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Trump Attacks Heroic San Juan Mayor as a Poor Leader and Puerto Ricans as Lazy

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‘They Want Everything to Be Done for Them’ Trump Says of People Who Are Drinking Water From a Creek

President Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of tweets early Saturday morning from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he’s been since Friday afternoon. In his tweet storm he attacked the mayor of San Juan as a poor leader and the people of Puerto Rico as lazy.

Puerto Rico this month has been literally destroyed by two back-to-back major hurricanes, leaving the island territory entirely without electricity, landline or cell phone service, internet, and in many areas, roads, for well over a week now.

San Juan’s Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has become the face of the efforts in Puerto Rico. She has been speaking with reporters and giving interviews on cable news networks to try to get the federal government to take action. All week she has been polite but has grown increasingly frustrated with FEMA, which is requiring her to write memos detailing what she and her people need, and requiring all residents of Puerto Rico, she says, to register online for aid. There is no “online” in a decimated Puerto Rico, unless you’re looking at people standing in line for food, water, or medicine.

Those are sitting on the docks in San Juan and other local ports, because the federal government can’t figure out how to get the tens of thousands of shipping containers where they need to go. 

All week Mayor Yulín Cruz has been working with FEMA and HHS, praising the people on the ground but lamenting the lack of leadership from Washington. She’s been saying the FEMA employees want to do the right thing but red tape and a lack of direction from D.C. means many are just standing around.

Friday, Mayor Yulín Cruz had had enough. She said her people are dying and accused the feds of “killing us with the inefficiency.”

I am asking the President of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives,” she pleaded.

Saturday morning, the President of the United States responded, by accusing her of poor leadership and the people of Puerto Rico of being lazy and bad workers.

The federal government’s response has not been “amazing.” It has been not even lackluster, and it’s the fault of the Commander-in-Chief, who spent much of last weekend at his golf course in Bedminster tweeting about NFL players protesting racism, oppression, and police killings of Black people.

According to reports, here at NCRM on Thursday, and Friday evening in The Washington Post, the White House had no plan to intervene in Puerto Rico until news reports on Monday showed images of total devastation.

This is President Trump’s Katrina, and once again, it is our nation’s poorest and most ignored, most of whom are people of color, who are paying the price – sadly, sometimes with their lives.

RELATED STORIES:

As Mayor of San Juan Sends an SOS to the President on ‘Maddow’ Trump Is Feverishly Tweeting

‘We Are Dying and You Are Killing Us With the Inefficiency’: San Juan Mayor Says ‘I’m Begging’ for Federal Help

‘This Is an Island, Surrounded by Water, Big Water, Ocean Water’: Everyone’s Talking About Trump’s Latest Puerto Rico Excuse

‘Not a Good News Story When People Are Dying’: Hero Mayor Blasts White House Claim Its Response to Puerto Rico Is a ‘Good News Story’

Trump Says He Will Have to Weigh ‘Big Decisions’ on Cost of Rebuilding Puerto Rico

White House to Puerto Rico Today: ‘President Is Behind You.’ White House on Puerto Rico on Monday Reportedly Had No Plan to Intervene.

Watch: Food, Water, Medicine for 500,000 People Is Sitting in Puerto Rico but Can’t Get to People Who Need It

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News

‘Start the Kevin McCarthy Death-Clock’ After Biden Wins Debt Ceiling Battle: Rick Wilson

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Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.

Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.

Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.

RELATED: ‘Crazy cuckoo MAGA people’ could sink debt ceiling deal: Dem strategist

“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”

“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.

Watch below or at the link:

 

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News

Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats

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As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.

As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.

“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump in danger of heightened espionage charges after bombshell report: legal expert

Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.

In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”

With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”

Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”

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BREAKING NEWS

Prosecutors Tell Trump They Have a Recording of Him and a Witness: Report

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Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Image via Shutterstock

 

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