Twitter Goes Off on Trump’s Puerto Rico Tweets: ‘You’re Going Straight to Hell’
In a long list of “he’s gone too far and this will surely damage his reputation beyond repair” there appears to be another example of President Donald Trump’s pissing people off. Today it’s Trump’s attacking of the Puerto Rican people — and mayor of San Juan — who he criticized via Twitter this morning which raised the ire of ‘blue check Twitter.”
Yesterday, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz explained in a CNN interview that “people are dying” then warned later in a press conference that she feared something like “genocide.” Trump’s reaction to that, while ensconced in his own comfortable country club in Bedminster, New Jersey, was to criticize both the San Juan mayor AND the people of Puerto Rico.
The most damning tweet? His seeming suggestion that the victims of Hurricane Maria can’t help themselves and are only waiting on federal assistance:
…Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
…want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
If you see this as playing on some ugly stereotypes of “lazy” Hispanics and government free-loaders, then you aren’t alone. Despite it being an early Saturday morning — and Yom Kippur — Twitter was incredibly vocal in its dismay and disgust at Trump’s Twitter rhetoric. To wit:
So Trump straight up just said the Americans in Puerto Rico are lazy and disorganized and “want everything to be done for them.”
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 30, 2017
Trump is unfit for office. He’s attacking the Mayor of San Juan, who is pleading for help to save her citizens, because she was mean to him. https://t.co/vlyw8EYucd
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) September 30, 2017
Trump’s attack this AM on people of Puerto Rico and saying they want everything done for them is unreal. https://t.co/VdPOvPyLTz
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) September 30, 2017
It may well be that Trump’s base doesn’t mind that he’s at a country club while Americans are suffering in Puerto Rico. Deplorable.
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) September 30, 2017
Trump is talking about Hispanics in a disaster zone the way dog-whistling Republicans talk about minorities on welfare. https://t.co/qHEs1cn3vR
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 30, 2017
You’re going straight to hell, @realDonaldTrump.
No long lines for you.
Someone will say, “Right this way, sir.”
They’ll clear a path. https://t.co/xXfJH0KJmw— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) September 30, 2017
Trump has done so many monstrous things but this has to be towards the top. Attacking people who have nothing and have lost everything. https://t.co/MJLq0065lt
— Matt Saccaro (@MattSaccaro) September 30, 2017
Such a piece of shit…… https://t.co/pXjo1XKcQn
— Geespin (@geespin) September 30, 2017
Trump complains that Puerto Ricans recovering from catastrophic hurricane just want federal handout https://t.co/AqDx2AM9Vt
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 30, 2017
In the face of catastrophe, he serves up slander. His fragile ego and inability to take responsibility-EVER-are fatal flaws in this @POTUS. https://t.co/jpe3SbmDRR
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 30, 2017
Something tells me Trump may not receive “the crowd, the turnout” he bragged about getting in TX after the storm when he visits PR next week
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) September 30, 2017
And the last word? San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz — who did not take Trump’s Twitter bait — took the high road, and instead doubled down on her call for help.
The goal is one: saving lives. This is the time to show our “true colors”. We cannot be distracted by anything else. pic.twitter.com/7PAINk19xM
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 30, 2017
That’s what leadership looks like.
