While visiting Puerto Rico and assisting in on-the-ground disaster relief efforts Tuesday, President Donald Trump couldn’t resist a joke during a stop at Muniz Air Base. While sitting with local officials, Trump commented in a joking tone on how expensive relief efforts were for the United States and remarked that the whole hurricane had “thrown out budget out of whack.”
“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown out budget a little of of whack,” said Trump. “Because we’ve spent on a lot of money on Puerto Rico. And that’s fine we’ve saved a lot of lives.”
The President then lauded the post-crisis recovery, and spoke approvingly of how few people had perished during the hurricane. He suggested islanders should be “proud” that only 16 people had died.
“Every death is a horror. But if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died and you look at what happened here with really a storm that was totally overpowering. Nobody has ever seen anything like this. What is your death count at this moment? 16 people certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud.”
That — odd — turn of phrase is already raising eyebrows among some elements of Blue Check Twitter.
Translation: So, you see, Puerto Rico isn’t MY Katrina, so therefore I haven’t done anything wrong. No need to thank me with an apology https://t.co/NC1oiescMa
– Colin Hanks (@ColinHanks) October 3, 2017