The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Trump claims Hurricane Maria death toll rose 'like magic'
WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
40 Comments
Login to comment
SuperLib
He should probably drop it.
CrazyJoe
Poor Donald just can't catch a break. Everybody is out to get him. All those people in Puerto Rico died just to make him look bad. So unfair.
Laguna
Health care statistics have never been a GOP strong point.
And "NO WAY!" in caps with an exclamation point regarding a hurricane that killed an indeterminate but undoubtedly large number of people? This is not baseball. That increasingly ubiquitous balloon showing Trump in a diaper is becoming more apt by the day.
HollisBrown
The irony.
How can these people keep a straight face when they say stuff like this?
smithinjapan
The man's immoralityand lies know no bounds.
PTownsend
Many will trust Dr Santo-Burgoa https://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/global-health/carlos-santos-burgoa
but only Trump's most devout followers will believe what he says.
This quote shows there's a ray of hope. In the past it was just 'the media'.
But once again it's 'liberal', a pejorative used by Trump and Putin to indicate to their base(s?) the enemy. Authoritarians: dividing and conquering by demeaning those who oppose them, using simple language and easy to remember memes.
Haaa Nemui
Trump says a lot of things. I wish there was a way to turn him off.
Silvafan
Does he mean like the number of people that he said attended his inauguration?
This was just last week:
Or does he mean like the number of people that he claimed committed voter fraud in the 2016 election that lost him the popular vote?
The only person that pulls numbers out of thin air is Dump! Then he whines and gets upset when people check the facts and prove him wrong. This is why he admires dictators and fascist governments.
LOL! Man-baby.
Serrano
"He should probably drop it."
The media should probably drop it.
"As the President said, every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror. Before, during, and after the two massive hurricanes, the President directed the entire Administration to provide unprecedented support to Puerto Rico," White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said. "President Trump was responding to the liberal media and the San Juan Mayor who sadly, have tried to exploit the devastation by pushing out a constant stream of misinformation and false accusations." Gidley cited studies that attributed fewer than 3,000 deaths on the island to Maria."
Exactly, exactly.
Jimizo
More full caps crap.
Hasn’t he got a country to run?
PTownsend
Once more a Trump supporter attacks the free, for-profit press. RT would never criticize the Russian leader. In part because the Russian leader decides which media outlets get government blessings.
Silvafan
Like magic!
Real facts by experts who haven't been proven a liar close to 5,000 times since the beginning of 2017.
A poor response and performance by an incompetent president ill-prepared for any kind of real emergency like Woodard described in his book!
Trump pushes conspiracy theory denying Puerto Rico hurricane death toll
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-pushes-conspiracy-theory-denying-puerto-rican-hurricane-death-toll-131356280.html
rainyday
What a scumbag.
WA4TKG
It's Magic; obviously.
"Black" Magic. Yall come down 'n give it a try;
Bring your flak jacket & USGC approved flotation.
lincolnman
This President seems fixated on magic and witches (i.e. Wiccan or Satanism) - I wonder what his evangelical base thinks of that.....
Haaa Nemui
No. This an example of liberals calling Trump out for his lies and for exploiting a tragedy to serve his own purpose. It was him who tried to make it look like he had done a great job and it is him who keeps it going. Seriously. It's so ridiculous how you guys see liberals at fault for Trump's lies.
Chip Star
This is hilarious after the Trump defending screed that precedes it!
HonestDictator
There are quite a few conservatives and moderates that find Trumps statements and mentality despicable. Blame the "liberals" all you want if that self-delusion makes you feel better. But I'm seeing a lot more conservatives and moderate Americans that voted for Trump the first time around that are vocally stating he's sick and delusional and will not be voted for a 2nd term... if he makes it out of the first term without being charged with serious crimes or impeachment proceedings.
Ah_so
I do, and do not blame Trump for that. The increase in the death toll came about statistical analysis of recorded deaths in the period following the storm.
The change in the figures would have gone largely unnoted had Trump not thrown his toys out of his pram again and accused others of lying and making things up.
It is Trump's reaction that is being criticised.
Wolfpack
Only 64 people died as a result of the storm. That’s a lot but not catastrophic. Dems are trying to politicize the tragedy as we are all used to by now.
Silvafan
@Hakman
You are right! Politicizing tragedy to demonize your opponents is disgusting!
Trump slammed for 'politicizing' Puerto Rico storm tragedy
https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/other/trump-slammed-for-politicizing-puerto-rico-storm-tragedy/ar-BBNiQoT
Trump blames Dem immigration policies for murder of Mollie Tibbetts
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/08/trump_blames_dem_immigration_policies_for_murder_of_mollie_tibbetts.html
Critics slam Trump for 'politicizing' the death of Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson
http://theweek.com/speedreads/753532/critics-slam-trump-politicizing-death-colts-linebacker-edwin-jackson
Picking which Tragedies to ‘Politicize’ Based on Politics, Politicizes All of Them
https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/11/politicizing-tragedy-trump-manhattan-terrorist-attack-las-vegas-shooting-responses/
Mike Wyckoff
Except, it was closer to 3,000 as found by an independent investigation. But why the hell should Trump care how many people died, he should be LEADING not armchair quarterbacking recovery. If FEMA failed, he should be front and center saying WTF?
