I really wish I wasn’t starting off with Puerto Rico this week. Not that it’s possible for an island that took such an awful blow to be back to normal, or even back to reasonable, after only ten days. But it should be possible for a nation with the vaunted resources and capabilities of the United States to at least relieve people struggling to survive. It should be possible for the storm to be the catastrophe, not the response.
It’s easy to imagine a different kind of response. One that—several days in advance of Hurricane Maria’s arrival, when the forecasts made it clear that Puerto Rico would take a direct hit from a dreadful storm—launched FEMA and the military into high gear. A response where the hospital ship Comfort was loaded up and prepared to go before the storm finished its trek across the island. A response that saw caches of food, fuel, and water distributed across Puerto Rico in anticipation of failing bridges and washed out roads. One that raised the Jones Act in advance of the storm, in order to maximize the arrival of last minute supplies. One that understood generators and satellite phones would be needed to ensure communication. One that searched out the bottlenecks in delivering supplies to the more remote areas and was ready to address that need with men and machines the moment the winds had passed.
A response that was about preparation and action, rather than delay and confusion. A response that valued the lives of Americans, over the bragging of Donald Trump. A response like … an American response.
On June 24, 1948, the armed forces of the Soviet Union blockaded the city of Berlin, where almost two and a half million people lived in areas dependent on the western allies. With an army of over a million and a half men in place, facing off against fewer than one hundred thousand Americans, the Soviets blocked the roads, the railways, and even barge traffic along the rivers. They did so in full confidence that the allies would surrender the city to them.
Two days later, planes began to arrive. Those planes delivered not just food, but gasoline and even coal for heating. They supplied the city’s needs through more 200,000 flights that continued, every day, day and night, until the Soviets finally relented in September of 1949. They were able to do this because the government agreed to do whatever it took to support the city, no matter what the cost or how high the effort — and because they had planned for the possibility in advance.
There are three and a half million Americas right now depending on the help of the federal government, and no reason they shouldn’t expect an effort every bit as impressive as the one extended to Berlin in 1948. Except … that’s not what they’re getting. They’re getting this …
“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 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.”
This message was delivered to Americans without food, clean water, or electricity from a man at a golf course. Oh, and 10,000 federal workers is almost one-third the number who were on hand in Houston within four days of Hurricane Harvey. How dare the Americans on Puerto Rico expect to be treated like Americans.
Come on, let’s read pundits.
Marisol Lebron on how Congress could do for Puerto Rico now what they should have done earlier.
One of the greatest factors shaping the recovery efforts will be the Fiscal Control Board installed by the federal government as part of the Promesa Act, which oversees Puerto Rico’s finances. The imposition of the Fiscal Control Board, or Junta, means that the local government is hamstrung in terms of its ability to allocate and disperse funds for disaster relief.
The federal government-imposed “Junta” now in charge of Puerto Rico’s finances is composed of a team that’s long favored privatizing infrastructure on the island. There’s a wide-spread concern that they will use the “opportunity” provided by Maria to justify selling off utilities at a bargain price.
The White House has announced that it does not intend to request aid for Puerto Rico from Congress until the first or second week of October. This is in stark contrast to the $15.25bn quickly authorized by Congress to aid Texas following Hurricane Harvey. ...
Congress has the ability to alleviate Puerto Rico’s woes by placing a moratorium on Puerto Rico’s debt payments or even abolishing the debt in whole or in part.
Congress has taken no action to either draft a bill for emergency funds for Puerto Rico, or to relieve the island of its staggering debt. But it could.
The New York Times on Trump’s response to Puerto Rico.
It has been a week since Puerto Rico emerged from a double battering by hurricanes, and it is caught in a painful, torpid recovery. Far more and far faster help is needed as the island struggles with vast devastation that only the federal government has the resources to repair.
In one sign that Washington is getting the message, President Trump finally agreed Thursday, after days of dithering, to temporarily waive restrictions on shipments by foreign vessels to the island’s ports. The administration also appointed a three-star general to focus on faster distribution of emergency supplies, addressing one of the main problems on the wreckage-clogged island. The Pentagon was rushing to send more military assets, including a hospital ship.
