Donald Trump: Puerto Rico ‘Absolutely Obliterated’ by Hurricane Maria

breitbart ^ | CHARLIE SPIERING

[davikkm]

President Donald Trump commented on the historic hurricane damage in Puerto Rico, promising to help rebuild the community. “Puerto Rico was absolutely obliterated,” Trump said referring to the damage caused by category five storm Hurricane Maria.

The president made his remarks on Thursday during a meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko in New York City.

He acknowledged that Puerto Rico’s electric grid was destroyed, which could take up to six months to restore power to nearly 3.5 residents on the island.

“All you have to do is read or turn on the television and you will see a place that is practically leveled,” Trump said.

[davikkm]

Hold the press!

What ever happened to the billions that Puerto Rico OWED the U.S.?

Now, even more of the U.S. tax payer hard earned dollars are going to be given to a “Debtor territory”?

What is in it for US?

[xzins]

All Puerto Ricans are US citizens at birth.

[mazda77]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3587644/posts

The total destruction meme is not shared by some in PR.

[lee martell]

It will be like some parts of Africa. If we don’t move in and support them financially, the Chinese will. The Chinese will then hold a controlling economic interest in any agriculture , construction and mining.

[DoughtyOne]

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President Donald J. Trump and the Free Republic of the United States of America
President Donald J. Trump's address to the United Nations on 09/19/2017.

Ramirez political cartoon:  Sanctuary State LARGE VERSION 09/21/2017: LINK  LINK to regular sized versions of his political cartoons (archive).
Garrison political cartoon:  Good Boy LARGE VERSION 09/19/2017: LINK  LINK (scroll down) to regular sized versions of his political cartoons (archive).


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[oh8eleven]

It will be like some parts of Africa. If we don’t move in and support them financially ...
It's exactly what happened in Cuba. We rejected Castro and his Commie buddies and the USSR moved right in.

[Sign Petition to Arrest Comey]

Nothing. I say we give Puerto Rico their Independence and forgive the 70 billion in debt. After all Colonialism is bad right? It’d be the best investment we can make for the PR debacle. Every year another billion goes to waste, they default, we bailout, the debt climes, and more Democrats from PR join the voting roles. By giving PR away they lose US citizenship rights and can no longer turn Florida and other states blue.

[DoodleDawg]

What’s in it for me for all the spending on Irma and Harvey...other than the fact that my fellow citizens are hurting and the government is in a position to assist. Or perhaps you would leave them in the lurch, too, as you would Mimi victims?

[garyb]

The US Congress and Senate in 1917 passed the Jones-Shaforth act and Woodrow Wilson signed it into law, the people there are US Citizens.

Politically, series of Congresses and Executives that all but ignored Puerto Rico, and allowed the debt to increase, not that much different than, say, Illinois or California for that matter.

“In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently became a possession of the United States. The first years of the 20th century were marked by the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the United States. The Foraker Act of 1900, which established a civil government, and the Jones Act of 1917, which made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens, paved the way for the drafting of Puerto Rico's Constitution and its approval by Congress and Puerto Rican voters in 1952. However, the political status of Puerto Rico, a Commonwealth controlled by the United States, remains an anomaly.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones%E2%80%93Shafroth_Act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Puerto_Rico

[pgkdan]

The residents of Puerto Rico are US citizens. They deserve the help of their fellow citizens and the federal government as much as FL and TX citizens do.

[trebb]

Get yourself a hanky or Kleenex - You remind me of an old song: “Cry Cry Cry”.

[eyeamok]

Shouldn’t they be celebrating the fact that they are the first State to go Carbon Free Energy in the name of saving the Planet from Global Warming??

[Prolixus]

The networks are pushing hurricane news ‘cause of “Global Warming” and at the same time are ignoring the massive earthquake in Mexico City (hundreds known dead so far) ‘cause blaming earthquakes on “Global Warming” is going to. far - even for CNN.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

We rejected Castro and his Commie buddies and the USSR moved right in.

Fidel Castro rejected the US long before he was on the US radar.

[vette6387]

"What is in it for US?" They ARE the US! The problem here is not unlike a number of our states that have been allowed to follow disastrous financial roads. The strategic significance of PR cannot be discounted, to say nothing of the current situation of it's people. You can't simply turn your back on PR at this juncture. Again, Trump is being confronted with literally decades of bad financial policies in PR. It's just another of a long list of things that he has to fix.

[factoryrat]

Kind of like california and Illinois.

Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth, and are US citizens, like it or not.

Both Puerto Rico and Illinois are basically insolvent at this point, and California is trying like hell to catch up to them. That doesn’t mean that we will turn our backs on them in the event of a natural disaster.

[VanDeKoik]

At this point, we might as well give it back to Spain.

I’m still not even sure why we felt the need to take it from them in the first place.

[bert]

By the US, I assume you mean PR debt holders. Those debts are holders of who knows what debt instruments but are banks and other organizations that invest in such debt instruments.

They are screwed. You can’t get blood from a turnip nor money from a destroyed island territory.

The best they can do is to extend the life of the debt for 500 years or so

[VanDeKoik]

This is very true.

Despite the mess the Spanish American War has made of the status of PR, they are Americans by all legal measure now.