So Red Sox manager Alex Cora says he snubbing the White House because he’s mad at the people who’ve neglected and disrespected his precious Puerto Rico. He refuses to attend the World Series celebration with Donald Trump because he’s giving the back of his hand to those who’ve left his island home hurting in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

OK, fine. But if he’s sincere, there’s one place Alex Cora should absolutely refuse to visit ever again: Puerto Rico.

As a Sox fan, I like Cora — and I love what he did with the team last year. Record 108 wins in a season? Who saw that coming?

And as a fellow American, I believe Alex Cora should be free to sit on the bench while his team is being honored by the president of the United States. Doesn’t matter if it’s Trump, Obama or the future Beyonce-Taylor Swift ticket.

A White House event is America as a nation honoring the performance of a team as a whole. Cora’s decision to sit it out is a no-class move that puts his feelings ahead of the team, the uniform and the fans. But hey — having class is not a requirement of citizenship and/or good baseball. (See: “Rod, A-”)

If, however, Cora’s complaint really is about the conditions in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria, he’s whiffing this one, badly.

Cora is right that life on the island is still lousy 18 months after Maria. There are still food shortages, many roads are still impassable and electricity service is spotty.

But it’s not because President Trump or the American taxpayers aren’t doing our part. We’ve already sent $11 billion in aid, we’ve got another $30 billion approved and another $14 billion more in the wings.

So, no, this is not the story of racist Americans refusing to pay up for people of color on a faraway island territory of the U.S. The reason Puerto Rico is a disaster so long after the hurricane hit is because it already was one long before Maria ever arrived.

Puerto Rico has been a backwater of corruption and incompetence for decades. The island’s power company, PREPA, is a long-standing joke in the industry. On Sept. 21, 2016 — exactly one year before Maria — a single fire at one PREPA power plant caused an island-wide blackout for nearly a week.

A Voice of America investigation found that “Reports that date back over 25 years, prepared by engineers charged with overseeing the corporation’s operations, show that PREPA employees on average perform only two hours of useful work per day. Yet a menial custodial position can pay upward of $90,000 a year with generous benefits.”

Apparently even getting those two hours of work costs extra. There are ongoing investigations into dozens of reports that PREPA workers had to be bribed to hook homes and businesses up to the grid.

In January, more than a year after the hurricane, federal authorities discovered a PREPA-owned warehouse full of stockpiled power grid supplies, even as citizens waited without power due to “shortages” of equipment.

“People keep dying and businesses continue to close due to the lack of energy while the necessary spare parts were in the possession of PREPA,” complained Puerto Rican senator Eduardo Bhatia.

And last summer, a mayor and two former government officials were arrested on corruption charges involving $8 million in federal and local funds.

In Puerto Rico, that’s known as a “Tuesday.”

In fact, the entire island’s been so poorly run for decades that President Obama signed a law giving an outside authority power over Puerto Rico’s government and its $70 billion (with a “B”) debt. That’s $22k in debt for every man, woman and child on the island.

So if Alex Cora really wants to stick it to the people who are creating so much misery back home, he should skip the White House and take the next flight to San Juan.

Pro-tip: Bring a flashlight.

Michael Graham is a regular contributor to the Boston Herald. Follow him @IAmMGraham on Twitter.