All of which would have been great … ten days ago.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló took care to praise Mr. Trump for his concern and optimistic promises, saying, “He has been on top of it.” But the governor wisely emphasized a larger message for congressional leaders and fellow Americans. If aid is not forthcoming on the levels of that for Texas and Florida, Mr. Rosselló warned of “a massive exodus” of Puerto Ricans to the mainland as fully entitled citizens, hurting the island’s chances for a full recovery and — probably to the consternation of Republicans — bringing “deep demographic turmoil” to states like Florida.
There have been plenty of people ready to criticize Rosselló. But he has the unenviable job of simply keeping three and a half million Americans alive with Donald Trump pulling all the strings. The combination of flattering Trump and threatening Congress sounds pretty smart. Though … honestly you can’t even win by praising Trump, because then he still does a miserable job and just spends his time repeating how great people said he was. There is no good approach.
Reporters from the New York Times also scattered around Puerto Rico to report a day on the storm-blasted island. Read it to see what conditions are actually like.
Paul Krugman on Trump’s inability to see anyone or anything as other than a reflection on himself.
The trouble with Trump isn’t just what he’s doing, but what he isn’t. In his mind, it’s all about him — and while he’s stroking his fragile ego, basic functions of government are being neglected or worse.
Let’s talk about two stories that might seem separate: the deadly neglect of Puerto Rico, and the ongoing sabotage of American health care. What these stories have in common is that millions of Americans are going to suffer, and hundreds if not thousands die, because Trump and his officials are too self-centered to do their jobs.
Trump is simply the most childish, most emotionally immature adult in the country … and for some reason, we’re rewarding him for that.
So have we seen the kind of full-court, all-out relief effort such a catastrophe demands? No.
Admittedly, it’s hard to quantify the federal response. But none of the extraordinary measures you’d expect to see have materialized. …
Furthermore, although it’s more than a week since Maria made landfall, the Trump administration has yet to submit a request for aid to Congress.
He’s going to get to it. Next week. Or the week after. Now watch this drive.
Gary Younge on the real Trump base.
Last Friday, Donald Trump went to Alabama and branded NFL players who have been expressing their support for Black Lives Matter by kneeling during the pre-game national anthem, “sons of bitches”. To cheers from the crowd, he said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He’s fired! … Total disrespect of our heritage, a total disrespect of everything that we stand for. Everything that we stand for.” This in the state that kept its local ban on interracial marriage until 2000.
It’s also the state that just voted for Roy Moore.
No one ever got rich leading a popular protest against racism. (Indeed, Kaepernick was let go by the 49ers for this season). And no one ever went broke betting on the popular appeal of American racism either.
For on the other side of the divide stand the defenders of white supremacy, resentful at eight years of a black president and bewildered by the broader geo-political decline that has seen lost wars, lost trade and stagnant wages. With white America set to become a minority within a generation, they are desperate not only to protect privilege but to contort history. Defending everything from the statues of confederate generals to the right of police to shoot unarmed African Americans, they have found an advocate in the White House.
The determination to save what’s always been worst about America is far from over.
Leonard Pitts on the real reason Trump, and Trump’s base, is upset with the NFL
When there was violence in the streets over unpunished police killings of African-American men, they said that was the wrong way to go about it. Most of us agreed.
But when peaceful street demonstrations took place, conservatives didn’t like them, either. Then, last year, NFL player Colin Kaepernick hit on the idea of sitting through the national anthem.
But conservatives said that was disrespectful to veterans. So Kaepernick started taking a knee instead. Many others followed suit.
There is no gesture that Kaepernick could make, including standing with his hand over his heart, that Republicans would not determine to be disrespectful. He is, after all, demonstrating while black.
Then came last week: Donald Trump took time out from comparing missiles with Kim Jong Un and ignoring Puerto Rico to declare that the athlete who takes a knee is a “son of a b---h” who should be fired for disrespecting America. He was harder on the athletes than on the neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville.
Maybe that’s the secret. If the athlete’s only had tiki torches…
There were other criticisms, too. Some said that black men who have been “given” the “privilege” of making big money playing sports, should show proper gratitude to the country before criticizing it. Me, I was unaware there was a requirement that rich guys thank America before griping about it.
Does Trump know this? Because he complains about America a lot and he’s rich. Or, so he says.
And, of course, the biggest reason that Trump’s base is ready to jump on the players is simply because they’re talented, rich ... and black. That last one is bad enough, but all three together is intolerable.
Malcolm Jenkins is one of those actually out on the field.
A year ago, I was one of several NFL players who began demonstrating in the hope of sparking conversation about injustice in our country. That effort has now grown to include players and teams across the league, as we proclaim together that we believe in equality and justice for everyone. We understand that these conversations are often uncomfortable, but they are important for progress. Our demonstrations have never been about the symbols and traditions we use to honor America. They have been about us as citizens making sure we hold America to the ideals and promises that make this country great.
But the on-field protest is not all he’s doing.
In the past year, more than 40 NFL players have joined Anquan Boldin, who retired this summer after 14 seasons, and me to form a Players Coalition dedicated to improving our criminal-justice system. …
We want to lend our voices to changing this flawed system, which is crippling our nation and especially affects people who are poor or of color. We have gone on ride-alongs with police, visited Capitol Hill and talked with policy advocates and grass-roots organizers. We’ve learned first-hand about the problems we face. We’ve also learned that we aren’t alone. There are plenty of Republicans and Democrats, community leaders and members of law enforcement who agree.
Any encounter with the system is likely to leave people bruised, disillusioned, and fearful — and that’s a good outcome. It’s a system that’s in need of a complete overhaul.
Colbert King on the real source of national disrespect.
Trump tweets that players should “stop disrespecting our Flag & Country.”
Flag and country are not out of my mind.
How could I not think of flag and country when I consider the actions of a hostile foreign power attempting to corrupt our basic American democratic franchise? The thought of Russia interfering in our presidential election to help Trump and defeat Hillary Clinton is as stunning as it is outrageous. But that is what Russian President Vladimir Putin did, according to the U.S. intelligence community. A clear threat to flag and country.
Well, to be fair, it’s not clear which flag or which country Trump is talking about. Someone should slide in the State Anthem of the Russian Federation (which is the same tune as the State Anthem of the Soviet Union) at some White House affair and see how fast Trump scrambles to his feet.
Trump questioned the patriotism of the protesting athletes. How is it patriotic for him and his private-jet-obsessed — and now former — health and human services secretary to take away health insurance from millions of Americans, as would have happened with their support for proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act? What a display of national devotion.
And speaking of Tom Price …
The Washington Post bids a less-than-fond farewell.
Tom Price’s resignation as health and human services secretary Friday ended an inglorious and brief tenure. Though his arrogant waste of taxpayer money on chartered plane trips brought him down, his more serious failure was in policy — and belongs to the entire Trump administration. Shortly before Mr. Price resigned, President Trump raised the possibility of striking a deal with Democrats to fix the health-care system. Mr. Price, a hard-charging partisan Republican, would no doubt have been a roadblock. Mr. Trump should find someone less motivated by ideology, shift gears and work to actually improve health care for all Americans.
Still in search of the eternal pivot, eh? You guys just sit right there. It’ll be any minute now. Any minute.
John Kerry responds to Trump’s threats to end the Iran deal.
If the United States breaks with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the six other signatories and the conclusions of our own State Department by decertifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, the deal’s fate will rest with Congress under the terms of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. It would be facing a decision about America’s security, not a referendum on President Trump or former president Barack Obama.
The idea that this Congress would look on the opportunity to vote on the Iran deal as something other than a vote on Barack Obama, is about as realistic as waiting for Trump’s pivot.
We spent thousands of hours negotiating to get it right, even though Iran’s break-out time to produce enough fissile material for a bomb was just a few months. The United States had, through painstaking diplomacy, marshaled our European allies and reluctant countries — including China, Russia, India and Turkey — to implement crippling sanctions on Iran, but even that hadn’t stopped it from speeding ahead from a few hundred centrifuges to thousands. Only negotiation would freeze and roll back the program.
Only in the last iteration has Trump applied sanctions to North Korea roughly equal to those that were pressed on Iran. It wasn’t just a US issue to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it was a position shared even by some countries that consider Iran an ally. If Trump breaks the treaty, it will do more than just put Iran on the express-route to nuclear weapons. It will wreck the idea of anyone working hard for a deal sponsored by the US for a long time to come.
Roy Hoffman says that the election of Roy Moore shouldn’t be taken as a sign that Alabama is moving backwards.
There’s a vast barn and field at Oak Hollow Farm 15 minutes from my house that gets rented out as a party venue. This week it served as the media-thronged site of a rally for Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, with celebrity guest Stephen K. Bannon, invoking God, guns and making Alabama great. At the same hour, at the University of South Alabama across Mobile Bay, a panel discussion was underway on the topic of inclusion. With more than 600 in attendance, six of us from an array of backgrounds — Jewish, Christian, black, white, Asian American — conversed with moderator Soledad O’Brien, the broadcast journalist, about connecting across lines of race, religion, gender and ideology. Such differences challenge not just those of us in this community but also those far beyond.