THE HARD TRUTH IS Puerto Ricans can’t vote so the US government really doesn’t give a crap, thus 1-year later and still no power. Meanwhile after 3-4 days without power in Hokkaido, it was national headlines.
Serrano
"When Trump visited Puerto Rico, the death toll at the time was indeed 16 people. The number was later raised to 64, but the government then commissioned an independent study to determine how many died because of post-storm conditions. That study — conducted by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University — estimated 2,975 deaths.
The deaths fell in two categories: direct and indirect. Direct deaths include such fatalities as drownings in a storm surge or being crushed in a wind-toppled building. Indirect deaths are harder to count because they can include such things as heart attacks, electrocutions from downed power lines and failure to receive dialysis because the power is out — and those kinds of fatalities can happen after a storm has ended but while an area is struggling to restore electricity, clean water and other health and safety services."
So... 64 confirmed deaths directly from the hurricane and then about a half a year later 2,975 estimated deaths which weren’t directly caused by the hurricane, but were caused by Democratic Puerto Rican government ineptitude.
Trump should acknowledge the 2,975 deaths ( after 5 months ) estimate, and the Democrats should apologize for politicizing this issue to the point of making people throw up.
Haaa Nemui
Yeah truth is hard to swallow for a lot of you guys.
mukashiyokatta
Zero concern for the deaths of US citizens.
nishikat
WRONG!
Fox news has confirmed that Trump has lied.
sakurala
I think the saddest thing about this whole story isn’t the numbers being disputed but the lack of decency. I would expect a president to say that ever life lost was a tragedy and to show not only the progress timeline of help that was provided but also show a readiness for the current season. Making it all about numbers doesn’t help anyone and shows a disrespect to people who were severely effected by last year’s storms
Chip Star
A toppled building crushing someone is a direct death but a downed power line is an indirect death?
We've been over this ad nauseam. Trump's guy Zinke corrupted the contracting process to send a $300 million contract to restore power to his boys back in his hometown of Whitefish, MT. This caused a large amount of the "indirect" deaths.
Remember when conservatives were all about self responsibility? Now, they are all about dodging and ducking responsibility. Very mature.
katsu78
This is what it all comes down to. It's pretty terrifying whenever a political movement becomes so extreme that its members are willing to decide 3000 innocents who lost their lives just don't matter.
Serrano
"I would expect a president to say that ever(y) life lost was a tragedy"
The following good enough?
"The White House defended the president on Thursday.
"As the President said, every death from Hurricane Maria is a horror."
sakurala
Serrano: yes, that’s a good start, but actions have to be consistent. His tweets and official statements reflect a difference in thought that is saddening. Also, if he sincerely felt the losses of life were unacceptable, he would focus on improving response rates.
lostrune2
This thing started when Trump lauded the Puerto Rico hurricane response as a success to pat himself on the back (that's the real reason he even mentioned it when he didn't even have to say anything), when so many people there died. Then he doubled-down by citing the initial low figure - emphasis on initial (nobody can know the real number so early after any incident - it takes time to get things sorted out - remember when up to 4k-5k people were thought dead soon after 9/11? It's now figured there's 2,996 victims - still a lot, but not the same as initial figures. Initial figures are just that - initial, just an educated count to start with.)
I don't get the objection to this. If anything, an analysis of an expert 3rd-party group would be more reliable than government numbers. (And by 3rd-party, it means it's not party to neither the 1st (government) or 2nd (opposition) parties.)
Think about it: how many of you would put the expertise of government figures over those of a 3rd-party who are experts on this field? (Note: not saying there are no experts in the government, but when presented with figures from both government experts and 3rd-party experts?) Exactly.
Rather, I'd welcome it when more 3rd-party experts would be used as additional method to study other hurricane deaths. It'd help keep government experts more honest. Instead of saying 3rd-party experts shouldn't be used, more use of 3rd-party experts should be encouraged.
arrestpaul
"and stressed that every death in the six months following the storm was not attributed to the hurricane." It appears that the Democrats and it's media outlets have chosen to continue their attacks on anything, and everything, Republicans or Trump may have, or may not have, done. Situation normal, all fouled up. Meanwhile, Democrats, and Hillary worshippers, continue their avowed campaign of hatred for the sake of hatred under the guise of bringing people together. What a hoot.
arrestpaul
Puerto Rico was responsible for their own disaster planning, and response rates. It appears that Puerto Rico was/is poorly run, and poorly governed. The U.S., and other nations, rush to aid Puerto Ricans during, and after, a NATURAL DISASTER that the Puerto Rican government had obviously not properly prepared for. Now the haters are choosing to blame Trump for the repeated failures of the Puerto Rican government. Anything to help their political agenda.