Recovering from a natural disaster is never easy. But it's infinitely harder when federal emergency funds for rebuilding are subject to the whims, lies and misconceptions of a hostile president.
That's where Puerto Rico finds itself, hostage to President Donald Trump's flights of fancy as it struggles to recover from the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The latest slap came Monday when the Senate failed to pass a disaster aid bill after Trump's loudly proclaimed refusal to give Puerto Rico any additional dollars. The bill contained funding for flood-ravaged Midwesterners, including farmers.
In making his case, Trump said the island has already received $91 billion in federal aid. It has not. Puerto Rico has gotten $11.2 billion so far out of $41 billion allocated, with federal estimates that another $50 billion in recovery costs could emerge over the next 20 years.
