Trump uses Dorian to revive feud with San Juan mayor

Miami Herald (FL)

Aug. 28--SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- President Donald Trump is using Dorian's passage through Puerto Rico to revive his long-running feud with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.

"We are tracking closely tropical storm Dorian as it heads, as usual, to Puerto Rico," Trump wrote on Twitter early Wednesday. "FEMA and all others are ready, and will do a great job. When they do, let them know it, and give them a big Thank You -- Not like last time. That includes from the incompetent Mayor of San Juan!"

Cruz was a vocal critic of Washington's response to the 2017 storm season, when Hurricane Maria raked the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, killing almost 3,000 and leaving the island powerless for months.

"I said [Tuesday] that Trump needs to be quiet, "calm down" get out of the way and make way for those of us who are actually doing the work on the ground," Cruz fired back on Twitter Wednesday. "Maybe Trump will understand this time around THIS IS NOT ABOUT HIM; THIS IS NOT ABOUT POLITICS; THIS IS ABOUT SAVING LIVES."

Later in the afternoon, Trump broadened his target, calling Puerto Rico "one of the most corrupt places on earth."

"Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt," he wrote Wednesday, as Dorian was churning toward the island. "Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked Pols. No good!"

He also wrote that he was "the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico!"

Cruz, a Democrat, often takes on Trump directly. On Tuesday, National Public Radio reported that the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency planned to redirect $271 million in disaster relief funding to security along the southern border.

Cruz tweeted out the story and wrote: "Could President Trump go any lower?"

During Maria she dramatically questioned the mainland's commitment to the island.

""We are dying here -- and I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world can not figure out the logistics of a small island," she said at the time.

Cruz's clashes with Trump have raised her national and political profile, even as she remains a divisive figure in Puerto Rico's capital. She's expected to run for governor of Puerto Rico in 2020.

On Tuesday, Trump also tweeted about Dorian and its collision course with the island.

"Wow! Yet another big storm heading to Puerto Rico," he wrote. "Will it ever end?"

The comment drew angry responses on the island's afternoon political talk shows.

"You never hear the president saying 'Wow, Kansas is getting hit again with another tornado,' " one commentator said.

In Tuesday's tweet, Trump also repeated a claim that Congress had approved $92 billion for Puerto Rico's recovery after Maria. Experts say, however, that number is closer to $41 billion and that, almost two years after the storm, less than half of it has been disbursed.

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