Saturday, September 30, 2017

What did Donald Trump do today?

He lashed out at Puerto Ricans who criticized his handling of Hurricane Maria relief.

Trump, who does not tolerate criticism from women under the best of circumstances, began the day by complaining that the "nasty" mayor of San Juan was only calling attention to the leisurely pace of relief efforts because "Democrats" had told her to. He then said that Puerto Ricans "want everything to be done for them."

Even by Trump's standards, today's 25-tweet tirade was remarkable. In addition to his attack on Puerto Ricans' self-reliance, he complained that he wasn't given enough credit for the incumbent Alabama senator Luther Strange losing by only ten points after Trump's endorsement. He blamed "#fakenews" for coverage of Puerto Rico's problems in six different tweets, and fawned over Puerto Rican officials whose criticism of him had not been quite as public as Cruz's. He also found time to revisit the controversy that so absorbed his attention last week (because of which, some noted, Hurricane Maria seemed a low priority for the White House), demanding that all NFL players stand for the national anthem during tomorrow's games.

Trump sent his tweets from the New Jersey vacation home and golf resort where he also spent last weekend.

Why does this matter?

  • What American citizens suffering after a natural disaster "want done for them" by the federal government is the federal government's job.
  • A president who cannot handle criticism--even if he thinks it's unjustified--is not mentally stable enough for the job.
  • Things are not "fake news" just because they might make a president look bad.