It's certainly no surprise when guests on NBC News programs and the MSNBC cable television channel take advantage of the opportunity to slam President Donald Trump. That was the case on Thursday, October 12, when Alejandro García Padilla, the former governor of Puerto Rico, told MSNBC host Craig Melvin that the Republican occupant of the White House is “showing off that he is just racist.”
In addition, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said on Friday that whoever deletes Trump's Twitter account should receive the Nobel Peace Prize because he uses it to spread hate.
Padilla was discussing emails Trump tweeted earlier in the day, when he stated: "Puerto Rico survived the hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making." He added: “We cannot keep FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”
Melvin began the interview by stating: “Governor, before we talk about what's happening on the ground, just your reaction to the series of tweets by the president of the United States saying FEMA can't stay forever.”
“Well,” Padilla responded, “I think that the president just shows his lack of knowledge of federal law. The law requires FEMA to stay on the ground until the job is done.”
“So FEMA cannot get to a position and work for a couple of days and just hang around and then leave,” he added.
“Second, he -- I think -- shows his lack of knowledge in history,” the guest continued. “We are U.S. citizens not because we asked for it. It was imposed by Congress just prior to the first World War.”
“So it’s a duty of the United States to put their boots on the ground here in Puerto Rico,” the former governor said. “It’s not like we are begging. It’s what we deserve.”
Padilla continued by asserting “two main things. First, he's talking to his electoral base. He's not talking about law or about history, and he's showing off that he is just racist. Let’s call it by name.”
“Governor, that’s a pretty bold assertion there,” Melvin replied with a tone of surprise in his voice. “To call the president of the United States racist.”
“It is. It's just the way it is,” the former Puerto Rican official replied. “I respect the institution, but the way he handles it just shows, I think, what he stands for.”
He continued: “Why isn't the same argument from President Trump after Hurricane Irma hit Florida? Why doesn't he address the same issue in Houston after Hurricane Harvey?”
“Tomorrow,” House Speaker Paul Ryan “will be in Puerto Rico,” Padilla noted. “I'm a Democrat, but I have to say that Ryan is a fine man that is doing a very good job with Puerto Rico, so it's not an issue of Democrats or Republicans.”
“I think that Speaker Ryan and Vice President Pence last week, they show real American values when they come to Puerto Rico, but the president, I think, is a shame for the United States, not only the way he treated Puerto Ricans, the way that he is handling the presidency. I think that he does not embody the land of the free and the home of the braves.”
On the Friday edition of NBC’s weekday morning Today program, correspondent Gabe Gutierrez reported that a “Congressional delegation including House Speaker Paul Ryan will visit Puerto Rico ... more than three weeks after Hurricane Maria battered this region.”
“This island is still in a virtual standstill,” Gutierrez continued. “More than 80 percent of the island remains without power, and critics say the president’s words are adding insult to injury.”
He then turned to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who claimed Trump’s behavior “is conduct unbecoming of a leader of the free world.”
The NBC News reporter stated that Cruz is “furious. The president uses Twitter sort of to disperse hate, so whomever deletes that account should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.”
In an article written by David Rutz, the managing editor of the Washington Free Beacon noted that “Cruz has employed other dramatic gestures to draw attention to the strife facing San Juan.”
“After Trump referred to her language toward him as ‘Nasty’ last month,” Rutz continued, “she donned a ‘Nasty’ T-shirt for an interview with the Spanish-language news channel Univision.”
In addition, Cruz “wore a T-shirt with the words ‘Help us, we are dying’ during an interview last month” on the Cable News Network.
Of course, the president can’t do anything right, according to NBC News and MSNBC. If he arrives at the site of a disaster quickly, they say that he’s interfering with the rescue operations. If he arrives a few days later, he’s showing he doesn’t care about the victims. If only he was perfect like Democrat Barack Obama.
