After the mayor of Puerto Rico's capital begged President Donald Trump's administration for additional assistance and criticized the lackluster federal response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, the president attacked her "leadership ability" on Twitter, and said that the island wanted "everything to be done for them."
On Friday, Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, pleaded with the Trump administration to boost aid efforts to Puerto Rico.
"We are dying here," she said. "What we we are going to see is something close to a genocide."
She added, "I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out the logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles. So, mayday we are in trouble."
The island is almost entirely without power, and nearly 1.5 million people — 44 percent — of the population doesn't have access to potable drinking water.
"This is what we got last night. Four pallets of water, three pallets of meals, and 12 pallets of infant food — which, I gave them to the people of Comerio, where people are drinking off a creek," Cruz said, according to NBC News. "So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell."
So the president does what he does best: rage over Twitter and attack a desperate leader in a time of dire need — from his golf course in New Jersey.
"The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump," he shamelessly tweeted early on Saturday morning.
Trump insisted, despite numerous reports, that his administration has done a "fantastic job."
"Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They ... want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job," he wrote in two separate tweets that followed.
The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
...Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
...want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2017
In numerous tweets that followed he touted his administration's relief efforts and attacked "The Fake News Networks" which he claimed "are working overtime in Puerto Rico doing their best to take the spirit away from our soldiers and first R's. Shame!"
Cruz responded on Twitter and reminded everyone of the real task at hand.
"The goal is one: saving lives. This is the time to show our "true colors". We cannot be distracted by anything else," she wrote.
The goal is one: saving lives. This is the time to show our "true colors". We cannot be distracted by anything else. pic.twitter.com/7PAINk19xM
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) September 30, 2017
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