Donald Trump criticised for blasting Puerto Rico’s mayor over hurricane appeal

CRITICS have unleashed on Donald Trump, saying he has “moved the goalposts” on what not to do as president of the United States.

President Donald Trump didn’t take too kindly to an appeal for help from Puerto Rico’s mayor. Picture: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

DONALD Trump has sparked a storm of controversy after slamming a mayor who asked the President to get the ball rolling on hurricane relief.

The US President went on the offensive after San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz pleaded with Mr Trump for more federal help in dealing with Hurricane Maria.

His angry response sparked massive criticism, including from CNN which said George W. Bush’s response to Katrina was no longer the metric used for measuring future presidents’ failures.

Ms Cruz appealed for help after Puerto Rico experienced widespread damage including most of the electrical, gas and water grid as well as agriculture after the Category 4 hurricane smashed the island.

“I keep saying it: SOS. If anyone can hear us; if Mr Trump can hear us, let’s just get it over with and get the ball rolling,” she told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Mr Trump didn’t take the appeal very well, accusing Ms Cruz over Twitter of having poor leadership and pandering to Democrats.

Ms Cruz insisted politics had nothing to do with her appeal for help.

“It’s not about politics, it’s not about petty comments, it’s about moving forward, putting boots on the ground and saving lives,” she told MSNBC’s Joy Reid.

“Actually, I was asking for help. I wasn’t saying anything nasty about the president.”

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz asked the US President to get the ball rolling on hurricane relief. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

...Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

...want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017

Mr Trump’s tweets and his response to Ms Cruz and the environmental disaster didn’t go unnoticed.

Many celebrities including Lady Gaga and John Legend tweeted their criticism to Mr Trump’s response.

I this it's clear where the 'poor leadership' lies @realDonaldTrump Puerto Rico is part of the United States. This is our responsibility.

— xoxo, Gaga (@ladygaga) September 30, 2017

However it didn’t end there.

Saturday Night Live cast Member Michael Che said he didn’t understand what the president’s problem was in not responding faster and questioned what the mayor had done to him.

“Was she nasty to you? How nasty? Are you shaking?” he said.

“You want to go smoke a Virginia Slim until your hand stops moving? This isn’t that complicated, man. It’s hurricane relief. These people need help. You just did this for white people twice. Do the same thing. Go tell Melania to put on her flood heels, get some bottled water, some food, pack up some extra Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl T-shirts, and write them a check with our money, you cheap cracker. In one month, you’ve mishandled Puerto Rico, DACA, the NFL. It’s like when anybody darker than your golf pants has a problem, you’re thinking: How can I make this worse?”

In a separate stinging opinion piece, CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem writes that Katrina used to be the crisis that served as the metric for determining a president’s failure.

Mr Bush was on holiday during the 2005 disaster and was widely criticised for not paying attention to the biggest story of the moment.

Kayyem writes that all Mr Trump has done through his series of tweets is make the tragedy about himself.

“A strong Commander-in-Chief would know that his main duty is not to praise himself or lash back because of a bruised ego, but to use his global platform to provide two key needs: numbers (responders, commodities, ships, food, water, debris removal, etc) and hope,” she writes.

“By calling out the party affiliation of a mayor — a Latina leader — he has put politics right at the door of tragedy,” she writes.

“It is dangerous, and it is historic.”

She goes on to say how in future people will stop asking “is this the president’s Hurricane Katrina?”

“Instead, it will be ‘Is this the president’s Puerto Rico?’ Trump has moved the goalpost. That wasn’t easy to do. Mission accomplished,” she writes.