NFL fixation, while Puerto Rico seeks help..

White House defends Trump’s NFL fixation as Puerto Rico seeks help

Trump rushed to Texas and Florida in the wake of hurricanes, but has been less public in his response for the U.S territory crippled by Maria.

By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and COLIN WILHELM

The White House on Monday defended President Donald Trump’s muted response to the devastation Hurricane Maria left behind in Puerto Rico, brushing off criticism that he’s been more interested in kneeling NFL players than a U.S. territory suffering from a humanitarian crisis.

Before Monday night, Trump last tweeted about the storm on Sept. 20, writing, “Governor @RicardoRossello- We are with you and the people of Puerto Rico. Stay safe! #PRStrong.”

For five days after that, as the scale of the devastation became apparent, Trump did not address the catastrophe from his Twitter account. Over the same period, he tweeted twice about Hillary Clinton, three times about Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), once about NBA star Steph Curry and 12 times about the NFL, along with numerous additional posts about the national anthem that did not explicitly mention the NFL.

“It really doesn’t take that long to type out 140 characters and this president is very capable of doing more than one thing at a time and more than one thing in a day,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday, arguing that Trump’s Twitter feed should not be taken as an indication of his priorities.

Several hours after Sanders spoke, and after four days of back and forth with the NFL, Trump wrote a series of tweets about the dire situation Puerto Rico, contrasting it with Texas and Florida, which he said were “doing great” after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Puerto Rico, he said, was in “big trouble” and had already been suffering from “broken infrastructure & massive debt.”

“It's old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars.... owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities — and doing well. #FEMA,” the president tweeted.

Earlier Monday, Sanders called the Trump administration’s response to the storm “unprecedented,” even as it has been far less public than the responses to Irma and Harvey. Maria has left much of Puerto Rico — a U.S. territory of 3.4 million citizens — without power and with limited access to food and water.

“We’ve done unprecedented movement in terms of federal funding to provide for the people of Puerto Rico and others that have been impacted [by] these storms, we’ll continue to do so,” Sanders said, noting that FEMA Administrator Brock Long and Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert had traveled to the island to assess the damage and the response efforts.

She also pushed back against the idea that Trump is sending a message by tweeting attacks against NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem and not tweeting about Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, which also took a big hit.

“He’s not emphasizing sports. You’re missing the entire purpose of the message,” Sanders said.

Trump, however, has been noticeably less engaged with Maria’s devastation.

After Harvey and Irma ripped through Texas and Florida, Trump told several advisers he was very pleased with the administration’s handling of the storms, and senior administration officials were buoyed by the idea that the response caused his poll numbers to climb.

But Trump has not seemed as focused on Maria, administration officials say, though they note he has called Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, to ask about the damage.

Rossello has so far praised FEMA’s response and other parts of the Trump administration, but has had to petition the government for more military resources, mainly aircraft, for searches and air drops of essential goods to towns cut off by the natural disaster.

“We know that there are capabilities in the surrounding areas, helicopters, planes and so forth. And our petition is for us to be able to use them and be flexible in using them with making sure that resources arrive to those areas of that are more vulnerable in Puerto Rico,” Rossello told POLITICO on Sunday night.

Rossello stopped short of criticizing Trump’s level of engagement.

“I think he’s paid attention,” Rossello said. “He’s called me three times and he offered two pre-landfall emergency declarations before both storms hit Puerto Rico,” though Rossello said Trump had overlooked the “granular detail” of declaring a federal disaster for every section of the island.

But criticism against Trump has mounted from other corners. And reports that a White House disaster-aid request might not reach Congress until October further fanned the flames.

“Hey @realDonaldTrump you can’t wait that long,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, the “Hamilton” playwright of Puerto Rican descent, wrote on Twitter. “There will be a lot of American deaths on your watch if you wait that long.”

“Just spoke w/ fmr Gov @luisfortuno51: ‘PR on brink of humanitarian disaster.’ USVI too. DC must put aside controversies, prioritize rescue,” former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney tweeted.

Trump’s election rival Hillary Clinton also called on Trump’s administration to do more, and to recognize Puerto Ricans as U.S. citizens.

“President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens,” Clinton tweeted on Sunday, referring to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Puerto Rico’s government, which is effectively bankrupt and in over $70 billion of debt, has asked the federal government to waive the costs the commonwealth might have to pay out of pocket. A majority Republican federal oversight board put in place last year to oversee the island’s economic recovery already loosened its budgetary requirements on the local government to allow Rossello to spend more in the immediate response, though Puerto Rico had limited resources to begin with.

Though implicit, Rossello’s fears about being forgotten came across. During his interview, Rossello underscored the uniquely precarious situation Puerto Rico faces because of its long-term economic struggles, while maintaining that Americans in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands should receive no less aid than the residents of any state.

“Whatever relief package we have, whatever impact we have, we are U.S. citizens. We shouldn’t be the lesser for it,” the governor said. If a response proves lackluster, Rossello predicted “massive migration that would deteriorate our [economic] base here in Puerto Rico and would provoke significant demographic shifting in other areas of the United States.”

On Monday the governor, who like Trump is highly active on Twitter, retweeted a statement from Puerto Rico’s last Republican governor, Luis Fortuno.

“The Federal Gov needs to act immediately to assist PR,” it said. “Congress should support the 3.5 m US citizens residing in PR in same way as TX and FL.”