No matter what crazy stuff Trump is up to now let’s keep in mind Puerto Rico really needs our attention and help.

Those are the words of Mark Ruffalo this weekend as the actor and social justice activist echoed the concerns of many that the president’s incendiary comments over recent days are serving to distract people from the severe crisis in the U.S. island territory, where power remains out for much of the island and residents are growing increasingly worried over the scale of the damage left by Hurricane Maria.

As journalist David Sirota tweeted, “Houston & FL are destroyed, Puerto Rico is in crisis & Trump wants u to be mad not at his climate denialism but instead at NFL players.”

In an interview with the Washington Post on Sunday, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz described the disaster in her city and across Puerto Rico—elsewhere described as “apocalyptic“—by saying,

There is horror in the streets… People are actually becoming prisoners in their own homes.”

With others urging people not to forget the destruction in the U.S. Virgin Islands as well, there was widespread concern that in addition to sowing deeper divisions around the issues of racism and police violence, Trump was actively provoking social discord in order to distract the American people from pressing issues like climate-related disasters left by recent storms and the attempt by Republicans in the U.S. Senate to push through healthcare repeal bill in the days ahead.

https://twitter.com/damon_smith18/status/911987088341553152

https://twitter.com/bungdan/status/912020806804189184

https://twitter.com/karlsjayy/status/912020068724174848

Top photo | Trees are reflected in the water in the Buena Vista community in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (AP/Carlos Giusti)

Common Dreams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

Comments