I have never thought the word “deplorable” was strong enough to describe Donald Trump and his toadies, voters, and Republican enablers. If a “d” word is needed, “despicable” is more apt.
This man is the president of the United States, sworn to protect our Constitution and citizenry. When he’s not golfing, he spends his time in office attacking citizens verbally via Twitter and his Klan-paign rallies.
Those verbal attacks are more than just words. When they become policy, they result in deaths.
How many U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria died (and continue to die) due to Trump/FEMA failures? The members of Congress who have given their fealty to Trump—and remained silent—have co-signed those deaths.
This cannot be brushed off as simple “partisanship.” Puerto Ricans are members of both U.S. political parties.
For over a year now we have watched Trump kick Puerto Rico and do worse than just toss paper towels and leave. Once again, he draws attention to his sociopathic madness.
Bess Levin wrote “Area Sociopath Wants to Cut Relief Funding for Puerto Rico” for Vanity Fair:
Donald Trump has never had a particularly good track record when it comes to Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria ravaged the island in September 2017, the president took nearly a week to even mention the catastrophe, and when he did, it was to scold the U.S. territory for owing Wall Street money. A short time later, he deemed it appropriate to publicly trash the mayor of San Juan, for the crime of requesting more relief funds. When he finally saw fit to visit the disaster zone, he told the locals that their hurricane wasn’t “a real catastrophe like Katrina.” In September, to commemorate Maria’s one-year anniversary, he smeared 3,000 dead Puerto Ricans by claiming that the death count was a hoax cooked up by Democrats to make him look bad. And now, he’s reportedly decided to really cement his legacy in the territory by trying to end relief funding, despite the fact that the situation remains dire.
How long can we stand by and watch this happen?
Last Sunday, I wrote, “A reminder: Now that we control the House, Democrats must aid Puerto Rico.” I was very pleased to see this Bloomberg report titled “Democrats Plan New Scrutiny of Trump Puerto Rico Storm Response.”
Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who as the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security is in line to become chairman in January, has called for greater oversight of how FEMA awards contract dollars. In June, he introduced a bill to create what he called a “9/11-style” independent commission to investigate the government’s response to Maria.
In July, after FEMA released a report on its response to Maria, Thompson said the agency still had not explained “how or why Puerto Rico was clearly treated differently than the states that faced natural disasters last year.” After Trump dismissed the estimated death count, Thompson called on Congress to conduct “a comprehensive investigation -- as we did after Katrina -- into how 2,975 were allowed to die.”
“We have seen little evidence that FEMA has learned from its past errors in Puerto Rico,” Thompson said in a statement the day before the midterms. “It is high time that Congress does the rigorous oversight the Republicans have failed to do.”
Another prominent House Democratic critic of FEMA has been Elijah Cummings, the senior Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In February, Cummings asked Trey Gowdy, the Republican committee chairman, to subpoena documents from FEMA related to a contract for emergency meals to hurricane survivors in Puerto Rico.
Gowdy never issued the subpoena.
Trump’s pathology goes beyond racism. Yes, he’s a racist. Yes, he has a long racist track record. Yes, he is ramping up the climate of hate.
He has targeted the largest state in our nation, California, with a population of 39.54 million residents, for his latest round of vitriol.
Even meteorologists who don’t dabble in politics debunk Trump’s bullshit.
Given his virulent antipathy toward blue states, it’s easy to wonder if Trump has taken on the mantle of Jefferson Finis Davis. Perhaps we should add another “d” word: delusional.
Republicans have lost ground via the 2018 midterms, and if they are deluded enough to think that we, the citizens under attack from the White House, will forget these behaviors as we head toward 2020, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell them.
It’s time for us to call them out and take action.
It’s time for reporters who call themselves journalists to get Republican elected officials to state on the record whether they condemn or condone punishing citizens for being victims of natural disasters and man-made domestic terror, as well.
It’s time to end disenfranchisement.
There is only one “d” we should be embracing: the “D” for Democrats.
2020 is closer than you think.