"Trump's Katrina": Americans in Puerto Rico face starvation as Trump attacks the NFL

Donald Trump is obsessed with tweeting and commenting on protests against systematic racism in the NFL, and is ignoring the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, which is a part of the United States. Many are describing his failure as “Trump’s Katrina.”

Former President George W. Bush infamously partied and dawdled while the city of New Orleans drowned in the rains of Hurricane Katrina, in what became one of the biggest domestic fiascoes of his failed presidency. Trump appears determined to replicate his fellow Republican’s mistakes.

His egocentric Twitter account has been a non-stop running commentary on NFL protests, and his ill-informed demands for those protests to cease. (They won’t.) Yet over the weekend, since mentioning Puerto Rico in passing on Friday, Trump has not discussed the topic.

Trump’s last comment on the hurricane’s devastation was a passing remark at the beginning of his crazed rally for Republican Senate candidate Luther Strange, where Trump mentioned “Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and all of the other communities that have recently been ravaged by storms and by floods.”

The island is in crisis.

The Washington Post reports that in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the entire island is “in a communications and power blackout” where “regions outside San Juan remained disconnected from the rest of the island — and the world.” Additionally, “Estimates for the return of electricity and basic services will be measured not in days but in weeks and months.”

Meanwhile, the island is facing a massive food shortage, as the hurricane has wiped out 80 percent of crop value. One farmer told The New York Times, “There will be no food in Puerto Rico. … There is no more agriculture in Puerto Rico. And there won’t be any for a year or longer.”

Puerto Rican officials are describing the situation on the ground as “apocalyptic” as people try to survive without water. Their relatives are in a panic, because they have not been able to contact them.

Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, perhaps attempting to get Trump’s attention by appearing on “Fox & Friends” — Trump’s his favorite TV show — told the network the island is facing “a humanitarian crisis in the United States,” adding, “It’s time to help Puerto Rico.”

As Trump continued to demand the NFL sanction players who protest police brutality, Hillary Clinton tweeted, “President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens.”

The last time Trump mentioned the island on Twitter was Sept. 20, before the storm hit. He promised the governor, “We are with you and the people of Puerto Rico.” But that seems to have been a lie. Trump quickly moved on to obsessively attacking black athletes, as Puerto Rico continues to slide into chaos.