The Washington Post has a new report out breaking down the response by President Donald Trump’s administration to the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico.
Now a former foreign disaster assistance chief under President Barack Obama, who said he was trying “to be balanced” regarding Trump’s handling of the situation because he knows “how hard this stuff is,” said that the report has finally made him snap — “so mad I could spit.”
Jeremy Konyndyk, who now works for the Center for Global Development, calls the Trump administration’s response disaster management “malpractice.” Here are his tweets breaking down the report:
This is the best tick-tock I've seen on White House mgmt of Puerto Rico response. And it is so, so, so damning. 1/ https://t.co/29Zoqf9E2s
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
I've tried to be balanced re: Trump's handling of PR, incl in my piece today, b/c I know how hard this stuff is. 2/ https://t.co/rCBXmh5KfR
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
But WaPo report tonight makes that impossible. Confirms worst suspicions. Clear that WH took their eye off the ball at the worst moment. 3/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
The 2-3 days immediately after a major event are critical; that's when you gauge damage in order to calibrate response. 4/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
During that critical window, rather than shaping response, POTUS was at golf club. Even held work mtgs; but not on PR. 5/ pic.twitter.com/RaUr5UMKJR
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
Senior admin officials didn't visit PR to assess situation first-hand until 5 days post storm. Inexcusable. 6/ pic.twitter.com/SR6OfI8kFh
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
Tellingly, what set Trump off and spurred his attention was not briefings - it was bad tv coverage. 7/ pic.twitter.com/WYkkb3Ekrg
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
He didn't hold a high level meeting on the storm response until Tuesday - SIX DAYS after landfall. This is disaster mgmt malpractice. 8/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
And it has become clearer and clearer that response hasn't had the resources and people it needs - as DoD is now admitting. pic.twitter.com/23Llq6Wyzc
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
Why do I call this malpractice? Because they had all the tools they needed to see this for what it was; if only they'd paid attention. 10/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
Storm played out exactly as forecast. Was clear it would be devastating, and it was. And then....the President left things on autopilot. 11/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
And that has had real, tangible, harmful consequences for the speed and effectiveness of the response. 12/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
It makes me so mad I could spit. 13/
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
FEMA staff deserve better. DoD staff deserve better. And most of all, the people of Puerto Rico deserve better. This is not leadership. /end
— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) September 30, 2017
In short, the Trump administration squandered the early days of the response — and has done little to rectify the situation in the aftermath. That’s led to a truly catastrophic humanitarian crisis that one official at the Army Corps of Engineers said is comparable to the Iraq War in 2003.
Meanwhile, Trump has responded to the negative reviews by starting a Twitter feud with San Juan’s mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz.
