Politics

Days Before Florence Makes Landfall, Democratic Congressman Already Criticizing Trump’s Response to Aftermath

Geoff Harbaugh Contributor
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With more than 48 hours before Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall, Democrats are already listing the causes of President Donald Trump’s “poor response” to the aftermath.

Democratic Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez, appearing on “All In” with Chris Hayes on MSNBC Tuesday night, said Trump is not “prepared” for Florence.

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“You know what I fear, is the calamity, because of the lack of coordination of the government, with the National Guard, and with local government,” Gutierrez said. “The lack of responsiveness and preparedness of this government, because the president wants to find out who was the one that wrote that op-ed piece about the chaos in the White House.”

Gutierrez added, “He’s so consumed by the calamity in the chaos that exists, he’s not really prepared and focused, because he spends every weekend golfing, instead of preparing.”

He also criticized the president on his actions with FEMA. “You know, 15 of the top managers at FEMA are acting, they aren’t even in their permanent positions, they haven’t even taken time to get them their jobs.”

Before the interview ended, Gutierrez took another jab at Trump, stating, “I’ve been to Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump won by 40,000 votes, and you know where I went? I went into smaller towns in Pennsylvania where there are large Puerto Rican pockets of voters. I’ve been to Florida. I’m going to go to Florida this coming weekend, and let me just say to the president, he should understand there are going to be electoral consequences. Because hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans had to flee the island, because of what this government did and how it did not intervene. They now live in Florida, they now live in Pennsylvania, and Mr. President you should know they are registering to vote, they are mobilized, they are organizing.”

Gutierrez, who has heavily criticized President Trump’s reaction to the disaster response in Puerto Rico last year, continued blaming Trump Tuesday night, telling the President, “You were lazy, you were on duty, and people died because of it.”