President Donald Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd at Calvary Chapel, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Evan Vucci/AP
Asked how he would grade the White House’s Puerto Rico response, Trump says, “I give ourselves a 10.” pic.twitter.com/WVr8IL2Lx4
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 19, 2017
President Donald Trump was asked by a White House reporter Thursday to rate his administration’s response to the crisis in Puerto Rico on a scale of 1 to 10. His answer?
“A 10.”
Trump said that the relief efforts were “probably the most difficult” in history and that Hurricane Maria was “worse than Katrina” and “in many ways worse than anything people have ever seen.”
“We have provided so much, so fast,” he said, sitting next to Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who was visiting the White House.
Almost 80 percent of Puerto Ricans still don’t have electricity, and nearly 30 percent don’t have access to safe drinking water. In one case, residents were so desperate that they were reportedly drawing water from a contaminated well.
Despite these conditions, Trump threatened to pull FEMA and the military out of Puerto Rico last week, tweeting that the relief agency couldn’t be there “forever.” He’s also said that Puerto Rico should be “proud” of the supposedly low death toll, and he suggested the crisis wasn’t a “real catastrophe” compared to Hurricane Katrina.
When Trump traveled to the island earlier in October—he infamously threw rolls of paper towels to residents—the visit did not go over well with locals. “There is no respect,” one resident told Mother Jones.
Not sure if we could call that a 10.
