Harvey, Irma and Maria --- one of these is not like the other
by digby
There you have it:
In Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is still operating 50 Disaster Recovery Centers to help residents recovering from Hurricane Harvey.
In Florida, FEMA is running 18 Disaster Recovery Centers to help residents there after Hurricane Irma.
In Puerto Rico, 83% of the people living there — all U.S. citizens — remain without power after being hit by Hurricane Maria.
But President Trump threatened Thursday to withdraw FEMA, the military and other federal officials from the struggling island.
"We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!" the president tweeted.
Trump has already come under fire for the way his administration has responded to Hurricane Maria, which decimated Puerto Rico, compared to the way he handled Harvey and Irma.
The president tweeted or retweeted 25 times about Hurricane Harvey in the days leading up to the storm and the 48 hours after it made landfall. He tweeted about Irma 23 times during that timeframe. For Maria: the president sent two tweets.
Trump visited Texas four days after Harvey made landfall. He traveled to Florida four days after Irma made landfall. It took Trump 13 days to visit Puerto Rico after Maria made landfall.
In Texas and Florida, Trump spoke of the great job carried out by his administration, praised local officials for their hard work, and promised residents that the federal government would be there for the long haul.
