Politics - News Analysis

Trump Says the People of Puerto Rico Should Be Grateful for Him, ‘Look What I’ve Done For Them!’

Donald Trump once again defended his treatment of Puerto Rico with a false claim that he has given $91 billion for hurricane relief.

Surprise, surprise…he hasn’t.

Trump’s comments came during an unwieldy and off-script rally speech in Florida on Wednesday.

Speaking the disaster relief, Trump said this: “We are building a lot of things. That includes additional hurricane Michael relief funding immediately… No games, no gimmicks, no delays, we are just doing it.”

Then, after praising FEMA for doing a tremendous job he continued on, “Puerto Rico got $91 billion. I understand they don’t like me. It’s the most money we’ve given to anybody. We’ve never given $91 billion to a state. We gave it to Puerto Rico. 91 billion. I’ll tell you.”

Yet, according to the Washington Post, which previously gave the boast three Pinocchios, the number isn’t right at all.

“It’s simply false for the president to assert that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion,” WaPo’s fact check reads. “It has been allocated less than half of that, and the president is treating a guesstimate as an established fact. There may be valid reasons for the estimate, though OMB has not explained them. But there’s still no excuse for the president to cite the number as a solid figure.”

During the same speech, Trump also insisted that Puerto Rico “complained” the money was not enough. Then, despite just saying the people of Puerto Rico “don’t like me,” he claimed they were “grateful.”

“They’ve got $91 billion. The largest amount of money ever given for hurricanes to a state, to any element, and that’s the way it is,” he said. “I think the people of Puerto Rico are very grateful to Donald Trump for what we’ve done for them.”

WATCH:

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