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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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‘Lied Through His Teeth’: Senator Warns RFK Jr. Undermining Vaccine Will ‘Kill’ Kids

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U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is accusing Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of lying during his Senate testimony this week, and warning that the HHS chief’s efforts to destroy faith in the measles vaccine will lead to children dying.

“It’s not a small thing that Trump’s Cabinet thinks Congress and the American people are so dumb that they can tell brazen lies over and over. We can’t normalize this,” Senator Murphy urged.

“The way in which Trump and Trump’s cabinet lie through their teeth, unapologetically and brazenly, to Congress and the American people, is outrageous,” Murphy said in video (below) he posted online Friday. “And I really worry that we risk normalizing it by not calling it out when it happens.”

He called the exchange he had with RFK Jr. “maddening” and “heartbreaking,” and said the HHS Secretary “essentially says that he’s no longer recommending that families get the measles vaccine. That’s going to kill hundreds, if not thousands of kids in this country.”

Murphy then played a clip from Kennedy’s testimony (which NCRM covered earlier this week), and, he said, caught Kennedy in a lie.

RELATED: ‘None of That Is True’: RFK Jr. Fact-Checked Repeatedly in Heated Senate Hearing

“By the way,” Kennedy told Murphy, “I said at the [House] hearing this morning that I was recommending the measles vaccine,” and told him to “look at the transcript.”

“So guess what I did?” Murphy says. “I went and checked the House transcript. It’s hours of testimony. I and my staff watched all of it, and guess what? Nowhere, nowhere in that transcript does he say he recommends the measles vaccine.”

“He lied through his teeth, and he did it because all of these MAGA sycophants have gotten used to lying. Donald Trump does it all the time, so they think they can do it as well. But we can’t normalize this because you can’t run a country if your leaders are lying to you every single day,” the Connecticut Democrat warned.

“RFK Jr. doesn’t support the measles vaccine, and he shouldn’t pretend that he does. He undermines the vaccine on a daily basis and whether we like his conspiracy theory positions or not, he should just be honest with the American people. They should all be honest with the American people, and none of us should normalize or get used to this amount of lying.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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‘It Meant Assassination’: Trump Blasts ‘Dirty Cop’ Comey for ‘8647’

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President Donald Trump is attacking the FBI Director he fired, Jim Comey, who is reportedly under investigation  over a photo of sea shells formed into the numbers 8647. Top Trump law enforcement and intelligence officials claim it is a call for the assassination of the 47th President, although “86” is generally understood to mean “reject” or “eject,” and, since the 1930s, in restaurant parlance, has meant a menu item is unavailable.

“He knew exactly what that meant,” President Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that will air Friday evening. “A child knows what that meant.”

“If you’re the FBI Director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination.’ And it says it loud and clear,” Trump alleged.

READ MORE: GOP Plan Redefines Dependent Child as ‘Under 7’—But Adds Loophole for Married Couples

“Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant, and he did it for a reason, and he was hit so hard because people like me, and they like what’s happening with our country. Our country’s become respected again,” the President claimed. “And he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”

Baier interjected, saying: “Obviously, he apologized and said he —”

“Well, he apologized because he was hit,” Trump also claimed. “Look, he’s a very bad —”

When asked what he wants to see happen to the former Director of the FBI, Trump said he did not want to weigh in, and would let his Attorney General handle it.

“I don’t want to take a position on it because that’s gonna be up to Pam [Bondi] and all of the great people, but I will say this. I think it’s a terrible thing. And when you add his history to that, if he had a clean history, he doesn’t.”

“He’s a dirty cop. He’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency. But I’m going to let them make that decision.”

READ MORE: ‘Mad King’: Trump Teases ‘Fourth’ Term to U.S. Troops Overseas

Trump Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News on Thursday night she thinks Comey should go to prison for posting the “8647” photo.

Asked, “Do you believe Comey should be in jail?” Gabbard replied, “I do.”

“Any other person with the position of influence that he has,” she added, “people who take very seriously what what a guy of his stature, his experience, and what the propaganda media has built him up to be?”

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life. We’ve already seen assassination attempts,” she continued. “I’m very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

But others commenting via social media were quick to point to a number of “86” posts apparently made by right wing influencers and even a former member of Congress, as well as T-shirts for sale during the Biden years.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Significant Damage’: Walmart’s ‘Magnitude’ Warning to Consumers Spurs Trump Tariff Critics

 

Image via Reuters

 

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‘Mad King’: Trump Teases ‘Fourth’ Term to U.S. Troops Overseas

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During a rally-style appearance before uniformed U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday, President Donald Trump—serving as their Commander-in-Chief—floated the idea of a “fourth” term and falsely claimed victory in the 2020 election he lost. The appearance drew swift criticism for blurring the line between military service and political theater.

“As you know, we won three elections, okay?” Trump told the largely silent troops (video below). “And some people want us to do a fourth. I don’t know—I’ll have to think about that.”

“You saw the new, the new hat. The hottest hat is, it says, ‘Trump 2028: We’re driving the left crazy.'”

“When you see that. We didn’t need that hat, but, uh, it was it’s been an amazing period of time,” he concluded.

READ MORE: ‘Significant Damage’: Walmart’s ‘Magnitude’ Warning to Consumers Spurs Trump Tariff Critics

Noting that Trump was speaking “at the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East,” CNN reported that the President “thanked the U.S. troops for political support.”

“There’s – nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us, nobody,” Trump said. “So, I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor. Thank you very much.”

CBS News national security coordinating producer Jim LaPorta, who has reported extensively on the military, wrote: “If this was a rally, the president’s remarks would be fine. But in front of service members who are expected to be apolitical, many Defense Department officials would find these remarks inappropriate.”

READ MORE: ‘Deeply Fascist’: Massive Banner of Trump on Government Building Sparks ‘North Korea’ Vibes

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein observed: “Treating the troops like they’re at a campaign rally and sowing doubt about the past and future of American elections — all in one soundbite.”

Democratic pollster and strategist Luke Martin called it “especially jarring to see Trump flirting with blowing a hole in the Constitution in front of an entire crowd of people who literally swore an oath to protect it with their life.”

Independent journalist Mike Rothschild noted: “Making a statement like this in front of active duty troops would have generated months of scandal, hearings, and resignations in years gone by. Now it’s just another Thursday with the Mad King.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: GOP Plan Redefines Dependent Child as ‘Under 7’—But Adds Loophole for Married Couples

 

Image via Reuters

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