…I wouldn’t have used it to go Harvey-watching. Where does he get this crap?
President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for its heroics during Hurricane Harvey Wednesday, but credited the high number of water rescues to people taking their boats out to watch the storm roll in, baffling first responders.
Trump was on a conference call with state and federal leaders in preparation for another dreadful hurricane season. During the call, Trump thanked the Coast Guard for their service in helping save 16,000 people after Harvey, Hurricane Maria and other storms. The Coast Guard doesn’t “get enough credit,” Trump said.
“Sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane,” Trump said. “That didn’t work out too well.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez took umbrage with the president’s remarks, crediting civilians with making an “extraordinary effort” with their own boats to rescue neighbors, relatives and pets as Hurricane Harvey flooded the Texas coast with 52 inches of rain last year.
“I didn’t see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments,” Gonzalez said. “I’ll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches,” he added.
No one could explain the president’s comment.
When asked by the Houston Chronicle to confirm if Texans were out on boats gawking at the storm, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had “no information one way or another about that.”
Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo said: “I don’t know how we would go about confirming that,” when asked for evidence.
“I don’t even know how to respond to that,” said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.
In another reality, I’d just assume Donald Trump is stoned. In this world, there’s no point in trying to explain anything he says or does. He lies and he makes shit up, and that’s all there is to it. The Associated Press has more, but I can’t leave it like this. I need something to cleanse my palate.
There. Much better now.
I admit The Donald completely botched that one. When you shoot from the hip, sometimes you miss badly. Call it a ’57 states’ moment.
Average number of lies by the Russian cheeto is 7 per day.
I’m a fan of comment threads in general and those at Chron.com in particular. Happy to report that supporters of DT are few and far between in the articles there, and are being soundly trounced in the like/dislike numbers. There’s also a noticeable feeling of disdain for Governor Abbott due his weak response. And Bill, fumbling the number of states is a goof that is obviously atypical of the person committing it, as opposed to DT’s comment which is par for the course.
What the Russian cheeto traitor really really dislikes about being in the White House is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=72&v=Nv-XiiY3icE
Obama never believed, nor did any of his followers, no matter how ardent, that there are 57 states. It was clearly a misstatement. No policy decisions were affected by Obama’s beliefs about the number of states.
The current officeholder actually thinks that 16,000 people went out in boats to watch the hurricane. He has zero understanding of what actually happened – the water came to the people, who were then rescued by boats. Could this affect policy or relief? Maybe – who knows? What kind of policy would prevent 16,000 people from hurricane watching by boat? What kind of relief do these 16,000 hurricane watchers need or deserve?
Bill,
Drumpf has had a botched presidency, not a botched moment.
Have you been paying attention at all? This is not a rare moment. Or are you just ingenuous in your comments?
Gee Bill, you were almost, almost honest there, but then you had to go make a grossly false equivalence. Trump is a belligerently ignorant fool, who benefits from the sad fact that it is far easier to con people than to get them to admit that they got suckered.
But even that pales in comparison to how badly the response to Puerto Rico has been botched. I hope all those forced to relocate to the mainland are ready to vote.
@Fly:
P.R., at the time of the hurricane, was basically 3rd world. The electric grid was beyond decrepit, so fixing it, and the roads, etc., was not like repairing hurricane damage here in the continental US. To restore electric service there basically means building out new infrastructure from scratch. Typical liberals, demanding free stuff that others pay for, and then complaining because it isn’t enough, or isn’t delivered fast enough.
I will admit that the first contract let for electric grid repair (Flyfish? Some odd name like that) was sketchy as Hell. I’d like to know more about how that happened. Having said that, the correct decision was made, sending over crews from the mutual aid pool of stateside electric companies. I have no doubt our Centerpoint crews working 16 hour days got a lot accomplished during their time on the island.
Ask yourself WHY P.R., a tropical island with a staggering amount of tourism potential, is and was a shit hole, even before the storm. You may not want to face the awful truth.
Bill, why not allow Puerto Rico to become a state and see what miracles that will provide, congressmen and two Senators pushing for their state. U.S. territories started doing better after they became states.
Moral give a Trump type personality a chance to change the topic and they will attack in this case by insulting over 3 million people, that would be Puerto Ricans.
http://www.pr51st.com/alaska-before-and-after-statehood/
None of that is any excuse for not being prepared to move in aid quickly in the aftermath, or the official denial of just how bad that aftermath is. Notice that big discrepancy in the death toll? Puerto Rico’s previous issues do not let the Feds off the hook. It was already obvious that it’s an island and they had notice of at least a few days that the storm was coming. Why isn’t that time being used to organize the relief efforts for the quickest issuble deployment?
Also, that typical conservative whine about “free stuff” is bullshit. It’s the social safety net that we all pay into, hoping that we won’t ever need it, but take some reassurance in the notion that it should be there if we do. It’s the whole point of having a civilization.
” It’s the social safety net that we all pay into, hoping that we won’t ever need it…..”
Ah, but that’s just it, Fly…..Puerto Ricans do NOT ‘pay into’ the US Treasury in the form of income taxes. They want the net, but they don’t want to help pay for the net. There’s a term for that: freeloaders.
That’s why P.R. would never be serious about statehood. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
Edit: Looks like federal employees in P.R. pay US income tax, as well as P.R.’s who have income from the US mainland. Still that can’t be a large percentage of P.R. people.
Changing the subject again if they became a state they would pay income tax, but that is the racist excuse to always attack people of color, or Women, or LGBTQ people. Sometimes one of them that may be slightly different and not hate one of the above.
The mid-terms will be the Trump Party attacking blacks, browns, rainbow, Muslim, and Nancy. They need their bogey man or woman.
Wonder why the states controlled by the Trump Party are the ones that get most of the handouts, a bunch of freeloaders. https://taxfoundation.org/states-rely-most-federal-aid/
Pingback: Who’s willing to tell Trump he’s all wet? – Off the Kuff
“Ah, but that’s just it, Fly…..Puerto Ricans do NOT ‘pay into’ the US Treasury in the form of income taxes. They want the net, but they don’t want to help pay for the net. There’s a term for that: freeloaders.”
Except that you forget that there is no representation without taxation. Puerto Rico has no say in Congress, and residents can’t vote for President. They are paying a price.
Also there’s that matter of the Jones act, with restricts how things can be shipped to Puerto Rico. That should have been waived as soon as it was obvious that the first hurricane, Irma, was going to strike the island. That is was waived only well after the 2nd hurricane, and only after major public outcry, is one big fat FAIL on the parts of both Trump and the GOP Congress
Interesting how a well-written column about the stupidity of the current POTUS degenerates into personal attacks on Puerto Rice and its infrastructure. Keep to the subject at hand, guys; don’t waste a great opportunity to realize just how far into the muck we have descended since January 20, 2017.