Donald Trump suddenly has a huge Mar-a-Lago problem
Earlier this week, Donald Trump was openly criticizing Puerto Rico for daring to be in the path of Hurricane Dorian, as if it were the island’s fault. Trump also recently (and illegally) diverted hurricane relief funding to help build his imaginary border wall. Now the tables – more specifically the meteorological tables – have turned.
Right around the time forecasters announced that Dorian had changed course and was now headed toward Donald Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump suddenly decided that his Poland trip was no longer important to him, and handed it off to Mike Pence instead. Trump didn’t seem to feel compelled to stay home when he thought the hurricane was going to hit the United States island territory of Puerto Rico, because in Trump’s eyes, Puerto Ricans aren’t real (translation: white) Americans.
Now Trump has a three-fold problem. First, there are the bad optics here, as everyone knows that Trump didn’t care about this hurricane at all until it took a turn toward one of his most cherished properties. Second, Trump faces the prospect of having to mount a hurricane relief effort, at a time when he’s gone five months without a permanent FEMA Director, and he just pulled FEMA funding for his wall fantasy. Third – least important in the big picture but certainly most important to him – a destructive hurricane is heading toward Mar-a-Lago.
We’re not rooting for Hurricane Dorian to hit Mar-a-Lago, and neither should you. Hurricanes cause wide swaths of damage, and huge numbers of people in the area surrounding Mar-a-Lago would lose their homes. The only thing to root for here is for Dorian not to make landfall anywhere. But Trump sure does have a problem on his hands right now.
