US President Donald Trump said on Sunday his government was doing a “great job” to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria and took a new swipe at critics who said he had been slow to aid the island, whose power grid was destroyed 12 days ago.
The Republican president has intensified his praise of federal response efforts in the US territory after the mayor of the capital rebuked the efforts and American media continued to broadcast images of the havoc and suffering on the island.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who lost her house in the storm and has been attacked by Trump on Twitter, said on Sunday she would be willing to meet with him when he visits the island on Tuesday. “If he asks to meet with me, of course I will meet him.”
Trump, however, lashed out again at San Juan’s mayor in a pair of Twitter posts.
The creator of Broadway hit “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico, took Trump to task on Twitter over his attack on Cruz: “She has been working 24/7. You have been GOLFING. You’re going straight to hell.”
Conservative commentator Eric Erickson said he had planned to defend the Puerto Rico recovery efforts until the president attacked Cruz: “Yay, President Trump punched a critic — a critic who is on an island trying her best to help others where most of the people now have no homes, no power, and no running water. What a man he is!” he wrote on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Conservative commentator Eric Erickson said he had planned to defend the Puerto Rico recovery efforts until the president attacked Cruz: “Yay, President Trump punched a critic — a critic who is on an island trying her best to help others where most of the people now have no homes, no power, and no running water. What a man he is!” he wrote on Saturday.
{{/usCountry}}Saturday Night Live took a dig at the President’s reaction too:
And here’s what Trump said: