Donald Trump attends golfing tournament, defends hurricane reaction

President Donald Trump spent Sunday afternoon attending a excessive-profile golfing match, signaling that he’s going to now not be cowed with the aid of critics of his reaction to storm Maria.
in advance Sunday, Trump had scoffed at “politically prompted ingrates” who had puzzled his management’s commitment to rebuilding Puerto Rico after the pulverizing hurricane and confident individuals there had been “first-rate development.”
The comments, in tweets and from the manicured inexperienced, verified Trump’s defiance inside the face of costs that he has been distracted and his administration gradual to reply to the usa territory’s conflict to restore strength and basic offerings within the weeks after the storm. Neither the ones fees, nor his past grievance of his predecessor for golfing at some stage in a disaster, saved him from attending The Presidents Cup.
After staying Saturday at his personal New Jersey golfing membership, Trump traveled Sunday to Jersey city, wherein he spent the afternoon within the hospitality suite perched above the freedom national golfing membership’s 14th hollow. He changed into reachable to present the event’s trophy to crew u.s.a.., which he dedicated to the humans of Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida nevertheless improving from storm devastation.

“I want to just bear in mind them and we’re going to dedicate this trophy to all of those human beings that went through so much, that we love,” he stated, adding of Puerto Rico: “we’ve it under certainly great manage.”
As Trump spoke, someone within the crowd accused him of not caring approximately Puerto Rico, using a vulgarism to make the point.
Returning to the White house, Trump told journalists Sunday night: “We’re doing honestly nicely on Puerto Rico. I’ll be going there on Tuesday. outstanding development being made. We’re getting the roads open, we’re getting lots of factors executed _ truely at a report clip. So we’re very satisfied with that.”
Trump spent years hammering his predecessor, Barack Obama, each for playing golf and leaving Washington too often.
“President Obama have to have gone to Louisiana days in the past, as opposed to golfing,” he tweeted in August of ultimate year, after severe flooding in the state. “Too little, too overdue!”
In 2014, Obama was criticized for gambling golfing proper after speaking to newshounds about the execution of journalist James Foley by Islamic state militants. And President George W. Bush changed into faulted for no longer right now returning to Washington from his Crawford, Texas, ranch after storm Katrina devastated New Orleans.
White residence spokeswoman Lindsay Walters stated the president had committed to attending the golf event “many months ago.”
“he’s being continually up to date at the state of affairs in Puerto Rico and most effective came briefly to present the trophy to the american team who’re serving as extremely good representatives for our country,” she stated, adding: “he is keen to get to Puerto Rico on Tuesday and similarly emphasize his determination to the recuperation efforts which have obtained good sized reward from nearby officials on the ground.”
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, whose criticism on Friday of the federal reaction drew Trump’s scorn, said Sunday that human beings from federal groups have been useful however that the island wanted even more.
“I recognize the coolest heart that the FEMA humans have. They want to assist, however they don’t have the sources,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Her tone become far different Friday when she accused the Trump administration of “killing us with the inefficiency” after the typhoon. She begged the president to “make sure anyone is in charge that is up to the project of saving lives,” and appealed for help “to store us from death.”
Trump had replied with the aid of deriding the “poor management ability” of the mayor and others in Puerto Rico “who aren’t able to get their people to assist.” He brought, without elaboration, “They want the whole lot to be done for them whilst it have to be a community attempt.”
Trump’s weekend tweets showed contempt for any proceedings about a laggard U.S. response to the herbal disaster that has imperiled the island’s destiny. He repeatedly blamed the click for what he sees as unfair insurance.
In times of failures, leaders regularly shelve partisan differences. but Trump has a penchant for punching again against critics, whatever the instances.
“when the president gets attacked, he assaults back,” stated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who added that the mayor’s remarks have been “unfair, given what the federal authorities has carried out.”
but to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Trump’s tweets were “unspeakable.”
He characterised the president as “speaking from his fancy golf club, gambling golf along with his billionaire buddies, attacking the mayor of San Juan, who is suffering” to carry strength, food, water and fuel to the island. “I don’t recognise what international Trump is dwelling in.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination final yr, said “whilst people are within the middle of the disaster, you don’t start trying to criticize them. I simply _ I don’t understand what to say.”
The Trump management said it had more than 10,000 federal officers at the ground, and that city seek and rescue groups have covered the complete island, searching extra than 2,649 systems. Fifty-nine hospitals are in part operational, and forty five percentage of customers have access to drinking water, officers stated. stores are also starting, with nearly half of grocery and big box stores, and more than 60 percent of retail fuel stations open for commercial enterprise.
Trump’s administration has tried in latest days to fight the belief that he didn’t fast grasp the significance of Maria’s destruction and has given the U.S. commonwealth much less interest than he’d bestowed on Texas, Louisiana and Florida once they have been hit by means of hurricanes.
“The bottom line is at the least for the primary week and a half of the effort has been slow-footed, disorganized, and not adequate,” stated Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
long and Mnuchin spoke on NBC’s “Meet the clicking,” Sanders and Kasich were on CNN’s “nation of the Union” and Schumer seemed on CBS’ “Face the nation.”