Donald Trump denies Hurricane Maria death toll in horrifically incorrect Twitter rant
Just when you thought President Donald Trump couldn't drag the country further into the dumpster fire of 2018, he found a way.
As Hurricane Florence buzzsaws through the Atlantic towards the Carolinas, Trump sent out a pair of tweets on Thursday morning that denied the most recently reported death toll from the Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
SEE ALSO: Hurricane Florence is growing: 5 things to know about the monster storm
And, somehow, he played the politics card by blaming Democrats for the count, unbelievably making the deaths of 3,000 Americans a partisan issue.
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
.....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
Trump, who famously DVRs news programs for later viewing, must have finally caught up with the controversy caused by comments he made on Tuesday in which he said his response to Hurricane Maria was "tremendous."
In August, a George Washington University study put the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Maria at 2,975 people. The government of Puerto Rico accepted these numbers, too, after many months in which the official death toll was listed at 64 people. The storm laid waste to the island, leaving many residents without potable water or power for months.
It's another unconscionable ego play by Trump, who's refusing to acknowledge a (literal) disaster that happened under his watch. It's either an unwillingness to accept the truth or a complete misunderstanding of the reality that many deaths likely came after the storm due to a lack of medical and public services.
With his comments on Thursday, Trump didn't just kick a hornets nest — instead, he bludgeoned it with a barbed-wire baseball bat and outrage exploded across Twitter.
This is what denial following neglect looks like: Mr Pres in the real world people died on your watch. YOUR LACK OF RESPECT IS APPALLING! pic.twitter.com/OJEDqT74Sr
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018
Simply put: delusional, paranoid, and unhinged from any sense of reality. Trump is so vain he thinks this is about him. NO IT IS NOT. pic.twitter.com/K96H5O3NKM
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 13, 2018
That's because you didn't provide the aid and relief they needed. This isn't a conspiracy theory! It's the truth!
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) September 13, 2018
This is a clown with rosy cheeks daubed in blood. Every GOP congressman is smeared with the same and should be haunted to the grave. https://t.co/kXEGLfzhlP
— earth shattering 4 booms (@Mobute) September 13, 2018
He went & shot paper towels like Steph Curry to the Puerto Ricans while their lives were in shambles & rolled out while they kept dying. https://t.co/vYw85bPpCk
— Step Back One Legged Shot (@MrDCsportsSr) September 13, 2018
The president is claiming Democrats increased the death toll of a catastrophic hurricane to make him look bad. For all the "wows" his tweets typically inspire, this is one is truly extraordinary. https://t.co/6kSHa7ajhB
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) September 13, 2018
the biggest victim of hurricane maria turns out to be donald trump. the people who died, it was their time. https://t.co/Srqf7uNe4n
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 13, 2018
You are the face of”No shame”! That actually people died in the days, weeks and months after María, only shows how little you care. Those deaths happen on your watch. https://t.co/QZHghjUIlw
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 13, 2018
Politicizing tragedy isn't something new, but Trump is taking us to darker place with statements like he's made this week, as his focus seemingly remains squarely on himself and his image.
Meanwhile, yet another monster storm spins towards the East Coast, millions of U.S. citizens are in harm's way, and he's tweeting about two-day old news.
It's not quite like the legend of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, but it's not far off.
