Donald Trump Upsets Puerto Rico Officials With Tweets

President Donald Trump has a new Twitter feud and not with a specific person but the island officials of Puerto Rico.

On Wednesday night, Trump tweeted, “Democrats are trying to bail out insurance companies from disastrous #ObamaCare, and Puerto Rico with your tax dollars. Sad!” He continued his rant the next day and tweeted, “The Democrats want to shut government if we don’t bail out Puerto Rico and give billions to their insurance companies for OCare failure. NO!”

The tweets come as Democrats and Republicans meet in Congress this week to work on a deal to help Puerto Rico in the light of their Medicaid shortfall. In their multi-billion dollar debt crisis, the island is set to run out of Medicaid funding by the end of the year leading to half-million residents losing their health coverage.

Democrats seek to include funding for Puerto Rico’s Medicaid plan in the next spending bill. The deal must be agreed upon by Friday to avoid a government shutdown.

With the island receiving less than half in Medicare funds and even less in Medicaid than the other states, Trump was met by a frenzy of criticism on social media including government officials.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló replied in a tweet, “The American citizens of Puerto Rico deserve to be treated fairly. Health and civil rights are not partisan issues.” Others who joined in with disapproval include Carlos Mercader, the director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), and Former San Juan Mayor Hernan Padilla.

This article was originally published on PEOPLE.com