Trump lashed out at San Juan's mayor after she begged for help in Puerto Rico

2025-04-27 18:54:02admin

In a truly low moment among low moments, President Donald Trump attacked Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday morning after she criticized his administration's response to Hurricane Maria.

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"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," Trump tweeted early Saturday.

"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."

SEE ALSO: Trump to Puerto Rico: Show us the money

Trump lashed out after Mayor Cruz made an emotional plea for help Friday.

"If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying. And you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy," she said.

"So Mr. Trump, I beg you, take charge and save us," she added.

Not exactly "nasty" words. Mayor Cruz just wants to help her people, as do other Puerto Ricans who have been forced, for one reason or another, to sit on the sidelines while their home weathered the hurricane's storms and the political ones that followed.

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Take Marie Cruz, a sales manager living in Augusta, Georgia. Ms. Cruz has plans to fly down soon and help family members in Ponce, Puerto Rico who were affected by the storm. And she'd like to see the rhetoric replaced with tangible action.

"This is a time when people come together," Ms. Cruz wrote in an email to Mashable. "You defend and fight for those that need to be heard and that is what the mayor of San Juan has done."

She'd like for the president to understand that everyone in Puerto Rico -- including children and the elderly -- "are suffering and desperate." She wrote in all-caps immediately after: THEY NEED HELP.

"We need to focus on all of Puerto Rico and I know we are receiving help but it's not fast enough and it needs to be distributed as soon as possible to all of Puerto Rico," Ms. Cruz continued.

"I know my island appreciates everything that is being done [for] all the families. I just hope and pray everyone can realize it's about helping those in need and supporting one another after a huge disaster like this. Let's focus on people and not get into a war of words."

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 and devastated the island. Experts have estimated nearly all of Puerto Rico could be without power for months, and aid efforts to the U.S. territory have been slower than they were for Hurricanes Irma and Harvey in Florida and Texas.

Trump's comments attacking a mayor trying to get help for her devastated city were so extreme that they immediately brought on condemnations, including from Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has advocated for aid for Puerto Rico.

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It was Mayor Cruz herself, however, who had the most appropriate social media response yet. She cut through all the BS in a Saturday morning tweet to remind everyone watching that only one thing matters here: Saving lives.