President Donald Trump arrived in Puerto Rico like an emperor, coming to scold his uncooperative subjects. “I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack,” he said during a visit to the island on Tuesday. He might as well have blamed us for throwing ourselves in the path of a hurricane.



Apart from the cost, the worst part about this catastrophe for Trump seems to be how damn ungrateful these Puerto Ricans are. The president called the mayor of San Juan, the capital, a “politically motivated ingrate” over the weekend. Then, on Tuesday, he suggested the island was exaggerating its woes. Puerto Rico isn’t facing “a real catastrophe like Katrina” the president said. Just grow up and stop all your whining, in other words.



Trump arrived on the island more than two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit. Despite what he claims, the situation is still devastating. Only 5% of the electrical grid has been repaired; only 17% of the cellphone towers are working and more than half the island has no running water. Most of Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million citizens have to stand every day in hellish lines for food, water, gas and medicines. This is the new normal for us and our families.



Puerto Rico: Trump appears to complain about cost of relief effort Read more

Yet, the president spent much of his time on the island patting his administration on the back for how well it is handling everything. “You can be very proud. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what’s been taking place in Puerto Rico,” he said.



Play Video 1:01 'You've thrown our budget a little out of whack', Trump tells Puerto Rico – video

During a “press conference” at the Luis Muñiz air national guard base in San Juan – in which he took no questions from the press – Trump praised the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, military commanders and a half-dozen members of his cabinet, who accompanied him to Puerto Rico.



He reserved nothing, not one word of encouragement and empathy for the Puerto Rican people, who are the ones that have shouldered the brunt of this tragedy all by themselves.

Many don’t agree at all with Trump’s rosy self-assessment. On Tuesday, Oxfam America released a rare statement criticizing the administration for its response to the disaster: “The US has more than enough resources to mobilize an emergency response but has failed to do so in a swift and robust manner.”



And if all of this wasn’t enough, after his pompous speech, Trump was taken to see the devastation in one of the wealthiest municipalities of the whole island: Guaynabo. Even in forgotten, neglected Puerto Rico, Trump reminds us that there is a pecking order – and it’s the rich and powerful living in gated communities who come before all others.



And what did Trump do in Guaynabo? He threw out rolls of paper towel and bags of rice to the well-heeled Puerto Ricans. It was a pathetic performance, and deeply offensive, especially as people in the interior of the island have next to nothing.



Play Video 0:33 Trump throws paper towels into crowd in Puerto Rico – video

As I write this, a dear friend from Puerto Rico messages me to say: “It’s bewildering to hear the president joke about how much this tragedy is costing him while I’m scrapping to pack a flat rate box with sausages, batteries and lanterns to my family, some of whom I haven’t spoken to in two weeks.”



“That while he’s throwing paper towels to a crowd like a five-year-old at a carnival basketball game, I try to keep a straight face for the next customer at work, while looking up prices for a small generator to ship to my aunt who is now living in the darkness of the San Sebastián mountains.”

Hurricane Maria was not enough to bring the Puerto Rican people to its knees. I doubt that Tuesday’s farce will dent our resolve. It has only served to make us more aware of the truth – which is that we must save ourselves.

