Trump to Puerto Rico: ‘You’ve Thrown Our Budget a Little Out of Whack’
Also told officials they should be “proud” that Hurricane Maria’s death toll is 16, compared to Katrina’s thousands.

Carlos Barria/Reuters
“I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack,” President Trump remarked at a press conference Tuesday near San Juan, “because we’ve spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico.” He continued: “And that’s fine, because we’ve saved a lot of lives” in the wake of Hurricane Maria. He then suggested Puerto Ricans should be happy because their death toll pales in comparison to other recent disasters. “If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and you look at what happened here... and 16 people certified [died here] versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people and all of our people working together.”
Trump crassly downplays death toll of Hurricane Maria, exaggerates death toll of Hurricane Katrina to make himself look better. pic.twitter.com/xMhoGQxWSH
— Craig Harrington (@Craigipedia) October 3, 2017
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
- Account (completed)
- Payment (completed)
- Confirmation (completed)
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
- 1Account
- 2Payment
- 3Confirmation