'You desperate, inept, soulless creature': Trump's false tweets about Puerto Rico death toll enrage Twitter
Nearly one year after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, President Trump refuses to accept the alarming new death toll in the wake of the storm, all while pushing a new conspiracy theory behind the latest finding that nearly 3,000 lives were lost.
Last month, the island’s governor formally raised the number of deaths from 64 to 2,975, a number Trump flat-out rejected on Thursday. He tweeted, “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico.”
3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
In an additional tweet, Trump said that “the Democrats” were behind the figure “in order to make me look as bad as possible.”
…..This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 13, 2018
Puerto Rico’s governor amended the death toll following a study by the nonpartisan George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. Trump’s declaration that few people had died when he left the island is false.
Celebrities on Twitter were quick to react to the president’s tweets.
Your incompetence killed them. You evil monster. You are denying deaths because they make you look bad. https://t.co/Y1mEDq1Ssi
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) September 13, 2018
Wow! A blatant truth denier! A pure moron! A birther true and true! A disgrace! A LIAR! Are you gonna tell this to the faces of the families of the 2975 who died??? Stop disgracing our country and disrespecting Americans. We all count! Not just @realDonaldTrump & @foxandfriends https://t.co/BuUncM1Qm7
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) September 13, 2018
Now trump is claiming the death toll in Puerto Rico is fake news. That deaths are not real. Republicans-stay under your rocks and watch your party be dismantled because of your silence. Cages for babies, and deaths for people of color. This is your president. What a horrible man.
— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) September 13, 2018
Wherein the president dismisses the official government of Puerto Rico death count from the 2017 hurricanes and their aftermath as a political plot against him.
Apparently of the belief that the death toll is about him and not about approximately 3,000 dead American citizens. https://t.co/dfZgojf8G4
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 13, 2018
The depths of your inhumanity is limitless. You are the antithesis of the American spirit. You desperate, inept, soulless creature. Fuck You. https://t.co/lhcUMtxf5x
— Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) September 13, 2018
Vote. https://t.co/ePWy51Rr7U
— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) September 13, 2018
You could’ve asked congress for a relief package to help PR. But instead you chose to pick a fight with the Mayor of San Juan and the NFL. Stop lying to save face. https://t.co/eUnSVporhK
— Bryan Greenberg (@bryangreenberg) September 13, 2018
Please take 3 minutes today and reach out to a friend who may not be into voting and make them promise you they will vote this November so we can finally start to break this evil idiot https://t.co/jIArP4MiSs https://t.co/BnvujgTO4x
— Ike Barinholtz (@ikebarinholtz) September 13, 2018
A friend of mine who retired at the very top of the military chain of command, a man who spent decades restoring order to devastated locations, told me that the US has the resources to have rebuilt Puerto Rico in TWO WEEKS. Unfortunate how the only factor missing is leadership.
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) September 13, 2018
Your inept response to the catastrophe in Puerto Rico caused the deaths of nearly 3000 American men, women and children. You dismissed the gravity of their predicament and utterly failed in your responsibility as president. This is a stain you must bear for the rest of your life
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) September 13, 2018
Thank you, Mayor, for speaking the truth. https://t.co/vpmsjLDued
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) September 13, 2018
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