The Media Narrative Trump Is Failing Puerto Rico Is Bogus

[Revmitchell]

The media is awash with headlines declaring the U.S. response to Puerto Rico a “Katrina Moment” for President Donald Trump, but the narrative completely ignores the facts on the ground.

“The administration’s feeble response to Hurricane Maria rivals [President George] Bush’s after Katrina,” read a sub-headline in Slate. “President Trump appears more concerned with helping his political allies, taunting professional athletes, and issuing new travel bans,” Slate’s Phillip Carter wrote on Sept. 25.

“Trump’s Katrina?” asked The Washington Post in a daily newsletter on Thursday. “How Puerto Rico Is Becoming Trump’s Katrina,” declared Rolling Stone Magazine in a headline Tuesday.

Vanity Fair, a bit more modest than Rolling Stone, merely posed the same headline as a question, rather than giving a definitive answer.

This isn’t to say the situation is not perilous in Puerto Rico. It most definitely is. The crux of the matter is exactly why it’s so bad, and who’s at fault.

“Cargo ships carrying supplies from the mainland U.S. began arriving at San Juan’s port on Saturday,” reported the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “The people of Puerto Rico should not have any fear that there is not going to be food or medicine on the island.”

The supplies have arrived, but getting the aid to where it needs to go is “being hampered by heavy damage to roads, computer systems and other critical infrastructure,” according to the newspaper.

“Puerto Rico’s weak infrastructure will make it difficult to provide the aid that it desperately needs,” NPR reported on Sept. 22. “Well before this year’s series of historically powerful hurricanes, Puerto Rico already had a notoriously fickle power supply and crushing debt.”

The Media Narrative Trump Is Failing Puerto Rico Is Bogus

 

[church mouse guy]

The Governor of Puerto Rico, a Democrat, has said that FEMA has done a good job and was prepared before Maria hit the island.

If you have seen pictures of the devastation, it is complete. The flood is deep, the electricity is gone, there are trees down everywhere, the buildings and homes are destroyed, and the roads are washed out. Nevertheless, all agencies are reportedly going all out to rescue every person. Mainland Americans can donate to the relief organizations to help.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

I've heard the PR's biggest aide problem is the Jones Act. The Jones Act only allows American owned, crewed and flagged vessels to directly carry cargo and passengers from one US port to another. Say form New Orleans to San Juan.

 

[church mouse guy]

I think that Trump waived the Jones Act, which should be repealed.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

He did. But, he wasn't all that fast in pulling the trigger. The US maritime interests put pressure on him not to grant the waiver. And yes, I agree the Jones Act should be repealed.

I think that Trump waived the Jones Act, which should be repealed.

 

[church mouse guy]

I doubt if Trump knew much about the Jones Act. There were plenty of military ships on the way. The SBC sent kitchen facilities for 100,000 meals on three hours notice when the storm first hit. The news showed a photo of all sorts of containers that looked to me myself as if they had been off-loaded, but now there is a shortage of truck drivers to deliver goods where trucks can get through. I understand that truck drivers from the States are volunteering to go to Puerto Rico to help out. Almost everything in Puerto Rico has to be rebuilt from the pictures that I have seen, and I saw some early on that were posted on Fausta's Blog, as her grandfather's house had thick walls and stood but lost its roof and she had pictures of it from a drone. Geraldo said that the power plants are intact with minor damage but that the transmission lines are down.

Puerto Rico was hit by two hurricanes.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

I agree he probably didn't. It's a fairly obscure bit of legislation. But, he found out about it real quick when US maritime interests started lobbying him not to sign off on any waivers for PR.

I doubt if Trump knew much about the Jones Act.

 

[church mouse guy]

I agree he probably didn't. It's a fairly obscure bit of legislation. But, he found out about it real quick when US maritime interests started lobbying him not to sign off on any waivers for PR.

I don't understand how the maritime interests could sleep at night considering the shortage of US built ships and the profound humanitarian tragedy in Puerto Rico with a population of three and one half million people stranded in a flood. How do you explain what they did?

 

[Squire Robertsson]

The Jones Act of 1920 is the only thing keeping the US merchant marine in business. Thanks to unions both in shipbuilding and in the crews, the US Merchant Marine is in a death spiral. It is the reason why we don't see cruise ships sailing up and down the Pacific coast sailing from Alaska to Vancouver, BC, Seattle (which is Jones Act compliant) Portland/Astoria, San Francisco, Los Angeles/San Diego, Mexico or parts thereof. The Seattle through LA\San Diego part of the route can only be sailed by an American owned and crewed vessel. Nor can a foreign flagged vessel sail up to Alaska non-stop from Seattle to Alaska.

I don't understand how the maritime interests could sleep at night considering the shortage of US built ships and the profound humanitarian tragedy in Puerto Rico with a population of three and one-half million people stranded in a flood. How do you explain what they did?