I’ll always remember a review of Ms. O’Brien in her first week hosting a cable news show. It called her “the perfectly pretty Soledad O’Brien,” a remark that was both true, and in context, demeaning. O’Brien is consistently one of the bravest broadcasters in any medium and has one of the coolest heads going. Plus, she’s damn smart. Okay … what was the subject? Alabama!
That these events went on simultaneously was coincidental, but looking back, I see them as representing the two forces at work in my home state, which now is a bellwether for the nation: coming together vs. staying apart.
If Alabama is a bellwether, we’re all going to get rung.
Diane McWhorter also singles out Alabama as a place to view the crack in the country.
The Republican Party has long preyed on the shame of dispossessed white voters. But that shame — over “being viewed as second-class citizens,” Mr. Kennedy said — has converted into a defiance that the party doesn’t yet seem to grasp.
“Populism” has become a convenient shorthand for the nihilistic backlash, and the term has come to invoke a collection of largely irrational cultural tropes. But this doesn’t do justice to the critique of capitalism at the heart of the insurgency.
Nothing that Trump’s done has taken even one step toward reversing the decline of small rural towns and the counties where every other store has windows boarded up. It’s hard to think of anything that would address the problem.
The Alabama psyche is complex, and Mr. Trump may have misread it at the now legendary rally in Huntsville where he tore into knee-taking black N.F.L. players — many of whom come out of Alabama football programs and therefore, Mr. Kennedy dryly observed, “are family.” Not surprisingly, it is in the biracial character of modern football that Alabamians feel comfortable expressing their redemptive impulses, so much so that Mr. Trump received a mild rebuke from the state’s spiritual leader, the Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
I’ve left out a very interesting history lesson in between these two extracts. If you’re interested in earlier waves of populism, go back and read it.
Bret Stephens on the Republicans’ shocking inability to get a damn thing done.
Suppose you’re a Republican. Since you’re reading The Times, suppose hard.
The White House and both houses of Congress are yours. So are 34 governorships, matching a 1922 party record. The Republican Party has complete control of state government in 26 states, and full legislative control in 32 states. Next year, Senate Democrats will have to defend 25 seats. Just eight Republican incumbents are up for re-election. The Supreme Court retains a conservative majority. The Dow keeps hitting record highs, and the economy is finally growing above the 3 percent mark. The prospect of Donald Trump being removed from office? See above. The prospect of Trump inflicting permanent brain damage on Democrats? Outstanding.
For what it’s worth, the economy was “finally growing” above the 3 percent mark for several quarters under President Obama. Just because Trump crowed over a good quarter, doesn’t make it the only good quarter.
So why is your party in such obvious disarray? Why can’t it pass its signature bills? Why can’t your congressional leaders control their caucuses? Why can’t an incumbent Republican senator publicly endorsed by an incumbent Republican president win his primary battle against his nutty opponent?
Well … Regan took the party to an economic position that made no sense then and less sense now. Newt followed up with a by turning destruction of functioning government into a creed. The Tea Party put a neat ribbon around disorganized white hate. Trump tossed out the dog whistles for racial bull horns. And now … who knows? It’s the party where evangelicals root for crotch-grabbing adulterers and out of work miners embrace a Russia-loving billionaire who has never gotten so much as a fingernail dirty. Tomorrow, some even more crazy will happen.
But the Republican Party, one with actual positions that make actual sense, has been gone for a long, long time.
Frank Bruni warns that Democrats shouldn’t have their hearts set on winning in 2018.
I could make the case that Democrats fall five, 10 or 15 seats short. And I could imagine a demoralization that shadows and thereby dooms the party in 2020, when the stakes are even higher.
I have my heart set on winning in 2018. I’ll deal with disappointment … when it doesn’t happen. Because I have my heart set on winning in 2018.
Jason Zengerle has a field guide to possible 2020 candidates.
Would Mr. Sanders or Mr. Biden have won in 2016? We’ll never know — but it’s unlikely either will in 2020.
Just tossing that out there. The rest of it you’ll have to go through for yourself. Though he raises the prospect of Franken as a candidate. A Franken—Trump debate would be one of the hottest tickets ever sold.