For starters, the quake damage in Haiti was not as widespread, it struck mostly in several highly populated areas. (“Earthquakes don’t kill people, falling buildings kill people.”) Roads and power grids in the country, and rural villages, were little affected. Haiti’s population is three times the size of PR, but the country is much greater in area. They are more spread out.

Second, Haiti is a much more rural, agricultural economy and population. Puerto Rico is highly urbanized and industrialized. PR is much more vulnerable to any form of disaster, and especially more so to hurricanes which have a more widespread effect. In PR, people drive to work, depend on electrical appliances, and have lives tied to modern sewage and communications and power and automobile infrastructure. They use computers and rely on broadcast news and wireless telephony. Its not that much different than it is here.

Third, the relief effort in Haiti did NOT get off to a good start, and in many respects, is not over yet. The country is still in recovery mode, and it may be decades before it rebuilds fully.

I don’t blame Trump fully for the problems in PR, there are geographical and historical causes for them, but I do believe he is being rather cavalier about it all. Its like he really doesn’t understand the magnitude of the problem, or the complexity of the solutions. And he certainly doesn’t understand how quickly it can spiral out of control. He has the kind of mentality that is used to “subbing out” his technical problems, to placing some interchangeable paid expert in charge so he can concentrate on more lofty management and finance issues. The idea of him sitting around a table while technical experts drone on and ask him for priorities and decisions has always been terrifying to him, and boring. The business majors always see the techies as drudges and grinds, not creative and dynamic like they are.

Much like Bush with Katrina, I don’t believe he is actually motivated or handicapped by racism, I just think he is not really aware of just how critical his personal leadership is in this kind of emergency. And like all Republicans, he seems so easy to blame any catastrophe or emergency on someone elses lack of ambition or effort. For him, anyone not like him must be lazy, or stupid, or incompetent. And people like that cannot “do their part”. Its not just Mr Trump, the whole Conservative mentality is saturated with contempt for those they see only as “takers” and “looters”: i.e., employees. When things go wrong, its because THOSE PEEPLE lack ambition and gumption, they have no creativity or originality, they expect someone else to do everything for them, or hand out money to them. All they do is complain. And the Democrats and Liberal media always take their side. Not even Bush was that fucked up.

This isn’t about race. Its about class.

Trump doesn’t give a shit about brown people.

But of course…the ships, although owned by Americans, are flying the flags of obscure banana republics. Its going to take some arm twisting, ass-kicking and check bouncing.

“Worse than the one that just hit the Virgin Islands?”

“Yes, Mr. President, a direct hit from a Cat 4 or 5.”

“What will that do?”

“Total devastation, Sir, no power, water, communications, shelter, health care, transportation, food, medicine. Death, injuries, homelessness, refugees. It’s going to be bad.”

“Is FEMA ready?”

“Sir, as much as they can be. They’ve been strained by the storms in several states already. Their pre-positioned assets on the island may be compromised and are inadequate for the problem.”

“Okay, summon the cabinet and the Chiefs of Staff. I want military assets ready to respond as soon as the storm passes. Consider it a drill – prepare to basically invade the island. Get a carrier group ready to provide support. We’ll need helicopters to first establish command and control in remote areas. We’ll need MASH Units ready to hit the ground running. Get those hospital ships stocked, manned, and ready to sail. Engineers are going to need to clear roads, build bridges, clear ports…”

“Mr. President, we can’t just bring in the military without the governor’s approval.”

“Get him on the phone. Now. Get the legal stuff figured out now! Everything should be ready for action, awaiting signatures. How are we going to work through the legal stuff if we can’t communicate with them? If this thing hits like the scientist say it should, every hour of delay is going to mean more suffering of American citizens. Also, get someone working on the refugee issue – get in touch with the Puerto Rican community here on the mainland and the governors of likely affected states and get them working the problem. Get me in touch with the cruise ship companies, we may need their help.”

“And while you are at it, we need to start talking with the people with new ideas about how to rebuild after the clean up. Lets do it right for the people of Puerto Rico and the rest of the country. Let’s make it not only better than it was, but a shining example of how a modern democratic republic takes care of its own. We’ll be doing this for years.”

“Mr. President, Marine One is standing by to take you to the golf course…”

“Fuck golf! We have work to do.”