his presidency visiting his private clubs at a cost to taxpayers of at least $70 million.[5][6] Trump said he was “working night and day” to help Puerto Rico, and then handed out a trophy at a New Jersey golf course, which he arrived at after visiting a different New Jersey golf course.[7][8][9] Trump, whose Trump International Golf Club in Puerto Rico filed for bankruptcy in 2015, tweeted that it “must be dealt with” that Puerto Rico “owed” billions of dollars “to Wall Street and banks,” and it was reported that Trump’s proposed cuts to the corporate tax rate would give the six largest U.S. banks a $6.4 billion increase in profits.[10][11][12] The mayor of San Juan said that Puerto Rico was “dying” and that “something close to a genocide” would occur if federal assistance didn’t increase, a U.S. general toured the island and said it was “the worst” storm damage he’d “ever seen,” it was reported that the percentage of Puerto Ricans without drinking water increased to 55, and Trump announced that Puerto Rico was “getting better on a daily basis.”[13][14][15][16] Trump told reporters “the results that we’ve had with respect to loss of life” were “incredible,” and it was reported that at least 16 people had been killed by the storm.[17][18] The mayor of San Juan said Trump was “killing” Puerto Ricans with “inefficiency,” and Trump explained that Puerto Rico was an island surrounded by “big water.”[19][20] Trump tweeted that the mayor of San Juan was showing “poor leadership”; that fans who booed football players for protesting the police killings of unarmed black men and women were showing “great anger”; that Iran had launched a ballistic missile “capable of reaching Israel,” which the country had not done; and that the secretary of state was “wasting his time” attempting to pursue talks with the government of North Korea, whom Trump has threatened to “totally destroy.” The White House clarified that Trump had not declared war on North Korea.[21][22][23][24][25][26]
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