On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, tore through the island of Puerto Rico, leaving more than half of the people with no power, running water, or cell service.

Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have created the One America Appeal, which is a “joint appeal that was originally launched by all five living former American Presidents to encourage their fellow citizens to support recovery efforts.” As former Presidents, they “wanted to come together to help… fellow citizens in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean as they recover and rebuild” (One American Appeal). People can donate money on the official website: www.oneamericaappeal.org.

These are all former presidents, but they are all still making an effort to help their country and others as well. What has the current president been doing? Golfing. Even worse, he has been insulting Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, in a series of tweets:

These tweets angered people because of the fact that he calls the mayor “nasty” but thinks the nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville are “fine people.” Brianne Han (11) thinks that “Trump doesn’t have the right to insult the mayor because she is trying her best to help her people through this crisis while he’s basically doing nothing.” She also thinks that his recent visit to Puerto Rico in early October wasn’t very helpful, and that it “showed his true character.”

Yes, he did provide some supplies to Puerto Ricans at a relief center, but his method of doing is is being highly criticized. He was throwing them, and this was seen as a rude gesture. However, Trump doesn’t think it was. During an interview with Mike Huckabee, he said the crowd was “screaming and [that] they were loving everything.” He even said he “was having fun” and that the crowd of distressed hurricane victims were having fun too (NBC News).

Also, he made some controversial remarks when he “met with local leaders and federal responders shortly after landing at an Air Force base in Carolina, Puerto Rico, for what was supposed to be a briefing on the situation on the island” (VOX). First, he complained about Puerto Rico “throwing [the U.S.] budget out of whack.” Then, he compared Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Katrina, insinuating that Hurricane Maria wasn’t a “real catastrophe.”

Recently, the mayor of San Juan has come out and publicly criticized Trump. She wore a t-shirt with the word “nasty” on it and said, “what really is nasty is showing your back to the Puerto Rican people” (People).